EcoVadis secures $500mn to ramp-up sustainability ratings

EcoVadis - the leading provider of globally trusted business sustainability ratings - has raised US$500mn in a bid to accelerate its aim of bringing sustainability intelligence to bear on all key businesses decisions worldwide.

The global investment round – the largest equity fundraising for a sustainability data SaaS company to date – brings EcoVadis’ total capital raised to over US$725mn. 

EcoVadis plans to leverage the funds to accelerate its global scale-up, deepen its artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities, make strategic acquisitions and fulfill its vision as a purpose-led company. The transaction is expected to close in Q2 2022 following regulatory approvals.

EcoVadis is a pioneer in the use of sustainability intelligence in procurement and global supply chains, and is used across a growing number of use cases, including Scope 3 carbon emissions management, private equity, ESG-linked loans, supply chain finance, third-party risk and resilience and more.

More than 95,000 businesses across 200 industry categories and 175 countries rely on EcoVadis to monitor and improve the sustainability performance of their own business and trading partners.

Ecovadis sees 50% growth over past 12 months

EcoVadis continues to experience rapid growth across its global customer base and network. Over the past 12 months, its revenues have grown by 50%, with 15,000 companies now using its Carbon Action Module. A total of 500,000 companies have also been screened using EcoVadis IQ.

The organisation has also become a partner of choice in bringing sustainability intelligence into key business decision points across its ecosystem of enterprise, procurement, financial and risk management platforms.

“This investment is validation of EcoVadis’ model for scaling impact across global value chains, despite the pandemic, geopolitical or financial headwinds," said Frédéric Trinel, co-founder and co-CEO of EcoVadis.

“We continue to experience record demand, as more companies are empowered to integrate the planet and society into their business operations. We expect this investment to enable us to build on our traction to meet companies – including SMEs and private companies – at any stage of their sustainability journey, and collaboratively drive improvement in practices and impact at scale.

“We invest in companies that have the potential to combat climate change at scale,” said Rhea Hamilton, Managing Director at BeyondNetZero, one of the key investors. “We believe EcoVadis has all the critical elements to make global impact and a meaningful contribution to the net zero transition, including a high-quality business model, strong leadership, innovative technology and a bold vision for driving ESG-oriented transformations across supply chains and industries.

"We are excited to back EcoVadis as the company enters a new phase of growth and look forward to partnering with its management team as we aim to further accelerate the company’s global expansion and climate impact.”

“We have tracked EcoVadis for many years and have been impressed with its strong leadership position and track record of fast global growth,” said Benoit Ficheur, Partner at another key investor, Astorg. 

About EcoVadis

EcoVadis is a purpose-led company whose mission is to provide globally trusted business sustainability ratings. Businesses of all sizes rely on its expert intelligence and evidence-based ratings to monitor and improve the sustainability performance of their business and trading partners.

Its actionable scorecards, benchmarks, carbon action tools, and insights guide an improvement journey for environmental, social and ethical practices across 200 industry categories, 175 countries. Industry leaders such as Amazon, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oréal, Unilever, LVMH, Salesforce, Bridgestone, BASF and JPMorgan are among the 95,000 businesses that collaborate with EcoVadis to drive resilience, sustainable growth and positive impact worldwide.