Summary
STACS is Asia’s leading ESG data and technology company, headquartered in Singapore. Its ESGpedia platform powers the ESCAP Sustainable Business Network (ESBN) Asia-Pacific Green Deal digital platform, the ASEAN Single Accesspoint for ESG Data (SAFE) initiative, the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Greenprint ESG Registry, and the Singapore-Australia Go-Green Co-Innovation Programme. With more than 5 million sustainability data points, ESGpedia serves as the Nexus of ESG, digitally empowering corporates, SMEs, and the financial sector to ensure compliance towards ESG regulations and attain their ESG goals.
Description of fintech solution
ESGpedia is Asia’s leading ESG data and technology platform, with corporates, SMEs, and financial institutions across Asia Pacific onboard. Serving as a one-stop AI powered digital platform to empower sustainability in Asia, the SaaS-based platform provides digital solutions for end-to-end business needs, over 5 million sustainability data points, and various sectors coverage.
ESGpedia has presence across the Asia Pacific region, empowering corporates, SMEs, and the financial sector towards ESG reporting in accordance with international and country-specific frameworks such as the ISSB, GRI, PCAF, SEDG, and more.
ESGpedia’s technology expertise in actionable tools, GHG emissions calculation, supplier engagement, data aggregation, data harmonisation, and analytics has benefitted the corporates, SMEs, and the financial sector using the platform to achieve their ESG goals and ensure compliance towards ESG regulations. It empowers banks, asset managers, and investors for sustainable financing and ESG risk monitoring of portfolio, and allows corporates and SMEs to easily kickstart their ESG reporting journey according to international and country-specific frameworks and monitor the sustainability performance of suppliers. For more information, please visit www.esgpedia.io.
Describe your key innovations
To help to plug the ESG data gaps in Asia Pacific and provide a complete ESG database, ESGpedia has enhanced its Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered engine to provide a dual approach – Nexus and Intelligence.
ESGpedia Nexus enables corporates and SMEs, regardless of their ESG maturity, from day 1 to full readiness with an end-to-end suite of sustainability solutions for all their business ESG needs. Companies can create their free ESG profile with our free ESG Starter Tool with simplified ESG metrics scalable to support international assessments and standards reporting, such as GRI, ISSB, TCFD, and more.
The free ESG Starter Tool includes an embedded GHG calculator that automatically converts operational data to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the standard GHG Protocol, localised to all Asia Pacific countries, as well as a Marketplace where companies can amplify their ESG profile, and sell or procure ESG services. Join the 150,000+ company profiles on our platform and amplify your ESG profile on our Marketplace to showcase your commitment to sustainability towards a greener ASEAN.
ESGpedia Intelligence empowers banks, investors, insurers, and corporates to overcome data fragmentation with its proprietary AI-powered engine, aggregating over 5 million sustainability data points across different countries and sectors. Financial Institutions and corporates are empowered to conduct taxonomy regulatory mapping, gain access to companies’ ESG profiles with product and asset level data, and effectively monitor portfolio companies including SMEs, for sustainable financing and supply chain tracking.
Solution Lifecycle
Commercialized
Founder's Background
Benjamin Soh is the Founder and Managing Director of STACS, Asia’s leading ESG data and technology company, headquartered in Singapore. Its ESGpedia platform powers the ESCAP Sustainable Business Network (ESBN) Asia-Pacific Green Deal digital platform, the ASEAN Single Accesspoint for ESG Data (SAFE) pilot initiative, the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Greenprint ESG Registry, and the Singapore-Australia Go-Green Co-Innovation Programme. ESGpedia serves as the Nexus of ESG, digitally empowering the corporates, SMEs, and the financial sector to ensure compliance towards ESG regulations and attain their ESG goals.
A serial entrepreneur who previously founded a multinational, regulated B2B FinTech serving the needs of more than 100 financial services firms worldwide, Ben is also currently serving as the Chairman of the Green and Sustainable FinTech Sub-Committee of the Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) and is a member of the Singapore Computer Society (SCS) Sustainable Tech Special Interest Group.
With a personal purpose to bring about positive change in the world with technology, Ben shares his ESG Tech expertise with the leaders of today and the next generation, through frequent thought leadership articles and the various global stages and industry talks he is regularly invited to speak at.
Founded (Years of Incorporation)
2019
How are you funded today?
Series A
Money Raised
$8mm SGD
Number of employees
40
Presence In Region
ASEAN
Asia
North Asia
Southeast Asia
Technology
Application Programming Interface (API)
Artificial Intelligence
Data automation
ESG
Machine Learning
Natural Language Processing (NLP)
HQ Country
Singapore
What are the top 3 key benefits your solution will bring to the Asset Management Industry?
