Data Influencers

Since last post we’ve seen 3 M&A deals, 6 funding rounds, 12 people moves & promotions, 2 new companies, 5 roles, 5 articles, and 3 newly added upcoming events.

Plus, last edition’s top clicked link.

M&A

• G2 acquired Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp (software reviews) from Gartner.

• Intentsify acquired Salutary Data (contact and company intelligence).

• PAR Technology acquired Bridg (shopper intelligence) from Cardlytics for $27.5M.

*Deals are announced but may not be closed.

Funding

• Datalinx AI (AI data refinery) raised $4.2M in a Seed round led by High Alpha.

• Dealroom.co (company and investment data) raised $7M in a round led by Indico Capital Partners.

• Gridline (private market investments platform) raised $18.5M in a Series A led by FINTOP.

• Navidence (health data) raised a Seed round led by Grand Ventures and Nina Capital.

• Pantomath (AI-powered data operations center) received an investment from Snowflake Ventures.

• Rogo (AI for finance) raised $75M in a Series C led by Sequoia.

People Moves, Promotions, and Appointments

• Yury Blyakhman joined Point72 as Co-Head of Macro Quant Strategy.

• Phil DiLemme was promoted to Head of Data Science Analytics at King Street Capital Management.

• Kirsten Drzyzga joined Axial as Director, Sell-Side.

• Paul Esposito was promoted to SVP, Strategy at FactSet.

• Yvette Huitema joined Tellet as VP of Business Development.

• James Hull was promoted to SVP, Head of GTM, Data & Analytics at Allvue Systems.

• Jennifer Lamppa joined Inovalon as VP, Commercial Strategy.

• Scott Parent joined Brightline as Director, Data.

• Nathalie Perrin Wallace joined SESAMm as a Senior Advisor.

• Evan Reich joined BWG Global as Chief Product Officer and Head of AI.

• Sean Saint joined ServiceNow in CPQ Sales, Financial Services.

• Tres Studer joined ROI Rocket as SVP of Sales.

*may not have started roles, but roles are announced or updates provided online.

New Company Alerts

WindShift is an AI-powered collaborative diligence platform for investment professionals. The company was founded by Nicolas Dulac who was previously a Partner at Oliver Wyman and Managing Director at Strategy&.

Verity Research Group is a full-service qualitative market research firm, partnering with organizations across the B2B, healthcare, and consumer sectors. The company was founded by Alex Sutter who previously served as VP of Qualitative Insights at OvationMR.

Who’s Hiring

• BlackRock is hiring a VP, Market Data Services ($127K - $184K).

• Dentsu is hiring a EVP, Decisioning ($235K - $380K).

• Shutterstock is hiring a Account Executive, New Business - Data Licensing ($200K - $270K) and a Director, Sales Development - Data Licensing ($205K - $265K).

• String is hiring a Founding Account Executive ($200K - $250K).

*salaries only listed where provided by the company and may vary based on location and other factors. See links for specific salary details.

Special Report

Exabel published their annual Alternative Data Buy-side Insights & Trends report with insights from 100 fundamental PMs and investment analysts.

What I’m Reading

• The Data Multiplexer for the Agent Economy by Brickroad.

• The Industrialization of Intelligence by Bill Shope.

• The Second Time Around, a new newsletter from Brian Lichtenberger.

• 2026 Data Monetisation Trends by Alternata.

• Why Private Equity Is Suddenly Awash With Zombie Firms by Hank Tucker.

Upcoming Events

*new events added since last newsletter

• QRCA (Qualitative Research Consultants Association), Feb 2-5, San Antonio, TX

• Alternative Data Breakfast #4: The Future of Alternative Data + AI, Feb 12, NYC

• *FISD New York, Feb 12, NYC

• Samplecon, Mar 16-18, Lake Oconee, Georgia

• *Eagle Alpha Alternative Data Conference, Mar 18, NYC

• QuantVision 2026: Fordham’s Quantitative Conference, Mar 19-20, NYC

• Future Alpha, Mar 31-Apr 1, NYC

• AI in Finance Summit, Apr 15-16, NYC

• Insights Association Ignite: B2B, April 22, Hoboken, NJ

• World of DaaS Summit, May 7, Washington D.C.

• Monetising B2B Information & Events 2026, May 13, London

• *BattleFin Discovery Day, May 14, NYC

Resources

• Deal Tracker for full M&A and funding rounds.

• Job Board for full listings.

• Market Map PDF, PNG, and Spreadsheet.

• Compensation Study Summary. Participate here.

Favor

If you’ve read this far, please click here (always testing out some readership analytics) and connect with me if we’re not already connected!

Views here are the author’s own and not of any employers or companies. The author may be compensated for pieces in this newsletter.