Part 1 - Proposal Submission (*Mandatory)
Name of Project: RAZ Finance: integrated impact and financial data management
Which category best describes your project?
Build / improve applications or integrations to Ocean
Which Fundamental Metric best describes your project? Pick one.
Datatoken Contracts
Proposal in one sentence:
RAZ simplifies ESG and investment data management while making the influence of impact on financial performance transparent and verified
Description of the project and what problem is it solving:
The platform manages impact, ESG and financial assessments, impact investment and capital allocation alongside revenue to report on:
Integrated Impact and Financial Data
For Investors
Reporting in accordance with governance, impact measurement and management best practices for investors who value purpose-driven opportunities.
Due diligence timeframes become more efficient. Third-party impact verification and due diligence facilitated by blockchain solutions and smart contracts.
Challenges:
Investors have limited liquidity in fast-moving private markets driven by increasingly conscious consumer demand.
ESG-related financial performance data is largely limited to public capital markets.
Many investors are challenged by limited vetted, investable and impact-verified opportunities.
Consumers are offered limited access to verified company and product data. Publicly available impact data and reports are not readily searchable and indexed for the purpose of product and company ranking and differentiation.
Standardization of ESG and impact metrics has not yet taken place in order to allow for clear and transparent ranking of investment opportunities, companies, and products.
Our Solution:
An integrated process: from ESG, impact and financial assessments, impact and business development metrics, to financial and impact data inputs. Impact and financial reporting is brought together seamlessly through a single platform and dashboard.
Data verification, indexing and ranking is facilitated by the platform.
Integration of blockchain-enabled transactions and smart contracts with stakeholder-verified positive impact.
APIs facilitate industry-specific implementation
Platform licensing to institutional investors, impact investment funds, sovereign wealth funds, banks, family offices, investment advisors, commodity, mercantile and securities trading platforms, retailers, purpose-driven enterprises at any stage of growth.
What is the final product?:
The RAZ Finance Software as a Service digital platform that allows companies to input data related to how they allocate investment capital, realize impact and ESG outcomes, and how their decision making influences their revenue and financial return. In addition to being an SaaS company, RAZ intends to tokenize datasets and drive liquidity and incremental growth in token value based on data collected over time, allowing for decreased investment due diligence timeframes, increased opportunities for capital to be raised and investors to exit from impact investments.
The platform experience facilitates:
Data Inputs and Document Upload
A platform user who manages a company’s data can take a document or report, for example a spreadsheet that was sent to an investor about how capital was allocated, enter it onto the platform, the document is verified by a specialist, and the time associated with the document is entered onto a blockchain ledger.
Verification
If a company compiles ESG or impact data about its own performance, or that of its partners, affiliates, beneficiaries or overall stakeholders, those action points and reports are recorded by RAZ and verified by the team.
Integrated Reporting
A fund manager or investor licenses the platform in order for the companies, tech solutions, farms, and impact-driven initiatives they have invested into to be able to utilize RAZ to track and manage data while integrating their reporting.
Grant Deliverables:
Integration of the OCEAN Protocol as part of RAZ Finance platform business development and investor presentations. Channelling of investment capital raised to the integration of RAZ as an SaaS platform with OCEAN as a datatoken and DEX platform.
Data collected from early adopters: 3-5 impact investment funds and 8-10 mission-driven companies
Verified impact and financial datasets linked to Ocean ERC20 datatokens
Access to data provided to RAZ Finance network members:
Roshem Impact - As a Certified B Corporation, their work supports the growth and development of regenerative businesses that create solutions to the world’s greatest challenges.
Roshem Media - Communications strategy, solutions, web design, web development and search engine optimization (SEO). Measurable social and financial impact beyond financial return.
Ramprate - a global advisory firm that has served enterprises looking to reduce cost, risk, time, and the carbon footprint of their IT supply chains for 20+ years.
