Amidst growing demand for nature data and tools from investors, lenders and companies NatureAlpha was praised by this year's judges for being "at the forefront of nature and biodiversity data".

Over the past year, the data provider has expanded its universe from 3,000 companies to 9,000. A partnership with ICE has also allowed for expansion into fixed income market at an individual security level.

Three new datasets were also introduced to the platform over the past year.

NatureRevX offers insights on the impact drivers and ecosystem services more relevant to each company's revenue streams – in a bid to help investors better assess their exposures and risks.

The second dataset, Nature Value at Risk, builds upon existing materiality scores of each company and uses proprietary scenarios to develop a projection of future risks in a portfolio.

The final dataset is a new introduction in the market, the TNFD Disclosure Dataset sets out metrics for each of TNFD's 14 core disclosure points, which NatureAlpha said should facilitate financial institutions carry out portfolio level reporting.

Its broader offering, as well as improvements to existing tools and the platform's user interface, has helped it reach new clients. It said that it has seen growing "client interest in nature and biodiversity risk identification and mitigation", which has paved the way to partner with some of the world's largest asset managers, who in turn have been able to develop nature-aligned investment strategies.

This year's judges highlighted NatureAlpha's focus on "empowering users to enact change" and the application of its tools to a wide variety of asset classes, including private markets.