Rebeca Minguela began to project at Harvard a product that today attracts large funds to analyze the social and environmental impact of the investment to the millimeter. In an interview with her, she highlights the innovations of her platform and the advantages of using artificial intelligence.
You don’t have to be born in San Francisco to launch a startup that attracts interest, and capital, from major international investors. You could have been born in Cuéllar (Segovia) and have a very well used career: having studied telecommunications engineering at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, having completed a master’s degree at the University of Stuttgart and another at Harvard Business School, having worked at IBM, Siemens and the German Aerospace Agency…
The path traveled by Rebeca Minguela has ended up crystallizing in Clarity AI, a company that aspires to become the reference platform for the analysis of social and environmental impact at a global level, and of which she is the founder and CEO.
“We are not a simple data provider that filters companies, but our value proposal is that of a technological platform for sustainability, going beyond that of a data provider and based on three fundamental axes”, explains Minguela.
First of all, it refers to the data: “We try to improve the quality of it, aggregating different sources, cleaning it and expanding the coverage through big data and machine learning.” Second, he mentions the modules offered by the platform: “Beyond risk measurement, with innovative methodologies for impact quantification, climate analysis…”.
And thirdly, the tools: “We offer technological solutions that integrate these data and modules in an intuitive, simple way, and with a very low integration cost for our clients compared to traditional alternatives”.
With the introductions made, it is worth asking how environmental impact fits with finances. “It is important to note that the market currently looks at ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria”, points out the CEO of what began as a business project at Harvard ten years ago.
“At Clarity AI, our ambition is for the social and environmental impact to be seen by all sectors of society (investors, companies, consumers, governments, etc.) as a variable beyond purely financial values”, emphasizes the executive .
The company he runs has global coverage for nearly 30,000 organizations, more than 215,000 investment funds and nearly 400 national and local governments. Such is its potential that on January 14 BlackRock, the world’s largest manager, entered Clarity AI as a minority shareholder and became its strategic partner.
Of course, the question must be asked: do you see interest in other financial firms to invest in Clarity? “Several financial companies and venture capital funds have shown interest in investing since we started. The German stock market, for example, is one of our investors as well,” says Minguela.
He says that his company’s value proposition is focused on both the fund manager and the individual investor, and he highlights two innovations of his platform with respect to what the market offered until now. “First, the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to data processing, which results in a highly scalable process and in the largest and most reliable database on sustainability on the market”, stands out as one of the favorable aspects by Clarity AI.
“Second -he emphasizes-, the innovation in scientific methodologies for impact measurement (as opposed to the prevailing methodologies for measuring risk related to sustainability), which brings a new and innovative perspective to the analysis of financial assets”. But ultimately, as Minguela herself points out, “the companies that are most respectful of ESG criteria today are those that want to have a real impact on the environment and society.”