Seoul-based company, called Jumpgate Technologies, says it tries to eliminate human involvement altogether, giving its machine-learning technology free rein to discover  and take advantage of  the world’s growing trove of data.

One much bigger firm, New York-based Two Sigma Investments LLC, the subject of a page one Wall Street Journal story this week, programs its machines to cull torrents of information from earnings reports, weather bulletins and Twitter. 

To allocate its $24 billion in assets under management, Two Sigma’s strategy will generate different investment models based on this data. For the first time, these investors say,

the world’s computers are capable of storing and learning from the information that machines around the world are gathering, from supercomputers to smartphones and small processors embedded in everyday household items.

“The world only processes about 1% of the data out there in the world,” Mr. Olesch says. “We want to get the data that’s out there, instead of waiting for someone to tell us that full capacity has been reached.”

 For that reason, much of the company’s focus right now is on what Mr. Olesch calls “technology scouting”: seeking ways to tap into streams of data, either for free or in partnership with companies and institutions that may be sitting on reams of potentially useful data.

So far, Jumpgate, which was founded in Seoul but which is registered in Singapore, says the strategy is working. While his fund is tiny next to larger firms like Two Sigma, Mr. Olesch says the fund has recorded positive returns in each of its first three months, even as its benchmark, the S&P 500-stock index, has faltered

 

Source: blogs.wsj.com