K&L Gates Advises Leading ESG Tracking Platform Provider on Series A Capital Raising

Perth – Global law firm K&L Gates has advised Australian environmental, social and governance (ESG) tracking and reporting platform FairSupply on its Series A capital raising.

The capital raising was led by AirTree Ventures, with Tidal Ventures, philanthropic organisation The Minderoo Foundation and Queensland Investment Corporation (owned by the Queensland Government) also participating in the round.

FairSupply was founded in 2019 by human rights lawyer Kimberly Randle and industrial mathematician and supply chain academic Dr Arne Geschke. The FairSupply platform provides corporate and institutional clients with visibility over ESG risk in supply chains and investment portfolios. 

The K&L Gates team that advised FairSupply on all aspects of the capital raising was led by Perth corporate partner Adam Levine and senior associate Ben Kiernan-Green, with support from lawyers Cassandra Ferrier and Ellen Richmond. Privatus Capital Partners acted as corporate adviser to FairSupply.

Levine said: "Although there has been a marked improvement in the aspirations of Australia's leading companies with respect to environmental, social and governance reporting over the last few years, we expect the requirements for more comprehensive and standardised reporting will only continue to grow.  As a result, ESG is very much front of mind of all organisations so we are thrilled to have supported FairSupply with this strategic capital raising, as a leader in the field of ESG tracking and reporting. It is a testament to the hard work of Kim, Arne and the rest of the FairSupply team that they have been able to secure support from some significant and influential investors in the Series A capital raising."

FairSupply CEO and co-founder Kimberly Randle said: “The global total addressable market for companies required to identify, address and mitigate ESG risks in their supply chains and investment portfolios is rapidly increasing. However, despite increased societal and regulatory pressure to report on ESG impact, quantifying and gathering this data has never been more complicated, especially when assessing ESG further down the supply chain. And while many companies have good intentions and want to prioritise ESG, the vast majority don’t have access to the knowledge or tools to properly assess, understand and make informed decisions to improve their ESG rating – but we’re changing that. This deal is instrumental to scaling that change.”