How do we connect Finster AI to our existing data entitlements like FactSet and PitchBook (and confirm what’s included vs BYO)?

Most front-office teams ask two questions in the same breath: can Finster AI sit on top of our existing FactSet, PitchBook, and other licenses—and how do we know what’s “included” out of the box versus “bring your own” (BYO) data?

This page walks through how Finster connects to existing data entitlements, what’s available natively, and how to think about coverage and governance before you roll out to banking, investing, or credit teams.

Short answer: Finster is built to respect your current data contracts and entitlements. You can use our pre-integrated data stack on day one, and then selectively plug in your own FactSet, PitchBook, and other licenses under your existing terms.

What’s included in Finster by default?

Finster comes with a comprehensive, finance-native dataset out of the box so you can start running earnings, comps, and monitoring workflows immediately—without waiting for custom integrations.

Included sources and content types typically cover:

Primary company disclosures
- SEC filings (10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, S-1, etc.)
- Earnings transcripts and prepared remarks
- Investor relations materials (presentations, shareholder letters, factsheets)
Licensed fundamentals & market data
- Fundamental company data
- Key financial ratios
- Analyst estimates
- Sustainability and ESG metrics
Private & alternative data
- PitchBook-style private company profiles and deals (via licensed providers)
- Crunchbase data on company profiles, funding rounds, and investors
Expert and qualitative insight
- Expert interview content via Third Bridge (subject to your licensing)
News and real-time context
- MT Newswires and other trusted news feeds
- Company reports and updates from integrated providers

Every insight is traceable back to its source with sentence-level and table-cell citations, so teams can see precisely where each number, quote, or statement came from—no black box, no “trust us.”

If you did nothing else, this default stack is enough to run:

Earnings season workflows (preview, live, and post-call analysis)
Public equity comparative analysis and screening
Basic private company context pulls
Portfolio and coverage monitoring

The coverage and exact providers you see in your environment will depend on your institution’s configuration, but SEC filings, transcripts, IR materials, and a core licensed dataset are available in any standard deployment.

How “bring your own” (BYO) data works

Most institutions already have deep relationships with data vendors—FactSet, PitchBook, Morningstar, Preqin, specialist credit data, internal data warehouses. Finster is designed to plug into those existing entitlements without changing how you contract or govern those vendors.

There are three broad BYO patterns:

BYO licensed market data
- FactSet
- PitchBook
- Morningstar
- Preqin
- Other vendor APIs or feeds your firm already licenses
BYO internal and proprietary data
- Research reports and investment memos
- Underwriting models and credit packs
- Portfolio monitoring decks and committee materials
- Data-room / VDR exports and internal CSVs
- SharePoint / OneDrive repositories
- Internal knowledge bases or wikis
BYO infrastructure choices
- Private / single-tenant deployments (VPC or on-prem style)
- “Bring your own LLM” configurations where your firm controls the underlying model and routing

In all cases, Finster respects your existing contracts and entitlements: we don’t re-sell your data back to you, we orchestrate it in a way that’s usable for front-office workflows, with strict permissioning and audit trails.

How Finster connects to FactSet, PitchBook, and other entitlements

The integration model is deliberately straightforward. You shouldn’t need a six-month “AI program” just to plug your data in.

1. Confirm your current vendor contracts and scope

Typically done between your data office, vendor management, and Finster’s team:

Identify which vendors you want Finster to use:
- FactSet (equity & fixed income, estimates, ownership, symbology, etc.)
- PitchBook (private companies, deals, fund profiles, LP/GP structures)
- Morningstar (funds, ratings, ESG)
- Preqin or other alternatives
Confirm:
- Entitled datasets (e.g., FactSet Fundamentals vs full Workstation)
- Permitted use cases (display vs analytics vs redistribution)
- Technical access (API keys, SFTP feeds, managed file drops, etc.)

This step ensures Finster’s configuration is compliant with how you already license and use each vendor.

