This ex-Infosys executive's firm offers AI to tame the bulls and bears

Akshaya Bhargava's fintech firm Bridgeweave covers 4,500 global stocks and 1,500 ETFs in 15 markets. Its AI algorithms do over 800 mn calculations a day, something impossible for a regular investor

In his earlier avatar, Akshaya Bhargava was the global CEO of wealth and investment management, Barclays Plc, a business with £200 billion in client AUM (assets under management) across 14 countries. Prior to that, he founded InfraHedge, a hedge fund managed account platform that was acquired by State Street Corporation in 2013. He had also been CEO of hedge fund administrator Butterfield Fulcrum, which was acquired by Mitsubishi UFJ, and CEO of Progeon Ltd that was acquired by Infosys and renamed as Infosys BPO.

But Bhargava is now on a mission to democratise access to institutional quality research insights which traditionally has been the secret sauce of investment banks and hedge funds. His fintech firm  Bridgeweave uses AI models to provide institutional-quality research signals and investment ideas to individual investors, advisors, and asset managers. The platform covers over 4,500 global stocks and 1,500 ETFs (exchange-traded funds) in 15 markets. The AI algorithms perform over 800 million calculations every day, something that is impossible for a regular investor.

Bhargava says Bridgeweave is a way to empower investors with the kind of sophisticated information that investment banks and hedge funds have today.

“Historically, this kind of information was restricted to the privileged few, ” says Akshaya Bhargava, founder and executive chairman of Bridgeweave Ltd. “They have it because there is a whole team of analysts, sitting there, who get paid a lot of money. Now, imagine if you could take the team of analysts that compress it into a machine and the machine is then available to anyone to use.”

London-based Bridgeweave’s products are a combination of the deep domain expertise of its team coupled with proprietary technology. This includes an AI engine that is optimised for wealth and investments as well as a behavioural profiling engine. It fills a gap that sharply got highlighted during the Covid lockdown, in the market for high quality, personalised and affordable investment information. 

Its  AI-powered app, InvestorAi closes the investment information gap by putting institutional-grade investment analytics into the hands of an everyday investor. It empowers the user to make smarter investment decisions based on insights from AI algorithms. The algorithm learns about the user and becomes smarter with more personalized insights, providing a more tailored experience. For example, similar stocks, active monitoring, and new age themes. 

It's designed to serve the self-directed investor who wants high-quality, reliable, predictive investment information. It can be used by all types of investors, whether occasional investors or regular traders. They can each configure the app for insights that fit their investment style and information needs.

InvestorAi also gives a daily algorithm performance report card. Users will always know how any algorithm is performing by way of accuracy, returns, and productivity. Once registered on the app, a user can look for investment ideas. These are machine-generated predictive ideas. The prediction range can be as little as 3 days, to 30 days to longer-term signals on value stocks. Algorithms can also pre-curate a universe of stocks and allow the user to search and filter using a wide range of criteria. They allow the user to compare any two stocks in a visually easy way across multiple criteria or against the index. The technology also enables a user to monitor individual stocks and thematic baskets. The user can set up custom alerts for profit or loss limits, find similar stocks, see past signals, or be alerted if there is a new signal on the stock. 

Bhargava was born in Gwalior. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Statistics from Pune University and an MBA from IIM-Calcutta. 

He started his career at Citibank, spending 22 years in a variety of senior positions including country manager, Citibank Czech Republic. He was recruited in 2002 as founding CEO of Progeon India, the BPO subsidiary of Infosys Ltd. In 2006, Infosys bought out all minority shareholders for a 100 per cent stake in the company. Progeon was then integrated within Infosys and renamed as Infosys BPO. Bhargava left in 2006 to become a senior advisor in 3i Group.

After serving as CEO of Butterfield Fulcrum Group (acquired by Mitsubishi UFJ Fund Admin) for three years, Bhargava set up InfraHedge, together with Bruce Keith, who he had met while at 3i. InfraHedge became the leading hedge fund managed account platform, providing sophisticated risk analytics and modeling services to institutional investors in hedge funds. The company was acquired by State Street in 2013. He was appointed CEO wealth and investment Management for Barclays in Oct 2014. In 2018, he founded Bridgeweave Ltd.

Bridgeweave has offices in London and Bengaluru. It is gearing up to launch in markets across the globe. It is also betting big on the India market. There has been an acceleration in the number of new individual investors joining the stock markets due to the coronavirus pandemic. Bhargava says India added 18 million new investors, while the US market added about 6 million investors and the UK market grew by at least 4-5 million new investors in the same period. 

“We see India as a massively strategic market for us,” says Bhargava. “These new investors are young and may not have too much money, to begin with. But don't forget they're intensely digital, and they will drive behavior, volumes, and markets.”

India is also a strategic market for the firm as a delivery center. Its product incubation unit, Bridgeweave labs, is based in the country. The firm’s primary go-to-market strategy is to work with partners such as online brokerage platforms, banks, wealth management firms, and advisory firms. 

According to data platform Tracxn, Bridgeweave’s competitors include Blocksize Capital, Aspen Digital, Blocktrade Technology, and Digital RFQ.

Bhargava says there are tons of financial apps available in the market, but they mainly reproduce market data. He says what differentiates Bridgeweave is its unique subject matter expertise combined with strong technology capabilities.

“Our argument is that it (Bridgeweave) is the combination of human and machine,” says Bhargava. “That gives you the Iron Man suit, and the ability to fly. Without a human, the suit is useless.”