The company has opened an office at 5 Hanover Square in New York through a joint venture with Oxford Economics, a year after the latter invested £2m in The Data City.

The Data City has also expanded its platform into France, Germany and Ireland.

Founded in 2017, The Data City analyses websites, hiring data and financial records to classify businesses operating in emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence and clean energy.

The company’s technology is designed as an alternative to Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes, the predominant system used by governments, regulators and financial institutions to categorise companies. Clients include Lloyds, DSIT, DBT, Savills, the Cabinet Office, regional authorities and universities.  

UK government departments have used the system to map clusters of innovation and quantify the country’s robotics sector, as well as identify companies operating in quantum technologies.

Alex Craven, co-founder and chief executive of The Data City, said there was growing demand for more accurate economic data as organisations adopted AI tools and automated analysis systems.

Craven said: “Trustworthy, real-time data about what companies actually do is the layer that makes AI work, and the opportunity in front of us is enormous."

Last year, the company appointed Mitali Mookerjee as UK managing director and Paul Swinney as chief economist.