BlackRock and Snowflake enter partnership, look to serve investment management market

BlackRock and Snowflake have entered into a strategic partnership with the shared intention of delivering a next-generation solution for the investment management industry.

BlackRock will launch Aladdin Data Cloud, a solution for investment managers to expand the utility of data, powered by Snowflake's platform.

The Aladdin Data Cloud will be a strategic part of Snowflake's Data Cloud and a part of the Aladdin platform.

The solution allows companies to bring Aladdin and non-Aladdin data together, with the intention of simplifying the process of building on top of it with Aladdin Studio, BlackRock's platform for developers.

According to a statement, by bringing together Aladdin and Snowflake's Data Cloud, the Aladdin Data Cloud allows its clients to expand the utilisation of data across their organisation for greater creativity and operational efficiency.

Each Aladdin Data Cloud client receives an independent, centrally-managed data store pre-loaded with front-to-back Aladdin data sets which can then be supplemented with proprietary and other third-party data sources.

This allows organisations to access and query their business-critical data on a single, cloud-based platform.

BlackRock is partnering with Snowflake for its ability to meet the requirements of Aladdin clients, and its shared vision to eliminate data silos in the industry, the company states.

BlackRock will be a founding partner in Snowflakes Powered by Snowflake program. The two firms will collaborate to address the evolving needs of the investment management community with the goal of making data more accessible and actionable.

BlackRock COO Rob Goldstein says, "Aladdin has been on a journey for three decades to put data at the heart of the investment process. We're excited to be working with Snowflake's innovative technology as we enter the next phase of that journey.

"Today, each client is able to customise on top of Aladdin and with their instance of Aladdin Studio and the Aladdin Data Cloud, they will have more powerful tools than ever at their disposal.

Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman says, "We're thrilled to be a strategic partner to BlackRock to power a robust data platform for investment managers.

"With Aladdin as a strategic part of Snowflake Data Cloud, our goal is to create a new industry standard in financial services for accessing, governing and acting on data in a unified and secure data environment.

BlackRock's Aladdin Data Cloud is an evolution of its existing Aladdin Data Warehouse solution and is among a suite of new capabilities that Aladdin expects to roll out in 2021 as part of Aladdin Studio, the firm's platform for developers to customise, create and collaborate on top of their instance of Aladdin.

Built to run on all major cloud providers, the solution leverages sophisticated cloud security and data governance capabilities.