Using Industry Classification

The Industry Classification product takes as input the name, address, and optionally, website URL of a business. It generates a set of labels and prediction values that a customer can use to identify the specific industries in which an entity operates. Customers can also determine if the entity is likely to operate in a high-risk, prohibited or regulated industry.

You can submit a classification request in one of two ways:

Manually via the dashboard for one-off classifications
Programmatically and automatically via the API

You also have the option to order it as part of a Business or as a standalone Website Order. You can review more details in the linked API Reference pages.

Running an Industry Classification request

Industry Classification enables customers to retrieve a set of label classifications and predictions about the industry of a business just by providing a few basic business details.

Field	Required?	Type	Description
Business Name	*required*	`string`	The name of the business.
Business Address	*required*	`object`	The address of the business.
Website	Not required	`object`	The website URL of the business. Required for Prohibited classifications to be returned. If not provided, only Hierarchical classifications will be returned.

Supported Prohibited Categories for an Industry Classification Request

The output of an Industry Classification request (regardless of whether you do it through a Business or a standalone Website Order) is a set of category labels and associated prediction confidence for each industry in which the business may operate.

Below is a list of the industries that Middesk classifies for the Prohibited classification type. Note that these are only returned if a website URL is provided.

Name	Category	Example	High-Risk flag returned?	NAICS Parent Sector	NAICS Code	SIC Code (Crosswalked)	MCC Code
Adult Content	ADULT_CONTENT	Pornography Dating Sites Pay-per-View Chat	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Financial Aggregation	AGGREGATION	Factoring Payment Processors Crowdfunding	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Cannabis	CANNABIS	Manufacturers Distributors Dispensaries	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Counterfeit Goods / Branded Goods	BRANDED_GOODS	Businesses selling (Fake) Brand Name Goods Unauthorized Resellers	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Drug of Concern	DRUG_OF_CONCERN	Legal substance that provides the same effect as an illegal drug (e.g., salvia, kratom)	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Drug Paraphernalia	DRUG_PARAPHERNALIA	Drug Manufacturing Items for Drug Use	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Gambling	GAMBLING	Casinos Online Gambling Fantasy Sports	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Get Rich Quick	GET_RICH_QUICK	Companies Promoting High Yield Investment Opportunities or Services	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Gift Cards	GIFT_CARD	Gift Cards	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
High-Risk	HIGH_RISK	These categories traditionally present higher risks of fraud, excessive chargebacks, or money laundering. Examples: Diet Centers Health Clubs Country Clubs The use of credit to pay for lending service Credit card and identity theft protection Government grants Subscriptions over one year Hair Extensions Telemarketing Embassy Extended warranties Phone services Prepaid phone cards Circumvention, jamming and interference devices Timeshares	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Investment and Credit	INVESTMENT_CREDIT	Securities Brokers Lending Instruments Credit Repair	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Money and Legal	MONEY_LEGAL	Bail Bonds Collections Agencies Adoption Services	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Multi-level Marketing	MULTI_LEVEL_MARKETING	Multi-level Marketing Pyramid Schemes	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Pseudo Pharmaceuticals	PSEUDO_PHARMACEUTICAL	Nutraceuticals Products making health claims not approved by the FDA	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Regulated Products	REGULATED_ILLEGAL	Weapons / Firearms Tobacco and E-Cig Prescription Drugs	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Social Media Activity	SOCIAL_MEDIA_ACTIVITY	Sale of Twitter Followers Sale of Online Traffic Sale of YouTube Views	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Virtual Currency	VIRTUAL_CURRENCY	Initial Coin Offerings Digital Wallets Video Game Credits	TRUE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Other Non-Prohibited	OTHER_NON_PROHIBITED	This label would be returned with high confidence when we assess the risk of the business operating in a prohibited industry to be low	FALSE	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Supported NAICS/SIC Categories for an Industry Classification Request

Regardless of whether a website URL is provided or not, Industry Classification can return NAICS classifications (check the official NAICS website for examples in each category). Some of the NAICS codes are cross-walked with SIC codes. See the supported codes here.

Supported MCC Categories for an Industry Classification Request

Regardless of whether a website URL is provided or not, Industry Classification can return MCC classifications. See the supported codes here.