Welcome

If you want to change the world, you have to show the value of change.

It’s been a while since you’ve heard from our co-founders Rufus Grantham and Andrew Tucker, Ph.D.. And with a new wave of followers, now feels like the right time to reintroduce ourselves — not through product features, but through the story of how we got here, what we’ve learned, and what we’re building.

Mettle was founded in December 2019, just as the world was about to change. The idea began with a simple but urgent question:

"What if we could move beyond believing in the value of sustainability — and actually prove it?"

At the time, ESG was gaining traction but lacked clarity. There was belief it is the right thing to do, but little evidence showing how doing the right thing translated into performance.

We believed then — and still do — that if you want businesses to act differently, you have to change what they value. And that means measuring value differently — not just through internal metrics or polished PDFs, but through signals from the world outside the company.

When COVID hit, the world paused. But lockdown gave us unexpected space to test our ideas, build early models, and lay the groundwork for something lasting.

Fast forward to today. Regulatory reporting like the EU’s CSRD is shifting the landscape — from compliance to perspective. The questions we started with are now the ones companies urgently need to answer:

🌱 What environmental and social issues are truly material? 👁️ How are we perceived by the outside world? 📰 Where are the risks and opportunities hiding — not just in reports, but in sentiment, news, and open data? 📊 And what does that mean for resilience, reputation, and long-term value? This is where Mettle steps in.

We’re not here to sell platforms or tick boxes. We don’t rely on internal surveys or static KPIs.

We do: 🔎 Use open source intelligence to help companies see clearly 📈 Analyse how sustainability issues emerge, evolve, and impact value 🧭 Map external signals to internal priorities — to help leaders act with confidence

In the last five years, we’ve: 📊 Built datasets on 5,000+ companies 📉 Identified sustainability signals that predict market response 🤝 Helped leadership teams connect trust, brand and ESG to performance 🏗️ Worked across finance, energy, FMCG, infrastructure and more

We're seeing the conversation starting to shift: from why sustainability matters, to how it creates value - and we’re excited to be part of that change.

So if you’re just discovering Mettle — welcome.

— Rufus & Andy