First Coverage Inc., a leading provider of financial information management solutions, announced
today the release of Version 2.0 of its web-based platform. New features delivered with Version
2.0 include expanded international coverage, enhanced portfolio reporting tools, internal idea
tracking, exportable raw data capability, and integrated corporate meeting management
functionality. First Coverage, who just last week announced they had successfully raised US
$9M in Series B financing, will unveil Version 2.0 at this week’s SIFMA Technology Management
Conference in
“The take-up of our platform has been phenomenal so far, and we expect Version 2.0 to
drive that even further,” said Randy Cass, CEO of First Coverage, Inc. “Nobody in our
industry ever wants to overlook information or people that might be able to help their
performance and First Coverage allows users to prevent those opportunities from
slipping through the cracks.”
The First Coverage platform allows portfolio managers to efficiently manage, aggregate
and evaluate all trade ideas, information and other sell-side services they receive. This
enables them to identify the people and data that will add the most value to their
investment strategies and creates greater transparency in the commission allocation
process. For the sell side, First Coverage provides a method for efficiently reaching a
wider audience and a new objective means of clearly demonstrating the value they are
delivering. More than 300 firms globally are using First Coverage to send and receive
sell-side services including information, ideas and meeting opportunities.
First Coverage 2.0 offers an enhanced and more tightly-integrated feature set, providing
users with the most complete and total evaluation tool for sell-side coverage on the
market today. New features include:
Expanded International Coverage – First Coverage’s integration with all global
exchanges allows portfolio managers to now monitor and evaluate information provided
by the sell side related to securities anywhere in the world.
Enhanced Portfolio Reporting Tools – Portfolio managers using First Coverage are
able to evaluate their coverage either on a per-idea or portfolio-wide basis. New features
include daily net asset value (NAV) calculations, displays of actual holdings and the
ability to size positions based on conviction levels.
Internal Idea Tracking – Firms can now use First Coverage to better track and manage
ideas and information created within their organization. This functionality enables buyside
professionals to more seamlessly exchange and evaluate internal information and subsequent
performance without having to allocate capital.
Corporate Meeting Management Functionality – Corporate meetings, access to
analysts, and conferences offered by the sell side can now be organized, sorted and
evaluated within First Coverage by industry-specific parameters (ticker, sector,
attendance, meeting type, etc.). This feature allows the buy side to use First Coverage
as a unified platform to track and evaluate the entire breadth of their sell-side coverage,
creating a complete picture of each firm’s value.
Exportable Raw Data – Buy-side firms looking to build their own internal databases of
sell-side information can now more easily export raw data from First Coverage already
tagged with dozens of variables. This allows quantitative firms to utilize First Coverage
data in trading algorithms, either real-time or via end-of-day summary files. The ability to
now upload massive amounts of structured sell-side data into algorithmic trading models
is a global first and represents entire new data streams that buy-side firms can begin to
utilize.
With its first production client going live in early 2007, First Coverage’s user base has
grown to more than 300 firms worldwide in just over a year. Earlier this month, First
Coverage announced that it had secured US $9 million in a second round of funding
from a cross-border syndicate of venture capital investors led by Boston-based
Commonwealth Capital Ventures.
About First Coverage Inc.
Catering to more than 300 financial institutions worldwide, First Coverage provides a web-based
platform that simplifies the gathering, evaluation and organization of all sell-side services and
information. The First Coverage platform helps buy-side professionals easily and quickly find the
information, data and other offered services that best align with their own internal investment
process creating greater efficiencies and greater overall performance. For more information, visit
