Historically, environmental health and safety software hasn’t been a massive market — at least compared to others in the software-as-a-service segment — and it’s admittedly not the most enthralling startup category. But that’s changing, according to a new survey released by research firm Verdantix.

EHS software acts as a data management system for capturing and analyzing information related to occupational health and safety, waste management and sustainability. Companies use EHS software to track emissions and investigate workplace incidents, for example, as well as conduct health and safety training and grant entry to restricted spaces.

Verdantix’s Green Quadrant: EHS Software 2023 survey shows that the EHS software market had more than 50 transactions in the past two years and predicts that it’ll grow from $1.6 billion in 2022 to around $2.7 billion by 2027. Verdantix predicts it’ll buck the global economic downturn, furthermore, due to differentiators like the use of AI and automation.

“Over the past two years, the market landscape for EHS software has undergone a paradigm shift, as EHS providers have expanded their product offerings to meet the ravenous appetite for robust environmental management solutions brought on by the ESG megatrend,” Verdantix industry analyst Chris Sayers said in a statement. “As EHS functions seek to interlink with other business operations, providers are turning to emerging technologies as a point of differentiation and redefining the functional possibilities of EHS software.”

Per the Verdantix report, since ETF Partners invested around €10 million (roughly $11 million) in EHS vendor Enablon in 2011, private equity firms and strategic investors like Wolters Kluwer and Fortive have spent more than $4 billion to buy into the EHS software market. The absence of the world’s largest enterprise software vendors — including IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce and SAP — has left a lot of oxygen in the market for midsize businesses to grow.