A new automated system that will search through more than 40 million internet sources - from blogs to regulatory filings - on behalf of hedge funds.

Called Monitor110, the platform, which is expected to be officially launched next year, acts as an aggregator and a filter for hedge funds trying to keep up with the explosion of online information sources, reports the Financial Times. The platform is being run by a former Deutsche Bank executive and has received financing from, among others, VC Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which backed Skype. Ten hedge funds are trying out the system.

Monitor110 can search for individual pieces of data and trends in online activity. Users are able to filter the data by defining particular companies, investment themes and "tolerance levels" that would screen sources by reputation.

In time, the platform could lend itself to trading strategies dependent on computer-driven models feeding off measures of online activity, according to Monitor110 president and chief operating officer Roger Ehrenberg. Some fear, however, that the system could be vulnerable to spammers.