Moody’s to Acquire Cortera

Moody’s to Acquire Cortera

Data analytics firm Moody’s announced plans to acquire data insights company Cortera this week. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of this year, are undisclosed.

Moody’s anticipates the purchase will enhance its risk assessment capabilities. The move will also significantly extend Moody’s coverage in the SME market– the segment that serves as Cortera’s focus.

“Cortera plays an important role in helping businesses understand each other,” said President of Moody’s Analytics Stephen Tulenko. “Our customers will be able to leverage Cortera’s extensive information on small businesses with Moody’s proprietary analytic tools to make better decisions.”

Cortera was founded in 1993 and provides credit data and workflow solutions on North America-based public and private organizations. The Florida-based company maintains a database of credit information on more than 36 million businesses across the continent.

Cortera sources this data from thousands of resources and scrubs it using AI. As a result, the company is able to provide analytics, reports, and monitoring services to help inform businesses’ decisions.

Specifically, the acquisition will augment Moody’s Orbis database of private company information and enhance its KYC, commercial lending, and supply chain solutions.

Moody’s was founded in 1900 and provides data, analytical solutions, and insights to help businesses identify opportunities and manage risk. The company employs more than 11,000 people across 40+ countries. Headquartered in New York City, Moody’s is publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker MCO. The company has a market capitalization of $52 billion.


Photo by Hunter Harritt on Unsplash

Cortera Raises $10 Million to Enhance Risk Scoring

Cortera Raises $10 Million to Enhance Risk Scoring

B2B credit scoring company Cortera landed $10 million in funding this week, bringing its total capital raised to just over $578 million in combined debt and equity. Investing in the Florida-based company are Hearst’s Fitch Group Financial Venture Fund, who led the round, as well as existing investors Volition Capital, Battery Ventures, Allen & Company, and Tomorrow Ventures.

“We are passionate about fueling profitable business growth in the U.S.,” Cortera CEO Jim Swift said. “For too long, the flow of capital has been hamstrung by the need for more complete and timely insights into private companies. It is exciting to be at a point of network coverage where businesses now have a powerful alternative to traditional sources.”

Founded in 1993, Cortera gathers insights on the purchase and payment behavior of more than 20 million public and private U.S. businesses. The company leverages this data to create analytics such as new customer risk assessments, customer portfolio risk monitoring, supplier risk management, customer segmentation, insurance underwriting, customer profitability modeling, and loan-default prediction. Essentially, the data help businesses make decisions about their customers, prospects, and suppliers, and minimize risk.

Hearst’s Fitch Group Financial Venture Fund Managing Director Shea Wallon, who will join Cortera’s board of directors, said, “Cortera’s unique business information and analytics provide an alternative view into the credit risk of private businesses where traditional financial statements are not reliable or easily available.”

Cortera demoed a network where businesses can share payment experiences at FinovateSpring 2010. Earlier this week, the company announced its trade credit data will be available in Moody’s Analytics RiskCalc small business solution. Last spring, Cortera scored LexisNexis as a client, blending its B2B trade credit with LexisNexis’ risk solutions alternative data.

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Cortera’s Credit Exchange Now Gathers Insights from $1.2 Trillion in Purchases

Cortera’s Credit Exchange Now Gathers Insights from $1.2 Trillion in Purchases

Screen Shot 2016-08-16 at 1.53.46 PM

Business-to-business analytics provider Cortera reached a milestone this summer. The Florida-based company yesterday announced it has expanded the Cortera Credit Exchange database.

The Cortera Credit Exchange gathers information on the purchase and payment behavior on more than 10 million U.S. businesses. Between January and July 2016, this database increased by more than $170 billion in B2B purchases. This brings the database’s total annual purchase insights to $1.2 trillion.

Cortera leverages the purchase data to create analytics such as new customer risk-assessments, customer portfolio risk-monitoring, supplier risk management, customer segmentation, insurance underwriting, customer profitability modeling, and loan-default prediction.

Regarding the company’s future plans, Cortera CEO Jim Swift said, “we will continue to expand our data network aggressively and leverage our innovative platform to help customers solve business problems in new ways. We’re excited about the path we’re on.”

Since it was founded in 1993, Cortera has expanded its database to include hundreds of attributes to help businesses create statistical modeling and other analytics. The company demoed at FinovateSpring 2010 and recently appointed Bob Maguire as chief revenue officer.

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