Intro
How Code & Pepper helped GaiaLens scale their product, raise £2M, and win the trust of institutional investors.
About Client
GaiaLens is an ESG analytics platform built for institutional investors. It provides real-time sustainability insights into publicly listed companies, helping investors detect greenwashing, assess ESG performance, and make evidence-based decisions.
They’ve recently won:
• Best ESG & Sustainability Analytics Platform – ESG Investing Awards 2025
• TechRound100 Winner 2024
• Top 10 ESG Solution Providers 2024 – GRC Outlook
• ESGFinTech100 list – 3 years in a row
…and more!
GaiaLens is using artificial intelligence to screen companies on greenwashing. AI is leveraged to provide detailed information on organizations that don’t meet ESG demands. GaiaLens already analysed 700 leading Australian companies in regard to their ESG credentials.
The Challenge
GaiaLens came to Code & Pepper with a working product and a growing user base. But they needed more than just dev support. The platform needed to evolve quickly — both in functionality and performance — to keep pace with market demand.
The existing codebase, written in JavaScript, was becoming harder to scale. New features were complex and required rapid iteration. The UI needed a full redesign to meet the expectations of institutional clients. And as the platform started integrating AI, the front end had to accommodate real-time interactions and dynamic data visualization — without sacrificing usability.
At the same time, GaiaLens wanted to avoid hiring a large in-house team. They needed senior engineers who could work independently, deliver fast, and integrate tightly with their product org.
Our Approach
Code & Pepper embedded a dedicated team into GaiaLens’ product setup:
4 engineers, 1 product designer, and 1 scrum master. All worked directly with GaiaLens’ CTO and PMs, taking ownership of key product areas and maintaining delivery velocity across multiple priorities.
We began by migrating the entire frontend codebase to TypeScript and React 19, which immediately improved reliability and developer productivity. We implemented Next.js 15 to enable server-side rendering and better performance at scale.
Our team led the development of several major features:
• A real-time ESG alert module, surfacing risk signals and PR-sensitive events for portfolio companies.
• A report builder, generating clean, branded PDFs with investment-grade data visualizations using Puppeteer and D3.js.
• An AI-powered ESG chat interface, allowing users to upload corporate reports and query them directly via an LLM-backed assistant.
• A complete UI redesign, integrated with Tailwind CSS and Radix UI, optimized for professional investor workflows.
We also handled testing (Jest, Playwright), documentation (Storybook), and performance monitoring (Sentry, Hotjar), maintaining high product quality throughout rapid iteration cycles.
Outcomes (What We Like the Most!)
Since partnering with Code & Pepper, GaiaLens has:
• Raised £2 million in funding to accelerate product development and client acquisition.
• Acquired 10 new institutional clients — including asset managers and pension funds.
• Reduced feature delivery times by 35%, thanks to improved velocity and better architecture.
Won 7 major awards, including:
• ESG Investing Awards 2025 – Best ESG & Sustainability Analytics Platform
• TechRound100 2024 – Winner
• GRC Outlook – Top 10 ESG Solution Providers
• FinTech Global’s ESGFinTech100 – listed three years running
• Reduced report-building time by 60%, improving investor engagement and usability.
Why It Worked
GaiaLens needed a thinking partner. Code & Pepper brought senior talent who could challenge assumptions, take ownership of deliverables, and move fast without hand-holding.
Our engineers worked as part of the team, not alongside it. They delivered but also shaped the product.
This allowed GaiaLens to scale confidently, without bloating its internal org.
And because our devs came with deep FinTech experience, we spoke the same language from day one.
Final Word
Code & Pepper continues to support GaiaLens as it scales its ESG intelligence platform globally. The relationship goes beyond deliverables — it’s about shared momentum, aligned goals, and building a product that investors trust.
If you’re building a FinTech product and need fast-moving, high-trust engineering support — let’s talk.
Scope-specific Development Services for GaiaLens
The implementation was primarily based on the following services:
Key Technologies Used in Enhancing the GaiaLens
Essential tools and methodologies were employed to achieve a robust and efficient enhancement:
Exceptional Engineering
Talent Driving
GaiaLens’s Success
Our rigorous hiring process goes beyond mere qualifications, delving into over 70 specific tech skills to identify the very best. By selecting the top 1.6% of tech experts, we ensured that our development services were exceptional, which significantly contributed to GaiaLens’s achievements.
Partner with Top Fintech Development Experts
We provide innovative, scalable solutions tailored to your specific needs and goals. Our expertise can transform your platform and drive your success.
Contact us to see how we can elevate your project too.
Discover Our Next Success Story
Smart Pension
How to maintain Formula 1 growth speed without losing product and development quality.
