Bloomberg LP has acquired Second Measure Inc., a five-year-old startup with a market data platform used by investors and tech giants to inform business decisions.

The transaction was announced today. Second Measure has raised more than $25 million in funding from backers including Y Combinator, Goldman Sachs, Bessemer Venture Partners and others. 

Second Measure operates a cloud-based platform that aggregates billions of credit card transactions made by millions of consumers. The platform anonymizes the transactions to protect consumers’ privacy, organizes them and makes the final dataset available via a web-based dashboard. Second Measure’s customers can sift through the information to gain insights into the markets in which they operate. 

Tech firms such as DoorDash Inc. use the startup’s platform to help them find business opportunities. By analyzing Second Measure’s dataset, a company can identify regions where demand for its products is especially strong to prioritize geographic expansion efforts. Credit card transaction statistics also provide insight into what kinds of purchases customers are making, from whom and related data points.

Second Measure’s other target market is Wall Street. While the likes of DoorDash consult its data to better understand consumer activity, banks and investment firms use the startup’s platform to help them identify companies that might make good investments. Second Measure’s spending data can provide additional context about the business performance of large market players, whether they’re faring well relative to rivals and how sales change quarter-over-quarter.

Second Measure’s features for the investment community were likely a key motivation behind Bloomberg’s decision to make the acquisition. Bloomberg provides the Bloomberg Terminal, which gives financial professionals access to market data, news and other information they can use to inform investment decisions. Bloomberg said in the acquisition announcement today that the consumer spending metrics aggregated by Second Measure complement its “company fundamentals and market data.”

“Our clients are increasingly incorporating non-traditional data in their investment and business strategy decisions,” elaborated Bloomberg Chief Technology Officer Shawn Edwards. “We’re committed to helping them extract high-value insights from those datasets faster, through innovative technologies and sophisticated models like those developed by Second Measure.”

The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. 

Photo of Second Measure founders Mike Babineau and Lillian Chou: Second Measure