Morningstar and its subsidiary PitchBook have partnered with Perplexity, the AI-driven search platform, to embed proprietary investment data directly into a conversational research interface. The integration, announced Friday, uses model context protocol (MCP) connections to let eligible users pull Morningstar and PitchBook data into Perplexity's environment, including its multi-step research tool, Perplexity Computer. Advisors can now ask natural-language questions and receive citation-backed answers grounded in Morningstar's analyst research across public and private markets, eliminating the need to toggle between multiple databases.
The deal follows Morningstar's earlier integration with ChatGPT, where it launched two apps for subscribers to access proprietary data within OpenAI's platform. It also arrives as the financial advice industry grapples with incorporating AI without sacrificing analytical rigor. "Our focus is on delivering independent, analyst-backed intelligence in ways that align with how investors and financial professionals work today," said Adam Wheat, head of Data & Research Solutions and chief technology officer for Direct Platform at Morningstar. "By making Morningstar and PitchBook content available in Perplexity, we're extending the reach of our data and research while maintaining the rigor investors require."
PitchBook, the private-market data provider Morningstar acquired last year, adds a layer increasingly relevant as client interest in alternative investments grows. "When financial professionals need a source of truth in private and public markets, they come to us," said Tom Van Buskirk, executive vice president of technology and engineering at PitchBook. "By integrating with platforms like Perplexity, we're bringing Morningstar and PitchBook intelligence to the center of the AI tools investors already rely on."
Separately, Morningstar last month agreed to sell ByAllAccounts, its data aggregation unit acquired in 2014, to Pello Companies. The deal, expected to close in the first half of 2026, will let ByAllAccounts operate as a standalone company. Morningstar will remain a customer, integrating ByAllAccounts into products like the Direct Advisory Suite and Morningstar Investor. The sale reflects Morningstar's strategy to focus on proprietary data, research, software, and investment management, where it believes its competitive edge is strongest. Morningstar Wealth and Morningstar Retirement together oversaw approximately $378 billion in assets under management and advisement as of Dec. 31, 2025.
Pello Companies appointed Cynthia Rojas Sejas as CEO of ByAllAccounts. She brings 25 years of senior leadership experience in financial data and analytics, including tenures at Moody's and S&P Global. "ByAllAccounts built a strong and trusted data aggregation platform under Morningstar's ownership," said Rojas Sejas. "Our vision is to deliver to advisors, wealth managers, and wealth technology platforms the most comprehensive financial account data, and an expanded set of capabilities." Daniel Needham, president of Morningstar Wealth and Research & Investments, framed the move as a liberation for ByAllAccounts, allowing it to enjoy "focused expertise and investment to support its next phase of growth."
Perplexity's broader financial push includes a March integration with Plaid, the financial data network, enabling Perplexity Computer to connect users' brokerage accounts for real-time portfolio analysis. The Plaid partnership gives Perplexity access to holdings, transactions, and balance data through secure connections, making the research platform capable of answering personalized financial questions grounded in a user's actual portfolio. Perplexity has also expanded its Finance layer with more than 40 live data tools, drawing on sources including SEC filings, FactSet, S&P Global, and LSEG. The finance module also draws from Polymarket, whose founder Shayne Coplan has called prediction markets a "global truth machine" for alternative investor sentiment.
Perplexity says 75% of its users ask finance-related questions through AI monthly, a figure that underscores the demand financial data providers like Morningstar are racing to serve. For advisors, these integrations promise to collapse the friction of moving across multiple platforms—pulling fund data from one source, private markets intelligence from another, and general market context from a third. The result is a more streamlined research workflow, though speed without trusted sourcing creates its own liabilities. Morningstar's integration is designed to address that concern directly, ensuring that the analytical rigor clients expect is maintained even as AI accelerates the pace of research.
