Rapid Growth for SIC Alternative The Data City

The Data City, the Leeds, UK-based firm behind a new global industrial classification platform which better reflects the changing economy, has reported a 63% rise in turnover to £1.25m in the financial year 23/24, and has grown its staff to twenty people.

The company helps clients in both public and private sectors to understand the economy in 'real time', including policymakers, economists, investors and analysts. Its classification system is a solution to the outdated nature of SIC codes, which have not responded to changes in the economy and continue to group large numbers of very different firms in 'other' categories: for example SIC code 82990, Other business support services groups together the likes of Amazon UK, Sony Interactive Entertainment Network Europe, Santander, Google and Facebook.

A year ago the firm launched its flagship RTICs product, combining data from the US and the rest of the world with its AI and proprietary data; and four months later it raised an undisclosed six-figure round of funding to expand its team and customer base and further develop its platform. The company says the platform now provides new insights including data on female founders, the addition of GVA, company births and deaths, ESG statements, job postings over time, and growth filters.

The platform now covers more than 120 million companies across Europe, the Nordics and the US, up from around 94m reported in September.

Recent projects include helping the UK's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to map innovation clusters across the country to support investment and target growth; working with the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) and CBI Economics to map the UK's net zero economy; and measuring the 'gender investment gap' in partnership with Panintelligence.

CEO Alex Craven sums up: 'The Data City continues to go from strength to strength with profitable growth as we expand the platform and target new markets worldwide. From founding the company in 2017, The Data City has been on a mission to create a new industrial classification system as an alternative to SIC codes. Our Real-Time Industry Classifications are relevant to the modern economy and dynamic to reflect the rapid technology-driven changes we're seeing. Our plans for the next year are to maintain this pace of growth, expanding the coverage of our global product to eventually include every company in the world'.

Web site: www.thedatacity.com . Pictured: The Data City board.