EcoVadis, a sustainability ratings provider, has raised $500 million in a funding round that lifts the company's valuation to $1 billion.

The Series C round highlights the investor appetite into the fragmented ESG ratings space. The demand comes despite growing ESG backlash and intense headwinds for later-stage fundraising, the company stated.

The round was led by private equity firm Astorg and BeyondNetZero, the climate investing venture backed by General Atlantic. Singapore's GIC and Princeville Capital's Climate Technology Fund also participated.

An EcoVadis spokesperson said the company's valuation is "at or above $1 billion." The company works with 95,000 businesses in 175 countries on their ESG ratings.

"We were seeing our growth accelerating," co-founder and co-CEO Frédéric Trinel tells Axios, "and it doesn't show any sign of stopping."

"If we have to triple the size of the company, then we need cash."

The company's sheer size could put it in position to standardize the "E" in ESG ratings, Rhea Hamilton, managing director at BeyondNetZero, tells Axios.

"We just don’t see anyone else out there in the landscape at this scale," she says.

EcoVadis plans to spend its cash on acquisitions, Trinel tells Alan. First up, a planned purchase of a smaller, undisclosed company in Q2.