EcoVadis raises $500 million investment

EcoVadis, the leading provider of globally trusted business sustainability ratings, has raised  $500 million to achieve its vision of becoming a sustainability impact unicorn by impacting every business decision with sustainability information.

The worldwide investment round, which was headed by Astorg and BeyondNetZero, General Atlantic’s climate investing initiative, with participation from Singapore-based GIC and Princeville Money’s Climate Technology Fund, takes EcoVadis’ total capital raised to over $725M.

Frédéric Trinel, co-founder and co-CEO of EcoVadis, said that despite pandemic, geopolitical, or financial obstacles, this investment validates EcoVadis’ methodology for growing effect across global value chains. They continue to see record demand as more businesses gain the ability to incorporate the environment and society into their commercial operations. They anticipate that this funding will allow them to expand their reach to meet firms at every point of their sustainability journey, including SMEs and private enterprises, and collaborate to drive change in practices and effect at scale.

EcoVadis is used by over 95,000 firms in 200 industry categories and 175 countries to analyze and enhance the sustainability performance of their own business and trading partners. EcoVadis is now employed in an increasing range of use cases, including Scope 3 carbon emissions management, private equity, ESG-linked loans, supply chain financing, third-party risk and resilience, and more.

Rhea Hamilton, Managing Director at BeyondNetZero, said that they invest in firms with the potential to address climate change on a large scale. They believe EcoVadis possesses all of the critical elements required to have a global impact and contribute meaningfully 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. They’re thrilled to support EcoVadis as it enters a new period of growth, and they look forward to working with its management team to accelerate the company’s worldwide expansion and climate impact.

EcoVadis’ worldwide customer base and network continue to expand at a rapid pace. EcoVadis’ revenue increased by 50% in the last year, and its worldwide staff rose to 1,300 individuals. 15,000 organizations participated in EcoVadis’ new Carbon Action Module, and over 500,000 companies were evaluated using EcoVadis IQ.

In addition to its own expansion, EcoVadis has emerged as a preferred partner in integrating sustainability analytics into all-important business decision points throughout its network of enterprise, procurement, finance, and risk management platforms. This investment equips EcoVadis to grow the impact and favorably affect decision-makers throughout the world, building on the company’s current collaborations with Microsoft, SAP, Celonis, Coupa, Taulia, and 40 others.

Benoit Ficheur, Partner at Astorg, said that they have been following EcoVadis for many years and have been impressed with its strong leadership position and track record of rapid worldwide expansion. Furthermore, Astorg was the first private equity customer of EcoVadis, employing its services to examine and measure the ESG performance of their portfolio firms and to seek sustainability-linked funding. This collaboration has had a transformative influence throughout their portfolio, helping Astorg to become a pioneer in ESG and sustainability in the private equity market. Going forward, they see a significant opportunity to assist the firm in its goal of becoming the standard in private equity and finance.

Previous finance rounds included investments from CVC Growth Partners II (“CVC Growth Partners”) in January 2020, Partech in 2016, and Bain & Company in February 2020. CVC Growth Partners, CVC Capital Partners’ growth-oriented middle-market technology investment arm, is the company’s largest institutional stakeholder.

EcoVadis intends to use the capital to accelerate its worldwide expansion, improve its artificial intelligence and machine learning skills, make strategic acquisitions, and realize its mission as a purpose-led organization.

Following regulatory clearances, the acquisition is scheduled to completion in Q2 2022.