Parsing Fintech's Whimsical Name Game

While writing up a piece examining intellectual property earlier this week, I plumbed the depths of my memory for the name of a low-latency provider that was involved in messy litigation in Australia—unsurprisingly, I came up empty.
I knew it was an odd name; I knew it started with a 'z.' But until our Inside Market Data editor Max Bowie—who has an elephant's knack for recollection—finally infomed me it was Zeptonics, I was completely helpless. The lawsuit stuck; the name, despite its unusualness, did not.
All of this toiling reminded me of a presentation I attended recently for New York's Fintech Innovation Lab, as well. Six startups from this year's cohort were featured, and almost all of them had snazzy-sounding, and even peculiar-looking, names.
Be it a randomly-capitalized letter in the middle, or a few vowels missing entirely, or a portmanteau—yesterday's news about Imatchative's new AltX platform is my recent favorite—it would appear not only common but, indeed, obligatory for a new company in our space to feature this kind of creative eponymy from the start.
Risk and Reward?
So, what's really in a name? Besides creating fodder for newsroom conversation, does this strategy actually work?
Well, especially in a saturated market segment—there's a reason market data vendors have the most outlandish names—having an identity that stands out shows a willingness to take a risk. It could even get potential clients to think or to laugh—and therefore, a couple days later, to remember.
As these small shops grow, or even get bought, I've been fascinated by how passionately their founders stick with the name, or lament when it's rubbished in favor of more dry or aligned branding by new ownership. It goes from a gimmick to a point of pride.
Then again, when an institutional investor is performing due diligence on a buy side and the question of their service providers comes up, explaining what "that startup with a funny name" actually does is a more serious matter. If not properly explained, it might even be a dealbreaker. Keeping in mind that many of these buy-side firms—hedge funds, especially—are named after some predicable combination of trees, mountaintops, castles, and Grecian warriors.
This could all be a question of context. After all, SunGard and Misys are normal-sounding names to those of us in the industry because they've been around seemingly forever—and more importantly, because they're massively successful. Whether Markit or Tradeweb or—gasp—International Business Machines (how snooze-worthy!), the products and client service, and eventually the expansion strategy and acquisitions, ultimately speak for the name, rather than the other way around. And the idea that such branding simplicity can't work in the current era is ridiculous, too. Just ask plain-jane Amazon Web Services (AWS), or baby Prince George ... well, once he can speak, anyway.
Eccentrics Welcome
But of course, not all of us are born into royalty; nor are all great services born only of companies of IBM or Amazon's scale and pedigree. And it's refreshing to constantly run across small providers with a different take on things, that really believe they can make it, and believe they know how to, as well.
Just what to call the next great new company would seem a fundamental, but astonishingly important part of that process.
Compared to other matters, though, perhaps it's actually neither.
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@waterstechnology.com or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.waterstechnology.com/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (point 2.4), printing is limited to a single copy.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (clause 2.4), an Authorised User may only make one copy of the materials for their own personal use. You must also comply with the restrictions in clause 2.5.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
More on Emerging Technologies
DeepSeek success spurs banks to consider do-it-yourself AI
Chinese LLM resets price tag for in-house systems—and could also nudge banks towards open-source models.
Standard Chartered goes from spectator to player in digital asset game
The bank’s digital assets custody offering is underpinned by an open API and modular infrastructure, allowing it to potentially add a secondary back-end system provider.
Saugata Saha pilots S&P’s way through data interoperability, AI
Saha, who was named president of S&P Global Market Intelligence last year, details how the company is looking at enterprise data and the success of its early investments in AI.
Data partnerships, outsourced trading, developer wins, Studio Ghibli, and more
The Waters Cooler: CME and Google Cloud reach second base, Visible Alpha settles in at S&P, and another overnight trading venue is approved in this week’s news round-up.
Are we really moving on from GenAI already?
Waters Wrap: Agentic AI is becoming an increasingly hot topic, but Anthony says that shouldn’t come at the expense of generative AI.
Cloud infrastructure’s role in agentic AI
The financial services industry’s AI-driven future will require even greater reliance on cloud. A well-architected framework is key, write IBM’s Gautam Kumar and Raja Basu.
Waters Wavelength Ep. 310: SigTech’s Bin Ren
This week, SigTech’s CEO Bin Ren joins Eliot to discuss GenAI’s progress since ChatGPT’s emergence in 2022, agentic AI, and challenges with regulating AI.
Microsoft exec: ‘Generative AI is completely passé. This is the year of agentic AI’
Microsoft’s Symon Garfield said that AI advancements are prompting financial services firms to change their approach to integrating AI-powered solutions.