Water Tower Research bridges the information gap between companies and investors

• Covers a diverse group of sectors spanning a variety of market-cap ranges
• Research reaches institutional investors, hedge funds, family offices and retail investors
• Hosts a popular ongoing Fireside Chat series featuring CEOs from high-growth companies

What Water Tower Research does:

Water Tower Research LLC was formally launched on August 6, 2020, by Wall Street veterans and former colleagues Tim Gerdeman and Shawn Severson to provide issuer-sponsored equity research and investor intelligence.

The US issuer-sponsored equity research firm helps companies tap into market research. Water Tower co-founder Shawn Severson has said the traditional sell-side equity research model has focused on the 1% of large, commission-paying investors, whereas its research reaches the other 99% of institutional investors, hedge funds, family offices and retail investors.

The company’s equity research is digitally distributed and free-to-access for institutional and retail investors.

Water Tower is initially focused on covering the Bioeconomy, Biotechnology, Chemical Materials and Technology, ClimateTech and Sustainable Investing, Emerging Growth & Special Situations, Industrial Technology, and Oil & Gas/Energy verticals.

Water Tower is a recapitalized scale-up of alphaDIRECT Advisors, initially founded in 2016 as an early pioneer of issuer-sponsored, digitally distributed equity research, with a particular expertise in the climate tech and sustainable investing sector.

Water Tower is a wholly-owned subsidiary of alphaDIRECT Group LLC. The parent company plans to expand into related service offerings such as investor relations and corporate communications.

How is it doing:

In January, Wall Street veteran Stuart Linde joined the research firm and its parent company alphaDIRECT Group LLC as its chief executive as the group eyes rapid business development. Linde is also a member of the parent company’s board.

Water Tower said Linde will provide strategic oversight of the company’s rapidly expanding issuer-sponsored equity research platform, as well as pursue additional “strategic businesses and partnerships that complement Water Tower Research’s core business.”

Water Tower co-founder Tim Gerdeman, who is also vice-chair of the company’s board of managers, said Linde will have an “outsized impact” in building out the firm’s equity research platform and overseeing the parent company’s expansion into related service offerings such as investor relations and corporate communications.

Water Tower has been in expansion mode and has succeeded in powering its research platform with a team of Wall Street analysts with diverse sell-side and buy-side experiences across the spectrum of equity research and investment management.  Veteran sell-side equity research analyst Dr John Roy joined Water Tower in October as managing director, IT Hardware & Communications Equipment.

Veteran sell-side equity research analyst Jeff Robertson also joined the company in October as managing director, Natural Resources. His research covers upstream, midstream, and downstream segments of the global oil and gas industry, service providers that support oil and gas activity, mining, and materials companies in the chemical value chain. 

In addition, analyst and portfolio manager Thierry Wuilloud is a natural fit on the equity research platform with his coverage of emerging growth and special situations. Alicia Shively is research editor and has worked as a writing coach and academic editor for over 25 years.    

Water Tower has bolstered its popular, ongoing Fireside Chat series by featuring chief executives from a wide spectrum of high-profile growth companies.

Inflection points:

• Rapidly expanding the firm’s issuer-sponsored equity research platform 
• Adding top Wall Street equity research analysts
• Parent company has talked about expansion into investor relations and corporate communications

What the boss says:

“The secular changes on the sell-side and buy-side have resulted in the formation of different business models and a significant opportunity,” Water Tower Research CEO Stu Linde said when he joined the company.  

“Water Tower Research has tremendous momentum, and I look forward to helping the organization accelerate its growth, expand its footprint, be a partner to the Street and C-Suites, and become an employer of choice.”

Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at [email protected]

Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive

Story by ProactiveInvestors