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Acquired2023 — 2024Solo founder, end-to-endSustainability, B2B SaaS

ESG Lighthouse

From market gap to acquisition in eight months — AI-assisted CSRD reporting for SMEs.

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https://app.demo-esglighthouse.facundocosimo.eu
ESG Lighthouse Dashboard
Open
0 months
Idea to acquisition
−0%
Reporting time, pilots
0+
ESRS datapoints mapped
Acquired
Outcome
Why this exists

The EU's CSRD sustainability-reporting regulation landed on thousands of mid-sized European companies — most with no in-house sustainability team and no budget for six-figure consulting fees. The underlying ESRS framework covers over 500 disclosure items in dense regulatory language. Early adopters were burning analyst-weeks hunting through documents and drafting narrative sections — most SMEs simply had no realistic path to compliance without paying a consultancy €30k+ per reporting cycle.

What it is

A web platform for CSRD reporting. Companies upload their source documents and the platform finds paragraph-level evidence automatically, maps it to the right ESRS disclosure items, and drafts narrative sections with citations back to the original source. An AI assistant trained on the official ESRS reference material guides users in real time — every suggestion cites the standard, not a guess.

Each company's data is fully isolated with role-based permissions (admin, editor, viewer, auditor). Flows cover materiality assessment, parent-and-subsidiary roll-ups, rich-text narrative editing, evidence attachments, and a progress dashboard. Built solo end-to-end over eight months — research, design, code, infrastructure, customer development.

Validated with pilot SMEs at a 60% reduction in reporting time versus consultant-driven workflows. Acquired shortly after by a sustainability operator who absorbed the product into their compliance offering.

Stack

Built with

A pragmatic stack — selected to ship fast without trading away long-term operability.

24 technologies · 6 layers

Frontend

11 tools

  • Next.js 14 (App Router)
  • React 18
  • TypeScript
  • Tailwind CSS
  • Radix UI + shadcn/ui
  • React Hook Form
  • Zod
  • Framer Motion
  • Recharts
  • TanStack Query
  • Zustand

Backend

2 tools

  • Next.js API Routes
  • Node.js

Database

2 tools

  • MongoDB
  • Mongoose ODM

AI / ML

4 tools

  • OpenAI Assistant API
  • Vector search with citations
  • Streaming responses
  • ESRS knowledge base

Auth & Security

4 tools

  • NextAuth.js (JWT)
  • bcryptjs
  • Multi-tenant RBAC
  • Project-scoped permissions

Infra & DX

1 tool

  • Vercel
Highlights

What makes it work

01

AI assistant with source citations

Real-time AI guidance grounded in the official ESRS reference material. Every suggestion cites the originating paragraph of the standard — audit-ready, not made up.

02

ESRS navigation made human

500+ disclosure items made searchable through smart search and materiality flows, so users find the requirements that apply to them without reading the entire framework.

03

Built for many companies, no leakage

Each company's data is fully isolated, with role-based access (admin, editor, viewer, auditor) and per-project permissions. Designed from day one to serve many organisations on the same platform — without compromise.

04

Time-to-report compression

Pilot SMEs cut reporting time by roughly two-thirds versus consultant-driven workflows — a combination of AI assistance, automated tracking of disclosure items, and a rich editor with evidence attachments.