Oritain, a company that specialises in forensically tracing the source of goods and commodities, has raised $57m to invest into the technology used to verify products worldwide.

Founded in 2008, Oritain uses forensic and data science to assign an ‘origin fingerprint’ to goods ranging from coffee to fabric to ensure compliance with Environmental, social, and governance (ESGs).

To create the ‘fingerprint’ the company’s global labs analyse the trace elements which are affected by environmental factors such as soil composition, climate, altitude, and precipitation.

The funding will help the advancement of Oritain’s technology developed at the University of Otago, Dunedin in New Zealand.

Oritain’s customers include Nescafe and Lacoste, which rely on its services to verify their supply chain, protecting their products in international markets.

“The days of companies not knowing what is happening in their global supply chains are over. From deforestation and greenwashing to uncovering human rights abuses, companies need to meet their ESG obligations now,” said Grant Cochrane, CEO at Oritain.

The funding round will allow Oritain to support expansion plans to “reach new markets and industries,” Cochrane said.

Companies are increasingly under scrutiny from regulators and investors to provide transparency around ethical sourcing of products as countries create new regulations around good sourcing in line with ESG criteria.

In March 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission announced new ESG disclosure requirements for companies in which companies must standardise climate-related disclosures.

Additionally, changes were made by the EU around ESG regulation in 2023. The EU implemented the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive on January 5^th 2023, which strengthens the rules around the ESG-related information that companies are obliged to report.

“ESG will only increase focus and regulation in regions such as Europe and the US – companies must ensure they have the tools to enable this,” said Cochrane.