This Startup Built a Bot Army to Reveal Risks Facing Chinese Companies
Scraping the Chinese internet is the best way to evaluate firms’ environmental and social practices, MioTech’s founder says
Investors have long complained that there isn’t enough information about the non-financial risks facing companies in China and Southeast Asia. Environmental disclosures, for example, aren’t common, and where they do exist, they’re often inconsistent and unreliable.
A six-year-old data company backed by JPMorgan Chase & Co and GIC Pte says it’s learning plenty about companies without waiting for regulators or required disclosures. MioTech scrapes information and statistics from thousands of government, regulatory and corporate sites across China and Southeast Asia to evaluate companies’ environmental, social and governance practices, including violations, pollution, carbon footprint and hiring discrimination.