The partnership between the two companies allows each to bring their expertise to the table: Kneip helps clients meet regulatory reporting and investor disclosure obligations, and also provides fund data and documents to regulators, distributors and data vendors, while Next Gate Tech provides a cloud-based technology that focuses on data management and using harmonised data to provide analysis.
Importance of data quality
“We approach data identically,” answered Kneip CEO . “We are obsessed with data quality. Both companies are completely focused on this. And that’s because it helps our customers stay compliant, it contributes to making the market safe, and ultimately it helps the end customer buy the right products for the right purposes.”
Data quality is a “key thing” that attracted Kneip to Next Gate Tech. “Our approach to data is quality, quality and quality,” underlined Sacau.
Complementarity is key
Kneip and Next Gate Tech sit on two different ends of the value chain, explained Sacau, “and that means that we complement each other very well. They start more in the middle office, and we get all the way to the dissemination of the data.”
We go to customers with an end-to-end solution, which really does not exist anywhere else in the market.
“I would stress even more the complementarity of what we do, and which kind of data we handle,” added Next Gate Tech CEO and co-founder . The two companies operate at different moments in the value chain of the creation of fund-related data. “What we at Next Gate Tech are more specialised in and focused on is more like the beginning, as Enrique said, everything that is portfolio data and transaction data, and Kneip is more the dissemination part. So I think the complementarity is key here.” Together, they can cover the full spectrum of fund industry data, they said.
“We go to customers with an end-to-end solution, which really does not exist anywhere else in the market,” said Sacau.
The “behind-the scenes” thinking
“The end goal is to put together the two offers that are very fit to be together,” said Martucci. He mentioned that they realised, very early in the discussions with Kneip, that the two companies fit together well in terms of their mindset, products, technology and strategy.
“Kneip was really like the best, the natural choice, on having a partner for our growth as well,” added Martucci. “Next Gate Tech is a young startup, as you know, it’s smaller. And we were looking to have a key partner for both the technology, but as well approaching the market, and counting on the vision and the strategy of Kneip, and, of course, Clearstream.”
The market in Luxembourg is the second-biggest market and fund industry in the world. So for us, it’s clearly the place to be, and continue to be, in the future.
The partnership also responded to customer demand. “There were a couple of customers who told us to talk to each other,” noted Sacau. “Data quality is what drives customers. They know that we need quality of data. If it comes from Next Gate Tech, the quality of data that Kneip disseminates is better. And if we work with Next Gate Tech, we give them a reach that they don’t have without us.”
“So we’ve responded to customer needs. We’ve been talking to--we have between the two parties 250 customers--we are talking to many of them. And the response has been great,” said Sacau.
A Luxembourgish partnership
“We are both Luxembourg companies, and for us, Luxembourg has been the best place to develop our business until now, and we continue to do so with the partnership,” said Martucci. “It’s a Luxembourgish partnership. So we will continue to grow in Luxembourg, to invest in Luxembourg,” he added. “The market in Luxembourg is the second-biggest market and fund industry in the world. So for us, it’s clearly the place to be, and continue to be, in the future.”
Sacau echoed this sentiment, noting that Kneip is turning 30 years this autumn. “We couldn’t be any more Luxembourg. From my home office, I can see Kirchberg from here,” where many of their customers are. “We are a Luxembourg shop, and so may it long continue.”
This article was published for the Delano Finance newsletter, the weekly source for financial news in Luxembourg. .