The Notebook: Grasp’s Richard Karlsson on M&A, AI and financial research
Every day we hand the notebook keys to City movers and shakers. Today, it’s Richard Karlsson, CEO and Co-founder of Grasp, the Stockholm-headquartered startup behind the first AI assistant automating financial research
Last week, Goldman Sachs lost its first-place M&A advisory ranking for the first time in five years. This provides a timely opportunity to examine the shifting sands of the financial research landscape, in the context of the mass adoption of artificial intelligence.
By automating laborious tasks – and improving results on complex ones – across the financial sector, AI is already beginning to streamline operations, reduce costs, and enhance overall productivity. Access to advanced automation tools empowers organisations to deploy their human talent better, allocating more time and energy to strategic thinking and critical analysis.
By leveraging AI capabilities, finance professionals can harness their intelligence and expertise more effectively, leading to better-informed decisions and improved outcomes.
The potential of AI to revolutionise the finance industry is immense, with the ability to reshape data processing, optimise workflows, and elevate decision-making processes. Its wide-ranging impact promises a more efficient and effective approach to financial research, analysis, and operational practices.
Until now, M&A research has been somewhat the short straw of a consultant’s work: researchers must manually analyse near-endless data sources in a process taking weeks or even months, tying up vast people-hours. The repetitive nature of the work is seldom thrilling or morale-boosting for staff, and its time-consuming nature comes at a cost to both consultancy and client. These inefficiencies hold true throughout most financial research, not just M&A.
Eliminating human inefficiency in financial research
I met my co-founders, Simon and Johan, at the Stockholm School of Economics. With our experience across traditional finance and AI engineering, it became so clear to us towards the end of the last decade that there was extraordinary inefficiency and friction in financial research, despite the cost involved in deploying a team to work on it, and that the solution had to lie in technology.
We conceived of Grasp, our AI assistant, to eliminate the human hours spent on financial research to almost zero. Analysing tens of millions of company websites and open data sources, Grasp compiles and clearly presents a comprehensive list of companies that align with the user’s specific instructions. What was once an arduous, weeks-long process for a team of human researchers now takes only minutes – and the results our AI produces outperform those of top-tier consultants four-fold.
There was extraordinary inefficiency and friction in financial research
Soon Grasp’s capabilities will extend beyond just M&A-specific research to render almost any manual financial research obsolete.
AI: The next Industrial Revolution (but without the pollution)
There is absolutely no doubt that AI will have an enormously positive and profound impact on the global economy in the years ahead. Throughout history, significant technological advancements, such as the invention of the wheel, industrialisation, mechanisation, and the internet, have led to increased GDP and economic growth. Even a very conservative estimate that our own tool – Grasp – will halve the time spent on financial research, would result in a substantial increase in productivity and a significant reallocation of resources.
AI technologies will reshape the job landscape and create new roles and opportunities. With the emergence of these innovative positions, individuals have the chance to secure better jobs without necessarily relying on extensive industry experience. This redistribution of wealth, driven by AI, opens up avenues for smart and adaptable individuals to thrive in the evolving job market and participate in the wealth created by these transformative technologies.
A can’t miss book
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries has been an inspirational and instructive read for me in building a business. Ries extols the virtue of continuous innovation, customer feedback, and validated learning, which is really something I’ve taken on board with Grasp. I’ve read so many books that claim to have the best method for building a business, but this is the first I truly resonated with. I couldn’t recommend it more highly!
Richard Karlsson is CEO and Co-founder of Grasp, the Stockholm-headquartered startup behind the first AI assistant automating financial research