S-Factor

In an industry first, The Social Factor Data Company, (“S-Factor”) has proven the link between material social performance (the “S” in ESG) and predicting financial outcomes for investment purposes. The release of their paper today, “Inside S-Factor: A Source of Alpha and a Greater Understanding of Materiality”, contains four case studies that test investment strategies designed by The S Factor Co. and validated externally by two quantitative firms.

In 2021 and continuing into this year, conversations about supply chains have been taking place — the evening news, corporate boardrooms, and even holiday shoppers. Reporting in The Guardian highlighted that industry experts and economists "believe the problems could persist [for up to 2 years] as the finely calibrated network of world trade, already weakened by months of shipping backlogs, labour shortages and geopolitical tensions, remains “discombobulated”.

Before answering that question, I usually remind people of two things: 1. There are many challenges in finding credible information about companies’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices. 2. A lot of the available social factor reporting is qualitative or subjective. You need a consistent method of converting that information into quantitative data.

In September 2021, The S-Factor was named by Daily Finance as one of 97 Leading Ontario Risk Management Firms and Startups. Companies were picked across the size spectrum from cutting edge start-ups to established brands. They were selected based on exhibiting exceptional performance in any of the following categories: Innovation, Growth, Management and Societal impact.

On August 17, 2021, Eagle Alpha held a virtual ESG Hackathon in New York. The S Factor Co. was a part of the winning team. Here is a copy of the results in Eagle Alphas whitepaper: "Blending Alternative Data for ESG Investing. The S-Factor is featured for their contributions to a blend of alternative data sets for ESG and the signals and raw data content leading to those signals in tandem with other providers. To learn more about the results of this hackathon you can download your copy of the results here.

About Eagle Alpha
Established in 2012, Eagle Alpha is the pioneer connecting the universe of alternative data. Their solutions are used by buyside firms, private equity firms, corporates, central banks and government to make data-driven investment and business decisions.

Bonnie-Lyn de Bartok has seen the impact of social-focused investing with her own eyes and these days is spreading the word of a new source of alpha as the founder and CEO of The S Factor Co.

On June 29, 2021 Alternatives Watch produced a special report called, "Finding the S in ESG" in which The S-Factor Co. is featured. The report, which sought the opinions of a broad range of investors to get an idea of how far the discussion of social justice has come in the world of institutional investing. Download your copy of the report here.

About Alternatives Watch
Alternatives Watch is a leading online news service dedicated to institutional investment in alternative investments including hedge funds, private equity, private credit, real estate, infrastructure, and CTAs/managed futures.

If there’s one thing that 2020 has taught us, it’s that environmental, social and governance (also called ESG) issues are now at the forefront of public discourse.

Information is a powerful thing, but when one focuses too much on individual data points and draws no trend lines between them, even the most powerful signal can remain unheard. That’s the problem Bonnie Lyn de Bartok saw more than 10 years ago when it came to social factors in ESG.

Open dialog and varying perspectives on ESG approaches and integration.

S-Factor CEO weighs in on Tesla’s supply chain decision to buy cobalt for its batteries from Glencore.

Nossa Capital shouts out the S Factor for our unique coronavirus dataset and special report.

Bonnie Lyn recently presented a TEDx Talk at the Fields Institute for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Toronto where she discussed The Impact of Math.

This year’s MMF Symposium addressed advances in financial innovation paying special attention to the start-ups that are shaping our immediate future.

We. Are. Ecstatic! To announce that we have won first place in UBS's Future of Finance Challenge! We would like to take the time to congratulate all of the finalists tuning in from all over the world - AMPLYFI 3rd-eyes analytics AG Carbonbase Earthly Entelligent @ValAi Pty Ltd Vested @Worldflavor Zeigo.

The S Factor Team would like to wish you a very safe and merry holiday! We have summarized our incredible “Year in Review” newsletter in the link below. You can learn more about who we are, the mission we are on, our achievements so far and where we will be headed in 2022! We hope that you will continue to join us on this exciting journey !

It’s exciting to finally see the public markets defining what #ESG regulation looks like, rather than the companies themselves. Historically, how investors and companies report E,S and G has been scattered with interpretation. The overall confusion has stemmed from a lack of knowledge on how to measure outcomes-based results.

We saw a few trends rise to the top of the ESG space in 2021, with diversity and inclusion beyond gender equality dominating conversations. This is more than the number of women on a company’s board. It takes into account anti-discrimination, freedom of association, collective bargaining, grievance management, ratios of diversity within the labour force, and representation of equity and parity.

On September 7, 2021, The S-Factor was named on the Global AIFinTech100 list by FinTech Global as the 1 of the top 100 most innovative companies that are helping to transform the financial services space. The list identifies tech companies that are building AI and machine learning solutions capable of solving challenges or improving efficiency within finance.

On September 7, 2021 Eagle Alpha produced a spotlight whitepaper called, “NLP & AI For ESG Analysis” in which the The S-Factor Co. is featured. In the ESG landscape, some of the pain points for asset managers, are a lack of comparable, high-quality, high-frequency raw data, a lack of standardized definitions of sustainable activities, conflicting ESG taxonomies, and divergence in scoring, and methodologies across traditional ESG data vendors. The S-Factor proves to solves some of the industry’s biggest issues. You can download your copy of the results here

About Eagle Alpha
Established in 2012, Eagle Alpha is the pioneer connecting the universe of alternative data. Their solutions are used by buyside firms, private equity firms, corporates, central banks and government to make data-driven investment and business decisions.

