ESG data science company RepRisk and financial services provider Apex Group announced today the launch of a new strategic partnership, aimed at expanding access to material ESG risk data for private markets participants.

RepRisk uses a combination of machine learning and human intelligence to offer quantitative risk analytics and proprietary metrics for more than 150,000 public and private companies, covering every global sector and market. The RepRisk ESG data covers a broad range of issues, including human rights, labor practices, corruption and the environment.

In August 2020, Apex announced the launch of its ESG ratings and advisory platform, the first targeted to private companies and private market investors. According to the company, the platform was developed to address the lack of high quality, global, independent tools to assess the ESG performance of private companies.

Under the new partnership, Apex’s ESG Rating and Advisory Portal will now include RepRisk Analytics Reports and Cases Data on private companies, allowing unrivalled ESG insights to private companies and their investors.

Alexandra Mihailescu Cichon, Executive Vice President Sales and Marketing at RepRisk, said:

“Apex is a very exciting partnership for RepRisk, and one we are especially well-suited for. RepRisk is the only ESG provider to systematically cover private companies. While our dataset grows every day, it currently includes more than 120,000 private companies worldwide, in every sector and market. RepRisk looks at what the world says about a company, not what a company says about itself – and in combination with Apex’s analysis on company disclosures and reporting, we’re able to provide a uniquely holistic picture of a company’s ESG profile.”

Andy Pitts-Tucker, Managing Director, Apex ESG Ratings and Advisory, said:

“Apex ESG’s new platform was established to satisfy the demand from private markets for greater transparency through a high quality, global, independent, single-source ESG solution. We help investors to collect, verify and evaluate data on their portfolio companies and benchmark the quality and performance of that data to produce quantitative and comparable analysis. With access to RepRisk’s independent ESG data and insights, we are excited to provide a holistic perspective on each company. Ultimately, this partnership can play a role in influencing significant behavioral change, drive capital flows, and support our clients as they look to improve their ESG performance.”