Business verification

Business verification for lenders

Confirm a business is registered and active, see who is behind it, and check it for liens and lawsuits in the same report. Entitylight reads the Secretary of State record in 48 states and DC.

  • Secretary of State records in 48 states and DC
  • Registered agent, officers and filing history
  • UCC filings and court cases in the same report

Sample data. Business and party names are made up.

What a business verification shows

Status
The status the state lists for the business, such as active or inactive.
Entity type and formation date
Whether it is an LLC, a corporation or another entity type, and when it was formed.
Registered agent and addresses
The registered agent and the addresses the state has on file.
Officers
The officers the state lists for the business.
Filing history
The filings on the state's record for the business.
State page screenshot
A link to a screenshot of the state's page, taken when the lookup ran, where one is available.

Check liens and lawsuits in the same report

A business can be active on the state register and still have liens against its assets or lawsuits pending. Each report also shows its UCC filings and its court cases, so you do not need a second search on a second site.

See how UCC search and business litigation search work.

You can also run an OFAC screening on the business or its owners, and find other businesses that share an officer, registered agent or address.

How a verification runs

  1. 1

    Enter the business name and state

    Search by the name the applicant gave you.

  2. 2

    Choose the right registration

    If several businesses share the name, Entitylight shows the matching registrations so you can pick the right one before the report runs.

  3. 3

    Read one report

    The state record, UCC filings and court cases come back together, and each source says whether it was searched, unavailable or not covered.

Secretary of State coverage

Secretary of State records are covered in 48 states and DC. Indiana and Nebraska are not covered. Where a source does not cover a state, the report says it is not covered instead of showing an empty result.

The data sources page lists every source and what each one returns.

Questions about business verification

Which states can I verify a business in?

Secretary of State records are covered in 48 states and DC, every state except Indiana and Nebraska.

What if several businesses share the same name?

Entitylight shows the matching registrations so you can choose the right one before the report runs.

What happens when a source is unavailable?

The report marks that source as unavailable instead of showing an empty result, so a missing record is never mistaken for a clean one. Lookups where no source could be searched aren't charged.

Can I verify businesses from my own systems?

Yes. Every lookup is available through the API, with webhooks and a test mode for building your integration.

How much does a lookup cost?

Your first 20 lookups are free. Paid plans start at $299 a month for 400 lookups, and every plan includes full reports, monitoring and the API.

Run your first business check free

See the registration, liens and lawsuits behind the next business you review, before you decide.

  • 20 free lookups to start
  • Search in the browser today, add the API when you're ready
  • Monitoring and alerts on the businesses you lend to