ESGpedia offer an end to end solution that can allows Asset Managers to reap benefits on 3 key fronts:
1) Seamless and Automated Conditional Screening and Monitoring to track Financial Portfolios
- ESGpedia empowers better review of ESG financial products, with ongoing monitoring and visibility of sustainability claims, allowing asset managers to monitor the underlying quality of sustainable investments on an ongoing basis.
Streamline the screening and tracking of portfolios with automated notifications and pre-set thresholds. Asset managers can also create customised portfolios for ease of monitoring of sustainability metrics across companies for ESG financial products.
2) Bridge data gap in the Asia Pacific for increased transparency at the asset level, regardless of sector
- ESGpedia allows asset managers to access companies’ holistic ESG profiles, with asset and product level data?. Explore a complete global database of companies’ ESG profiles and access the universe of ESG certificates awarded at the asset or company level - all on a single dashboard.
Filter based on country, framework, sector, segment, and validity status for ease of search and check.
Screen and identify businesses based on their ESG profile and overview of their ESG credentials.
3) Better ESG Risk Monitoring and Management, alleviate fears of greenwashing
- With better data and digital tools to empower effective monitoring of financial portfolio and underlying quality of sustainable investments, asset managers can ensure their ESG claims and investments are accurate and verifiable, to mitigate fears of greenwashing, and future-proof against increasing scrutiny of greenwashing practices.
Tell us more about your past client engagements to date and your market penetration?
Corporate Milestones
Year Event
Feb 2019
Incorporation of Hashstacs Pte Ltd (STACS)
Nov 2019
Public showcase of STACS Bond prototype in partnership with MAS Project Ubin at Singapore Fintech Festival
Jun 2020
Live deployment of real-time trade processing platform for Eastspring Investments and BNP Paribas Securities Services
STACS becomes a member of International Securities Services Association (ISSA)
July 2020 Develops Blockchain Project with Bursa Malaysia for its bonds marketplace
Oct 2020
Delivers Blockchain Platform with Swiss Private Bank EFG Bank. MAS FSTI project
Nov 2020
Won Gartner Eye on Innovation Award 2020 for Trade Processing platform with Eastspring Investments
Dec2020
Completes Blockchain Project with Malaysia’s National Stock Exchange Bursa Malaysia for growing bonds marketplace
Awarded the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) FinTech Award, themed Sustainability and Green Finance
Hosted our inaugural STACS Showcase with global leading financial institutions
Grand Donor for “FinTech for Good” NTUC U-Care Fund 2020
Jan 2021
Kickstarted MAS FSTI project with Deutsche Bank
Becomes portfolio company of PwC Singapore’s Venture Hub programme
Former Standard Chartered Singapore CEO Ray Ferguson Joins STACS as Chairman
Mar 2021
Awarded FinTech Start-Up of the Year and Best Blockchain Project in The Asset Triple A Digital Awards 2021?
Apr 2021
Closed S$5 Million in pre-Series A funding
May 2021
Completion of MAS FSTI bond project on digital assets and sustainability-linked bonds with Deutsche Bank, and industry collaborators including UBS, Bursa Malaysia, and Union Bank of the Philippines
Jun 2021
Featured in The World Economic Forum - Insight Report on Digital Assets, Distributed Ledger Technology, and the Future of Capital Markets
Aug 2021
Selected to partner Mastercard in its Global Start Path program
Sept 2021
Supports industry in eVCC MAS FSTI project led by InvestaX, UBS, State Street, and CMS
Nov 2021
Official partner of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Greenprint, building industry-wide ESG Registry
Jan 2022
Awarded ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Information Security Certification
Feb 2022
Partnered CSOP Asset Management on Trade Processing
Mar 2022
Launch of full suite of ESG solutions
May 2022
ESGpedia officially launches with over 20 institutional partners at Project Greenprint Industry Showcase Event with Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
Video Showcase featuring 12 Financial Institution Partners and their take on Project Greenprint ESG Registry
TÜV SÜD PSB partners ESGpedia by STACS via its Sustainability- as-a-Service (SaaS) programme
Jun 2022
Partners PDS Group to power launch of live DLT-based digital bond, first in Asia, with over-subscribed issue of US$210m Union Bank of the Philippines bond
Jul 2022
Partners TaFF (now rebranded as Singapore Fashion Council) to enable Textile and Fashion industry to go green
Aug 2022
Achieves ISO 22301:2019 Certification in Business Continuity Management System, supporting scale up
Sep 2022 Partners Everimpact to bring transparency to the carbon credits market for banks and corporates
Oct 2022
Partners Thailand state-owned power utility EGAT to bring greater transparency to the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) market in Thailand and ASEAN
