OpenBB, a fintech firm founded by Didier Lopes, has been shaking up the investment research market by introducing a new free version of its platform. In 2021, OpenBB was founded as a platform that provided amateur investors with access to multiple datasets for investment research through a command-line interface (CLI) based on Python. The startup has upgraded OpenBB Terminal, a web application that can be customized and offers financial data from more than 100 sources, such as equities, FX, and macroeconomic data. It received $8.5 million in seed funding.
Between the free Terminal Pro, which is aimed at larger businesses, and the original CLI tool, the OpenBB Terminal serves as a middle ground. A wider range of users can access complicated research tools through the new web-based OpenBB Terminal, which prioritizes accessibility above professional version features like pre-built database connectors and an Excel add-in. Additionally, it has an AI-enabled copilot that can answer questions in plain language, saving users time while analyzing data.
Lopes described a particular scenario in which a shipping business scanned email records and other unstructured data to optimize pricing decisions using OpenBB’s AI. This demonstrates the adaptability of OpenBB, which enables businesses to connect their own AI systems for customized solutions.
OpenBB wants to expand through a product-led strategy as opposed to competitors like Bloomberg Terminal that rely heavily on sales techniques. With ambitions for growth and further funding, the company currently employs 15 people and has 50,000 users. Lopes is unconcerned about a potential legal action from Bloomberg due to the “BB” in the company’s name because it came from his experience in the stock market and was not intended as a dig at Bloomberg. Being the top platform for financial research and analytics driven by AI is OpenBB’s mission.