Company Information Lookup where to actually find it

Registries, directories, Google Maps and B2B databases each hold different data. Here is what each source gives you, what it costs, and what is legal to use for sales.

Find Business · Updated October 2026 · 6 min read

The short answer

Where to look up company information

To look up company information, match the source to the data you need: business registries for legal and financial filings, official directories and Google Maps for live contact data, and B2B databases when you need many companies at once. No single source holds everything, so the fastest lookups combine two or three.

Each source answers a different question. A business register tells you who legally owns a company and whether it is solvent. Google Maps tells you where it is, what it does and what customers think. A business directory sits in between. The skill is not finding one magic database, it is knowing which lever to pull for which field.

Key takeaways

Registries (Companies House, EDGAR, mercantile registry) hold the legal and financial records
Google Maps and directories have live contact data: address, phone, website, hours, reviews
B2B databases give you scale: hundreds of companies with verified email in one search
Using published business contact data for relevant B2B outreach is legal under GDPR and CAN-SPAM
Per Vonsel internal data (2026), restaurants and dentists are the most-prospected categories, with Madrid, New York and São Paulo leading

The sources

4 places to look, and what each one gives you

Think of company information as four layers. Most lookups need data from more than one:

Business registries (legal and financial)

The authoritative layer. Companies House in the UK, SEC EDGAR in the US and the mercantile registry across Europe hold directors, registration number, status, accounts and ownership. Free to search; some full documents carry a fee.

Official and sector directories

Chambers of commerce, professional associations and trade bodies publish member lists with name, activity and often a phone or email. Great for niche verticals, but coverage is uneven and the data is rarely exportable in bulk.

Google Maps and web data

The freshest contact layer: address, phone, website, opening hours, category and reviews, updated by owners and customers daily. Email is rarely visible, and pulling more than a handful of records by hand is slow. This is where most business email lookups begin.

B2B databases and Google Maps scrapers

Platforms that combine map, web and registry signals into one searchable business database. Search a category plus a city and get hundreds of companies with verified email and phone in minutes, which is exactly where the other three layers fall short on speed.

Find local businesses with Vonsel

Search Maps, collect published website contacts and organise your prospects in the CRM. Free extraction covers 200 businesses a month; AI and export depend on your plan.

Start Free

Source by source

What data each source gives you

Before you open ten tabs, know what you are looking for. This is the data each source reliably returns:

Source	Best for	What you will not get
Business registry	Directors, accounts, legal status, ownership	Email, reviews, live phone
Official directory	Sector membership, niche contacts	Bulk export, full coverage
Google Maps	Address, phone, website, hours, reviews	Legal filings, most emails
B2B database	Hundreds of companies, verified email and phone	Court-grade legal documents

Buyers expect you to do this homework. HubSpot's sales statistics show that reps lose a large share of their day to research and admin instead of selling, so the goal is not perfect data, it is the right data fast enough to act on it.

3-5 min

to compile one full company record by hand from registry plus map plus directory

distinct source layers, no single one holds legal, contact and reputation data together

120+

countries of verified business data inside Vonsel's own database

Legality

Is it legal to use this company information?

Yes, with two distinctions. Looking up and reading public company data is always allowed. Using it for outreach is regulated, and the rules are workable:

Registry data is public by design, you can read, cite and store it.
Business contact data published by the company (website, Google profile, directory) is fair to use for relevant B2B contact.
In the EU, GDPR allows legitimate interest for B2B email, with identification and an easy opt-out.
In the US, CAN-SPAM requires accurate sender info and a working unsubscribe link.
Target the business mailbox, not private individuals, and never resell scraped personal data.

Quick diagnostic: which source do you need?

Need to know if a company is real and solvent? Go to the business registry.
Need to call or visit it today? Google Maps has the live phone and address.
Need 300 companies in a city with verified emails? A B2B database is the only fast route.
Need a niche, regulated vertical? Start with the official sector directory.

Common mistakes

4 mistakes that waste lookup time

Using one source for everything

Registries have no email and Maps has no accounts. Forcing one source to answer every question is slow.

Trusting decayed broker lists

Static lists are resold and rot fast. Live map and registry data is more accurate than a recycled file.

Skipping email verification

An address from any source can be dead. Verify syntax, domain and SMTP before the first send to protect your domain.

Ignoring who the owner is

A phone number reaches the front desk, not the buyer. Knowing how to find the business owner changes your reply rate.

There is no single company database that holds everything. There is only the right source for each field, and a tool that stitches them together.

How Vonsel helps

How Vonsel turns four sources into one lookup

Search Google Maps and press Start. Vonsel gathers the business results as you explore the map, going beyond the pins you can see at a glance. Pause, continue and save your search when you are ready. Google Maps does not provide business emails. Vonsel visits the available business websites to find published emails, additional phone numbers and links to up to 118 supported social networks and other platforms. What it finds depends on what each website publishes. Keep businesses on a map, organise them by stage, edit their details and use a Kanban board, calendar, notes, actions, tags and custom fields. Basic holds 400, Pro 2,000 and Scale 10,000.

In short:

Use registries for legal truth, Maps and directories for live contact data.
Use a B2B database the moment you need scale and verified emails.
Public business data is legal to use for relevant B2B outreach: identify, stay relevant, offer opt-out.

Stop juggling tabs, look up companies in one place

Search Maps, collect published website contacts and organise your prospects in the CRM. Free extraction covers 200 businesses a month; AI and export depend on your plan.

Start Free

If you want to see how a full lookup runs from search to export, watch the video tutorial. To compare what each plan includes before you start, check the pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I find information about a company for free?

Start with the official business registry of the country (Companies House in the UK, EDGAR in the US, the mercantile registry in most of Europe) for legal and financial filings. For contact data and reputation, use Google Maps and official sector directories. Both are free, though registries may charge for full documents.

What is a business information database?

A business information database is a structured collection of company records: name, address, phone, website, activity, size and often verified email. Some are public and official (registries), some are commercial directories, and some are B2B platforms that combine map, web and registry data into one searchable list.

How do I look up a company's legal and financial data?

Search the national business registry: directors, registration number, accounts and status are filed there. In the US use SEC EDGAR for listed firms, in the UK Companies House, and in continental Europe the mercantile registry. These are the authoritative sources for legal company information.

Can I get a company's email and phone legally?

Yes. Business contact data published by the company (website, Google profile, directories) is public, and using it for relevant B2B outreach is lawful under GDPR legitimate interest in the EU and CAN-SPAM in the US. Identify yourself, stay relevant and offer an easy opt-out.

Is Google Maps a good source of company information?

Google Maps is excellent for live, local company data: name, address, phone, website, opening hours, category and reviews. It does not give you legal or financial filings, and the email is rarely shown, so pair it with a registry or a B2B tool that extracts verified emails.

What is the fastest way to build a list of companies?

Use a Google Maps scraper that pulls live map and web data for a category plus a location, returning name, address, phone, website, rating and verified email in minutes. Manual compilation from registries and directories works but takes 3 to 5 minutes per company.

Sources

Get information about a company (GOV.UK): how to search the Companies House register for filings, directors and accounts.
Company register (Wikipedia): what a business register is and what kind of records it holds.
Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (Wikipedia): background on the SEC filing system used for US listed companies.
General Data Protection Regulation (Wikipedia): the EU rules behind legitimate interest for B2B contact.
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Wikipedia): the US requirements for sender identification and unsubscribe links in commercial email.