Company search

This page shows the shape query takes in each mode, the fields a company search can filter on with the operator each accepts and what a request looks like. Company requests go to POST /search/company. For professional profiles, see People search.

Writing queries

The shape of query follows the search mode:

Ludicrous takes a JSON object of conditions on the searchable fields, combined with and, or and not. Operators and value shapes are in Business Search query syntax.
Instant and Smart take a plain-language sentence of up to 200 characters. Business Search turns the sentence into one structured query on the same fields. A sentence that names or describes one company is ranked by company name and slogan. A sentence that asks for a set of companies by sector or attributes is ranked by what each company does, from its about, specialties, industry and slogan.

Searchable fields

The operator a field accepts depends on the field’s type. Text fields accept only the text operator. Typed fields, such as strings and integers, accept equals, in and range. Sending equals to a text field returns HTTP 400.

Field	Type	Operators	Notes
`industry`	text	`text`	Word match, for example `software`
`name`	text	`text`	Company name
`about`, `slogan`, `specialties`	text	`text`	Descriptive text
`headquarters_location`	text	`text`	Descriptive location string
`headquarters_country_code`	string	`equals`, `in`	ISO 3166 alpha-2 code such as `US` or `GB`
`headquarters_city`	string	`equals`	Exact city name
`offices_country_codes`	array of strings	`in`	Countries where the company has an office
`offices_cities`	array of strings	`in`	Cities where the company has an office
`organization_type`	string	`equals`	One of `Privately Held`, `Public Company`, `Nonprofit`, `Educational`, `Self-Employed` or `Government Agency`
`founded_year`	integer	`range`, `equals`
`employees_in_linkedin`	integer	`range`	Headcount recorded at the source
`company_size_from`, `company_size_to`	integer	`range`	Self-reported size band
`funding_stage`	string	`equals`, `in`	Latest round type
`funding_raised`	integer	`range`	Amount of the last round, in USD
`linkedin_followers`	integer	`range`	Follower count

funding_stage accepts pre-seed, seed, angel, series-a, series-b, series-c, series-d, series-e, series-unknown, grant, debt, convertible-note, crowdfunding, non-equity-assistance, corporate-round, private-equity and undisclosed.

employees_in_linkedin is the headcount recorded in the source profile, not a guaranteed total, and roughly 40 percent of company records store it as 0. For a reliable size filter, combine it with the company_size_from and company_size_to band and keep its lower bound at 1 or higher:

{
  "and": [
    { "range": { "employees_in_linkedin": { ">=": 50, "<=": 200 } } },
    { "range": { "company_size_from": { "<=": 200 } } },
    { "range": { "company_size_to": { ">=": 50 } } }
  ]
}

A record qualifies when its headcount is in the range and its self-reported band overlaps it.

Example request

Ludicrous
Instant
Smart

A Ludicrous request finds US companies with software in their industry and 50 to 500 employees on record, and names seven output fields:Sample request

curl --request POST "https://api.brightdata.com/search/company" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $BRIGHTDATA_API_KEY" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "mode": "ludicrous",
    "query": {
      "and": [
        { "text": { "industry": "software" } },
        { "equals": { "headquarters_country_code": "US" } },
        { "range": { "employees_in_linkedin": { ">=": 50, "<=": 500 } } }
      ]
    },
    "offset": 0,
    "limit": 3,
    "view": {
      "fields": [
        "name", "website", "industry", "headquarters_country_code",
        "employees_in_linkedin", "founded_year", "linkedin_followers"
      ]
    }
  }'

import os
import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.brightdata.com/search/company",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['BRIGHTDATA_API_KEY']}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    json={
      "mode": "ludicrous",
      "query": {
        "and": [
          { "text": { "industry": "software" } },
          { "equals": { "headquarters_country_code": "US" } },
          { "range": { "employees_in_linkedin": { ">=": 50, "<=": 500 } } }
        ]
      },
      "offset": 0,
      "limit": 3,
      "view": {
        "fields": [
          "name", "website", "industry", "headquarters_country_code",
          "employees_in_linkedin", "founded_year", "linkedin_followers"
        ]
      }
    },
)
print(response.text)

const response = await fetch("https://api.brightdata.com/search/company", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.BRIGHTDATA_API_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "mode": "ludicrous",
    "query": {
      "and": [
        { "text": { "industry": "software" } },
        { "equals": { "headquarters_country_code": "US" } },
        { "range": { "employees_in_linkedin": { ">=": 50, "<=": 500 } } }
      ]
    },
    "offset": 0,
    "limit": 3,
    "view": {
      "fields": [
        "name", "website", "industry", "headquarters_country_code",
        "employees_in_linkedin", "founded_year", "linkedin_followers"
      ]
    }
  }),
});
console.log(await response.text());

