FiscalNote Holdings, Inc., or commonly FiscalNote, is a publicly traded software, data, and media company headquartered in

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The company was founded by Timothy Hwang, Gerald Yao, and Jonathan Chen in 2013. FiscalNote provides software tools, platforms, data services, and news through the FiscalNote Government Relationship Management (GRM) service, its core product. According to founder Timothy Hwang, in an interview with ''Entrepreneur'' magazine in 2017, the GRM "aggregates legislation, regulations and government filings from thousands of federal, state and local agencies, uses artificial intelligence to structure it and normalize it, and delivers personalized data feeds to companies to show how government may be impacting their businesses." FiscalNote seeks to modernize the outdated government relations system in an effort to communicate from companies to the government level using

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...

. FiscalNote also uses software that attempts to predict the likelihood a bill will pass based on certain key phrases and historical precedent. Information presented in these predictions includes the strengths and weaknesses of the bill compared to historical figures, a timeline of the committees it has passed, and the likelihood it will survive. FiscalNote to the present day has also expanded into the media space since the addition of CQ Roll Call and released ESG Solutions to cater to the environmental, social, and governance niche.

History

FiscalNote was founded in 2013 in Sunnyvale,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, by Timothy Hwang, Gerald Yao, and Jonathan Chen, who were friends from Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Hwang, having finished his junior year at

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

, brought Chen and Yao together to

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...

to start the company. The company was founded in a

Motel 6 Motel 6 is a privately owned hospitality company with a chain of budget motels in the United States and Canada. Motel 6 also operates Studio 6, a chain of Apartment hotel, extended-stay hotels. The hotel brand is owned by The Blackstone Group's ...

, where early employees Dan Maglasang and Dev Shah worked to build the product. In May 2017, FiscalNote announced its initial expansion outside the U.S. providing data sets for Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. In June 2017, DC Mayor

Muriel Bowser Muriel Elizabeth Bowser (born August 2, 1972) is an American politician serving since 2015 as the eighth mayor of the District of Columbia. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented the 4th ward as a member of the Counci ...

announced a major job training program alongside FiscalNote, named as one of the largest software employers in the

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. The mayor announced a $750,000 economic development package for FiscalNote as it moved its headquarters to 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue. In July 2017, FiscalNote announced the availability of data sets for

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In 2018 FiscalNote acquired CQ Roll Call which helped bring stable financial flow with a consistent subscriber base and a competent data set. By adding CQ Roll Call, FiscalNote gained an entryway into the media world and an opportunity to cover what certain bills may mean to subscribers instead of having to interpret the raw data. FiscalNote ESG Solutions was unveiled in 2022 to assist clients in environmental, social, and governance goals, risks and regulations. Through the creation of ESG, FiscalNote has changed from being a data and media source and has transformed into an AI system capable of interpreting raw data and relating it to the specific issues of customers.

Funding and acquisitions

In late 2013, FiscalNote received early seed money from

Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American billionaire entrepreneur, television personality, and media proprietor whose net worth is an estimated $4.8 billion, according to ''Forbes'', and ranked No. 177 on the 2020 ''Forbes'' 400 list ...

after a cold email from Timothy Hwang. This was soon followed by an investment from

New Enterprise Associates New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is an American-based venture capital firm. NEA focuses investment stages ranging from seed stage through growth stage across an array of industry sectors. With ~$25 billion in committed capital, NEA is one of the w ...

Yahoo Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Manage ...

cofounder Jerry Yang, and

First Round Capital First Round is a venture capital firm that specializes in providing seed-stage funding to technology companies. Founded by Josh Kopelman Joshua Kopelman is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and philanthropist. Kopelman is best ...

leading to a total $1.3 million round. In fall 2014, FiscalNote received $7 million in its first institutional (and second total) financing round. Investors included AOL Founder Steve Case, Visionnaire Ventures (a joint fund between Taizo Son and

Temasek Temasek (also spelt Temasik) is an early recorded name of a settlement on the site of modern Singapore. The name appears in early Malay and Javanese literature, and it is also recorded in Yuan and Ming Chinese documents as ''Danmaxi'' ( or ...

), with participation from Jerry Yang,

, Winklevoss Capital Management, Enspire Capital, Green Visor Capital (led by former

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

Chief Executive Joseph Saunders, and Middleland Capital. Steve Case invested as part of his Rise of the Rest Fund. In February 2015, FiscalNote announced that it had raised $10 million in a third round of financing. Investors included Chinese social network

Renren The Renren Network (), formerly known as the Xiaonei Network (), is a Chinese social networking service similar to Facebook.Renren The Renren Network (), formerly known as the Xiaonei Network (), is a Chinese social networking service similar to Facebook.China. In February 2016, FiscalNote raised another $10 million in a fourth round of financing. The round was led by Green Visor and Visionnaire. FiscalNote later added $5 million to this round with a strategic investment from South Korean conglomerate MoneyToday Media alongside a strategic partnership with its newspaper and television divisions (MTN). This came after FiscalNote's acquisition of MyCandidate in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. In August 2017, FiscalNote acquired 16-year old Baton Rouge company VoterVoice, bringing 1,100 new customers and expanding into the advocacy space. FiscalNote CEO Hwang announced that the acquisition would be the first in "hundreds of millions". In January 2018, FiscalNote announced at the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

in Davos that it had acquired a Brussels-based counterpart called Shungham, giving the company a foothold in the European Union as it seeks to expand globally. In July 2018, FiscalNote announced that it would acquire ''

Congressional Quarterly Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combined ...

