Smartkarma FAQ Smartkarma Innovations Pte Ltd Singapore Co. Reg. No. 201209271G #03-08, The Signature, 51 Changi Business Park Central 2 Singapore 486066 Tel: +65 6715 1480 www.smartkarma.com
1. Why would someone pay for content when broker reports can be obtained for free? Broker content cannot be retrieved for free. Banks rely on i) Payment in excess of execution-only levels of commission and ii) ECM business derived from their research coverage to provide you with research. This comes from either you paying more commission than you should, or receiving biased research that is less likely to add value to your investment process. This method of collecting payment for research is failing as regulators clamp down on using end-client money to pay non-transparent fees for this "free" research. 2. Who are Smartkarma s members? Smartkarma members fall into two categories: a. Clients pay a subscription fee to access investment insight on the Smartkarma platform. Smartkarma Clients include many of the world s best and most sophisticated institutional investors such as asset managers, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, fund managers and family offices. b. Insight Providers publish investment insight on the Smartkarma platform. They are ranked by our inhouse algorithm and paid based on their ranking. They can be investment analysts, strategists, data scientists, academics, consultants, and industry leaders. 3. How can I join Smartkarma? The first step in joining is to Click on the Enquire Now button on the Smartkarma website, and fill in your contact details. As we are currently in closed beta testing, both Client memberships and Insight Provider memberships are by invitation only. a. If you want to write on the Smartkarma platform as an Insight Provider we will ask you for some details about yourself and your background, and ask you to complete and sign an agreement with us. b. If you would like to become a Client of Smartkarma, we will contact you to discuss the various membership and payment options available to you. 4. Do I need special software to be on your platform? The Smartkarma platform is a web-based, digitally native SaaS solution. There is no need for special software and members can access the platform by logging on to the Smartkarma website.
5. How does Smartkarma screen Insight Providers? Insight Providers sign an agreement with Smartkarma and also go through peer review. They are ranked based on metrics including their readership and engagement with Clients and other Insight Providers. 6. Can data-analytics companies be Insight Providers? Absolutely. Smartkarma considers anything that improves our members investment processes, insight and understanding as valuable and valid. Useful inputs into the investment process come in many forms and from many sources. We are committed to supporting and promoting all of them wherever we can. 7. What tools does Smartkarma provide to Insight Providers? The Smartkarma platform provides Insight Providers with the tools needed to publish digitally native, detailed notes complete with many different types of embedded content (visualisations, charts, tables, video's etc). The platform provides tools to provide structure and flow to an Insight, and automates the design, formatting and desktop publishing process as much as possible. The platform provides access to news and information, and the assistance of a community of Insight Providers. We will be adding more and more analytical, data gathering, display, and collaboration tools progressively. 8. Why do Insight Providers have to sign an agreement with Smartkarma? The Insight Provider agreement is intended as a best practices etiquette guide which helps us to ensure that the Smartkarma platform is a safe environment in compliance with regulatory standards, where members can discuss ideas and insight, knowing that the information being disseminated and discussed is accurate, not inappropriate, not non-public and material, and not illegal. 9. What types of insights can be found on the platform? The Smartkarma platform is currently focused, but not limited to, all and any Insights that might be useful to professional investors in Asian Equity markets, across mandates, investment styles, and time horizons. We expect this to grow to include Insights across other asset classes (for example Fixed Interest, Hybrid Instruments, Derivatives, Private Equity, VC Investments), and broader geographies. The Smartkarma platform searches for and curates Insights to provide each member with what is most relevant to them.
10. What is the Smartkarma operating model? Smartkarma allows clients to access all the content they need, from a global community of insight providers with one subscription fee. By disintermediating traditional providers of insight, Smartkarma is changing the economics and distribution of insight. 11. What is the difference between the content offered by Smartkarma and the content offered by a traditional broker? Smartkarma is a technology-enabled and enterprise-quality marketplace that enables investors to discover relevant insight anytime, anywhere, on any device. Our insight providers are ranked, in real-time, on the merit of their insights. They are independent, credible, and do not carry any hidden agendas. They are also from diverse backgrounds and are not just bank-trained financial analysts. They can be academics, data scientists and industry experts. Our platform facilitates learning from and collaboration amongst experts to produce differentiated insights, which are dynamic and always-live. 12. I am already overloaded with research. Why would I want to use Smartkarma? We know how overloaded with research you are - reading it all is an impossible task. You need a more reliable and efficient way to sift out the message from the noise. This is the problem that Smartkarma is setting out to solve. We are a single point of access to a large pool of unique and differentiated insight. Our predictive algorithm searches through this growing universe of ideas and only picks those insights that are relevant to you based on what you like and what you need to know, saving you time. You no longer need to subscribe to every voice on the street. 13. What do you mean when you say insights are produced collaboratively? Our platform provides various communication and publishing tools enabling Insight Providers to collaborate, review each others work and further discussion. Smartkarma is constantly developing additional tools and methods for collaborating and communicating. When an Insight Provider has completed writing an insight, it is submitted for peer review. Insight Providers are also able to further discussion on a topic by citing, and extending their peers work. Insight Providers are not only ranked and rated by Clients who read their work, but also by their peer group based on the quality and usefulness of their feedback. Finally the platform provides an open forum for discussion between clients and insight providers.
14. Does Smartkarma do deals? Or have investment banking? No we do not. Smartkarma fosters a community of independent, unconflicted and differentiated Insight Providers. There are no hidden agendas, and no conflicts of interest. We require all Insight Providers to sign an agreement with us, so that our community can be safe and comfortable in the knowledge that this is always the case. 15. Does Smartkarma outsource tech development? Every line of code has been written in-house in Singapore, with a view to constantly extend and innovate our platform. We believe that outsourcing has its merits, but does not suit our mission, culture and most importantly our imperative. Our engineering team believes in agile development and works closely with colleagues who have a financial background. This allows us to take complicated business requirements, break them down into shippable versions and develop in an agile manner. We move fast, and we have fun. We think like craftsmen, and we dress to impress as far as our code is concerned. We optimise for the long term rather than the short term. In everything that we do, we believe in making things for greatness. 16. What languages and methodologies are employed in your tech development? Our engineering team is product-focused, and believes in using technology that is best suited for the purpose. The bulk of our codebase is in Ruby on Rails. The Smartkarma API architecture is built on nodejs. We use PostGres, MySQL, Redis and Mongo for our databasing and our front-end uses SASS and Angular. We love to experiment - Smartkarma is all about learning, having fun and building great products.