SumZero

The site's co-founder and current CEO Divya Narendra came up with the idea for SumZero in April 2007, while working for the hedge fund Sowood Capital in Boston. Narendra and college friend Aalap Mahadevia subsequently launched SumZero in March 2008.{{cite web|title=Interview with Divya Narendra, CEO of SumZero|url=http://www.pcdistrict.com/news/business/interview-with-divya-narendra-ceo-of-sumzero-25998-20.html}}

In June 2012, Winklevoss Capital made an angel investment of $1.05 million into SumZero.{{cite web|title=Death of the PC, the Winklevii's other Social Network, and tech ed in New York |date=18 September 2012 |url=http://www.marketplace.org/topics/tech/united-states-tech/death-pc-winkleviis-other-social-network-and-tech-ed-new-york}}{{cite web|title=Winklevoss Twins Back 'Facebook' for Investors with $1 million|website=ABC News |url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2012/09/winklevoss-twins-back-facebook-for-investors-with-1-million/}}{{cite news|title=Winklevoss Twins Invest in SumZero|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/16/winklevoss-twins-invest-sumzero-social-network_n_1888821.html | work=Huffington Post | date=September 16, 2012}}{{cite news|title=Winklevoss twins explain why they invested in new social network SumZero|url=http://startingpoint.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/19/winklevoss-twins-explain-why-they-invested-in-new-social-network-sumzero/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130215180432/http://startingpoint.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/19/winklevoss-twins-explain-why-they-invested-in-new-social-network-sumzero/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 15, 2013 | work=CNN | date=September 19, 2012}}

In October 2012 the site announced its first Annual Investing Challenge, jointly organized by SumZero and the Value Investing Congress.{{cite web|title=Could search save Facebook stock?|url=http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000115433|publisher=CNBC}}{{cite web|title=Three Finalists Announced for First-Annual Value Investing Challenge|url=http://www.benzinga.com/trading-ideas/long-ideas/12/09/2905997/three-finalists-announced-for-first-annual-value-investing-ch}} The top three ideas were pitched on the CNBC television show Fast Money{{cite web|title=3 Finalists of SumZero's Top Idea contest appear on CNBC's Fast Money|url=http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000118709&play=1#eyJ2aWQiOiIzMDAwMTE4Njg0IiwiZW5jVmlkIjoidzM5Q3JiUllEZG5zdUo4K01LSTNnQT09IiwidlRhYiI6ImluZm8iLCJ2UGFnZSI6IiIsImdOYXYiOlsiwqBMYXRlc3QgVmlkZW8iXSwiZ1NlY3QiOiJBTEwiLCJnUGFnZSI6IjEiLCJzeW0iOiIiLCJzZWFyY2giOiIifQ==}} and winner Ryan Fusaro presented his investment idea at the Value Investing Congress on October 1, 2012, alongside the portfolio managers Bill Ackman, David Einhorn, and Barry Rosenstein.{{cite web|title=27-Year-Old Analyst Ryan Fusaro Wowed Everyone At The Value Investing Conference With His Investment Idea|website=Business Insider |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/value-investing-challenge-winner-ryan-fusaro-2012-10}}

SumZero hosted a co-branded research idea contest with Institutional Investor in November 2014. The event was hosted at the Bloomberg Tradebook headquarters in NYC. Over 250 SumZero members attended for live 4-minute presentations of stock pitches from 20 emerging managers, judged by a panel of professional investors.{{cite web|title=Institutional Investor and SumZero Present InvestPitch 2014|url=http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/institutional-investor-and-sumzero-present-investpitch-2014-lse-svs-1969180.htm}}

In March 2017, SumZero announced the Van Biema Small-Cap Challenge in conjunction with van Biema Value Partners and the Royce Funds. The contest called for research ideas on international small- and micro-cap stocks from funds managing less than $50 million. Massif Capital, a NY-based long/short equity fund was selected as the final winner of the Challenge for founder Will Thomson's stock pitch on Lucara Diamond. The winner received allocations from the family offices of Chuck Royce and Michael Van Biema, as well as operational advice from Van Biema Value Partners.{{cite web|title=Massif Capital Receives Allocation from Van Biema/Royce|url=https://sumzero.com/headlines/industrials/LUCRF/384-winner-of-small-cap-challenge-receives-allocation-from-van-biemachuck-royce}}

The site opened applications for the Van Biema Small-Cap Ex-US Challenge in March 2018 and selected 5 finalists in May 2018.{{cite web|title=Van Biema Ex-US Contest Finalists Announced|url=https://sumzero.com/headlines/business_services/392-van-biema-exus-finalists-announced}}

SumZero's product suite consists of three sub-platforms: Research, Cap Intro, and Job Vault. The Research platform contains over 11,000 actionable recommendations on publicly traded securities. Approved ideas are about 2,000 words in length and include valuation, risks, and catalysts. The contributing analyst or the analyst's fund typically has a direct position in the idea.

The Cap Intro platform allows emerging fund managers to raise external capital by connecting them with a community of pre-vetted Allocators. The allocator pool includes single- and multi-family offices, endowment funds, and fund of funds. Cap Intro operates a reverse solicitation model in which allocators reach out directly to funds.

The Job Vault allows SumZero members to apply for buyside job opportunities submitted by firms on the site. All applicants must already be SumZero members and thus represent a pre-screened pool of candidates.

A paper by Wesley Gray of Drexel University, Bryan Johnson of Creighton University, and Rice University’s Steven Crawford and Richard A. Price III, "Do Buy-Side Recommendations Have Investment Value?”, analyzes a subset of SumZero's Idea database, which is composed of 2,135 long and short calls on U.S. equity securities submitted to the website by 1,112 buyside analysts from 910 different funds.{{cite web | last = Costa| first = Len| title = Do Buy-Side Investment Recommendations Add Value? | date = February 28, 2012 | url = http://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2012/02/28/do-buy-side-investment-recommendations-add-value/}}

This study shows that short recommendations from these analysts generate an immediate and significant decline in price, and long recommendations have positive short-term returns and exhibit a positive drift. The collective evidence presented in the paper suggests that buy-side recommendations have investment value. The paper also documents that broad institutional ownership decreases significantly for buy-side recommendations, but increases for the buy-side analysts’ employers, suggesting there is a wealth transfer between the broader institutional market and buy-side firms in the sample.{{cite web |author1=Wesley Gray |author2=Bryan Johnson |author3=Steven Crawford |author4=Richard A. Price III | title = Do Buy-Side Recommendations Have Investment Value| date = September 17, 2012| ssrn = 1971533}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{official website|http://www.sumzero.com/}}

Category:Financial services companies based in New York City

Category:Internet properties established in 2008

Category:Economics websites