Exclusive: Debt analytics firm 9Fin raises $23M

9Fin, a debt analytics platform, raised $23 million in additional Series A funding, the company told Axios exclusively on Thursday.

Why it matters: The debt market exceeds the size of the equity market, but has lagged behind in tech upgrades, says 9Fin CEO and co-founder Steven Hunter. 9Fin seeks to help banks, law firms, and asset managers gather data and source deals before they happen, he said.

Background: Previously on the debt capital markets team at J.P. Morgan, Hunter was frustrated by how the multi-trillion dollar asset class relied heavily on manual processes and paperwork.

• 9Fin automates many of those tasks, pulling data from regulatory filings and financial statements, and making them comparable.
• It also offers research, deal predictions, and news alerts within its dashboard based on data aggregated from various regulatory, media, and rating agency sources.
• "We're a little bit like Bloomberg, but much more focused on debt markets," he says. Spark Capital's Alex Finkelstein led the round, and is joining the board.

Details: Based in the U.K., 9Fin is growing into the U.S. Hunter recently moved to New York from London.

• Currently home to about 80 mostly Europe-based employees, 9Fin plans to add another 70 or so U.S. workers over the next year.
• It's built a user base of about 60 banks, asset managers, and law firms. Teams within these firms pay about $100,000 annually to use the platform.

Of note: About 40% of the company's headcount in roles focused on research and analytics.

• Hunter says the company's valuation is a "significant uptick" from its previous round.
• Competitors include Reorg Research (acquired for an estimated $1.3 billion this year) and media company Debtwire (a part of Acuris, which was last valued upward of $1.8 billion in 2019).