'' and ''

Roll Call ''Roll Call'' is a newspaper and website published in Washington, D.C., United States, when the United States Congress is in session, reporting news of legislative and political maneuverings on Capitol Hill, as well as political coverage of ...

'' from

The Economist Group The Economist Group (legally The Economist Newspaper Limited) is a media company headquartered in London, England. It is best known as publisher of ''The Economist'' newspaper and its sister lifestyle magazine, '' 1843''. The Economist Group spe ...

. In January 2021, FiscalNote announced it had acquired FactSquared, the parent company of White House tracker

Factba.se Factba.se is a website that hosts a publicly available, searchable database intended to document statements, speeches, Tweets, and press interviews from former US President Donald Trump and current US President Joe Biden. It was founded in January ...

. In February 2021, FiscalNote announced that it had acquired

Oxford Analytica Oxford Analytica is an international consulting firm providing strategic analysis of world events. It was founded in 1975 by David Young, an American employee of the National Security Council during the Nixon administration. Clients of Oxford ...

, a UK-based political risk consultancy and publisher of the Oxford Analytica Daily Brief. On September 15, 2021, the company announced the acquisition of

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

-based artificial intelligence company Forge.AI. In August 2021, Curate, a Civic Technology company that provides data to help companies monitor risk and provide clarification at the local government level was acquired by FiscalNote. In 2022, Aicel Technology, a South Korean alternative data company that specializes on new-coming fintech companies was acquired by FiscalNote.

Operations

FiscalNote is headquartered in Washington, DC with regional headquarters in

Seoul, Korea Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

covering Asia and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

covering the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

. Other major offices are in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, Baton Rouge,

Gurgaon, India Gurgaon (pronunciation: �ʊɽɡãːw, officially named Gurugram (pronunciation: �ʊɾʊɡɾaːm, is a city located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest of the nationa ...

. FiscalNote operates in multiple languages and as of January 2018 had over 1,300 customers and over 21.9 million users.

Advisors and board

FiscalNote's board includes General Stanley A. McChrystal,

Glenn Hubbard Glenn Hubbard may refer to: *Glenn Hubbard (baseball) (born 1957), American baseball player *Glenn Hubbard (economist) Robert Glenn Hubbard (born September 4, 1958) is an American economist and academic. He served as the Dean of the Columbia Univ ...

, Alec Ross (author), former Obama

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

cabinet secretary and former Deputy Secretary of Labor Chris Lu, Congressman Mike Ferguson, Congressman

Glenn Nye Glenn Carlyle Nye III (born September 9, 1974) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2009 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He was defeated in his attempt to attain re-election on November 2, 2010. ...

, and former publisher of the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' Katharine Weymouth. FiscalNote also added Jayson Kim, General Partner of Legendary Ventures, and Mitch Shue, the former Chief Technology Officer of Morningstar, to their advisory board in 2021.

Recognition

FiscalNote was named to the

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

10 in 2014 FiscalNote won the Technology Pioneer Award and Distinction at the annual meeting of the

in 2016. During the 2017 special presidential election in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

after President

Park Geun Hye Park Geun-hye (; ; often in English ; born 2 February 1952) is a South Korean politician who served as the 11th president of South Korea from 2013 to 2017, until she was impeached and convicted on related corruption charges. Park was the firs ...

was impeached, FiscalNote launched nudepresident.com, matching South Korean voters with their ideal choice for president using artificial intelligence, correctly predicting that President Moon Jae In would be elected. The mobile application received over 5 million users in several weeks. In late 2017, FiscalNote researchers discovered that millions of comments submitted to the

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdictio ...

during the

net neutrality Network neutrality, often referred to as net neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent rates irrespective of co ...

debate were forged using bots. Researchers used a variety of natural language processing techniques to uncover the anomalies. Ironically, it was later reported that many of those comments were generated by a FiscalNote subsidiary. FiscalNote regularly uses its data to publish rankings of lawmakers and their effectiveness. Curate, a technology platform owned by FiscalNote, won a global award for the best global innovation at the 2022 SAAS Awards.

Civic technology

FiscalNote is a tool of civic technology as it provides organizations or companies with real time governmental policies. This connects companies to the government, allowing them to take notice of what policies may impact their business and allowing companies to stay in compliance while pursuing future goals. In addition, FiscalNote could also help the government gain the public's trust by providing transparency in their actions and policies. FiscalNote could possibly provide insight into more streams of Civic Technology such as providing information to citizens about the different policies representatives are associated with and how that would impact their daily life by voting for them. Another use of FiscalNote is to utilize the extensive dataset they provide to conduct research about different administrations or ideologies in government.

Controversy

FiscalNote has been criticized for the high price of its service, which critics claim excludes citizens and smaller lobbies that cannot afford the product whilst providing wealthier lobbies with information that leaves them better equipped to protect their clients and self interests. FiscalNote has also been criticised for putting undue weight on correlations in previous data that may not necessarily provide relevant insight as to why a certain bill passed or failed. Additionally, John Wilkerson, a political science professor at the University of Washington, criticises FiscalNote for putting undue weight onto whether individual bills move forward, rather the policies behind them.

References

{{reflist Financial software companies Software companies of the United States American companies established in 2013 Software companies based in Washington, D.C. Software companies established in 2013 2013 establishments in Washington, D.C. Special-purpose acquisition companies