Is Second Measure still an independent company?

No. Second Measure has been a wholly owned Bloomberg L.P. product line since the acquisition closed on December 24, 2020, with terms undisclosed. It now operates as 'Bloomberg Second Measure,' sold through Terminal functions like ALTD rather than as a standalone business.

Who owns Second Measure?

Bloomberg L.P. owns Second Measure outright, having completed the acquisition on December 24, 2020. Pre-acquisition investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs, and Citi Ventures exited through that deal; no valuation was disclosed.

Could AI replace Second Measure's business?

Bloomberg's ASKB conversational AI, updated in February 2026 and expanded April 16, 2026, now synthesizes Second Measure transaction data directly for users, commoditizing the analyst-dashboard layer. But the underlying proprietary panel of 20M+ consumers and 8+ years of transaction history feeds ASKB rather than being replaced by it.

Who are Second Measure's biggest competitors?

Direct peers in consumer transaction data analytics include Earnest Research, Facteus, Consumer Edge, YipitData, and M Science, as of 2026. On the broader alternative-data-for-investors front, AI-native tools like AlphaSense are cited as adjacent competitors to Bloomberg's ecosystem.

How much funding did Second Measure raise before being acquired by Bloomberg?

Second Measure raised roughly $23-25 million total pre-acquisition: a $2M seed round in 2016 backed by Bessemer, Y Combinator, Foundation Capital, Norwest, and Shasta, plus a $20M Series A co-led by Bessemer and Goldman Sachs. Bloomberg acquired it December 24, 2020, terms undisclosed.

What does Bloomberg Second Measure actually do on the Terminal?

It sells transaction-based consumer spending analytics via the Bloomberg Terminal's ALTD function (launched April 2023), Bloomberg Data License enterprise feeds (May 2024), and the ECAN macro tool, which hosts the Bloomberg Second Measure U.S. Consumer Spend Index launched September 9, 2024.

Financial data and information services · subsidiary of Bloomberg L.P. · United States

Second Measure

secondmeasure.com ↗

Bloomberg-owned unit selling anonymized consumer card-transaction data to investors.

Hard to displace

Assessed 21 July 2026 · Evidence as of 21 July 2026

Strong structural protection; the business model survives ai pressure.

On the recordSince 21 July 2026 · Checkable from 2026-2027 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Bloomberg expands ASKB natural-language access to Second Measure data across Enterprise Data License customers

The call

Second Measure's transaction panel sits locked inside Bloomberg's Terminal and now feeds its AI, making the data harder to replace than the brand around it.

Second Measure collects and analyzes billions of anonymous credit card transactions from millions of American shoppers to help investors understand how companies are really performing. Bloomberg owns it completely, so competitors like S&P Global or Refinitiv cannot build the same thing, and AI cannot fake 8+ years of real transaction history. The real change coming is that Bloomberg's new conversational AI will let people ask questions in plain English instead of using a dashboard, which could eventually make the Second Measure brand disappear into Bloomberg's larger product even though the data stays valuable.

Why

AI pressure: ASKB, Bloomberg's own conversational AI. ASKB lets analysts query Second Measure's transaction data by chat, replacing the dashboard layer but not the data itself. Could AI do the core job? Unlikely.

Bigger players: AlphaSense and other AI-native research platforms. If AlphaSense pulls Terminal seats away from Bloomberg, Second Measure loses its distribution, not its data. Could a giant copy it? No, they are blocked.

What protects it. Exclusive compliance-cleared access to 20M+ anonymized card transactions and 8+ years of history, gated inside Bloomberg's Terminal.

What would change this call

Bloomberg deprecates the 'Second Measure' brand name in Terminal or ASKB outputs. Would show the product identity is being absorbed and diluted, not growing.
AlphaSense or another AI-native rival gains double-digit Bloomberg Terminal seat share within 18 months. Would show Bloomberg's core distribution advantage for Second Measure data is eroding.
Bloomberg folds the Second Measure team into a generic data-engineering pool. Would show reduced internal priority and standalone product status ending.

