Vortexa, the energy and shipping analytics platform, has sold a stake in the company to US venture capital firm Communitas Capital.
Two of the founders of the New York-based investor include the former chief executives of Thomson Reuters Tom Glocer and the New York Stock Exchange Duncan Niederauer.
“The traditional financial information networks were primarily based on the aggregation and distribution of market data,” said Gloser.
“Vortexa is the first information platform of its kind using advanced AI to create a real-time fundamental view of the multitrillion-dollar energy market.
“The speed in which Vortexa is attracting and working with the top energy traders in the market is a clear indication of something immensely valuable in the making,” he added.
Financial terms and the size of the stake were not disclosed.
“Tom is a true legend in the financial information and news industry,” said Vortexa chief executive Fabio Kuhn.
“In the game of basketball, our partnership would be the equivalent of having Michael Jordan join the team.”
While CEO at Thomson Reuters, Gloser oversaw one of the largest news and information organisations in the world, including its financial terminal business.
It later became Refinitiv as part of the spin-off transaction led by a Blackstone consortium in 2018 and later sold to the London Stock Exchange in an all-share transaction valued at $27bn.
The deal is the latest in a series of transactions within the increasingly crowded market for commodity technology and intelligence, with demand growing for data on cargo flows, trades and inventories worldwide.
Last month Vortexa teamed up with UK-based Energy Aspects in a new strategic partnership that is said to combine energy commodity data and intelligence with cargo tracking analytics to provide a “greater understanding of short-term market dynamics”.
Meanwhile, commodities data company Kpler recently agreed to acquire ship-tracking companies MarineTraffic and FleetMon.
Just recently, US shipping data company Veson Nautical agreed to buy UK valuation platform VesselsValue for an undisclosed fee.
Vortexa, which employs 115 staff in offices in London, Singapore, Houston, New York and the United Arab Emirates, provides data on crude oil, refined products, LPG and LNG across all vessel classes.
