13D Monitor

What 13D Monitor does

13D Monitor is a privately held, subscription-based financial research firm founded in 2006 by Ken Squire and headquartered at 152 West 57th Street, New York. Operating under the legal name Investor Communications Network, the firm specialises exclusively in shareholder activism and 13D filing analysis, serving institutional investors, public corporations, activist defense law firms, and investment banks. Its core product is a proprietary database platform that monitors every 13D filing above $100M in market cap, with modular features including Ticker Search, Activist Profiles (covering Active, Other, and Inactive Filers), Activism Vulnerability Ratings (US only), an M&A Activism Portal with LBO tooling, Standstill Agreement and Voting Databases, and an Advisor Resource with qualitative league tables. The platform is complemented by content products: a monthly The Activist Report newsletter (with quarterly editions for corporations and allocators), Daily Recap emails, and weekly/monthly filing reports.

The firm operates a sales-led go-to-market with quote-based annual subscriptions and 'Request a Demo' / 'Subscribe Now' website CTAs, and extends its franchise through the 13D Activist Fund (an event-driven mutual fund founded in 2012), the AESG activist investment category (launched 2021), and the Active-Passive Investor Summit, an annual conference running since 2010 that CNBC has covered live. The team is intentionally small at approximately six people, comprising the founder, a Director of Business Development, a Director of Research, and three research analysts; founder Ken Squire's media presence as a CNBC on-air contributor and former Barron's columnist provides disproportionate distribution for a team of this size. Geographic coverage spans the US, UK, and Japan, and the firm has reported no funding rounds, parent company, or acquisition activity, indicating a bootstrapped, founder-controlled operating model sustained by subscription revenue and, presumably, asset management fees from the affiliated fund.

Name

13D Monitor

Legal name

Investor Communications Network

Website

https://13dmonitor.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

13D Monitor is a subscription-based financial research firm founded in 2006 that specialises exclusively in shareholder activism and 13D filing analysis, serving institutional investors, public corporations, activist defense law firms, and investment banks with proprietary databases, newsletters, and an annual industry summit.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Subscription Research Services: Subscription-based research service providing comprehensive shareholder activism analysis, reports, and database access to institutional subscribers including corporations, investors, and defense law firms

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

13D Monitor provides a subscription-based research service that delivers comprehensive qualitative analysis, intelligence, and commentary on Schedule 13D filings and shareholder activism campaigns in the US and internationally. Subscribers receive access to proprietary databases (activist profiles, standstill agreements, proxy voting records, say-on-pay voting, company vulnerability ratings, M&A activism portal with LBO tools), plus emailed reports including a Daily Recap and the monthly Activist Report newsletter. The firm also operates the related 13D Activist Fund and the annual Active-Passive Investor Summit.

Product overview

13D Monitor is the premier global research service specializing in shareholder activism, founded by Ken Squire in 2006. The platform operates as a subscription-based research service providing comprehensive qualitative analysis of 13D filings and activist investor engagements. Key offerings include the core 13D Monitor platform (featuring Ticker Search, Activist Profiles across Active/Other/Inactive Filers categories, Search Activist Campaigns, Activism Vulnerability Ratings, M&A Activism Portal, Voting Database, Standstill Agreement Database, Advisor Resource, and Tear Sheets), supplemented by The Activist Report newsletter (monthly with quarterly editions for corporations/allocators) and Daily Recap emails. The company also manages the 13D Activist Fund (event-driven mutual fund) and created the AESG™ investment methodology. The Active-Passive Investor Summit is the company's flagship annual conference. All content and features require subscription login to access.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• 13D Activist Fund: An event-driven mutual fund that focuses on investing in opportunities identified in 13D filings, providing both individual and institutional investors diversified, liquid and low-cost access to activist investments.
• AESG
• The Activist Report
• Active-Passive Investor Summit

Products and services

• 13D Monitor Subscription Research Service Subscription-based research platform providing comprehensive qualitative analysis, actionable intelligence, and commentary on Schedule 13D filings and activist investor engagements in the US and internationally. Subscribers gain access to proprietary databases (Activist Profiles, Ticker Search, Search Activist Campaigns, Activism Vulnerability Ratings, M&A Activism Portal with LBO tool, Standstill Agreement Database, Voting Database, Advisor Resource, Activist Letters & Agreements, Tear Sheets, Activist Deadline Calendar, Proxy Views & Commentary, Media Center) and receive emailed research including Daily Recap and the monthly The Activist Report newsletter. Targeted at institutional investors, corporations, activist defense law firms, and investment banks.
• 13D Activist Fund Event-driven mutual fund that invests in opportunities identified in 13D filings, providing both individual and institutional investors with diversified, liquid, and low-cost access to activist investments.
• AESG Investment Methodology AESG is an activist investment style category created by Ken Squire in 2021, focused on improving ESG practices at portfolio companies. It defines a methodology that connects activism with environmental, social, and governance outcomes.
• Active-Passive Investor Summit Premier annual conference bringing together the entire activist investor and corporate governance community, featuring top activists presenting investment ideas and covered live by CNBC.

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Bloomberg: Terminal-based financial data platform with news, filings, and analytics on shareholder activism, 13D/13F filings, and corporate governance. Overlaps with 13D Monitor's news/recap and database use cases, but as part of a much broader enterprise product.
• Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS): Largest proxy advisory and corporate governance firm; provides voting policy recommendations, governance research, and activism/executive compensation analytics to institutional investors and corporations. Adjacent to 13D Monitor on the governance and defense intelligence side, with a much broader policy-driven offering.
• LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group / Refinitiv): Major financial data and workflow provider post-Refinitiv acquisition; offers ownership, filings, and activism-related data feeds overlapping with 13D Monitor's database products, sold into the same institutional investor and corporate customer base.
• FactSet: Enterprise financial data and analytics platform with coverage of activist filings, ownership data, and M&A — overlapping with 13D Monitor's filings-based research, voting database, and M&A activism portal use cases, but sold as part of a multi-asset data suite.
• Morningstar: Investment research and ratings platform; competes in the broader investment research subscription market and overlaps with 13D Monitor in equity research and fund/institutional investor coverage, though with a much wider scope.
• Glass Lewis: Major proxy advisory and governance research provider serving institutional investors, investment managers, and corporations. Overlaps with 13D Monitor on proxy/activism intelligence and corporate governance benchmarking, though Glass Lewis focuses on vote recommendations rather than activist campaign coverage.
• S&P Global Market Intelligence (S&P Capital IQ Pro): Provides company intelligence, ownership/activist filings data, and corporate governance analytics. Competes with 13D Monitor in the corporate intelligence and activism data layer, particularly for investment bank and corporate subscribers.

Direct peers

• Activist Insight (Insightia / Diligent): Direct competitor in shareholder activism intelligence — provides activist profiles, campaign data, vulnerability analytics, and proxy/short-interest research to institutional investors, corporates, and advisors. Acquired by Diligent in 2020 and now branded Insightia; nearly identical offering to 13D Monitor across offense and defense use cases.

Emerging players

• Hedge Fund Research (HFR): Provider of hedge fund industry indices, performance data, and institutional research; serves the same institutional allocator audience as 13D Monitor, with overlap on activist-focused fund data (e.g., the 13D Activist Fund's peer set).
• WhaleWisdom: Subscription platform for tracking institutional 13F holdings and detecting activist/overlap patterns; a partial-overlap peer to 13D Monitor on the institutional holdings and 'smart money' tracking use case, but focused on 13F rather than 13D activism specifically.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/13dmonitor

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about 13D Monitor