2. Set up secure connectivity and authentication

Finster operates under a Zero Trust model, with SOC 2 controls, encryption at rest and in transit, and least-privilege access. For data vendors, that typically translates to:

API-based integration where supported:
- You provision vendor API credentials (keys, secrets, OAuth where applicable) in a secure, encrypted configuration store.
- Finster uses these credentials to retrieve the specific datasets covered under your contract.
File-based integration where APIs are not used:
- SFTP / managed file transfers from your data lake or vendor-managed directories.
- Regular batch updates that Finster ingests into its retrieval pipeline.

Authentication is configured once at the environment level and can be scoped tightly to just the datasets and endpoints you’ve licensed.

3. Map vendor data into Finster’s unified schema

To make research usable at deal speed, Finster doesn’t treat FactSet, PitchBook, and other sources as isolated tools. It maps them into a unified data model that sits beneath the UI and workflows:

Entity resolution and symbology
- Mapping tickers, FIGIs, CUSIPs, ISINs, and vendor-specific IDs
- Aligning public and private entities across FactSet, PitchBook, Crunchbase, SEC filings, and internal IDs
Document and table indexing
- Ingesting tables, time series, and point-in-time metrics
- Preserving vendor metadata and licensing constraints
Field-level traceability
- Retaining the original vendor as the source of truth for each metric
- Attaching cell-level citations so any generated table or chart can be traced directly back to FactSet, PitchBook, etc.

The result: when a user asks for “historical EBITDA margins for top-10 PitchBook comps by EV/EBITDA,” Finster can combine your PitchBook entitlements with filings and other licensed data and still show exactly where every number came from.

4. Apply permissioning and entitlements

Data governance is not an afterthought or a separate project. As vendor data is ingested, Finster enforces:

Role-based access control (RBAC) and SSO (SAML)
- Access can be restricted by desk, region, entity, or function.
- You can mirror existing entitlements—for example, only certain teams see Preqin or specific PitchBook modules.
Vendor-specific constraints
- Respecting display vs analytics vs redistribution rules.
- Ensuring data use is compliant with your contracts (e.g., no exporting factsets of raw data beyond allowed thresholds).
Audit logging
- Every query, document access, and export is logged.
- This supports both internal audit and vendor reporting needs.

Finster’s “no training on your data” posture applies here as well: your licensed content is used for retrieval and generation, not to train foundation models.

5. Test workflows end-to-end

Before broad rollout, most clients validate actual workflows, not just connectivity:

Can we:
- Pull FactSet or PitchBook metrics inside an earnings analysis Task, with citations?
- Build a screening workflow that combines FactSet fundamentals with PitchBook private comps?
- Generate underwriting or monitoring packs that pull from both vendor data and internal memos?
Are:
- All vendor-related outputs clearly cited and auditable?
- Access controls behaving as expected (e.g., no cross-book data leakage)?
- Export behaviors compliant with vendor terms?

Only once these checks are satisfied does the firm move from pilot desks to broader coverage.

How to tell what’s “included” vs “BYO” in your Finster environment

The practical question users ask is: when I log into Finster, how do I know what’s already integrated vs what would require BYO?

Signs something is “included” today

In your environment, a dataset is likely already wired in if:

You can see its source logo or name in citations (e.g., “FactSet,” “PitchBook,” “Morningstar,” “Crunchbase,” “Third Bridge,” “SEC”).
It appears as a selectable filter or source in:
- Screener or universe selection
- Data source selectors for Tasks / templates
- Document search facets (e.g., “Filings,” “Transcripts,” “PitchBook,” “FactSet”)
You can:
- Click a citation and land in the underlying vendor-sourced table or record.
- Run workflows (like earnings analysis) that clearly pull vendor metrics with vendor labels.

If you see citations such as “SEC filing,” “Earnings transcript,” “IR presentation,” “MT Newswires,” “Morningstar,” “PitchBook,” “FactSet,” or “Crunchbase,” those are already configured in your instance.

Signs a dataset would be “BYO”

A dataset likely needs BYO integration if:

You don’t see it in the citation trail or data source selectors.
It’s only visible in your separate desktop tools (e.g., FactSet workstation, PitchBook web) and not referenced inside Finster.
It’s entirely internal (e.g., your own SQL warehouse, SharePoint library, or proprietary credit model repository).

