Merlyn.AI
Merlyn.AI is the consumer brand of SumGrowth, Inc., a Seattle-based fintech that builds proprietary low-noise signal processing and genetic-algorithm momentum strategies, selling subscription tools (SectorSurfer, AlphaDroid, The Alpha Sheet) to individual investors, RIAs, and advisors, and licensing index products to ETF, hedge fund, and SMA managers globally.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersPalo Alto, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Merlyn.AI does
Merlyn.AI is the consumer-facing brand used by SumGrowth, Inc. — a Seattle-based, privately held company founded in 2010 by signal processing engineer Scott Juds — for its suite of defensive-momentum investment technology products. The company applies cross-disciplinary signal processing techniques (Matched Filter Theory and Differential Signal Processing) to extract low-noise trend signals from market data, then packages those algorithms into tools that select and rotate to the top-trending ETFs, mutual funds, or stocks while deploying an automated bear-market defense layer (StormGuard and TrendGuard Dual Defense) when conditions turn risk-off. Its flagship genetic algorithm, branded Merlyn.AI, evolves sets of momentum strategy candidate ETFs using only out-of-sample data to remove hindsight selection bias.
The product stack spans four monetization layers. SectorSurfer (from $12.50/month) is a self-serve momentum strategy design and trading tool with monthly trade alerts for individual investors. AlphaDroid ($699/month) is a professional portfolio management tool for investment advisors that can manage up to 1,000 high-performance investment models and bundles The Alpha Sheet. The Alpha Sheet delivers 16 monthly model portfolios with client-ready charts and a weekly Sunday Snapshot to cost-conscious RIAs and Family Offices as a lower-fee alternative to outsourced CIOs or AUM-based model managers. The Alpha Daily Brief is a free demand-generation service providing an ETF Market Heat Map, Market Risk Analysis, Bear Market Strategies, and a Portfolio Design Evaluation Tool.
On the institutional side, SumGrowth Indexes (Merlyn Indexes) licenses proprietary Model Portfolio Indexes — including EZ-Indexes Defensive Momentum and the AI Genetic Algorithm Family — to ETF sponsors, hedge funds, and SMA managers globally. Across all channels, the company reports processing 25,000+ online subscriber strategies and portfolios daily. SumGrowth, Inc. discloses no external funding, no parent company, no revenue figures, and operates with an extremely small team (1-10 employees) anchored by founder/CEO Scott Juds and co-founder/board member Warren Hyland.
Merlyn.AI firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Merlyn.AI
- Legal name
- SumGrowth, Inc.
- Website
- https://merlyn.ai
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Merlyn.AI is the consumer brand of SumGrowth, Inc., a Seattle-based fintech that builds proprietary low-noise signal processing and genetic-algorithm momentum strategies, selling subscription tools (SectorSurfer, AlphaDroid, The Alpha Sheet) to individual investors, RIAs, and advisors, and licensing index products to ETF, hedge fund, and SMA managers globally.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Merlyn.AI is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Palo Alto
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Merlyn.AI business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- SectorSurfer Subscription: Monthly subscription service for individual investors providing momentum strategy design and trading tools with integrated bear market strategies. Each month selects momentum leader from 12 candidate stocks or funds and sends trade alerts.
- AlphaDroid Subscription: Professional portfolio management tool for investment advisors with up to 1,000 high-performance investment models included. Includes The Alpha Sheet at no additional cost.
- The Alpha Sheet Subscription: Monthly delivery of 16 superior model portfolios with trade signals and client-friendly charts, plus weekly Sunday Snapshot. Targets cost-conscious RIAs and Family Offices.
- SumGrowth Indexes Licensing: Licensing of Model Portfolio Indexes to ETF, Hedge Fund, and SMA managers across four categories: EZ-Indexes Defensive Momentum and AI Genetic Algorithm Family.
- The Alpha Daily Brief: Free service providing bull-bear market indicators and guidance, including ETF Market Heat Map, Market Risk Analysis, Bear Market Strategies, and Portfolio Design Evaluation Tool.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | SectorSurfer - Up to 30 strategies |
| Subscription | Monthly | AlphaDroid - Up to 1,000 models with Alpha Sheet included |
| Freemium | Monthly | The Alpha Daily Brief - Free service |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels4 records
Merlyn.AI product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Merlyn.AI (via SumGrowth, Inc.) provides subscription-based algorithmic investment technology that uses proprietary low-noise signal processing and genetic algorithms to extract momentum trends from noisy market data. Its products enable individual investors and professional advisors to build, monitor, and trade defensive momentum model portfolios using ETFs, mutual funds, and stocks, and to license model portfolio indexes to ETF, hedge fund, and SMA managers.
Product overview
SumGrowth offers a suite of integrated investment technology products centered on defensive momentum strategies. The core product line includes SectorSurfer for individual investors, AlphaDroid and The Alpha Sheet for advisors and institutions, The Alpha Daily Brief as a free market intelligence service, and SumGrowth Indexes for licensing to institutional managers. Merlyn.AI is a genetic algorithm technology embedded within the platform that eliminates hindsight bias in momentum strategy selection. All products leverage Temporal Portfolio Theory and proprietary low-noise signal processing technologies including StormGuard, Dual Defense, and Bear Market Strategies to simultaneously improve returns and reduce risk.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Merlyn.AI: A Genetic Algorithm that evolves sets of momentum strategy candidate ETFs based on past performance and uses them only with out-of-sample data.
