London-based 9fin, an AI-powered analytics platform for debt capital markets, announced on Monday that it has raised $50M (approximately €47.4M) in a Series B round led by Highland Europe.
Existing investors, including Spark Capital, Redalpine, Seedcamp, 500 Startups, and Ilavska Vuillermoz Capital, also participated in the round.
The new funding will enable the UK company to invest further in its AI technology, grow its analytics team, and accelerate its expansion in the US.
9fin: Building next-gen debt capital markets technology
Founded by Steven Hunter and Huss El-Sheikh, 9fin aims to organise the world’s leveraged financial information and make it accessible and usable.
Steven Hunter, Co-founder and CEO of 9fin says, “Debt markets are the biggest overlooked asset class in the world, and yet they still rely on technology and information sources straight out of the 1980s – opaque, slow, and messy. We started 9fin to give professionals in the market a data edge, with smarter, faster intelligence. I’m really proud of the product, team, and company culture we’ve built so far at 9fin, and we’re just getting started. There’s a huge opportunity to build the #1 global provider of debt market analytics and bring debt markets into the AI age. We’re delighted to welcome Highland as a partner to help us achieve that vision.”
Through an AI-powered data and analytics platform, the company centralises everything that’s required to assess credit or win a mandate from one location using machine learning and computer vision.
Through its platforms, 9fin offers products such as news alerts, financials, covenants, comparables, deal predictions, ESG, restructuring, and search.
9fin says its platform makes searching, filtering, and analysing extremely complicated data simple, helping subscribers win business, save time, and perform better than their competitors.
Since its Series A+ round in 2022, the UK company has achieved 400 per cent group-wide ARR growth, with its US business growing at an even faster rate.
The company has also grown to 240 employees and recently doubled the size of its tech team, driving increases in product development speed.
Over this period, the company has more than doubled its customer base to nearly 200 of the largest firms in global credit markets, including leading investment banks, distressed debt advisors, private equity, credit fund managers, and law firms.
9fin is used by asset managers with a combined AUM of over $17T, with many more debt market professionals discovering its intuitive platform each week.
Huss El-Sheikh, Co-founder and CTO of 9fin, says, “From the moment we started building at our kitchen table, 9fin has pioneered the use of AI in debt capital markets, setting a new industry standard. By investing in the best product and engineering talent, we’ve dramatically increased product velocity, delivering capabilities to give our customers the best workflows, tools, and insights, and helping them navigate easily through complex financial markets.”
The investor
Highland Europe invests in exceptional growth-stage technology and consumer companies. It has raised over €2.75B and has invested in companies such as Adjust, AMCS, Camunda, ContentSquare, Deepki, Descartes Underwriting, GetYourGuide, Featurespace, Finbourne, Huel, ME+EM, Nexthink, Nothing, Oritain, PVcase, SoSafe, Supermetrics and Zwift.
Fergal Mullen, Co-founder and partner of Highland Europe, says, “Debt markets are booming but data and technology offerings simply haven’t kept pace. 9fin’s vision, its relentless focus on technology, innovation, and company culture, position it as the go-to platform for those working in debt markets. We’re thrilled to support their ambition to become the global market leader.”
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