The global pandemic accelerated digital transformation across a wide range of industries during the past 18 months, resulting in a growing demand for analysis into the digital performance of companies, in order to get insight into who’s winning and who’s losing market share of the all-important audiences these companies covet.
The global pandemic accelerated digital transformation across a wide range of industries during the past 18 months, resulting in a growing demand for analysis into the digital performance of companies, in order to get insight into who’s winning and who’s losing market share of the all-important audiences these companies covet.
According to Ed Lavery, Director of Investor Solutions at SimilarWeb: “Our data provides investors with a solid foundation to analyse companies and markets of interest, and we have focused our efforts in supplementing this with curated metrics and insights to facilitate investors’ decision-making.”
To address clients’ needs for multi-dimensional views of company performance, SimilarWeb initiated strategic partnerships with select other alternative data providers – for example, geolocation, to show a complete view of the performance of retail companies, by combining foot traffic and web traffic data.
Lavery notes that the firm strongly believes in listening to its clients’ requirements and aligning to deliver the best product. “By putting our clients first, having a closed feedback loop across all of our teams at SimilarWeb, and leveraging an agile development process, we ensure our relevancy, value, and timeliness.”
To build on its current performance, Lavery feels it is important to recognise that any firm is but one part of the mosaic of investing. “We understand our importance as data providers, but we also realise the value that our clients place in being able to combine various datasets from other providers,” he says. “That’s why SimilarWeb is focused on continuing to provide digestible insights and important signals that can be integrated into the workflow of these busy investors.”
Adapting to the digital world
One standout issue for the firm is how rapidly the world shifted to digital – a trend not started, but accelerated by Covid-19. “We know that this shift to digital and the importance of web traffic will only increase, and we’re looking forward to providing this data to our customers and guiding them to make the most informed decisions possible,” Lavery comments.
“We recognise this as an opportunity for SimilarWeb, and it’s our mission to help customers navigate this new world,” he adds.
In terms of key trends, Similarweb has seen that more investors are combining datasets to find signals. As such, more hedge funds are adopting alternative data sources. The firm has also seen this uptake with VC funds using data to source and perform due diligence. Overall, Lavery notes an increasing and adoption of alternative data in the investment process.
Going forwards, Lavery believes that the business will continue to change in response to clients’ needs. “We will continue to invest in resources for our Investor Analytics team, to provide more of the curated metrics and insights that supplement our underlying data that are valued by our client base,” he says.
SimilarWeb’s development roadmap features significant effort in producing a purpose-built platform and user interface for its Investor Intelligence products, promising a more intuitive and accessible means of extracting data and insights, for both new and existing users.
“We also see growing demand from investors looking to analyse the private and credit markets, and our roadmap includes a number of enhancements to address those needs,” Lavery concludes.
Ed Lavery, Director of Investor Solutions, SimilarWeb
Ed Lavery heads SimilarWeb’s Global Investor Solutions business. Lavery joined SimilarWeb four years ago and has been spearheading the solution to help investors integrate Digital Alternative Data into their investment research. He has also worked with many of the world’s leading brands, shaping their digital strategies through market intelligence data. Prior to SimilarWeb, Lavery started his career in Investment Banking in London and worked at Rothschild and DC Advisory.
