Uniqus Consultech Inc., an India-based tech-enabled global platform that offers environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and accounting and reporting consulting, has on Thursday announced the launch of its operations by raising $12.5 million in Series A funding for a minority stake sale.

Nexus Venture Partners, a leading Silicon Valley-India venture capital firm, led the funding round, Uniqus Consultech said in a statement.

The investment also marks the first investment for Sorin Investments, an early-stage tech fund founded by private equity veteran Sanjay Nayar, Former Chairman of KKR India.

Prominent global business and consulting leaders including Pirojsha Godrej, Anant Goenka, Apoorva Patni, Keki Mistry, Ranu Vohra, Dhanpal Jhaveri, Vijay Malhotra, Bala Swaminathan, and Sridar Iyengar also participated in the round.

According to the statement, the funding will primarily be used for investments in technology and scaling the business operations and teams in the United States, India and the Middle East.

“Sustainability and Trust are two of the most vital business imperatives today. Uniqus will enable enterprises to create and scale best-in-class ESG and finance functions as the two key pillars of governance and stakeholder value; and our model addresses these needs by integrating consulting, technology, and on-ground implementation,” said Jamil Khatri, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Uniqus Consultech.

Uniqus Consultech is co-founded by consulting industry stalwarts Jamil Khatri, former Global Head of Accounting Advisory Services and Member of the India Leadership Team of KPMG, and Sandip Khetan, former Head of Financial Accounting Advisory Services of EY India.

The firm seeks to transform consulting by deeply integrating technology and using a cloud delivery model to serve clients across national boundaries.

The company will eliminate auditor independence conflicts by not providing any audit services and has created an attractive equity stock option pool to enable high-quality talent to participate in its value creation.

Uniqus Consultech will initially focus on the US, India, and Middle East geographies, which represent a $15 billion addressable market opportunity.

In line with its strategy of providing clients with access to deep domain skills and practical implementation support, Uniqus Consultech has acquired SustainPlus – a firm that has been providing ESG consulting to leading companies in India, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States since 2017.

Anu Chaudhary, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SustainPlus, one of the foremost global ESG specialists based in India with over 20 years of experience, now joins the Uniqus Consultech leadership team as the Global Head of ESG.

“There is a large market need to enable enterprises in their journey of adopting leading ESG and financial accounting & reporting practices. Uniqus Consultech is addressing this opportunity by using technology to leverage top-notch global talent,” said Nexus Venture Partners’ Anup Gupta.

Uniqus Consultech’s ESG practice has deep experience and skills to assist clients with their end-to-end ESG needs, including the overall ESG strategy, climate action goals, global & Indian reporting frameworks, technology, and implementation support.

The company’s accounting and reporting practice comprises leaders and professionals with proven expertise in all areas of the finance function and is designed to assist clients across their accounting, financial reporting, capital markets and merger transactions reporting, regulatory reporting, internal control, and automation requirements.

“Uniqus Consultech’s cutting-edge offerings are the culmination of work done by professionals with strong backgrounds and track records who have factored in what clients need holistically across the ESG and financial reporting domains,” said Sorin Investments’ Sanjay Nayar.

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