Key numbers

20M+ consumer panel, 8+ years of history (2025-04-27)
Bloomberg workforce: ~21,010 employees (2025-12)
Acquired by Bloomberg for undisclosed terms (2020-12-24)

Named risks

Second Measure brand could dissolve into ASKB as users shift to natural-language queries over the branded dashboard. Severity: medium
No standalone equity upside for employees since Bloomberg is private; compensation limited to salary and bonus. Severity: low
Full dependence on a single distribution channel, the Bloomberg Terminal ecosystem, with no independent go-to-market. Severity: medium

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
Earnest Research	contesting	Named direct peer in consumer transaction data analytics as of 2026
YipitData	contesting	Named direct peer in alternative consumer transaction data, 2026
Consumer Edge	contesting	Named direct peer in transaction/spending data analytics, 2026
AlphaSense	gaining on	AI-native research platform cited as gaining ground on Bloomberg Terminal's ~30% share, 2026-07-21
TradingView/YCharts	gaining on	Lower-cost challengers gaining ground on Bloomberg Terminal market share, per Wikipedia 2026-07-21
LSEG (Refinitiv)/FactSet	contesting	Historic terminal-market rivals each holding roughly comparable share to Bloomberg, 2026-07-21

Questions people ask

Is Second Measure still an independent company?: No. Second Measure has been a wholly owned Bloomberg L.P. product line since the acquisition closed on December 24, 2020, with terms undisclosed. It now operates as 'Bloomberg Second Measure,' sold through Terminal functions like ALTD<GO> rather than as a standalone business.
Who owns Second Measure?: Bloomberg L.P. owns Second Measure outright, having completed the acquisition on December 24, 2020. Pre-acquisition investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs, and Citi Ventures exited through that deal; no valuation was disclosed.
Could AI replace Second Measure's business?: Bloomberg's ASKB conversational AI, updated in February 2026 and expanded April 16, 2026, now synthesizes Second Measure transaction data directly for users, commoditizing the analyst-dashboard layer. But the underlying proprietary panel of 20M+ consumers and 8+ years of transaction history feeds ASKB rather than being replaced by it.
Who are Second Measure's biggest competitors?: Direct peers in consumer transaction data analytics include Earnest Research, Facteus, Consumer Edge, YipitData, and M Science, as of 2026. On the broader alternative-data-for-investors front, AI-native tools like AlphaSense are cited as adjacent competitors to Bloomberg's ecosystem.
How much funding did Second Measure raise before being acquired by Bloomberg?: Second Measure raised roughly $23-25 million total pre-acquisition: a $2M seed round in 2016 backed by Bessemer, Y Combinator, Foundation Capital, Norwest, and Shasta, plus a $20M Series A co-led by Bessemer and Goldman Sachs. Bloomberg acquired it December 24, 2020, terms undisclosed.
What does Bloomberg Second Measure actually do on the Terminal?: It sells transaction-based consumer spending analytics via the Bloomberg Terminal's ALTD<GO> function (launched April 2023), Bloomberg Data License enterprise feeds (May 2024), and the ECAN<GO> macro tool, which hosts the Bloomberg Second Measure U.S. Consumer Spend Index launched September 9, 2024.

Timeline

2026-04-16Bloomberg's ASKB roadmap confirms Second Measure data natively queryable alongside PORT, RMS, Third Bridge
2026-02ASKB beta updated to synthesize alternative data, including Second Measure, with fundamentals and news
2024-09-09Launch of Bloomberg Second Measure U.S. Consumer Spend Index via ECAN<GO>
2024-05Second Measure transaction data made available to Enterprise customers via Bloomberg Data License
2023-04-12ALTD<GO> launched on Bloomberg Terminal integrating Second Measure with market data and news
2020-12-24Bloomberg completes acquisition of Second Measure, terms undisclosed
2016Second Measure closes $20M Series A co-led by Bessemer and Goldman Sachs
2015Second Measure founded by Mike Babineau and Lillian Chou, joins YC Summer 2015 batch

Revision history

21 July 2026

First assessed. Hard to displace. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

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Sources

Second Measure: Unlock the power of transaction data.
Bloomberg Completes Acquisition of Second Measure (2020-12-24)
Second Measure Closes $20M Series A Funding Co-Led by Bessemer and Goldman Sachs (2022-09-13)
Bloomberg Second Measure (2025-04-27)
Bloomberg Number of Employees 2026 (2026-06-29)
Bloomberg Second Measure Expands Transaction Dataset Offering (2023-04-12)
Inside Bloomberg's ASKB Roadmap: the Data Moat Behind the AI (2026-04-28)
Bloomberg Launches Bloomberg Second Measure U.S. Consumer Spend Index (2024-09-09)
Bloomberg acquires Second Measure to unlock transaction data insights (2020-12-24)
Bloomberg Second Measure (2025-06-20)
Bloomberg Second Measure Company Profile
Top Bloomberg Second Measure Alternatives, Competitors