Four Nordic companies ready to cross the ‘Sustainable Fintech Bridge’ between the Nordics and Singapore.

Four Nordic fintech startups has been selected to join the UNDP and Copenhagen Fintech Impact Partnership Program. The program aims to bridge the stronghold of Nordic fintech startups, with scaling opportunities from the global and regional partners – Citi and DBS Bank – with local presence in the ASEAN region. The four companies will be working together with the partners to rapidly identify and prototype potential commercial and sustainable partnerships in the region.

The four companies selected are:

• Earthbank: Earthbanc delivers enterprise carbon, green digital banking and ESG services to funnel billions into regeneration.

• Agroclimatica: Agroclimatica is an agroclimatic platform that aids financial institutions in identifying and quantifying the risks and opportunities associated to agricultural credits, insurance and investments.

• Normative: Normative is simplifying sustainability and being the catalyst for next generation change. They do this by making the environmental and social cost of every purchase in our economy transparent.

• Matter: Matter makes it easier for investors to understand and report the sustainability impact of investments through intuitive software solutions. Matter empowers investors to make their capital work for people and the planet.

”At Normative, our goal is to tag all invoices, purchases and transactions in the world with sustainability data in order to create more sustainable decisions. Working with some of the worlds largest banks, together with UNDP, in one of the worlds fastest growing regions will bring us one step closer to that goal,” says CEO and co-founder of Normative, Kristian Rönn.

“We are excited to see that the Nordic FinTech startups selected for the program hold solutions to global challenges. This includes banking the unbanked, calculating product externalities, enabling investors to transition towards more sustainable investments and more. In short, they have the potential to contribute to financial inclusion and the sustainable transformation of societies using tech solutions,” says Stine Kirstein Junge, Head of SDG Accelerator for SMEs, UNDP’s Nordic Office.

“We are extremely delighted to be part of this meaningful initiative and are very impressed with the many innovative tech solutions from these Nordics startups that aim to address the global sustainability challenges we are facing today. Having the opportunity to mentor and guide these

startups has also given us new perspectives on ways to take these ideas forward. The end of this challenge is certainly not the end but the start of a purposeful journey ahead that will see more collaborations and partnerships towards greater sustainable development, the pathway to a better future that all of us aspire to have, says Rudi Baxter-Warman, Country Head for Citi in Denmark.

“DBS is delighted to be a partner of the UNDP and Copenhagen Fintech Impact Partnership Programme, which demonstrates the importance of building networks that are open and connected with the world to address challenges collectively. For us, collaborating with fintech startups holds promise to exponentially increase the availability, attractiveness and accessibility of sustainable financial solutions across markets. As Singapore’s largest bank, we look forward to extending our expertise and regional insights to the selected fintechs and plugging them into our innovation and sustainability ecosystem, to build a sustainable fintech bridge,” says Stephanie Chu, Head of Fintech and Partnerships, Innovation Group, DBS Bank.

The four fintech startups will be participating in the Singapore Fintech Festival and will also present their solutions on 9 December at the World Fintech Festival hosted by Copenhagen Fintech.

About the program:

UNDP's Global Center for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development in Singapore, UNDP's Nordic Office, UNDP SDG Innovative Finance (UNSIF) in Bangkok and Copenhagen Fintech are bringing Nordic fintech startups to Singapore to support cross border collaboration and exchange of technology and innovation. The aim of the program is to help fast-track their journey towards commercially scalable and sustainable impact-oriented ventures in the ASEAN region.

Local startups tackling some of the world's most urgent challenges and program partners – Citi and DBS Bank in Singapore - will also be involved to foster new partnerships and even stronger ties between the two regions.