Uniqus Consultech has acquired Goodera’s global business that helps corporates manage their sustainability programs by automating the collection, maintenance, and approval of their ESG data.

Uniqus, based in the U.S., India, and the Middle East, is a tech-enabled platform offering ESG accounting and reporting consulting.

The acquisition, part of Uniqus’ strategy to integrate technology to address client needs, will strengthen its ESG practice and serve the $10 billion ESG market.

“One of the major challenges faced by companies in the area of ESG is the weakly integrated data that resides across different information systems. By integrating Goodera’s tech stack with our consulting expertise, our overall ESG offering will bridge this gap through a single platform for businesses to measure, monitor, analyze, benchmark, and improve their ESG performance and meet regulatory and rating norms productively and accurately,” said Jamil Khatri, co-founder & CEO of Uniqus.

U.S. and Bengaluru-based Goodera, which will be renamed ESG UniVerse post the acquisition, is expected to house leading data management, reporting, and AI-enabled smart search capacities. There are also plans to add additional features such as GHG inventorization, value chain assessment, peer benchmarking, and ESG maturity assessment, which are in the advanced stages of development.

“The combination of the deep domain expertise of Uniqus and the Goodera ESG platform will be hugely valuable to companies as they manage global compliance and make progress on their ESG journey. The combination of the deep domain expertise of Uniqus and the Goodera ESG platform will be hugely valuable to companies as they manage global compliance and make progress on their ESG journey,” said Abhishek Humbad, founder and CEO of Goodera.

Uniqus will further make additional investments in its tech stack to address the emerging data requirements of its clients and build a next-generation ESG tech platform, he said.

India’s ESG and sustainability consulting market is experiencing significant growth in demand. In October 2023, Rewa Ultra Mega Solar invited bids to select a consultant to develop its ESG strategy, allowing RUMSL to align itself with international sustainability standards and report its sustainability achievements to its stakeholders.

However, UK-based finance platform Demica said in a report in May that Indian banks were less likely to prioritize ESG in the near future, with only 20% stating that it was an expected area of focus for them.