In those cases, the next step is usually a short scoping call between your data/IT team and Finster to determine:

Whether the vendor contract allows integration into a system like Finster.
The best connection method (API vs SFTP vs data lake).
The rollout order (which desks / use cases get it first).

Governance: how Finster keeps vendor and internal data compliant

Connecting to FactSet, PitchBook, and other sources is only half the story. The other half is ensuring that using them through Finster doesn’t create new compliance risk.

Finster is built for regulated, high-stakes environments:

SOC 2 posture and Zero Trust security
- Encryption at rest and in transit.
- Least-privilege access and hardened environments.
SSO, SCIM, and RBAC
- Centralized identity via SAML SSO.
- Automated provisioning and deprovisioning via SCIM.
- Granular user and group-level permissions to reflect existing entitlements.
Audit trails
- Detailed logging of queries, document access, and exports.
- Logs that can be shared with internal audit, compliance, and vendor management.
Safe-fail behavior
- When data is missing or ambiguous, Finster returns “no answer” rather than guessing.
- This applies equally to filings and vendor data, reducing the risk of hallucinated metrics.

Because retrieval, verification, and permissioning are designed together, you avoid the typical bolt-on pattern where entitlements and access control get handled weeks or months after pilots go live.

Examples: what changes once FactSet and PitchBook are connected

To make this concrete, here’s how workflows change once your existing licenses are wired into Finster.

Earnings & event analysis

Before: Associate pulls filings and transcripts manually, jumps into FactSet for numbers, then PitchBook for private comps, then stitches everything in Excel and PowerPoint.
With Finster + BYO vendors:
- Run an earnings Task for a coverage name.
- Finster:
  - Reads the latest 10-Q/10-K, 8-K, and transcript.
  - Pulls FactSet estimates, surprise metrics, and revisions.
  - Adds PitchBook or Crunchbase context for private competitors.
  - Produces a cited summary plus tables ready to drop into client materials.
- Every number is clickable back to FactSet tables, filings, or PitchBook records.

Underwriting & monitoring workflow

Before: Credit team pulls financials from FactSet, deal comps from PitchBook, then searches internal drives for prior investment memos and monitoring packs.
With Finster + BYO vendors + internal docs:
- Create or schedule an underwriting/monitoring Task.
- Finster:
  - Uses filings and vendor fundamentals for the quantitative base.
  - Uses PitchBook for deal history and sponsor behavior.
  - Searches internal memos and monitoring docs for historical thesis and risk flags.
  - Outputs a drafted monitoring pack with explicit “source: FactSet,” “source: PitchBook,” “source: internal memo” citations.

You get speed, but you also get audit-ready transparency that holds up with risk, legal, and clients.

How to get your FactSet and PitchBook entitlements connected

For most institutions, connecting existing entitlements to Finster follows a standard sequence:

Discovery
- Share a list of your data vendors and major datasets (FactSet, PitchBook, Morningstar, Preqin, etc.).
- Confirm what’s already covered by Finster’s standard integrations.
Contract and permissions review
- Work with vendor management and legal to confirm that your contracts permit using these datasets within Finster.
- Align on any vendor-specific constraints Finster should respect.
Technical integration
- Configure APIs or data feeds in a secure, audited manner.
- Map symbology and key fields into Finster’s unified schema.
Pilot workflows
- Test on 1–2 teams (e.g., sector banking, equity team, private credit).
- Validate accuracy, coverage, and permissioning with real use cases.
Scale
- Expand to additional desks and workflows (comps, thesis refinement, pitch materials, portfolio monitoring).
- Use SSO/SCIM to roll out at scale without manual user management.

Final takeaway

You don’t need to choose between “Finster’s data” and “your data.” The system is built to:

Ship with a robust, cited dataset on day one (filings, transcripts, IR materials, and licensed providers like FactSet, Morningstar, PitchBook, Crunchbase, Third Bridge).
Plug into your existing FactSet, PitchBook, and other entitlements under your current contracts.
Layer internal documents and models on top, with strict permissioning and audit trails.

If you want to see exactly how your specific vendor stack would behave inside Finster—and what’s included vs BYO for your team—the fastest path is to walk through it live.

Get Started