Wequity’s young founders unveil AI solutions automating ESG data extraction, analysis & reporting, and secure €1.1M funding to boost expansion

This significant enhancement not only reaffirms Wequity's commitment to innovation but also provides a solid ground for the company to embark on new horizons, such as its forthcoming expansion into the United Kingdom. This strategic move marks a pivotal milestone with a primary focus on establishing trust and a robust foundation among clients in the UK market.

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Wequity has recently partnered with delaware, and raised a €1.1M seed funding round with the participation of a robust panel of investors, including Piet Colruyt, Founder of Impact House; Peter Hujoel, Partner at Rivean Capital, and Sebastiaan De Boe, Partner at Balyasny Asset Management, and Birdhouse, among others. This exciting new phase in Wequity's journey marks the start of building their mark, trust and confidence among key players in the industry.

Young Innovators Building a Sustainable Future

Founded in 2021 by Gabriel Levie and Franck-Victor Laurant while they were still students in Belgium, Wequity came with the idea of using data solutions to enable investors and companies to implement their sustainability commitments.

With Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors gaining significant importance in both business and investment decisions, new regulations and requirements are stepping into the spotlight. The proliferation of regulatory requirements has brought forth a major challenge for both companies and financial institutions: the lack of reliability, comparability, and availability of data, as well as costly data collection processes.

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To address the laborious and time-consuming nature of data gathering data, Wequity emerges as an innovative solution provider, helping organisations navigate ESG data collection, obligations and risks through fast and accessible AI-automated solutions. This has led to collaboration with BEL20 companies and prominent asset managers.

“At Wequity, our aim has always been to eliminate the barriers companies face in implementing their sustainability ambitions. With our new advanced AI capabilities, we're taking care of the difficult ESG data collection and reporting, enabling businesses to focus more on their core ESG goals and less on the intricacies of data management”, Franck & Gabriel, Co-founders of Wequity.

This philosophy has garnered support from a wide variety of investors and advisors such as Hendrik Isebaert (CEO at Showpad), Guillaume V. Rijckevorsel ( Ex-Head of Operations at Darts-IP & COO at Soil Capital), Justin Kew (Senior ESG Analyst at BAM), François Grandjean (Ex-CTO at Darts-acquired by Clarivate), Walter Luyten (Investor at BAN Vlaanderen), and Christophe Maurissen (Managing Director Alcotra Europe at Alcogroup) who brought together a variety of European investors such as Lionel Desclée (CEO at The Very Group) with Constantin Meeus (Global Risk and Trading at Alcotra SA). Through the Birdhouse, Wequity also benefits from advice from Frederik Neus (Founder of Zentrick - acquired by DoubleVerify), Davy Kestens (Founder of SparkCentral - acquired by Hootsuite), Wim Allegaert ( CFO at Threon) and Marc Troch ( Experienced Executive in the financial sector).

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“Very proud to be backing Gabriel, Franck and the amazing Wequity team. Big market opportunity, ambitious team, amazing technology and great pipeline of customers. Couldn’t be more excited to be part of the Wequity journey”, Christophe Maurissen, MD Alcotra Europe.

For investors, Wequity enables ESG Due Diligence & Screening by using AI to obtain holistic ESG data, from primary public sources. Wequity’s AI enables clients to extract data from public ESG reports, news, and social media, and to consume the data via a chatbot, dashboard, email alerts, and directly with an API.

“With the rise of regulatory requirements and complexity to analyse companies like DNSH within Taxonomy, we need an efficient and cost effectively to accurately carry out our analysis. Wequity has the ability to attribute controversies and incidents to activity level that can help to match with the taxonomy requirements, and to do this from range of reliable sources”, ESG Senior Analyst at a major Asset Management firm in London.

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The ESG AI-Extraction & Reporting platform, designed for private market investors and corporates, has a primary goal of saving valuable time in the data collection and reporting process. Meeting the new ESG requirements for collecting data and reporting for annual reporting or for ESG questionnaires is often challenging as it requires additional capacities, expertise, and new processes. To achieve this, Wequity simplifies ESG reporting and questionnaire-filling by automatically pre-populating entries thus eliminating the need for manual data entry. This AI-powered pre-filling capabilities, significantly enhance report-building efficiency by identifying and calculating relevant data points. We also integrated an AI ESG Advisor which answers any question with regards to ESG regulations, ESG requirements, and offers support in reporting.

Wequity’s upcoming expansion to the UK market

Wequity's new expansion into the UK market signifies a transformative step in the company's growth trajectory. This move is of paramount importance as it not only showcases Wequity's commitment to global expansion but also positions the company to serve a broader clientele. Furthermore, Wequity's commitment to delivering cutting-edge ESG solutions aligns seamlessly with local UK requirements, including compliance with the Companies (Strategic Report) (Climate-related Financial Disclosure) Regulations 2022, as well as EU directives like the CSRD.

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Wequity partners with delaware to offer its solutions as part of their Sustainability services

Wequity is announcing an important partnership with delaware, a renowned global management and technology consulting firm with a strong track record of providing innovative solutions across various industries. The partnership brings new growth opportunities as delaware will use Wequity's platform to help its customers to automate their ESG reporting. delaware's venture building arm is interested to invest in the company in a future investment round.

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Fueling Growth And Innovation

Wequity has achieved a significant milestone by successfully securing €1.1 million in funding from a group of dedicated investors. This accomplishment serves as a testament to the company's compelling vision of using data solutions to enable investors and companies to make their sustainability ambitions come true, and the trust it has garnered within the investment community. The injection of funds will be deployed to propel Wequity's ongoing growth trajectory.

“Every business needs to play its part in contributing to advancements in ESG. Their employees, investors and customers demand it of them. Thanks to Wequity both investors and corporations get a much better handle on those efforts and can be more accurate in pursuing strategies that actually move the needle”, Hendrik Isebaert, CEO at Showpad.

By bringing together a dedicated and resilient team, an innovative product line, and the ambition to make a difference, Wequity stands poised to redefine how to successfully leverage AI technology to save businesses time by making ESG data collection and reporting easy and efficient.

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“As someone personally engaged to fostering positive change through Impact investment, I am thrilled to be a part of Wequity's latest funding round. Wequity boasts an exceptional team that is channeling tremendous energy towards reshaping the industry for a more sustainable and equitable future. It's a pleasure to support their inspiring journey”, Benoit de Bruyn- CEO at Newtree Impact.

“I decide to reinvest in this start-up because the societal need for better impact management is definitely there. It is time for the world of impact investing to embrace AI. At start I was impressed by the maturity of the young founders and now I want to continue to support them in their agility and in the pivotal changes they propose within Wequity”, Piet Colruyt - Founder Impact House.

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