Commenced Supplier Sustainability Monitoring with Maxeon Solar Technologies
Nov 2022
Citadines Bali adopts digital tools from STACS and Envision Digital to Decarbonise its Operations
Manulife Investment Management joins forces with STACS’ ESGpedia registry on effective review of sustainability labelled bonds
Partners with Razer to enhance transparency with end-to-end traceability of high-quality carbon offsets, through its Restorify service
ESGpedia, the Greenprint ESG Registry, marks significant milestones with the unveiling of 9 live use cases for the real economy with global financial institutions and corporates
Dec 2022 Represented Singapore and spoke at the COP27 SG Pavilion
Mar 2023 Partners with Green Freight Asia to greenify the transportation and logistics sector and enable access to sustainable financing
Partners Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (TGO) to bring greater transparency to the Carbon Credits market in Thailand
May 2023 To advocate for business leadership in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the ESCAP Sustainable Business Network (‘ESBN’) partnered with STACS to launch the ESBN Asia-Pacific Green Deal digital assessment on ESGpedia
July 2023 Partners with International Accreditation Forum's ('IAF') global certificate database IAF CertSearch and Quality Trade to manage supply chain sustainability by ensuring supplier hold accredited ISO certifications
Aug 2023 Partners with Bamboo Capital Group to support corporate sustainability and ESG reporting for businesses in Vietnam
Sep 2023 Partners with Philippine PDS Group on SFIA Single AccesPoint for ESG Data (SAFE) Initiative to support corporate sustainability and ESG reporting for businesses in Philippines
Oct 2023 Partners with Funding Societies to empower Indonesia MSMEs in ESG Reporting and Sustainable Financing
Nov 2023 Upgraded ESGpedia platform helps businesses and Financial Institutions comply with mandatory ESG regulations across Europe and Asia
Ghim Lim leverages streamlined emissions data collection and verification on ESGpedia to obtain $16m Sustainability-Linked Loan from OCBC
STACS emerged as Global Finalists for COP28 TechSprint and OCBC Emerging Enterprise Sustainability Award
Jan 2024 ESGpedia adopts the Simplified ESG Disclosure Guide (SEDG) to facilitate ESG reporting among Malaysian SMEs in supply chains
Feb 2024 Partners with Modalku and Global Compact Network Indonesia to organise an ESG gathering on empowering Indonesia MSMEs through ESG reporting and Sustainable Practices
Do you have any case studies of your solution? If yes, please share it in less than 200 words
We have developed our platform based on significant collaborations that led to the commercialisation of our solutions, where we are now live with a network of institutions, enabling them to grasp strategic business opportunities that produce positive spillover effects. Links to our press releases are as follows:
https://stacs.io/live-industry-use-cases-esgpedia/
https://esgpedia.io/newsroom/
Awards/Accolades
STACS has won numerous challenges as follows:
1. Winner at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Global FinTech Innovation Challenge Awards 2020, which was focused on Green Finance and Sustainability (https://tinyurl.com/MASGlobalFinInnAward)
2. Best Fintech ESG Solution for the Asset Management Industry at the DigFin Innovation Awards 2021 (https://www.digfingroup.com/awards/)
3. Asia-Pacific winner at the Gartner Eye on Innovation Awards for Financial Services (with Eastspring Investments and BNP Paribas) 2020 (https://tinyurl.com/GartnerInnAward)
4. Two-times awardee of the Financial Sector Technology and Innovation (FSTI) Proof of Concept (POC) grant, under the Financial Sector Development Fund administered by MAS
5. The Asset Triple A Digital Awards 2021 – FinTech Start-up of the Year (https://theasset.com/awards/digitalawards-21)
6. The Asset Triple A Digital Project Awards 2021 – Best Blockchain Project (Malaysia) with Bursa Malaysia
7. UBS Future of Finance Challenge – Global Finalist 2019 (https://tinyurl.com/UBSFuturesChallenge)
8. Angelhub Global Start-up Competition 2021 – Global Winner (Fintech B2B) (https://angelhub.io/gsc/)
9. Powers the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) Greenprint ESG Registry
(https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2021/mas-and-industry-to-pilot-digital-platforms-for-better-data-to-support-green-finance)
10. ESCAP Sustainable Business Network (ESBN) Asia-Pacific Green Deal – Digital Assessment Platform Provider
(https://www.unescap.org/projects/gd)
11. Sustainable Finance Institute Asia (SFIA) ASEAN Single Accesspoint for ESG Data (SAFE) Initiative – Technology Partner
(https://www.sfinstitute.asia/safe/)
12. COP28 TechSprint – 1 of 5 Global Finalists – AI Technology for Sustainable Finance Category
(https://www.bis.org/hub/2023_cop28_techsprint.htm)
13. Emerging Enterprise Sustainability Award – Finalist
(https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/events-awards/emerging-enterprise/sustainability-can-be-small-companies-too)
Marketing Video
