Belfast-based global data firm rebrands to Data Intellect with plans to double its size and turnover in the next three years

The Belfast-headquartered Data Intellect is undergoing a rebirth as it intensifies its operations globally, expands its team and invests in its city centre office as part of a rebranding exercise.

The rebrand of AquaQ Analytics to Data Intellect highlights the business’s growth goals as it sets out to reach its objective to become a world leader in tackling complex data problems by providing global solutions to the financial services market.

The company advises, designs and delivers solutions relating to data for global financial institutions.

Among its unique services is its network in kdb+, which is a high-performance column-store database designed to process and store large amounts of data. To date, the company has been servicing some of the world’s most prominent global financial institutions including market leading investment banks and hedge funds.

Today the business employs 250 people, 150 of which are based in Belfast, with the remainder in London, Singapore, New York, Hong Kong, Glasgow, Tokyo and Canada. The NI firm’s growth projections will take place over the next two to three years when it has ambitions to double this headcount and also explore other sectors and geographies as many global companies look to tackle their ever-increasing complex data challenges.

A world class education programme developed in house and delivered locally presents opportunities for everyone, from graduates to those returning to the workforce, and these will nurture the pipeline of talent to meet the company’s expansion plans. Strong links are already in place with Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University.

Steve Turner, CEO, said: “Data Intellect has been doing big things in the global financial services market for 12 years but it has remained relatively modest in its achievements. Today we are changing that with this new rebranding exercise, a significant investment in our Queen Street offices, and ambitious growth plans.

“What we are saying is, we are a local player, operating on a global scale, working with some of the world’s leading financial services organisations. We are accelerating at pace in a data driven market where problem solving is key and we want the world to know.”

He added: “Our decision to rebrand to Data Intellect will see the continuation of double-digit growth over the next three years, turning over more than £20m but with a commitment to Belfast where we have access to internationally competitive resources and from which we serve a lot of global clients.

“The fact that we have also achieved this in the six months since I joined the company, shows how fast we plan to move. However, with this growth we will continue to be mindful of and active in our social responsibility commitments and our continuation to be focused in employment equality, sustainable practice, creating opportunity through training and our growing work with communities, schools and charities. It will be the latter ethics that will help us deliver on this powerful and scalable growth plan and help solve the data complexities of global FS entities.

“At Data Intellect, we are keen to reshape the future of the industry and encourage more women to consider and apply for roles in tech. Between a third and half of our graduate intake is female and we want to see the number of female graduates working in the tech sector continuing to grow, so will do what we can to support it. We have a strong number of women in female leadership roles here in Belfast and 50% of our executive team is female led.”