ClearGlass

ClearGlass Analytics operates as an independent data analytics company, established in London in 2018 by Dr. Chris Sier, Ritesh Singhania, and Kunal Varma. The founding emerged from Dr. Sier's extensive background in promoting financial transparency; he previously chaired the UK Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) panel on institutional investment costs and developed the cost transparency standard at the FCA's request. This experience directly shaped the company's mission to address the information asymmetry between institutional asset owners, like pension funds, and asset managers.

The company's core business revolves around a digital platform that facilitates the collection, analysis, and benchmarking of investment cost and performance data. ClearGlass serves institutional asset owners and their advisors by providing detailed assessments of the 'Value for Money' (VfM) delivered by asset managers. The platform utilizes the Cost Transparency Initiative (CTI) framework, a standardized reporting template that allows for consistent data collection across the industry. This process often reveals that the true costs of asset management can be significantly higher than initially expected. Asset owners receive access to this data and analytics for free, empowering them to make more informed decisions and negotiate better terms. The firm's revenue is generated by selling market intelligence reports and analytics back to the asset managers. These reports offer managers insights into their competitive positioning on pricing and performance within specific investment strategies.

Since its inception, ClearGlass has experienced substantial growth, securing a £2.6 million seed funding round in March 2021 led by European VCs Lakestar and Outward VC. The company, an alumnus of the Founders Factory accelerator program, initially focused on the UK's defined benefit pension market and has since expanded to support defined contribution schemes and clients across Europe and Africa. The platform supports analytics across numerous investment strategies, assessing tens of thousands of mandates from hundreds of asset managers on behalf of a client base with assets totaling over €1.5 trillion.

Keywords: cost transparency, value for money, VFM, asset management analytics, pension fund data, CTI framework, institutional investment, fee benchmarking, performance analysis, investment costs, asset owner solutions, fintech, financial data, Chris Sier, Ritesh Singhania, portfolio analytics, investment transparency, manager assessment, regulatory technology, regtech