A business verification API to quickly retrieve data needed for KYB
With direct connections to US Secretary of State offices, the IRS, and more, Middesk’s KYB API validates the information you know about a business and fills in what you need to know.
Business Profiles
Added in Q3
Update frequency
Business registries
What is a business verification API?
A business verification API is an AML software integration. It retrieves validated information about businesses (and their UBOs) from trusted sources, such as governments and regulatory agencies. This information is needed for identity verification and risk assessment when establishing or maintaining B2B relationships.
These processes are required to comply with many national and international AML/CFT/CPF laws. Using an API allows for gathering the required information quickly and efficiently, reducing friction in onboarding and managing business customers.
How the business verification API works
Step 1
After obtaining your API key, create a Business object to store information about the business you want to verify, and fill in as much known information as you can.
Step 2
Create an Order object to have Middesk search for any missing information on the business. This will also check the input information to ensure it matches with official sources.
Step 3
Review the information retrieved about the business, including what matched against official sources and what didn’t.
Step 4
Stay on top of changes related to your customer base with automated updates of changes in status, such as a bankruptcy filing or a new business lien.
Information you can get using our KYB API
Here’s a look at the different kinds of business information Middesk can help you find and verify for KYB onboarding or review.
Middesk Business Verification Data Sources
Data You Can Access
What Do You Need to Know?
Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO)
Do I know who truly owns the business I want to form a relationship with? Are their identifying details correct? Does their position represent an unreasonable amount of risk to my company?
Identifying a business’s UBOs helps you avoid dealing with businesses being used by individuals to conceal money laundering, terrorist financing, tax evasion, sanctions evasion, and other financial crimes.
Business documents
Can I determine this is a real business by looking at formation documents like their Articles of Incorporation or the Certificate of Good Standing?
Business industry classification (NAICS, SIC)
Has this business been upfront with me regarding the types of business they conduct and what industries they are in?
Business license
Is this business legally allowed to operate, and in good standing with all regulatory boards they need to be?
Business name, address, & phone number
Was this business upfront with me regarding the basic filing information associated with their business?
Liens & litigations
Are there liens or litigations currently filed against this business that might pose a financial risk to me?
Bankruptcy data
Are there any bankruptcy filings associated with this business?
EIN / Business Tax ID
Can this business file taxes with the IRS with a unique TAX ID number?
Watchlist hits & PEP screening
Can I find anyone associated with this business on a watchlist, PEP list, or US sanctions list, and would this prohibit me associating with them in any way?
Applications for a business verification API
Verifying business details, and assessing the risk they present in B2B relationships, is critical in several different industries.
Fintechs
When it comes to customer onboarding, fintechs need to balance accessibility with regulatory compliance and risk prevention. Business customers are no exception, so having Know Your Business integration via API can provide both fast and thorough checks of their credentials before you get them up and running.
Insurance
Underwriting business customers requires knowing what types and degrees of risk each business represents. Those include the ones associated with where the business is located and who owns it. An API for KYB can fetch all the data you need for this in short order, allowing you to quickly make informed decisions on how to build a business client’s risk profile.
Commercial banking
Before a bank opens a financial account for a business, it needs to make sure the entity is properly registered as a business. Through an API, the bank can instantly check if a business’s information is legitimate and valid.
Lenders
Like insurers, lenders need to have a deep understanding of the risks their clients represent. This is especially true for businesses, which can have risks related to their associated people and jurisdictions. A KYB API lets lenders quickly access the business information they need to take a risk-based approach to lending credit to corporate clients.
Marketplace
A marketplace only succeeds if consumers are able to trust the vendors. As a marketplace manager, having an API that can verify business information helps you to include only trustworthy businesses while keeping out overly risky ones.
Payments platforms
Marketplace customers aren’t the only ones who need to be able to trust the resident vendors. Payment processors can use an API to do their own business verification, reinforcing the confidence between them, vendors, and consumers.
Accelerated business verification with KYB API
Know you’re onboarding a legitimate business
Match key business registration information against official government and regulatory agency sources to ensure the business is properly registered.
Fill in your KYB gaps
Perform bulk lookups of any KYB-required business information that you don’t already have on a particular business customer.
Get a holistic risk picture
Know what you need to know about a business to build its risk profile, including watchlist status, industry classification, litigation or bankruptcy history, and more.
All the information you need — in one place
Forget searching across different government departments and regulatory agencies for business verification info. With an API, you can pull all the data you need for KYB to you in seconds.
Start building with our easy-to-integrate APIs today
What makes Middesk’s KYB API different?
Complete US business coverage
We have direct connections with Secretary of State offices, the IRS, and other US government agencies. So you get official data on 100% of US businesses.
Superb data freshness
92% of our business records are updated as often as every 2 hours, so you get the latest data sooner.
Auto data change notifications
We automatically notify you of changes to information regarding your customers, so you can also make fast decisions after onboarding.
Manual review support
If we can’t match a piece of business information you’re looking for, someone from our team will be with you within 5 minutes to assist you with a manual search.
How Radius Bank finds more hours in the day with Middesk
“Every minute we’re able to save in processing loans is a minute faster than a small business will have access to the capital they need. With Middesk, what ordinarily would have taken us hours to do is now taking us minutes. We take pride in partnering with technology companies that help us serve our customers better.”
How Novo redefines its KYB process with Middesk’s verification product
“Middesk's market-leading methods challenge the established legacy approach to verification. Their product has unlocked significant efficiency, enhancing the onboarding experience for small businesses to access Novo. Middesk’s ground-up approach to product development played an integral part in increasing confidence in KYB, both internally and with partners.”
Driving team efficiency and performance with Clearco
“Middesk's Lien Search product has allowed my team to focus on value-add activities like making deals rather than tedious tasks like sifting through UCC portals. My team is faster and happier with getting business owners the capital they need to grow their businesses.”
Leveling up Plaid’s onboarding process with seamless KYB
“When a customer signs up for Plaid, they want to start building on our APIs right away. Middesk has been a critical partner enabling us to quickly and seamlessly onboard new customers.”
Frequently Asked Questions about business verification APIs
Pieces of information you should verify about a business when starting or reviewing a relationship with it include its legal name, registered address, formation documents, proof of licensing (in some industries), and tax ID. You also need to know details about its ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs): full name, date of birth, home address, SSN, and other federal government-issued ID.
The bulk of Middesk’s business information comes directly from the Secretary of State offices in each US state. It can also come from other US government agencies, such as the IRS. Our UBO information comes from our partnership with Socure.
The main reason is that the information can be spread out across multiple government branches and regulatory agencies. So you have to manually search each of them individually, which can mean getting used to different interfaces, signing up for multiple accounts, and even paying fees. An API searches official sources at the same time and provides results in seconds, potentially saving you a lot of time, money, and human resources.
All you need is an account with us here at Middesk, and the account’s corresponding API key. From there, you can submit an API request to create a “Business” object, which will store verified information about a particular business. You can fill in the information you already know about a business and have Middesk check it for you. You can also create an “Order” object to search for and verify other information about the business required for KYB, based on the information you’ve already provided. All of this doesn’t take much more than a few minutes!
Get business verification API access to get accurate KYB data in seconds
Build with our KYB API today to enhance your compliance process