Syzygy Impact - the impact technology branch of Ramprate that has launched initiatives, with a focus on how corporate decisions impact our world, for companies looking for an enlightened, socially responsible approach to business.
The Jerusalem Green Fund - that promotes environmental, social, and economic sustainability in and around Jerusalem.
The Aegir Impact Association - that connects impact organizations with dedicated individuals while creating a network to scale social and environmental impact.
Cusp - Based in Tasmania, Cusp produces the first certified plantation hardwood Cross-Laminated Timber in the world.
CMore - a mission-driven company that supports international organizations, companies and NGOs in reaching their objectives related to positive impact and sustainability. Their team provides Environment, Social and Governance policy and program consulting, training, impact and sustainability measurement, management, assessment and reporting.
GCA - a company specialized in finding public affairs and strategic communications solutions. Their team supports organizations and companies in making a positive impact on their employees, customers, communities, and other stakeholders. GCA provides services relating to leadership, diversity, as well as happiness and wellbeing in the workplace, at school and other institutional contexts. The firm’s additional focus areas include CSR and impact investing, initiatives, policy development, and strategic partnerships.
SHEFA - a marketplace that matches impact-verified products and their journeys, representing people, purpose and planet, to conscious individuals throughout the world. Our team is dedicated to climate action by working to achieve carbon neutrality, green power solutions, sustainable development and climate action through regenerative agriculture.
Funding Requested: 32,000
If your proposal is voted to receive a OceanDAO Grant, how would the proposal contribute a value greater than the grant amount back to the Ocean Ecosystem (best expressed as “Expected ROI”)?
RAZ Finance is expected to raise $1,000,000 at its initial funding round and $2M to $7M at its Seed Round from a network of impact investors and mission-driven partners. The Ocean grant would facilitate the early-stage integration of Ocean solutions and datatokens as part of the development process, and as such RAZ would mint and purchase further tokens, while bringing new members of the RAZ Finance ecosystem to Ocean. RAZ is expected to grow to being adopted by 30-50+ investment funds and 500-700 companies by the fourth quarter of business development, and to adoption by 200+ asset managers and 1500+ companies by 2023. As such, Ocean would gain exposure to impact investment fund managers, institutional investment managers, individual investors, companies receiving investment, and corporates as the go-to solution for dataset tokenization and trading. RAZ aims to become a “best practice” platform for integrated impact and financial data integration
Proposal Wallet Address: 0xf8388c804061d08b757BAef8d9bB5f9eF8BA90D1
Team Website (if applicable): https://razfinance.net
Project lead Contact Email: miriam@roshem.com
Twitter Handle (if applicable): @razfintech
Country of Residence: Serbia
Have you previously received an OceanDAO Grant (Y/N)? No
How does this project drive value to the “fundamental metric” (listed above) and the overall Ocean ecosystem? This is best expressed as Expected ROI, details here.
Data as a New Asset Class: Tokenization and Decentralized Finance
While the RAZ software platform collects data and associates verification events to a blockchain ledger,
token issuance amplifies the potential of integrated impact and financial data by incentivizing:
Investors, Asset Managers and Companies
Impact and Financial Data Verifiers
Proof of Stake Processes
to transform their data inputs over time into digital assets through two pathways:
Data Utility Tokens
Data Security Tokens
The staking of securitized data leads to monetization, trade and liquidity opportunities. Investors can diversify their portfolios. Companies can trade digital assets via smart contracts to increase access to capital and facilitate more efficient investor exits. The fungibility of RAZ-minted tokens would allow investors to participate in the gains.
to participate in the process of verifying claims through the RAZ platform. Verification experts can be rewarded with:
ERC20 datatokens
Cryptocurrency
By staking their data-linked tokens, RAZ Network members and Verifiers can benefit from:
OCEAN by Ocean Protocol - on datasets
stakers receive guaranteed swap fees from subsequent staking, unstaking and data purchase activities that happen in their staked data pools.
