Spotted:  Investors and corporates alike are increasingly interested in using software as a service (SaaS) models to integrate sustainability-focused infrastructure into corporate platforms. In line with this trend, Singaporean startup Handprint is providing businesses with an easy way to improve their planetary impact. 

The Handprint platform offers companies a choice of pre-verified impact projects grouped into themes such as social justice, clean water, and deforestation. Each company can then choose to support the ones that best align with its brand and values.  

Once a company has chosen the projects it wishes to support, software plugins integrate contributions to those projects into core business functions such as e-commerce. For example, food delivery company Saladstop integrated with Handprint’s technology to allow its customers to order ‘climate positive’ meals. Similarly, media platform Teads worked with Handprint to let its users dedicate part of their advertising spend to the regeneration project of their choice.  

The idea behind Handprint is that the company makes the contribution rather than the end consumer. But by using Handprint’s platform, companies gain benefits such as increased brand loyalty and greater cart conversion, while also linking their impact contributions to their core business. 

Handprint also makes it easy to track the company’s overall contribution – both in terms of monetary investment and impact outcomes. The progress of the company’s chosen projects can be traced with quasi-real-time data and on-the-ground photos – which the company can post on social media. 

A really important benefit of Handprint’s approach is that it significantly reduces intermediary costs on the back-end. By using blockchain technology and satellite imagery Handprint is able to avoid some of the costs normally associated with donation-based systems. As a result, more money flows to projects on the ground and less to third-party administration. In fact, the company claims to have one of the best dollar-to-impact rates in the world, being on average 68% cheaper than its competitors. 

In a crowded marketplace for corporate impact, Handprint’s credibility is boosted by its links with academia, and the financial backing it has recently received through a $2.2 million (around €2.08 million) funding round. 

Other recent software innovations aimed at corporate sustainability include a platform for measuring an organisation’s IT footprint, a SaaS platform that helps real estate investors lower their environmental impact, and a platform that simplifies ESG data. 

Written By: Katrina Lane