Investigate a company
Company data is largely public, and official registers are more reliable than aggregators, which are stale or wrong. Always start with the register of the relevant country, then widen to linked structures.
The tools, in order
- 01OpenCorporatesfreemium
Aggregates official registers from over 140 jurisdictions
The world's largest open database of companies, covering 200+ jurisdictions with over 200 million company records sourced directly from official registries.
- 02BODACCfree
French legal notices: sales, transfers, insolvency proceedings
French Official Gazette for civil and commercial announcements: bankruptcies, registrations, sales of businesses.
- 03SEC.gov - EDGARfree
Financial filings of listed US companies
The SEC's Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system provides free public access to corporate filings including 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, and proxy statements.
- 04OCCRP Aleph (R)free
Cross-searches registers, leaks and investigative documents
Global archive of research material for investigative reporting, aggregating public records, court filings, company registries, and leaks from 200+ sources.
- 05
Links an entity to offshore structures from major leaks
Searchable database of 800,000+ offshore entities from ICIJ investigations including Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, and Pandora Papers.
- 06OpenSanctionsfreemium
Screens sanctions and politically exposed persons
Aggregated database of sanctioned entities, politically exposed persons, and persons of criminal interest from 329 global data sources.
The pitfall to avoid
One registered address shared by dozens of companies signals a formation agent, not a group. This is the most frequent misreading.
🧭 The full plan
The copilot orders every step from your starting point, with pre-filled queries.
📖 The guides
Detailed methods by investigation type.