Exabel: Professional investors plan to spend more on alternative data
Fundamental professional investors working for hedge funds, asset managers and pension funds are set to boost spending on alternative data this year reflecting increased demand and senior management support for its use in investment research, new research from Exabel shows.
Almost all (94%) of the fund managers and investment analysts questioned say spending this year will increase on last year with 18% predicting a substantial increase.
The expected increase in budgets this year builds on recent expansion. More than half (54%) say budgets for buying and managing alternative data have increased 50% or more in the past two years. One in 20 of the professional investor groups surveyed said their budgets have more than doubled in the period and all firms questioned say spending has increased.
The global study in the US, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore with senior staff at investment organisations with total assets under management of around $2.4 trillion found strong support from senior management for the use of alternative data.
Around 58% say senior management are very committed to using alternative data while 42% are quite committed, the research for Exabel’s report Alternative Data Buy-side Insights & Trends 2026 found.