Tim Draper touts newly funded SkyGrid as tool for gauging market sentiment
Aiming at building a reputation among both technology and investment types as it expands a subscription service for filtered investment news, Silicon Valley startup SkyGrid Inc. is adding former American Express Co. CEO James Robinson and his RRE Ventures fund as lead investor in an $11 million Series B round set to be announced Wednesday.
SkyGrid sells its service to hedge funds, portfolio managers and individual investors for $500 a month per-person, but offers volume discounts for large customers. The service delivers investment news based on customized portfolio lists, and includes major wire services as well as blogs and other online news and commentary sources, rated by reliability. News is delivered in a color-coded format that identifies whether it is positive or negative, and the company has continually refined its features to customize delivery for different clients.
Pomplun said the filtering technology is entirely automated, and while he declined to discuss criteria built into its algorithms, he said about 25 factors are built into its technology for identifying web content by reputation and relevance.