Nasdaq Inc., has entered an agreement to acquire Montréal-based startup Metrio for an undisclosed amount. The deal is expected to close by mid-June.
Nasdaq said it plans to integrate Metrio’s SaaS offering into its own suite of ESG solutions.
Founded in 2009 by Patrick Elie (CEO) and Pierre-Alexandre Hurtubise (COO), Metrio is a provider of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data collection, analytics, and reporting services.
Since its inception, Metrio claims that its corporate social responsibility (CSR) platform has helped more than 5,000 users at over 100 global companies. The startup’s ESG focus has attracted a client base that includes the likes of Air Canada, Bell, BMO, Cogeco, Desjardins, Hydro Québec, Loblaw Companies Ltd., RBC, and TMX, which owns and operates the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV).
For its own part, Metrio announced last year that it had achieved carbon neutrality, which means that the startup is able to offset the same amount of carbon emissions that it emits. Metrio said it now intends to become carbon-negative by 2023.
Nasdaq said it plans to integrate Metrio’s SaaS offering into its own suite of ESG solutions. These include ESG advisory services for investor relations professionals, a carbon marketplace, and an ESG workflow and reporting platform.
“We expect current and prospective clients to benefit from a flexible platform that collects, measures and analyzes corporate sustainability data, as well as generates investor-grade reports in real-time, which can be adapted for and shared with multiple stakeholders,” said Michael Bartels, senior vice president of investor relations and ESG services at Nasdaq.
RELATED: Nasdaq acquires St. John’s based Verafin for $2.75 billion USD
A spokesperson for Nasdaq also told BetaKit that the combined offering will accelerate Nasdaq’s ability to address clients’ needs with improved end-to-end ESG platform, allowing for the integration and calculation of non-financial key performance indicators (KPIs) required for external or internal reporting purposes.
When asked if all Metrio employees will be joining Nasdaq, the spokesperson said it will be subject to client conditions and transactions. “We expect client impact to be minimal and will plan to keep our clients regularly informed on the progress,” they continued.
Once its acquisition of Metrio is completed, Nasdaq will have acquired 13 companies to date, according to venture capital data site Tracxn.
In Canada, Nasdaq previously acquired St. John’s based fraud detection SaaS company Verafin for a notable $2.75 billion USD to bolster the former’s regulatory technology.
Featured image from Metrio’s blog post.