Data sources / Filings and registries
OpenCorporates
An aggregation of company-registration records across covered jurisdictions. Availability, source fields, reuse terms and update timing vary; the underlying register remains the place to check a consequential identity claim.
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- Publisher
- OpenCorporates
- Access
- Mixed
- Coverage
- An aggregation of company-registration records across covered jurisdictions. Availability, source fields, reuse terms and update timing vary; the underlying register remains the place to check a consequential identity claim.
- Identifiers
- Jurisdiction code; Company number; Source-register identifier
- Freshness
- varies
- Official URL
- https://opencorporates.com/
What it can establish
Use OpenCorporates for a defined acquisition-research question. Match each record to the right entity using its identifiers (Jurisdiction code, Company number, Source-register identifier) before accepting its contents, and keep OpenCorporates's own scope and attribution on the finding.
- An indexed company name, jurisdiction and identifier, with source provenance where provided in the record.
- A cross-jurisdiction discovery path when a trading name or partial identity needs to be connected to candidate legal entities.
What it cannot establish
- Complete worldwide company coverage, a current ownership register or reliable ultimate control where upstream records do not disclose it.
- That two companies with similar names are related, or that a copied registry status is current at the time of research.
A search that returns nothing in OpenCorporates describes the search performed. Coverage here is an aggregation of company-registration records across covered jurisdictions, so a missing record becomes a negative finding only where that coverage reaches the company in question and the evidence standard supports the inference. Otherwise the question stays open.
How Docket uses it
Your acquisition criteria become the agents' questions. OpenCorporates can support some of them and leave others unanswered; its freshness (varies) is weighed answer by answer and it receives no blanket reliability score.
- Triage. Uses indexed names and jurisdiction identifiers to generate and distinguish candidate legal-entity matches.
- Scout. Follows available provenance to the originating register and retains the specific source for accepted fields.
- Audit. Checks for circular corroboration when an aggregator and another page repeat the same underlying registry record.
Scout records typed answers from a fixed list with verbatim quotations from retained pages. Audit reviews only the retained material, with every fetch tool denied. It settles supported contradictions, strikes unquotable answers and leaves gaps visible. See the research-agent method and screening criteria guide for the surrounding workflow.
Pitfalls and review questions
- Aggregation does not fill information the original registry never collected. An absent owner field should remain unanswered.
- Public browsing, API access and data reuse have different terms. Check the relevant conditions before incorporating records into a research workflow, and preserve any source dates supplied.
What it is
OpenCorporates aggregates company registry data from many jurisdictions into a searchable database, identifying each company by a jurisdiction code and the company number assigned by the registry. It is a convenient way to search across registries and to follow officer and address links. Its interface and API documentation describe the fields available and the jurisdictions covered.
It is a secondary source. Records are copies of what registries published, at the time they were retrieved, with its own processing. For anything that supports a decision, confirm against the registry itself and retain the registry page. The aggregator is best understood as a finding aid.
Strengths and limits
Strengths: a uniform search across states and countries, links between companies sharing officers or addresses, and an identifier scheme (jurisdiction plus number) that suits a crosswalk. Limits: coverage differs by jurisdiction, update frequency varies, some registries restrict what can be republished, and status vocabularies are not harmonised, so "inactive" can mean different things in different places.
Officer and address fields can be stale or inconsistent. Names are string-matched in places, which can link different people with the same name. Use link features to generate leads, not conclusions, and apply identity-resolution rules before merging.
Illustration (fictional)
A researcher searches for Paper Lantern Maintenance and finds records in two states with the same officer. The aggregator suggests a link. The researcher opens each state's registry to check formation dates and addresses, finds that one is a foreign registration of the other, records the relationship with the registry pages as evidence, and notes the aggregator only as the lead.
Related sources
Filings and registries
State business registries
Filings and registries
UK Companies House
Filings and registries
GLEIF Legal Entity Identifier records
Relevant sector playbooks
Related reference pages and articles
- State business registries
- GLEIF Legal Entity Identifier records
- Entity resolution
- Deduplication
- Article: business entity search by state
- Article: identifying the same company across states
Sources and further reading
- OpenCorporates, OpenCorporates. Aggregated company registry data across jurisdictions, with provenance back to the filing source.
- OpenCorporates API reference, OpenCorporates. Shows how company records are keyed by jurisdiction and registration number.
- Division of Corporations entity search, State of Delaware. Entity status and formation date for the jurisdiction most US holding companies use.
- Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) search, Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation. Open, free entity identifiers with parent relationships. The nearest thing to a global primary key for companies.
These links identify research contexts to investigate, rather than conclusions about sector attractiveness. Ask how OpenCorporates would be used on your list or return to the complete source directory.
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A target list and your acquisition criteria are enough. You get back company records with scores, the evidence behind every field, and the questions the public record could not answer.