Bonnie Lyn De Bartok, Founder & CEO at S-Factor, joins our host, Jeff Gitterman, on TheIMPACT to discuss the importance of sustainability, vis-a-vis the “S”, in ESG/SDG as she uses her 25+ years of experience to measure “saving the world” beyond “one project at a time.”

On June 25, 2021, The S-Factor was named by Futurology as one of the 36 most innovative Toronto based companies. Companies were picked across the size spectrum from cutting edge start-ups to established brands. They were selected based on exhibiting exceptional performance in any of the following categories: Innovation, Growth, Management and Societal impact

Show more sharing options The Covid pandemic and racial injustice protests have thrust social investing into the spotlight this year. However, using this to achieve long-term change on the ground will be a tough job.

Bonnie Lyn de Bartok, founder and CEO of the S-Factor, a company that has automated social implications in investments, joined BNN Bloomberg to discuss why factoring the “S” in ESG investing is necessary.

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board. The SASB ESG materiality map is fully incorporated in the S-Factor product, amongst other frameworks. Additionally, we are helping to advise on SASBs continued development marrying the Human Capital dimension with materiality and performance.

Can mathematics, big data and AI help evaluate the socialimpact of an organization's decisions? Bonnie Lyn De Bartok believes they can be used to develop a robust and quantifiable metric to do just that.

Pandemic social data and trends. Learn about which companies are managing the pandemic well, and which companies are profiteering by selling fear. How are companies meeting regulatory requirements? What impacts are they making? What is public sentiment saying about them? How does it affect their impacts and ratings?

Often regarded as the "Oscars" of the US private asset management industry, the highly sought after PAM Awards for over two decades have provided a platform for top investment professionals, wealth advisors, legal firms, consultants and other key service providers operating within the sector, to showcase the incredible achievements they have accomplished. S-Factor wins “ESG Advocate of the Year.”

On November 22, 2018, S-Factor CEO, Bonnie-Lyn de Bartok was named as a finalist for Female Executive of the Year by WP. WP’s inaugural Women in Wealth Management conference was a rip-roaring success with thought-provoking speakers and the unveiling of its first award winners.

MassChallenge, the global network for innovators, today announces the 24 startups invited to participate in the 2022 FinTech cohort. MassChallenge accelerates outcomes-driven partnerships between startups and enterprises to fuel innovation

Too often investors focus only on the E and the G in ESG investing: the environmental and governance factors. But what about the S factor, and why should investors and advisors care? Joining us today is Bonnie-Lyn de Bartok, Founder, CEO, Director of The The Social Factor Data Company; The S Factor Co. Co., and she’s going to tell us why, and how #machinelearning and big data can help investors reduce risk and improve performance. Bonnie-Lyn de Bartok has long been a go-to source as a leader in sustainable finance. Listen to her unconventional perspectives on what factors are and are not relevant to investors seeking to generate management

Have a listen to the marvellous Q&A session between quantitative legend Herbert Blank and host, Mark Fleming-Williams' on The Alternative Data Podcast. At S-Factor we agree with what Herb said about Social Data being the window into the corporate’s soul

In September 2021, The S-Factor was named by Daily Finance as one of 43 Leading Ontario Risk Management Firms and Startups. Companies were picked across the size spectrum from cutting edge start-ups to established brands.

On August, 23, 2021 Eagle Alpha produced a spotlight whitepaper titled, “ESG – Social Data” in which The S-Factor Co. is featured. With the introduction of new sustainable finance disclosure regulations and taxonomies from the UN and across the EU, North America, and Asia, it is more important now more than ever to understand ESG data and where investors can source reliable ESG data. To learn more you can download your copy of the report here.

About Eagle Alpha
Established in 2012, Eagle Alpha is the pioneer connecting the universe of alternative data. Their solutions are used by buyside firms, private equity firms, corporates, central banks and government to make data-driven investment and business decisions.

n August 2021, The S-Factor was named as a finalist for UBS’s Future of Finance Challenge 2021. They were one of the 40 finalists selected from a pool of over 400 Fintechs and will pitch in the finals in October.

In July 2021, The S-Factor was named one of one of the top 14 social impact start-ups and companies in Canada by Best Startup Canada. Startups and companies named are taking a variety of approaches to innovating the Social Impact industry. Companies were picked across the size spectrum from cutting edge start-ups to established brands.

The industry has widely accepted that this year, dominated by the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and rising awareness of inequality amid the Black Lives Matter protests in the US, has highlighted the importance of the 'S' in ESG investing.

The mining company intentionally destroyed a 46,000-year old sacred site for US$ 135 million worth of iron ore – and it could cost them billions.

Founder and CEO of The S FactorCo. explains how best-in-class companies have stood out amid pandemic-induced focus on social issues

S-Factor CEO weighs in on the launch of Amazon’s VC fund to combat climate change. She urges investors to place the same importance on social and human rights issues.

The S Factor Co., and CEO, Bonnie Lyn de Bartok, “found that its newly created S-Factor Pandemic Score signals seem to be five to 10 days ahead of the actual stock performance moves.”

The online session titled The Impact of Math: The Social Dimension is a deep-dive into the Social Factors™ or the “S in ESG™” and its power of influence and performance in the realm of ESG considerations.

World's First Alternative and External Data Conference for Buyside Funds, Private Equity Firms and Corporates. This year’s event was attended by a record 800+ buyside and 100+ data vendors.