Chicago-based technology company Cityzenith is hoping to exploit a digital-twin smart city market set to grow tenfold over the next five years.

The worldwide digital twin market grew in 2020 to $3.1bn and is set to soar to $48.2bn a year by 2026, at a CAGR of 58%, according to a recent Markets & Markets report.

Cityzenith featured regularly in 2020 market reports and media coverage of top-rated companies in the digital twin market alongside the likes of Siemens and Philips. This led to the company publishing an international white paper, which highlighted the impact of Covid-19 and the relationships with the built environment.

Cityzenith also launched its SmartWorldPro2 digital-twin software, which led to project contracts including Orlando Sports + Entertainment DevCo, a US government agency, and a large-scale US energy provider that is using the technology to build smart energy efficient cities in New Mexico .

In October, the company launched its Clean Cities, Clean Future initiative including a pledge to donate its digital-twin technology to aid key cities around the world in reducing pollution and trending towards carbon neutrality.

“Launching this Clean Cities, Clean Future initiative marks a milestone for us and shareable, networked, city-scale digital-twin deployments,” said Cityzenith CEO Michael Jansen. “Digital twins were first developed to aggregate, analyse and visualise vastly complex information in manufacturing plants and building construction sites but have evolved into a powerful aid to urban climate resilience and lowering carbon emissions.”

In the next phase of this initiative, Cityzenith plans to host its first Clean Cities, Clean Future international forum in 2021, hosting major city technology and sustainability leaders to explore use of digital twins to help their city’s commercial building owners go carbon zero.

The company’s online investment platform launch in early December raised more than $820,000 in less than two weeks, including a strategic investment by NeuerEnergy, an energy services firm specialising in building decarbonisation.

Cityzenith’s 2021 goal is to secure $15m in investment by the conclusion of its regulation A+ capital raise and, from February, it aims to open the investment opportunity to accredited investors such as family offices, institutional investors and strategic investors.

The company’s team doubled its headcount in 2020 and employees are based in the USA, Canada, UK, Spain, Bulgaria and India, with sales representation covering Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong.

And 2021 is expected to be a pivotal year for Cityzenith, starting with announcements of its largest contract to date coming in in the first quarter along with more international sales and distribution partnerships.