*Part 2 - Proposal Details (Recommended)
Project Deliverables - Category:
IF: Build / improve applications or integration to Ocean, then:
App will be live, at: Network: https://razfinance.net (url or app store)
Platform: https://razfinance.io
Is your software open-source? No
If the project includes software:
Are there any mockups or designs to date? Yes, at https://razfinance.net
An overview of the technology stack? The RAZ dashboard is developed to collect financial data related to capital deployment, Environment, Social and Governance, impact and sustainability initiative data, customized in accordance with a client’s industry and operational scope.
Functionality:
A client logs in to the platform, selects and customizes Impact Themes while setting goals and milestones.
Progress according to Impact Themes is tracked through Initiatives that compile action steps and financial data.
Documentation is attached to financial, impact, ESG and sustainability claims and indicators.
Data Collection
Impact
Environment, Social and Governance
Impact Metrics
Sustainability
Finance
Investment Strategy and Priorities
Capital Deployment and Allocation
Revenue
Campaigns
Data publication events and stakeholder engagement campaigns are recorded by date and duration.
Verification
Verifiable Claims (VCs - verifiable credentials) are associated to Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs)
Stakeholder groups are onboarded by individual companies and investors on a project-basis. Goals and milestones are set to achieve certification and tokenization.
Impact and financial data is reviewed and verified based on:
financial statements and verification by beneficiaries, employees and individual stakeholders, while being compared to campaign and publication timelines.
Campaign data is compared to impact data, public-facing information is reviewed.
If the project includes community engagement:
Running the campaign on social media for how many weeks? Continuously for the duration of RAZ Platform development - starting at the first year, 56 weeks.
Other?
Project Deliverables - Roadmap
Any prior work completed thus far? The RAZ Finance Network - connecting impact investors, corporate teams, professionals from the fields of impact finance and sustainable development, as well as entrepreneurs, with: One another, resources and webinars. Impact measurement and management support. Investable regenerative businesses focused on impact technology, agriculture and wellness. Stakeholders across the global sustainable business landscape.
What is the project roadmap? That is: what are key milestones, and the target date for each milestone.
Addition of 10 further network partners to https://razfinance.net by September 2021
Confirmation of 3-5 early adopter investment funds and 5-10 companies managing data via the RAZ Network by September 2021
Engagement of stakeholders as part of impact-financial data working groups on https://razfinance.net - 30 active members by August 2021
Capital raised for MVP platform development - $200,000 by August 2021 and a further $200,000 by December 2021
Proof of Concept platform delivered and data integrated - by December 2021
Minimum Viable Product Platform delivered and data integrated - by March 2021
Impact and financial data linked to OCEAN datatokens - from 30 members, 5 investment funds and 10 or more companies by March 2021
Publication of the project’s roadmap and value proposition, data management process to https://razfinance.net, LinkedIn, Medium and international financial media outlets.
Upon the achievement of specific goals and milestones, data is tokenized to facilitate:
Increased Investment Liquidity
Marketplace Opportunities
Financial Disruption
By tokenizing data
from the onset of investment capital being deployed to impact-driven initiatives
to financial performance and returns inclusive of Decentralized Finance
investment due diligence timeframes become more efficient and create opportunities for increased liquidity events.
Tokens issued are connected to integrated impact and financial data via verifiable credentials. The trade of RAZ tokens facilitates impact investment through smart contracts backed by verified, integrated impact and financial data over time.
RAZ tokens can be associated to:
Company securities and smart contracts to facilitate investment
Products to increase trade transparency
As a result, two categories of marketplaces can be created:
Digital securities trading for verified impact and ESG-driven investment
Retail, wholesale and commodity trading of products linked to tokenized data.
The global financial sector is quickly adopting blockchain and decentralized finance technology.
For banks and institutional investors
Utilization of the RAZ dashboard and pathway to tokenization can:
reduce transaction cost in the financial sector
build trust
decrease the risk and hesitancy associated with impact and ESG investment decisions.
