• Societe Generale, via Societe Generale Ventures, and Altalurra Ventures take a stake in impak ratings following a series A in the amount of 4.5 million euros.
• Societe Generale has also chosen impak ratings to analyze the environmental and social impacts of its major corporate clients in order to support them in the ecological and energy transition.
• This operation positions impak as a leading analysis and impact rating agency in Europe and demonstrates the acceleration of the transformation of the financial sector towards responsible finance with a positive impact.
impak, a unique player on the market
Launched in 2019 and based in Montreal and Paris, impak ratings is the leading European impact analysis and rating agency. The start-up has already signed with twenty clients and convinces thanks to an innovative and unique methodology on the market. It provides financial institutions with high-quality impact analysis, based on the most consensual and rigorous standards in the industry allowing transparency, comparability and contextualization of data. By assessing how companies mitigate their negative impacts and create positive impacts on the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, impak ratings goes beyond the traditional analysis of ESG issues and is rooted in the approach dual materiality, which consists of studying the impact of the environment on the company and of the company on its environment. This approach is now recognized as being essential to enable the financial sector to be a real catalyst for the transformation of our economy, which today justifies the company’s collaboration with major players in the market, such as Société Générale.
In-depth collaborative work
Indeed, it is by virtue of this differentiating positioning that the agency was able to convince its new partners, whose participation will considerably accelerate the development of the start-up. In addition to its investment, the Societe Generale Group, through its Global Banking and Advisory division, had chosen impak ratings as a partner last December to provide it with the impact analyzes of all its clients in order to integrate them into the all of its traditional banking processes.
“We are pleased with the strengthening of this strategic partnership with impak ratings. Having a good understanding of the environmental and social issues of our clients is an essential element in order to be able to best support them in their responsible roadmap. By welcoming the start-up to SG Ventures, Societe Generale is contributing to accelerating the environmental and social transformation of its clients,” said Pierre Palmieri, Head of Global Banking and Advisory, Societe Generale.
Similarly, Altalurra is making a similar choice by signing a co-development agreement with impak ratings that will meet best impact reporting practices for institutional investors in Europe and around the world.
Momentum for sustainable finance
The financial sector is today at the heart of a profound transformation. As key players in financing the economy, banks are increasingly taking up environmental and societal issues to become stakeholders in this transition. To support these changes, they need to integrate high-quality data and impact analyzes into their decision-making and business processes. The synergies that are emerging today between impak ratings and its partners are fully in line with this approach, which aims to allow a real objectification of the impact measurement process.
“This new collaboration with impak ratings is an additional step in the credibility of our investment strategy with committed technology companies. It is indeed a pioneer player able to co-develop and perfect the impact assessment for any institutional investor. As such, it is, in our opinion, a start-up that has all the assets to quickly become the leading agency in its segment,” comments Lionel Auguste, co-founder of Altalurra Ventures.
“The announcement of our merger with Societe Generale is significant and confirms impak’s positioning as a leading impact analysis and rating agency in Europe. It bears witness to the acceleration of the transformation of the financial sector towards responsible finance with a positive impact. This investment and the resulting partnerships clearly demonstrate the global leadership of these players in terms of sustainable finance,” concludes Paul Allard, co-founder and CEO of impak ratings.
About impak ratings
impak ratings, a fintech using augmented intelligence, offers impact analyzes to players in the finance sector. Our standardized impact assessment methodology incorporates positive impacts and the dual materiality approach, based on the standards of the Impact Management Project and the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In addition, thanks to more than 3,700 enriched data points and its 1000-point rating called the impak Score™, impact analyzes are comparable, reliable and contextualized.
About Societe Generale
Societe Generale is one of Europe’s leading financial services groups. Relying on a diversified and integrated model, the Group combines financial solidity, dynamic innovation and a strategy of sustainable and responsible growth. Committed to the positive transformation of societies and economies, Societe Generale acts every day with its teams to build together, with its clients, a better and sustainable future by providing responsible and innovative financial solutions.
A major player in the real economy for more than 150 years with a solid foothold in Europe and connected to the rest of the world, Societe Generale employs more than 131,000 people in 66 countries and supports 26 million individual customers, companies and institutional investors on a daily basis. worldwide (figures as of December 31, 2021), by offering a wide range of advice and tailor-made financial solutions based on three complementary business lines:
• retail banking in France with the Societe Generale, Crédit du Nord and Boursorama brands, which offer full ranges of financial services with an omnichannel system at the forefront of digital innovation;
• international retail banking, insurance and financial services, with networks present in Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and specialized businesses that are leaders in their markets;
• Global Banking and Investor Solutions, with its recognized expertise, key international positions and integrated solutions.
Societe Generale is included in the main sustainable development indices: DJSI (Europe), FTSE4Good (Global and Europe), Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, Refinitiv Diversity and Inclusion Index, Euronext Vigeo (Europe and Eurozone), STOXX Global ESG Leaders indexes and MSCI Low Carbon Leaders Index (World and Europe).
www.societegenerale.com
About Altalurra Ventures
Altalurra Ventures (AV) is a diversity-focused venture capital fund that aims to de-risk ESG investing. AV’s mission is to support the emergence of technology startups that demonstrate a measurable positive impact and a sustainable business model. AV is founded on a deep belief that impact investing is the way to generate superior returns if properly executed and monitored. Our unique experience in growth management, strategy and technology gives us an edge in discovering and supporting entrepreneurs. Thanks to a transparent and data-driven framework, AV integrates a 360° impact analysis as part of its decision-making process; and help investors deploy and execute a winning impact investing strategy by reconciling CSR and profit.
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