Fabric RQ

Fabric RQ offers a sophisticated risk analysis and portfolio design platform tailored for the wealth management sector. The company was founded in 2019 by Rick Bookstaber, Govinda Quish, and Jeff Roush, and is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. In January 2024, investment research firm MSCI acquired Fabric RQ for $16.1 million, integrating it into its Analytics operating segment.

The company's genesis stems from co-founder Rick Bookstaber's extensive career in risk management. Having served as Chief Risk Officer at major institutions like Morgan Stanley, Salomon Brothers, and Bridgewater Associates, and having worked at the U.S. Treasury following the 2008 financial crisis, Bookstaber identified a significant gap between the institutional-grade risk tools available on Wall Street and those accessible to financial advisors serving individual investors. This led to the development of Fabric's core methodology, which was initially built while Bookstaber was the Chief Risk Officer for the University of California's pension and endowment fund.

Fabric RQ's primary clients are financial advisors and wealth managers who are looking to have more substantive, data-driven conversations about risk with their clients. The platform provides tools for portfolio design, customization, and analytics. Its core technology moves beyond traditional, backward-looking models based on historical asset correlations. Instead, it employs a factor-based approach, utilizing MSCI's Multi-Asset Class (MAC) Factor Model, to analyze risk. This allows for a more forward-looking assessment of portfolio risk, including exposures related to ESG and climate change. The platform is designed to distill complex risk relationships into understandable insights, enabling advisors to build more resilient portfolios tailored to their clients' specific financial goals.

Before its acquisition, Fabric RQ secured a seed funding round in August 2021, led by Pandeavor Ventures and John P. Arnhold. The acquisition by MSCI aims to combine Fabric's platform with MSCI's broader suite of investment portfolio solutions, enhancing capabilities for rules-based portfolio construction and delivering customization at scale for the wealth management industry.

Keywords: wealth management technology, risk analysis platform, portfolio design, factor-based risk models, financial advisor tools, portfolio construction, investment risk management, Rick Bookstaber, MSCI Analytics, customized portfolios, institutional risk tools, client risk profiling, ESG risk analysis, wealthtech, asset allocation, investment analytics, financial planning technology, portfolio customization, risk modeling, adviser technology