Free data. But at what cost? Companies House alternatives to enhance your M&A activities

Free data. But at what cost? Companies House alternatives to enhance your M&A activities

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Photo of Josh Port, Founder & CEO of Handshaik

Josh Port

Founder & CEO

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What is Companies House and what does it do? 

Companies House is a UK government agency responsible for storing and managing official business records and private company information. It’s a familiar, traditional data resource for those in the investment or mergers and acquisitions (M&A) space, with a history dating back to 1844.

Companies House has several key roles, including: 

  • Incorporating and registering new limited companies
  • Storing publicly accessible statutory documents e.g. Director/ownership details and annual accounts 
  • Dissolving or striking off inactive/fraudulent businesses 
  • Governing legal filing compliance

With its public register available online, you can access Companies House data for free, using it to help build company profiles of potential investment and acquisition targets. 

While the data provided by Companies House is of value to investment and M&A firms, it does have its limitations, requiring a lot more manual work than purpose-built systems to access the detailed information and insights needed for effective deal sourcing. At Handshaik, we offer one of the market’s strongest Companies House alternatives, with an AI-native platform that adds even more power to your private company information collation. 

More than just a company search tool, Handshaik gives you everything that Companies House can, and much, much more.

Handshaik: Companies House data just got deeper 

Dealmaking starts with data. It’s the essential foundation for finding targets and building prospect profiles.

Handshaik scrapes ~5.5m companies to build up comprehensive profiles to assist users and our agents with their sourcing and UK company research. We go far beyond using SIC to determine what a company does.

Did you know that the fastest growing sic in the UK is: 01120 - growing of rice? Obviously it's not possible to grow rice in the UK, but it's number two on the list of hundreds of options, so you can imagine individuals completing their company registration and quickly clicking anything. It's amusing in one way, but concerning in another as it truly shines a light on the inaccuracy of the SIC data. 

This flows through our AI natural language search, which lets you describe your ideal target, get a list in seconds of every relevant company in that universe, rank results based on unique criteria and share example companies to benchmark, which spits out an explanation as to why each company is a fit based on your unique brief. You can jump into a company to see the full interactive profile, covering more about the company, financials, group structure, shareholders and directors, with an ability to click a button and enrich results to get mobile numbers and emails for any individual at the company. You can then shortlist all the companies you want to monitor, and nurture the targets in Handshaik's collaborative pipeline tracker, with space to add colleagues into the targeting team, add notes/interactions and get real time progress analytics. 

From private company information to the sealed deal – explore Handshaik 

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Is Companies House suitable for deal sourcing? 

Companies House is a great start for gathering data and completing your due diligence. But as a standalone solution, it’s just not enough. While it’s a useful source of raw company data, if you need deeper insights, ownership context, and a workflow that actually helps you find and win deals, you’ll quickly outgrow the API-only approach. 

For investors, private equity firms and other professionals seeking opportunities in the UK, this core database will give you the tools to do corporate background checks on persons with significant control, compliance matters and potential fraud risks. It’s also a good starting place for financial analysis, company monitoring and general market research.

Unfortunately, as a government platform rather than an actual deal sourcing tool, it’s a little lacking when it comes to thorough investment and acquisition research – and the steps required thereafter. Most professionals choose to pay for a more comprehensive solution, or build a tech stack of several platforms to create a tailored online workspace for the entire pipeline.

So, what are the limitations of Companies House, and how can more modern alternatives bridge the gap? 

Why dealmakers are seeking better Companies House alternatives

It may be the original, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best. Deal sourcing and management software has come a long way over recent years, with various platforms offering to collate data directly from Companies House and other sources.

While some may still choose to incorporate Companies House data into their research and profiling process, many are trusting more contemporary AI-based solutions to collate, cross-reference and organise data.

If one new platform can do the work of several – plus offer additional tools for efficiency and accuracy – it’s a no-brainer, especially when Companies House has some limitations that other resources may not, such as: 

  • It uses Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes which need to be translated into company’s core economic activity
  • Lack of deeper data such as ownership type, investor-backed etc. 
  • No ability to identify full group structure, including international entity group structure

Using Companies House as your primary deal sourcing tool means you’ll still need to build and maintain a lot of your company profiles yourself, adding to development time and costs compared to a dedicated platform.

With these things in mind, it’s easy to see why more in-depth solutions have been created. Platforms such as Handshaik offer deeper, richer detail and a whole dashboard of tools that leaves Companies House all but redundant. Rather than the API/DIY route offered by Companies House, harnessing a fully-managed platform like Handshaik can save you money and the time you’d spend cleaning, structuring and maintaining the raw data provided by Companies House. 

A new platform for private company information and deal sourcing 

Traditional methods for gathering and managing your private company information can leave you with data holes, inaccuracies and thin results.

At Handshaik, we’ve worked hard to develop an all-in-one solution for your deal sourcing and dealmaking workflow, giving you a more complete and comprehensive alternative to Companies House that will enhance every aspect of UK business development. It’s designed to save you hours of admin, facilitate close team collaboration and bring better results, faster. 

As well as providing extended ownership insights, e.g. if its investor-backed or employee owned, and matching registered entities to the trading companies, with trading location data to give a more accurate reflection of a businesses presence, Handshaik offers a wealth of features and capabilities, including… 

Natural language search 

Flexible search modes include conversational language discovery and classic, structured filtering – giving you both deterministic and non-deterministic options to map the UK market. 

Accurate company information

Company data is collected from an ever-expanding catalogue of proprietary data sets, deep online searches, Companies House and more.

Up-to-date people data

Handshaik collates people and contact details through LinkedIn and by waterfalling through leading providers such as Apollo, ContactOut, Wiza and Hunter – with daily refreshes for rich, accurate results. 

New and hidden targets 

Richer data and sophisticated analysis tools surface strong targets that may otherwise be missed, while constant activity monitoring highlights opportunities before they become common knowledge. 

Compare, identify, build

Instantly compare company profiles and criteria points, identify potential prospects and build target lists in one easy-to-use system.

Manage workflows 

With Kanban-style workflow management, you can assign targets, add notes against companies, track outreach/progression and collaborate throughout the entire dealmaking process, for fluid, streamlined partnerships. 

Ready for more investment and M&A success? Choose Handshaik as your Companies House alternative for better data, better teamwork and better deals. 

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