Products and services
- SectorSurfer A momentum strategy design and trading tool for individual investors with integrated bear market strategies. Each month the platform selects a momentum leader from among 12 candidate stocks or funds and sends trade alerts; users can layer Strategy-of-Strategies models with up to 30 strategies. Priced starting at $12.50 per month with a free trial.
- AlphaDroid Professional portfolio management tool designed by and for investment advisors, delivering high-performance momentum algorithms and integrated bear market strategies. Each month it selects momentum leaders from candidate funds and sends trade alerts; advisors can manage up to 1,000 high-performance investment models. Includes The Alpha Sheet at no additional cost. Priced at $699 per month with a 30-day free trial.
- The Alpha Sheet Monthly delivery of 16 superior model portfolios to subscribers' inboxes at each rebalance, including trade signals and client-friendly charts, plus a weekly Sunday Snapshot market activity report. Targets cost-conscious RIAs and Family Offices seeking an alternative to high-fee outsourced investment professionals or high-AUM-basis-point model managers.
- The Alpha Daily Brief A free service providing bull-bear market indicators and guidance, including an ETF Market Heat Map, Market Risk Analysis, Bear Market Strategies, and a Portfolio Design Evaluation Tool for designing and evaluating defensive momentum model portfolios.
- SumGrowth Indexes (Merlyn Indexes) A collection of Model Portfolio Indexes licensed to ETF, Hedge Fund, and SMA managers across four primary categories, including EZ-Indexes Defensive Momentum (using advanced signal processing to make better momentum selections and avoid bear market losses) and the AI Genetic Algorithm Family (eliminating hindsight selection bias problems in momentum strategies). ETFs tracking these indexes deliver tax-deferred compounding benefits in taxable accounts.
- Merlyn.AI Genetic Algorithm The Merlyn.AI Genetic Algorithm evolves sets of momentum strategy candidate ETFs based on past performance and uses them only with out-of-sample data to eliminate hindsight selection bias problems in momentum strategies. It is embedded within SumGrowth's product platform and is also licensed as part of the SumGrowth Indexes AI Genetic Algorithm Family.
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 25,000 online subscriber strategies and portfolios processed daily
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Merlyn.AI
Customer profileSegments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Merlyn.AI technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability4 records
Feature9 records
Merlyn.AI partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators2 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Merlyn.AI competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- QuantConnect: QuantConnect provides an algorithmic trading and quantitative strategy development cloud platform used by quants and asset managers. It serves the same quantitative, momentum-strategy audience but with a developer-first orientation rather than packaged model portfolios.
- TrendSpider: TrendSpider is an automated technical analysis and charting platform that uses algorithmic pattern detection for individual and active traders. It competes for the same self-directed momentum-investor segment as SectorSurfer.
- Portfolio123: Portfolio123 is a quantitative investment research and portfolio simulation platform used by active investors and advisors. It is comparable to AlphaDroid and The Alpha Sheet in providing model portfolios, screening, and ranking tools for retail and advisor audiences.
- Kavout: Kavout is an AI-driven investment analytics platform that scores equities and ETFs using machine learning. It overlaps directly with Merlyn.AI's model-portfolio and ETF-selection use cases for self-directed investors and RIAs.
- EquBot: EquBot builds AI-powered ETF products (e.g., the EQM series with Goldman Sachs) using IBM Watson-style models to select equity portfolios. It is a directly comparable AI-for-investing competitor targeting ETF channels similar to SumGrowth Indexes.
Emerging players
- YCharts: YCharts is an investment research and analytics platform used by financial advisors for fund/ETF screening, comparison, and model-building. It is comparable to The Alpha Sheet and AlphaDroid at the advisor research layer but focuses on data presentation rather than signal processing.
- AlphaSense: AlphaSense is an AI-driven market intelligence and document search platform for corporates and investment firms. It shares the AI-for-investing DNA and enterprise/financial-customer focus but addresses research-document discovery rather than portfolio construction.
Broad incumbents
- MetaStock: MetaStock is a long-established technical analysis and charting platform for retail traders and advisors. It overlaps with SumGrowth on charting, technical analysis, and trading tools but lacks the proprietary momentum/defensive AI product positioning.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Merlyn.AI financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Merlyn.AI leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Merlyn.AI subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries2 records
Merlyn.AI funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Merlyn.AI M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Merlyn.AI
What does Merlyn.AI do?
Merlyn.AI (via SumGrowth, Inc.) provides subscription-based algorithmic investment technology that uses proprietary low-noise signal processing and genetic algorithms to extract momentum trends from noisy market data. Its products enable individual investors and professional advisors to build, monitor, and trade defensive momentum model portfolios using ETFs, mutual funds, and stocks, and to license model portfolio indexes to ETF, hedge fund, and SMA managers.
Is Merlyn.AI a public or private company?
Merlyn.AI is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Merlyn.AI founded?
Merlyn.AI was founded in 2010. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Merlyn.AI based?
Merlyn.AI is headquartered in Palo Alto, United States, in the North America region.
How does Merlyn.AI make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. SectorSurfer Subscription is the primary driver. The others are alphaDroid Subscription, the Alpha Sheet Subscription, sumGrowth Indexes Licensing and the Alpha Daily Brief.
Who are Merlyn.AI's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are QuantConnect, TrendSpider, Portfolio123, Kavout and EquBot. Emerging players are YCharts and AlphaSense. MetaStock is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Merlyn.AI have an API?
No public API is recorded for Merlyn.AI.