Worldly buys Bendi to deepen supply chain visibility

Worldly has acquired UK-based supply chain mapping and supplier risk intelligence company Bendi, extending its reach into deeper tiers of supplier monitoring.

The deal brings three Bendi products into Worldly's platform: Pathfinder for multi-tier supply chain mapping, Prism for supplier risk ratings, and VendorPilot for automated sustainability assessments. The technology will be integrated into Worldly Axion, Supplier Compliance Management, and related products.

Both companies operate in a market shaped by stricter supply chain due diligence rules, particularly for large businesses with global sourcing networks. The focus has shifted from direct suppliers to lower-tier factories and raw material sources, where companies often have less data and less direct contact.

Worldly's network includes more than 40,000 companies across 97 countries in sectors such as apparel, footwear, home furnishings, and sporting goods. Founded in 2020 and based in London, Bendi specialises in software for mapping supply chains and screening suppliers for environmental, labour, human rights, and governance risks.

Under the integration plan, brands using Worldly are expected to gain access to deeper supplier mapping and continuously updated risk scoring. Bendi's assessment automation tools are also intended to reduce the time factories spend completing sustainability assessments, including the Higg Index, which is governed by the non-profit alliance Cascale and made available through Worldly.

The transaction comes as regulators in Europe and elsewhere require businesses to show greater oversight of their supply chains. The European Union's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, updated under the Omnibus I package, is scheduled to take effect in July 2029 for the largest companies operating in the bloc, while forced labour rules are already in force in the United States, Germany, and other markets.

Deeper mapping

Bendi's Pathfinder is designed to trace supplier relationships through Tier 2, Tier 3, and lower levels without requiring direct supplier participation. That is significant for consumer goods brands, which often rely on long supply networks spread across multiple countries and intermediaries.

Prism combines public data sources, including regulatory filings, court records, and NGO publications, with a proprietary scoring model. The framework assesses suppliers across more than 100 environmental, labour, human rights, and governance indicators in more than 35 languages.

VendorPilot is designed to automate data exchange and sustainability questionnaires. In practice, factories can spend less time completing repeated assessments for multiple customers, a process that companies in the sector have long said creates administrative burden and inconsistent data.

Worldly Chief Executive Officer Scott Raskin said the acquisition addresses a longstanding gap in supply chain visibility.

"For years, our customers have told us the same thing: visibility is much more challenging beyond Tier 1 suppliers - and that blind spot is exactly where the greatest labor, environmental, and compliance risk lives. Regulators and stakeholders are now demanding answers in that gap, and the consequences - legal exposure, reputational harm, and supply chain disruption - are escalating fast. Worldly is building the largest network of primary supplier data in the consumer goods industry; Bendi adds AI-powered discovery and risk intelligence for suppliers that brands haven't yet engaged with directly. Together, we'll give companies the visibility to manage risk proactively, not just react after the fact," Raskin said.

Compliance pressure

The transaction reflects how supply chain software groups are responding to growing compliance demands from multinational customers. Companies that once relied largely on self-reporting from direct suppliers are now under pressure to produce supplier-level documentation and show they have identified and addressed risks further down the chain.

That has driven demand for mapping tools, external risk intelligence, and systems that can document due diligence efforts. For consumer goods groups in particular, the challenge is complicated by fragmented sourcing structures and the use of contract manufacturers, mills, processors, and raw material suppliers that may sit several tiers away from the brand.

Bendi Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Mandeep Soor said the company was built to address that lack of visibility.

"We started Bendi because fewer than half of companies have full visibility into their supply chain, and visibility falls off fastest exactly where the risk is highest, deep in the tiers where labor and environmental harm are most likely to occur. That's the problem we've spent years solving. Joining Worldly means we can bring that capability to the brands and manufacturers that need it urgently, and at a scale that simply wasn't possible independently," Soor said.

Worldly has built its business around sustainability and supply chain data used by brands, retailers, and manufacturers. Adding Bendi gives it a larger role in supplier discovery and risk screening, areas that have become more prominent as companies face rising scrutiny over forced labour, environmental harm, and human rights issues in global production networks.

Bendi was founded by Soor, Chief Revenue Officer Benjamin Norsworthy, and Chief Technology Officer Olivier Bacs.