Please include the milestone: publish an article/tutorial explaining your project as part of the grant (eg medium, etc). Articles and tutorials related to the RAZ Finance impact-financial integration process and how it is connected to Ocean will be published on LinkedIn and on https://razfinance.net as well as on Medium, and promoted to media outlets globally.
Please include the team’s future plans and intentions.
Data as a New Asset Class: Tokenization and Decentralized Finance
While the RAZ software platform collects data and associates verification events to a blockchain ledger,
token issuance amplifies the potential of integrated impact and financial data by incentivizing:
Investors, Asset Managers and Companies
Impact and Financial Data Verifiers
Proof of Stake Processes
to transform their data inputs over time into digital assets through three pathways:
Data Utility Tokens such as ERC20 datatokens
Data Security Tokens
NFTs - Non-Fungible Tokens
Data tokenization leads to monetization, trade and liquidity opportunities. Investors can diversify their portfolios. Companies can trade digital assets via smart contracts to increase access to capital and facilitate more efficient investor exits. The fungibility of RAZ-minted tokens would allow investors to participate in the gains. NFTs would facilitate dataset trading.
to participate in the process of verifying claims through the RAZ platform
Verification experts can be rewarded with cryptocurrency such as OCEAN
RAZ aims to mint tokens and issue coins as the platform grows and develops
DeFi rewards verifiers and ensures they benefit from analyzing data quickly, providing actionable insights, and affecting impact and financial outcomes as they are unfolding.
By staking their data-linked tokens, RAZ Network members and Verifiers can benefit from:
OCEAN by Ocean Protocol - on datasets
stakers receive guaranteed swap fees from subsequent staking, unstaking and data purchase activities that happen in their staked data pools.
Staking RAZ-minted tokens on POS platforms can provide token holders with upside from increases.
Blockchain and Impact
RAZ impact, financial and campaign-level data collection and verification events are recorded on the blockchain and mapped for correlation across specific timelines.
Upon the achievement of specific goals and milestones, data is tokenized to facilitate:
Increased Investment Liquidity
Opportunities
Financial Disruption
By tokenizing data
from the onset of investment capital being deployed to impact-driven initiatives
to financial performance and returns
investment due diligence timeframes become more efficient and create opportunities for liquidity events.
Tokens issued are connected to integrated impact and financial data via verifiable credentials. The trade of RAZ-minted tokens facilitates impact investment through smart contracts backed by verified, integrated impact and financial data over time.
RAZ tokens can be associated with:
Datasets that reduce risk while tracking integrated impact and financial outcomes
Company securities and smart contracts to facilitate investment
As a result, two categories of trading opportunities can be created:
Data trading that facilitates risk management and efficient due diligence
Digital securities trading that facilitates increased inflows of capital to verified impact and ESG-driven investment opportunities
The global financial sector is quickly adopting blockchain and decentralized finance technology.
For banks and institutional investors
Utilization of the RAZ dashboard and pathway to tokenization can:
reduce transaction cost in the financial sector
build trust
decrease the risk and hesitancy associated with impact and ESG investment decisions.
Any maintenance? Ongoing platform maintenance and development based on further rounds of capital investment - total of $450,000 to be invested into information technology between 2021-2022, with a $2M to $7M capital raise in 2023, of which a minimum of 40% would be channeled to information technology.
Foreseen or possible additions?
Software Features
Data Collection
Impact
Environment, Social and Governance
Impact Metrics
Sustainability
Finance
Capital Deployment and Allocation
Revenue
Campaigns
Data publication events and stakeholder engagement campaigns are recorded by date and duration.
Digital Identifiers
Verifiable Claims (VCs - verifiable credentials) are associated to Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) - Linked data encoded as JSON-LD
Verification
Data is reviewed and verified. Goals and milestones are set to achieve certification and tokenization.
Data is reviewed and verified based on financial statements, compared to impact data and campaigns. Reports are attached.
Campaign data is compared to impact data, public-facing information is reviewed.
