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
Enter the business name and state
Search by the name the applicant gave you.
- 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
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.
Business search by state
- Alabama business search
- Alaska business search
- Arizona business search
- Arkansas business search
- California business search
- Colorado business search
- Connecticut business search
- Delaware business search
- Florida business search
- Georgia business search
- Hawaii business search
- Idaho business search
- Illinois business search
- Iowa business search
- Kansas business search
- Kentucky business search
- Louisiana business search
- Maine business search
- Maryland business search
- Massachusetts business search
- Michigan business search
- Minnesota business search
- Mississippi business search
- Missouri business search
- Montana business search
- Nevada business search
- New Hampshire business search
- New Jersey business search
- New Mexico business search
- New York business search
- North Carolina business search
- North Dakota business search
- Ohio business search
- Oklahoma business search
- Oregon business search
- Pennsylvania business search
- Rhode Island business search
- South Carolina business search
- South Dakota business search
- Tennessee business search
- Texas business search
- Utah business search
- Vermont business search
- Virginia business search
- Washington business search
- West Virginia business search
- Wisconsin business search
- Wyoming business search
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
