Bloomberg, the financial news giant, is in talks to back a British start-up which acts as a real-time source of consumer spending data.

Sky News has learnt that Bloomberg is in advanced talks to lead a multimillion pound funding round for Fable Data, which was set up by Luke Kennedy, its chief executive, in 2017.

One industry source said that Bloomberg was expected to commit £2m out of £3.5m being raised from investors, with the deal likely to be concluded before the end of the year.

The fundraising will attribute a pre-money valuation of around £50m to Fable Data, according to the source.

It will mark a notable foray into the world of UK early-stage companies for Bloomberg, which is owned by Michael Bloomberg, the former New York mayor.

Bloomberg is likely to be granted a right of refusal to acquire the company in the event of a future sale, the industry source added.

Fable Data was founded amid Mr Kennedy’s frustration about the quality of data available to decision-makers in companies and government.

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“During my time in government and business I helped ministers, industry leaders and global investors make strategic decisions,” Mr Kennedy says on the company’s website.

“Too often these decisions are based on data sets that are small in sample, stale and skewed.

“This leads to sub-optimal decision on matters of policy, capital allocation and commercial strategies – ultimately negatively impacting economic growth, job creation and levels of investment into public services.”

Bloomberg declined to comment, while Fable Data did not respond to an enquiry from Sky News.

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