Innovation Through Partnerships: Matter x Singlife with Aviva

Sustainability. What is it, what can I do to contribute, and which tools are there to help me? 

Sustainability is multifaceted – covering aspects such as social, environmental, and economic responsibilities – all of which are responsibilities that, in today's world, belong to everyone. 

The fintech market is booming with solutions to aid stakeholders across all levels of industry to assume this responsibility. One such solution is Matter, the Copenhagen-based scaleup who makes it easier for investors to understand and report the sustainability impact of their investments. 

Matter was founded in 2017 by Niels Fib?k-Jensen and Emil Stigsgaard Fuglsang, to address the demand for more transparent and intuitive sustainability analysis and reporting. With the use of technologies such as AI and machine learning, Matter enables all kinds of asset managers and investors to analyse the real impact of their investments and make more informed decisions regarding the sustainability spectra, whether societal, economical, or environmental. 

A new cross-border partnership 

Like many companies, Matter works based on the belief that success relies on close collaboration within the ecosystem, and as such, the company has been heavily engaged with Copenhagen Fintech since the very beginning, by participating in programs, delegations and more. 

It is through such delegations and engagement that the doors were opened to a new region (and partner) with an equal appetite for reaching the sustainable development goals: Singapore. 

Singlife with Aviva, a Singaporean insurance firm and valued Copenhagen Fintech partner, joined forces with Matter back in April 2022. Despite already being an established and major player in the Singaporean insurance market, Singlife was just starting out their ESG journey and therefore facing increasing pressure from regulators and clients in terms of a more stable investment product policy. 

This is where Matter stepped in. Through the partnership, Singlife gets help with initial portfolio analysis, whilst the Matter platform is also available to its employees so that they can make more informed investment decisions, and over time report more information to their clients. 

Working across borders, expectations, and ambitions 

Whilst working together across borders may raise questions about time-zones, cultural differences and expectations, the Singlife and Matter collaboration is an emerging testimony to the fact that any successful partnership is built on some basic commonalities. 

The collaboration was formed based on a mutual belief – that sustainability and ESG insights need to be more transparent and intuitive, so that more people can use them to make decisions. 

It is this harmonisation of expectations, as well as the fact that both parties have a common goal to reach net zero by 2050, that has seen the partnership progress extremely well, despite only being in its early stages. The two have established initial portfolios already, whilst also benchmarking options in terms of current and future investment strategies and communication with clients. 

The success of the partnership to date can also be credited to the fact that Singapore and the Nordics are both frontrunners within the sustainable transition. The way sustainability impacts each nation may be different, but the end goal is still the same. 

Both regions see a lot of engagement with regulators, and a lot of expectations from both asset management and banking within companies to take sustainability into account, and this has led to this accountability becoming a competitive advantage within the market - so despite a different relationship with some sustainability issues, the way it's being tackled through financial market levers is quite similar, which is what makes partnerships such as these long-lasting and successful. 

Collaboration – the key to success 

Whilst collaboration is essential to any successful collaboration, it is also required to achieve and create those partnerships in the first place. 

Opening the doors to a new country or region can be nearly impossible without the right help. In the case of Matter, Singapore was the first focused attempt in Southeast Asia, and without the proper introduction, these doors would have been much more difficult to open. 

When asked what advice Matter CEO and cofounder, Niels Fib?k-Jensen, would give to other founders wishing to enter a partnership in another region, his answer was simple: 

In short – find help. You need the introduction; you need the connections and most of all you need to have someone who can tell you what is on their mind. 

In conclusion 

Even though the Matter and Singlife partnership is but a few months old, there are a few clear learnings which can be taken from its success thus far: the first is that any successful collaboration requires clear, common goals, and establishing a successful partnership, especially across borders, is impossible without any help. 

Interested in what can be learnt from other successful partnerships? Read other articles in this series here: 

• Zenegy x Danskebank 
• Visa x MyMonii 
• Subaio x Lunar