Tokenization of verified data
Mapping of the correlation between impact, finance and campaigns over time.
Team members
For each team member, give their name, role and background such as the following.
Miriam Davidovic - CEO and Co-Founder
Miriam is the Founder of Roshem Impact, a Certified B Corporation that provides information technology and marketing solutions to companies that are committed to realizing verifiable, positive, social and environmental impact. She leads the development of impact data, verification, certification and impact-financial integration for RAZ Finance. Her leadership expertise spans across the USA, Canada, and Israel as related to impact finance, intellectual property, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence, Environment, Social and Governance policy and practice.
Raphael Bitterman - VP of Business Development and Co-Founder
Raphael is a licensed attorney in Israel with 20 years of Intellectual Property law experience. He worked across the diamond and jewelry industry for 19 years developing market access opportunities through technology, while driving sales and operating diamond tenders. He manages business development and partnerships at RAZ Finance with a focus on opportunities across the landscape of impact and ESG investing, blockchain, impact tech, agricultural tech, sustainable and regenerative business.
Margaret Mondlane - Environment, Social and Governance Verification Expert
Margaret has over 20 years experience in environmental, social, governance (ESG), and project management consulting for private, public, and international clients for a multitude of industries.She has been a Benefit Officer and Impact Consultant with Roshem Impact since February 2020. She advises on ESG for clients and Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting and compliance. Her most recent academic achievements include a Certificate in Corporate Social Responsibility from the University of Colorado and Leeds Business School. She has a B.S. degree in Natural Resources Management from Colorado State University and a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from the University of Cape Town.
Advisors
Advisors
Carolina Almeida Cruz | Founder of CMore | Business and Human Rights Expert
Carolina started the impact-focused stage of her career at the ILO - International Labor Organization with regards to ending Human Trafficking and furthering Women’s Rights. In 2012, she co-founded the Sapana nonprofit organization in Portugal. In 2020, she founded the CMore ESG strategy consultancy. Carolina studied Psychology at the ISPA, Financials and Stewardship for Nonprofits at Harvard, Entrepreneurship, Social Impact and Innovation at the United Nations University for Peace, and Business Sustainability Management at Cambridge University. She received the Women Economic Forum “Iconic Women Creating a Better World” Award from the World Economic Forum in March 2019, and in 2021, was recognized as one of Portugal’s top three Women in Tech.
Joshua Boles | CEO of Neo Flow Asset Management
As the CEO of Neo Flow, Joshua leads a multi-disciplinary investment management company focused on Digital Assets, Decentralized Finance, and Web 3.0 blockchain projects. The firm’s relationships and blended investment approach have led to early access to the most advanced Digital Asset protocols and next-generation technology. His career history has included being a Senior Investment Advisor, Executive Director, Chief of Staff and Business Development leader working with federal clients and the Department of Defense. He has managed a Single Family Office for 10 years, with approximately 4,000 multifamily units in five US states including a portfolio of investments across the venture capital and private equity space.
Saul Singer | Business Strategist at Roshem Impact
Senior executive with a background of developing wholesale trading platforms and services in the commodities sector with particular prevalence in the global diamond industry. 18 years experience in business strategy, financial advisory and development as well as 5 years in financial advisory and management consulting at leading firms across Australia and Israel.
Aziz Mulay-Shah | Managing Director at GCA - Global Communications Agency
After 16 years in the diplomatic sector, including having served as the Deputy Ambassador of Canada to the UAE, Aziz founded several initiatives and companies to deliver policy development and strategy solutions. He is focused on leading strategies for sustainable development, impact investment, community engagement, wellbeing, and stakeholder engagement. Aziz develops plans, policies, responses and actions that enable organizations and institutions to be bold, quick and responsive in the face of opportunities.
Additional Information
Any additional information, custom fields, or images you would like to add? For example: Any grants or fundraising to date? Information deck: https://razfinance.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/RAZ-Finance-Pitch-Deck-June-2021-Without-Advisors.pdf