---
name: "companies_search"
area: "companies"
title: "Find a company in the registers"
price: "free"
method: "POST"
url: "https://api.conecto.chat/v1/tools/companies_search"
mcp_server: "https://api.conecto.chat/mcp/companies"
auth: "Authorization: Bearer <conecto_sk_ key>"
docs_url: "https://conecto.chat/tools/companies/companies_search"
---

# Find a company in the registers (`companies_search`)

Companies by name or id across the public registers, each with its id, country, status, city and industry, best match first.

Companies by name, by an id, or by a German register number (HRB 2001 Augsburg): every UK company (Companies House), France, Norway and Finland from their registers, US listed companies (SEC), and the 3.4 million companies worldwide with an LEI (GLEIF). Each with its id, country, number, status, city, industry and founding date, best match first; give country (ISO, e.g. FR) to ask one register.

Price: Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month for the whole account, then $0.50 per 10,000 reads. A call that fails costs nothing.

## Use it when

To find a company's id before reading its profile, financials or owners.

- For what a company is from its website address, use [lookup_company](https://conecto.chat/tools/lookups/lookup_company.md).
- For businesses that could buy from you, use [prospects_prepare](https://conecto.chat/tools/prospects/prospects_prepare.md).

## Say this to your agent

> Find the Oslo kitchen equipment distributor Arnestad Storkjøkken in the Norwegian register.

## Inputs

| Name | Type | Required | Description | Allowed values | Default |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| `query` | string | yes | A company name, a ticker, or an id like fr:306138900. 2 to 200 characters. |  |  |
| `country` | string | no | Two letters, e.g. NO. Matches ^[A-Za-z]{2}$. |  |  |
| `limit` | integer | no | 1 to 25. |  | `10` |

## Example

Written for Hansen & Voss, a restaurant-equipment wholesaler in Hamburg with 60 staff.

MCP: call `companies_search` on the MCP server `https://api.conecto.chat/mcp/companies` with these arguments:

```json
{
  "query": "Arnestad Storkjøkken",
  "country": "NO"
}
```

REST:

```bash
curl https://api.conecto.chat/v1/tools/companies_search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CONECTO_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "Arnestad Storkjøkken", "country": "NO"}'
```

## Response

```json
{
  "call_id": "5f0c8a2e-3b7d-4c1e-9a64-2d8e1f7b0c93",
  "tool": "companies_search",
  "status": "succeeded",
  "replayed": false,
  "cost_usd": "$0.00",
  "balance_usd": "$19.75",
  "result": {
    "companies": [
      {
        "id": "no:961920566",
        "name": "ARNESTAD STORKJØKKEN AS",
        "country": "NO",
        "number": "961920566",
        "status": "active",
        "city": "Oslo",
        "industry": {
          "scheme": "NACE Rev. 2.1",
          "code": "46.49",
          "label": "Wholesale of other household goods"
        },
        "founded": "1991-09-01",
        "match": 100.0
      },
      {
        "id": "no:937897200",
        "name": "ARI STORKJØKKEN AS",
        "country": "NO",
        "number": "937897200",
        "status": "active",
        "city": "Fjellhamar",
        "industry": {
          "scheme": "NACE Rev. 2.1",
          "code": "46.64",
          "label": "Wholesale of other machinery and equipment",
          "rev2": [
            "46.64",
            "46.69"
          ]
        },
        "founded": "2026-04-29",
        "match": 84.6
      }
    ],
    "unavailable": []
  }
}
```

`result`: companies (id, name, country, number, status, city, industry (scheme, code, label; rev2 where it is NACE Rev. 2.1), founded, lei when it has one, ticker for US listed companies, match out of 100), unavailable (registers that didn't answer) and a note when a register can't be asked.

## Errors

| Code | Status | When | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| `invalid_input` | 400 | The id isn't one of fr:, gb:, no:, fi:, us: or lei: with a valid number. | Use an id from companies_search, like no:961920566. |

The refusals every tool can give (401 key, 402 balance, 429 limits) are on the errors page: https://conecto.chat/docs/errors.md

## Related

- [companies_get](https://conecto.chat/tools/companies/companies_get.md): A company's record in its register: legal form, status, address, industry, employees, LEI and its officers by name and role. $0.05 a call.
- [companies_financials](https://conecto.chat/tools/companies/companies_financials.md): Up to ten years of a company's filed figures in one shape, each with its source document, plus growth, margins, returns and payment days. $0.05 a call.
- [companies_save_accounts](https://conecto.chat/tools/companies/companies_save_accounts.md): A UK company's annual accounts as filed with Companies House, saved to the file store as a PDF: the latest, or a year's. $0.001 a call.
- [companies_read_accounts](https://conecto.chat/tools/companies/companies_read_accounts.md): The balance sheet and income statement read out of an annual report PDF, a scan by OCR, line by line with its page, German HGB or English. $0.05 a call.
- [companies_owners](https://conecto.chat/tools/companies/companies_owners.md): A company's parents and subsidiaries from GLEIF, the SEC and Wikidata and, in the UK, the people and companies with significant control. $0.05 a call.
- [companies_legal_notice](https://conecto.chat/tools/companies/companies_legal_notice.md): A company's legal notice (Impressum) read from its own website: legal name, register court and number, managers and VAT number. $0.01 a call.
- [companies_estimate](https://conecto.chat/tools/companies/companies_estimate.md): A revenue estimate from headcount and Eurostat's turnover per person employed for the size class and industry, always labeled as an estimate. Free up to 1,000,000 reads a month.
- [companies_match](https://conecto.chat/tools/companies/companies_match.md): Matches a company list (CSV, Excel or rows) to the registers in the background, with a results file of each match. $0.01 per row matched.