HACE

What HACE does

HACE: Data Changing Child Labour Limited is a UK-based private data and technology company, founded around 2020-2021 and headquartered in Manchester (with a registered office in Knutsford), focused on the sustainable eradication of child labour in corporate supply chains. The company builds an AI-powered Child Labour Index that rates how publicly listed companies acknowledge, identify, mitigate, and remedy child labour risks across their supply chains, paired with a Stewardship Toolkit for institutional investor engagement and a series of Sectoral Corporate Child Labour Benchmarks — the first of which covers the Technology Consumer Hardware sector. HACE also publishes research reports and whitepapers, operates a collaborative HACE Child Labour Network, and sells bespoke consultancy services. Revenue is generated through subscription or license-based access to data products and benchmarks alongside custom professional-services engagements; pricing is not publicly disclosed and the company targets enterprise clients, principally institutional investors / asset managers and large publicly listed companies (over USD 1B revenue). The firm is led by founder and CEO Eleanor Harry, with COO Elizabeth Burroughs and a small team, and has raised a £450,000 pre-seed round led by Manchester Angels in February 2024.

Name

HACE

Legal name

HACE: Data Changing Child Labour Limited

Website

https://thisishace.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

HACE is a UK data and technology company that builds AI-powered ESG ratings, benchmarks, and investor engagement tools focused on child labour risks in corporate supply chains, serving institutional investors and large publicly listed companies alongside bespoke consultancy.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

ESG Data Analytics

NAICS

Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

ESG Data, Ratings & Research (Providers, Methodologies, Analytics) (FSAAALAJ)

Keywords

• Child labour data
• Supply chain ESG
• ESG risk ratings
• Corporate benchmarking
• Sustainable investing data

Headquarters

HQ city

Manchester

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Data Products & Benchmarking: Subscription or license-based access to the Child Labour Index, Corporate Child Labour Benchmark reports, and risk datasets for investors and corporations
2. Bespoke Consultancy: Custom advisory services for organisations navigating complex supply chain and portfolio child labour risks

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

HACE is a specialist data and technology company that builds AI-powered ESG data products focused on child labour in corporate supply chains. It sells an AI-powered Child Labour Index rating tool, corporate child labour benchmark reports, a Stewardship engagement toolkit, a collaborative HACE Child Labour Network, and bespoke consultancy services to investors and companies.

Product overview

HACE: Data Changing Child Labour offers a suite of technical tools and services focused on corporate Child Labour governance. The core product is the AI-powered Child Labour Index, an ESG rating tool that enables investors to assess child labour risks in their portfolios. This is complemented by the Stewardship Toolkit for investor engagement and the Corporate Child Labour Benchmark series that evaluates how leading public companies address Child Labour within high-risk supply chains. The offering also includes access to extensive risk datasets, a collaborative network (HACE Child Labour Network) for best practice sharing, bespoke consultancy services, and research reports/whitepapers. The ecosystem is designed to help businesses and investors drive meaningful progress in addressing Child Labour while providing transparent resources for consumers and the public.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Child Labour Index AI-powered ESG rating tool that systematically scores companies on child labour risk exposure across their operations and supply chains; designed for institutional investors, asset managers, and ESG analysts.
• Stewardship Toolkit Engagement toolkit designed for investors and stewardship teams to manage and address child labour risks within their portfolios and to support shareholder engagement with companies.
• Corporate Child Labour Benchmark Annual benchmark report scoring the largest publicly listed companies on child labour exposure and disclosure, used by investors, companies, and policymakers for comparative ESG assessment.
• HACE Child Labour Network Collaborative membership-based network for organisations working on child labour issues, providing a shared platform for engagement, knowledge sharing, and cross-sector collaboration.
• Bespoke Consultancy Tailored advisory and research services on child labour in supply chains, delivered to corporate, investor, and policy clients needing customised analysis or engagement support.

Quantifiable outcome

• 138 million children remain in exploitative or hazardous work globally
• +5 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Sustainalytics: A major ESG ratings and research provider owned by Morningstar, serving institutional investors with broad sustainability risk data — HACE's potential substitute if Sustainalytics expands its supply-chain labour module.
• RepRisk: RepRisk provides ESG and business conduct risk data — including human rights and labour practices — to investors and corporates. It is a comparable data-and-research platform serving the same investor audience.
• Verisk Maplecroft: Verisk Maplecroft produces global risk indices covering human rights, modern slavery, and child labour in supply chains — directly comparable data products used by investors and multinational corporates.
• MSCI ESG Research: MSCI's ESG research arm supplies institutional investors with ratings, screens, and data across ESG risks. It is a broad incumbent whose supply-chain coverage overlaps with HACE's investor-facing use case.
• EcoVadis: EcoVadis provides sustainability ratings used by procurement teams to assess suppliers across labour, ethics, environment, and sustainable procurement — a broad incumbent in the supply-chain ESG ratings space.

Direct peers

• Walk Free: Walk Free (founded by the Minderoo Foundation) produces the Global Slavery Index and engages investors and corporates on modern slavery and labour rights — the closest direct peer in the human-rights risk data and benchmarking space.
• KnowTheChain: KnowTheChain benchmarks global companies on their efforts to address forced labour in supply chains. It is a direct comparator as both organizations produce sectoral benchmark reports used by institutional investors.

Emerging players

• Sedex: Sedex operates a global platform for supply chain ethical data, focusing on labour rights, health & safety, and environmental practices across supplier networks — an adjacent data platform addressing overlapping buyer/supplier risk use cases.
• Responsible Sourcing Tool: A US Department of Labor–supported tool providing data and risk indicators on child labour and forced labour in supply chains — comparable as a data product aimed at assessing supply-chain labour risk.

Others

• ILO IPEC (International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour): The ILO's IPEC programme produces global statistics and reports on child labour, including country-level estimates HACE cites (138 million children in exploitative work). It is the foundational data source shaping the category HACE addresses.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/thisishace

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors4 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about HACE