How LYVA Labs uses The Data City to map innovation and investment in Liverpool City Region

LYVA Labs is a not-for-profit innovation catalyst for the Liverpool City Region, working at the intersection of public investment, research, and commercialisation. The team supports businesses from the earliest stages of growth, through to the development of large-scale consortia, with a particular focus on health, life sciences, clean tech, and deep tech.

To underpin its pre-seed investment strategy and regional economic development work, LYVA Labs uses The Data City’s real-time data and company classification tools to map emerging clusters, identify opportunities, and provide insight to stakeholders including Innovate UK and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

LYVA Labs needed to better understand the innovation landscape in Liverpool City Region. From early biotech startups to advanced materials R&D, their team required sector-specific data to help guide investment decisions, shape funding bids, and enrich understanding of local economic potential.

Much of this work relied on mapping: identifying which companies and assets existed in key innovation areas such as microbiome and engineering biology, assessing their stage, and understanding their impact through turnover, GVA, and employment. Traditional datasets weren’t enough and LYVA needed dynamic, granular, and sector-aware data.

LYVA Labs adopted The Data City platform and API to support three core activities:

• Mapping innovation ecosystems, including niche sectors like microbiome and engineering biology using smart search and machine learning-based company lists
• Quantifying economic impact through turnover, GVA, jobs, and funding received, to support regional business cases and funding proposals
• Enriching CRM records by integrating The Data City’s API into HubSpot, enabling automated monthly updates with investment, grant, and diversity-related fields

The API integration allowed the LYVA Labs team to automatically populate company records with key insights like whether a business has female founders or has received Innovate UK support, improving targeting and engagement with early-stage innovators.

LYVA Labs has gained deeper ecosystem insight by mapping and quantifying key sectors in the Liverpool City Region, including businesses that are often under the radar. With enriched data, the team is able to engage more effectively, building a picture of funding history, founder profiles, and innovation activity.

This intelligence has strengthened funding bids to public bodies such as Innovate UK and regional authorities. Internally, the integration of The Data City’s API into their CRM has streamlined operations, automating the delivery of company insights and reducing manual data handling.

By combining The Data City’s RTIC classifications and company-level data with their regional expertise, LYVA Labs continues to strengthen Liverpool City Region’s position as a hub for early-stage innovation and investment.