What Profundo does

Profundo is an Amsterdam-headquartered sustainability research consultancy founded in 2000 by Jan Willem van Gelder (a former ING development economist). The firm provides commissioned research, advisory, and capacity-building services to civil society organisations, trade unions, public organisations, and research institutes working on sustainability and social justice. Its service portfolio comprises six integrated lines — Equity Analysis, Participatory Research, Financial and Tax Research, Policy Research, Supply Chain and Market Research, and Advice — supplemented by a Trainings program.

The firm's underlying technology is its proprietary research methodologies and databases rather than a software product. Core technical components include the Fair Finance Guide methodology (co-developed with Fair Finance International and deployed across multiple country variants), the Forests & Finance database tracking finance to over 300 companies in forest-risk supply chains and benchmarking policies of the 100 largest financiers, and a participatory research framework that integrates community-level primary data with financial-flow analysis. Profundo operates with a small specialist team (11-50 employees, with 11 named senior professionals of multinational origin), works through long-running institutional coalitions (Fair Finance International, Forests & Finance Coalition, Chain Reaction Research, Don't Buy into Occupation, Mining & Money Initiative, BankTrack), and distributes most outputs as publicly downloadable reports.

Profundo's commercial model is professional services: client projects are commissioned by NGOs, trade unions, government bodies, and international organisations and are typically funded through institutional grants or direct project fees. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and the firm operates with non-commercial terms in the advocacy sector. Customers include major international NGOs (ActionAid, WWF, Greenpeace, Oxfam Novib, Global Witness, Friends of the Earth, PAX, Rainforest Action Network, World Animal Protection, Urgewald, Transport & Environment, Fair Finance Asia), international organisations (ILO, UNEP Finance Initiative, OHCHR), and government bodies (European Parliament, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency).

Name

Profundo

Legal name

Profundo

Website

https://profundo.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Profundo is an Amsterdam-based sustainability research consultancy founded in 2000 that provides commissioned research on financial flows, supply chains, ESG risk, and policy benchmarking for NGOs, trade unions, government bodies, and research institutes worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sustainability Research Services

NAICS

Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720), Environmental Consulting Services (54162)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Regulatory Compliance Management (RegTech) (BPAEAPAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

GRC, Policy Management & Controls Testing (SOX/ICFR, audit management) (FSAGAFAM), Regulatory Reporting & Compliance Automation (FinCEN/CTR/SAR, EMIR/MiFID, etc.) (FSAGAFAG)

Keywords

• Sustainability research
• ESG policy analysis
• Supply chain mapping
• Financial benchmarking
• Corporate accountability

Headquarters

HQ city

Amsterdam

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Commissioned Research Services: Profundo conducts commissioned research projects for civil society organisations, trade unions, public organisations, and research institutes. Projects are typically funded by clients or through grants from foundations and public organisations. The organisation makes most reports publicly available, contributing to free knowledge sharing.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Profundo provides commissioned sustainability research, advisory, and capacity building services to civil society organisations, trade unions, public bodies, and research institutes. The firm analyses corporate and financial institution sustainability practices, maps international supply chains, and produces action-oriented reports used to advance sustainability and social justice agendas. Its service portfolio spans equity analysis, participatory field research, financial and tax research, policy benchmarking, supply chain research, advice, and trainings.

Product overview

Profundo is a sustainability research organization offering a portfolio of research and advisory services rather than a software product. The core offerings include six integrated service lines: Equity Analysis (financial risk assessment related to ESG issues), Participatory Research (primary data collection involving affected communities), Financial and Tax Research (analysis of corporate financing and tax practices), Policy Research (benchmarking against international standards), Supply Chain and Market Research (mapping commodity flows and sustainability impacts), and Advice (complementary advisory support). These services are complemented by a Trainings program that builds capacity on sustainability topics. The organization serves civil society organisations, trade unions, public organisations, research institutes and others seeking action-oriented research to advance sustainability and social justice.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Equity Analysis Analyses financial indicators of companies and assesses how companies and their financiers could be affected by ESG risks related to deforestation, emissions, human rights abuses, resource depletion, health impacts, and other sustainability issues. Includes sustainability risk analysis, valuation of externalities, profit distribution analysis, and investor briefings for civil society and public-interest clients.
• Participatory Research Collects and analyses primary data on labour rights, deforestation, human rights, and other sustainability challenges using participatory research methods, ensuring that workers, smallholders, and communities help shape questions, gather information through surveys, interviews, and site visits, and analyse results.
• Financial and Tax Research Analyses how individual companies and complete sectors are financed by banks, institutional investors, and other financiers; assesses what financiers could do to foster sustainable corporate practices; evaluates how much financiers earn from financing certain companies; and researches tax avoidance schemes. Combines financing data with emissions data to calculate financed emissions.
• Policy Research Assesses and benchmarks sustainability policies of companies and financial institutions against international standards, agreements, and best practices. Includes benchmarking financial institution policies, sustainability gap analysis, controversy research, financial regulation research, and public policy assessment.
• Supply Chain and Market Research Analyses how commodities find their way from production countries to consumer goods companies and supermarkets through international supply chains; identifies sustainability impacts; maps key stakeholders; and conducts power analyses to assess leverage for just transformations.
• Advice Provides action-oriented advice complementing Profundo's research work on various sustainability themes, including policy advice, engagement advice, and campaign advice based on a deep understanding of how irresponsible corporate practices can be challenged.
• Trainings Provides trainings on finance and sustainability, holding corporate power to account, international commodity supply chains, and public policies and transitions through a combination of theory, practice, case studies, and interactive exercises.

Quantifiable outcome

• The Dutch Fair Bank Guide has influenced banking policies and consumer choices in the Netherlands
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.

• Fair Finance InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfundo developed the Fair Finance Guide Methodology together with civil society organisations from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America collaborating in Fair Finance International. This methodology is used globally to assess responsible credit and investment policies of financial institutions against international standards.
• Forests & Finance CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfundo participates in the Forests & Finance coalition of civil society organisations from tropical forest countries and abroad, collaborating to convince financial institutions to adopt strict ESG policies and due diligence systems. The coalition maintains a database on finance received by over 300 companies in forest-risk supply chains.
• Chain Reaction Research (CRR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfundo supported the Chain Reaction Research programme for 10 years, translating sustainability risks into material business risks, monitoring deforestation, shaping policy debates, and developing tools to leverage financial institution influence.
• Don't Buy into Occupation (DBIO) CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfundo contributes research to the DBIO coalition of 25 European organisations tracking financial relationships of European institutions with companies enabling illegal situations in occupied territories. The coalition publishes annual reports on financial institutions' involvement.
• Mining & Money InitiativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfundo collaborates with civil society organisations in Latin America, Africa and Asia to identify the role of financial institutions in driving mining sector expansion, creating transparency on financiers' ESG policies and links to environmental and human rights abuses.
• BankTrackcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfundo collaborates with BankTrack, an international NGO network tracking bank behaviour. Together they develop tools like the Plastic Banks Tracker to assess financial institutions' policies on sustainability issues.
• Plastic Soup FoundationsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for the Plastic Banks Tracker initiative, assessing how banks address plastic pollution risks in their financing policies.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Strengths4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/profundonl

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Profundo