EcoVadis, a sustainability intelligence platform, has announced its strategic acquisition of Ulula, a human rights technology and analytics company focused on improving labour conditions across global supply chains. This acquisition will integrate Ulula’s worker engagement platform into EcoVadis’ existing solutions, enhancing its ability to promote responsible employment practices worldwide.
As per the International Labour Organisation (ILO), 63% of the 28 million people subjected to forced labour worldwide are in private-sector supply chains. With the introduction of stringent regulatory frameworks such as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and its companion Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), businesses must now demonstrate unprecedented levels of compliance regarding human rights and anti-slavery measures. By 2029, the CSDDD will require all companies with an annual turnover of more than €450 million in Europe to implement supply chain grievance mechanisms, with penalties for non-compliance reaching up to 5% of global turnover.
Further, regulations such as the EU Forced Labour Regulation and the US Tariff Act of 1930 Section 307 already require businesses to enhance due diligence processes. Several local jurisdictions, including Germany (LkSG), California, and the UK, have also adopted laws aimed at modern slavery and transparency within supply chains.
Through its acquisition of Ulula, EcoVadis will enable recurring, on-the-ground feedback from workers and communities, filling the information gaps left by legacy compliance systems.
Pierre-François Thaler, co-founder and co-CEO of EcoVadis said, “Ulula’s acquisition will enable EcoVadis to integrate and scale up supply chain labour and human rights risk due diligence, meeting customer demands for on-the-ground, verifiable data that complement our in-depth ratings and assist companies around the world in complying with new regulatory requirements.”
Founded in 2015, Ulula—meaning “reveal” in Chichewa, a Southern African dialect—has a strong track record of engaging communities and workers across industries like agriculture, mining, and energy in 70 countries. The platform will significantly enrich EcoVadis’ offerings through automated workforce surveys, grievance management systems, and analytics tools. This will help companies directly engage with workers, identify risks, and build data-driven solutions to improve labour and human rights practices.
With the integration of Ulula’s proprietary platform, EcoVadis will now address three key areas for better supply chain visibility – scalable, recurring surveys of the workforce; anonymous, third-party system ensuring user confidentiality; and accessibility across 114 languages from any device, anytime.
Antoine Heuty, founder and CEO of Ulula, said, “Ulula and EcoVadis share an ambition to confront and accelerate progress on the devastating scope of threats to human rights and working conditions across global supply chains. Joining forces will enable us to combine Ulula’s direct labour and human rights data collection and reliable insights with EcoVadis’ global platform and network to accelerate positive impact at an unprecedented scale.”
