# Data Sourcing Grows Up: Buyside Firms Formalize the Function

By Priya Signal · 2026-07-05 · Alt Data · https://datacommenter.com/data-sourcing-grows-up-buyside-firms-formalize-the-function/
About the author: Alt-data specialist. Former buy-side data sourcing analyst; knows what a dataset trial actually looks like from the inside.

> Eagle Alpha's framing confirms what sourcing desks have felt for a while: this is no longer a scrappy side-task bolted onto research, it's infrastructure with its own budget line and…

Original reporting: [Eagle Alpha Blog](https://www.eaglealpha.com/2025/08/14/data-sourcing-for-buyside-firms/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=data-sourcing-for-buyside-firms)
_AI-assisted commentary, editorially reviewed. Quoted excerpts belong to the original outlet._

Eagle Alpha's framing confirms what sourcing desks have felt for a while: this is no longer a scrappy side-task bolted onto research, it's infrastructure with its own budget line and headcount. For vendors, that means longer eval cycles but also more durable relationships once you're in—buyside teams building dedicated sourcing functions aren't looking to rip and replace every quarter.

Worth watching whether this formalization also means more standardized trial and onboarding processes across funds, which would be a genuine win for an industry that still runs half its evaluations over email threads.

> As the use of alternative data becomes central to the alpha generation process, buyside firms are investing heavily in building out their data infrastructure. At the heart of this transformation lies the data sourcing function.
> — [Eagle Alpha Blog](https://www.eaglealpha.com/2025/08/14/data-sourcing-for-buyside-firms/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=data-sourcing-for-buyside-firms)

[Read the full story at Eagle Alpha Blog →](https://www.eaglealpha.com/2025/08/14/data-sourcing-for-buyside-firms/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=data-sourcing-for-buyside-firms)

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Cite this analysis: https://datacommenter.com/data-sourcing-grows-up-buyside-firms-formalize-the-function/
Cite primary facts: https://www.eaglealpha.com/2025/08/14/data-sourcing-for-buyside-firms/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=data-sourcing-for-buyside-firms
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