A 2002 study of the drivers of public market value shows just how important intangibles have become over time. In 1982, 62 percent of the public market value of the world's 150 largest companies could be attributed to their tangible assets-things like their buildings, inventory, and equipment. By 1999, the proportion had fallen to a mere 16 percent, leaving a full 84 percent of a company's value reliant on intangible inputs such as patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property, as well as its environmental, social, and corporate governance practices.

It's those last three that Ohnemus and his team have set their focus on. And it's made their sales pitch about as easy as can be: Who in their right mind would try to determine a fair value for a stock using just 16 percent of the necessary inputs?

And so, in August 2003, Ohnemus and Steffensen founded Asset4, which is based in Zug, Switzerland. Today, the company has 200 employees in six global offices, and has attracted a very prominent firm as both investor and customer: Goldman Sachs.

Ohnemus and his team have identified what they refer to as four pillars of corporate performance: economic, environmental, social, and corporate governance. The latter three make up the extra-financial component, and Ohnemus refers to them as E.S.G.'s.

The platform produces a total of 900 unique data points for each company analyzed. It can  produce a range of tailored reports on companies or industries, as well as reports on categories or indicators across the universe of 3,500 companies in the MSCI World Index.

Data points and indicators collected by Asset4 analysts run the gamut of nonfinancial aspects of the life of a business: animal testing, consumer complaints, energy footprint, the female-to-male employee ratio, pay practices, political contributions, staff turnover, and even noise reduction.

To date, Ohnemus' customers include Goldman, UBS, Swiss Re, the Pension Fund of New Jersey, and Shell Asset Management.

All-in, he estimates that trillions of investment dollars are either directly or indirectly using the Asset4 model. And it might just get easier from here. The more people come to value some input, the more that will be reflected in the public value of companies, which will probably lead to investors' coming to value that input even more.