diff --git a/backend/README.md b/backend/README.md
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+++ b/backend/README.md
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+# Backend
+This is the api service that will supply the frontend with the insights that are driven by the machine
+learning and data modelling services.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/backend/main.py b/backend/main.py
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/backend/main.py
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+from fastapi import FastAPI
+
+app = FastAPI()
+
+
+@app.get("/")
+async def root():
+    return {"message": "Hello World"}
diff --git a/backend/requirements.txt b/backend/requirements.txt
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+anyio==3.7.1
+click==8.1.3
+exceptiongroup==1.1.2
+fastapi==0.99.1
+h11==0.14.0
+httptools==0.5.0
+idna==3.4
+pydantic==1.10.11
+python-dotenv==1.0.0
+PyYAML==6.0
+sniffio==1.3.0
+starlette==0.27.0
+typing_extensions==4.7.1
+uvicorn==0.22.0
+uvloop==0.17.0
+watchfiles==0.19.0
+websockets==11.0.3