Data firm Kaiko acquires Kesitys in quantitative analytics push

Crypto market data provider Kaiko announced on Thursday that it has acquired French data firm Kesitys. The deal will pave the way for the launch of a new business unit dedicated to quantitive analytics products.

The unit will create a complete suite of products to assist traders throughout the entire portfolio life cycle: from strategy design, to strategy execution to reporting, the firm said in a release shared exclusively with The Block.

Kaiko wants to become the go-to source for consolidated financial market information in crypto. Customers of its trade and order book data feeds include the likes of CoinShares, Messari, Paxos and Ledger.

The two firms had previously worked in a partnership – the acquisition solidifies this and brings Kesitys staff in-house. 

The new unit will continue to be led by Kesitys' founders Anne-Claire Maurice, Mnacho Echenim and Emmanuel Gobet. 

The first products Kesitys launched with Kaiko were designed to meet the needs of risk management (with a Value-at-Risk estimator), investment portfolio optimization (Implied Volatility Surface generation) and compliance and reporting (valuation services). Other products will be rolled out in early Q3. 

Kaiko declined to reveal the size of the deal. 

The acquisition follows a $24 million Series A funding round for Kaiko, led by Anthemis and Underscore VC. It also closed a $5 million seed raise in September 2019, again led by Anthemis, with Kima Ventures, Point Nine Capital, ConsenSys Ventures, Olymp Capital and CoinShares also participating.

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Lucy is an editor focusing on NFTs, gaming and the metaverse. Prior to joining she worked as a freelancer, with bylines in Wired, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. Follow her on Twitter: @LHM1.