Sample responseThe first of the three returned records:

{
  "req_id": "ra2cfffad23ad45afb987cd62e821e33b",
  "source": "linkedin_company",
  "meta": {
    "coverage_percent": 100,
    "matched": 8,
    "offset": 0,
    "limit": 3
  },
  "documents": [
    {
      "bright_id": "70e11d46b2a9e65ff0a55a0541c5b0592f2e98360b67eae27c5f605a51afb3d4",
      "data": {
        "name": "Splashtop Inc.",
        "website": "https://www.splashtop.com/",
        "industry": "Software Development",
        "headquarters_country_code": "US",
        "employees_in_linkedin": 350,
        "founded_year": 2006,
        "linkedin_followers": 29668
      }
    }
  ]
}

An Instant request asks for the same companies in one sentence:Sample request

curl --request POST "https://api.brightdata.com/search/company" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $BRIGHTDATA_API_KEY" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "mode": "instant",
    "query": "US software companies with 50 to 500 employees",
    "limit": 3,
    "view": "summary"
  }'

import os
import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.brightdata.com/search/company",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['BRIGHTDATA_API_KEY']}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    json={
      "mode": "instant",
      "query": "US software companies with 50 to 500 employees",
      "limit": 3,
      "view": "summary"
    },
)
print(response.text)

const response = await fetch("https://api.brightdata.com/search/company", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.BRIGHTDATA_API_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "mode": "instant",
    "query": "US software companies with 50 to 500 employees",
    "limit": 3,
    "view": "summary"
  }),
});
console.log(await response.text());

Sample responseThe first of the three returned records, with url and logo omitted:

{
  "req_id": "r6581e80b2c034f49b7155d5d192c28f5",
  "source": "linkedin_company",
  "meta": {
    "coverage_percent": 100,
    "matched": 595,
    "offset": 0,
    "limit": 3
  },
  "documents": [
    {
      "bright_id": "7b8d489b82344beae097e05cddfcf1da56ed51e37fab6fc64b2ca58e7b0713bd",
      "data": {
        "name": "SourceForge",
        "slogan": "The complete software platform. SourceForge is the largest B2B software review and comparison directory in the world.",
        "industry": "Software Development",
        "headquarters_location": "San Diego, California",
        "headquarters_country_code": "US",
        "offices_cities": [
          "San Diego"
        ],
        "company_size_from": 51,
        "company_size_to": 200,
        "employees_in_linkedin": 59,
        "linkedin_followers": 39185,
        "website": "https://sourceforge.net/",
        "domain": "sourceforge.net"
      }
    }
  ]
}

A Smart request sends the same sentence and ranks the candidates by how well each record answers it:Sample request

curl --request POST "https://api.brightdata.com/search/company" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $BRIGHTDATA_API_KEY" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "mode": "smart",
    "query": "US software companies with 50 to 500 employees",
    "limit": 3,
    "view": "summary"
  }'

import os
import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.brightdata.com/search/company",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['BRIGHTDATA_API_KEY']}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    json={
      "mode": "smart",
      "query": "US software companies with 50 to 500 employees",
      "limit": 3,
      "view": "summary"
    },
)
print(response.text)

const response = await fetch("https://api.brightdata.com/search/company", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.BRIGHTDATA_API_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "mode": "smart",
    "query": "US software companies with 50 to 500 employees",
    "limit": 3,
    "view": "summary"
  }),
});
console.log(await response.text());

Sample responseThe first of the three returned records, with url and logo omitted:

{
  "req_id": "ra093a71684884dee9aaeb13d15b4f300",
  "source": "linkedin_company",
  "meta": {
    "coverage_percent": 100,
    "matched": 593,
    "offset": 0,
    "limit": 3
  },
  "documents": [
    {
      "bright_id": "89d3d02c7227eb19214e0912d980e84e56ad89e19a49f81a4924d13b844d2762",
      "data": {
        "name": "BQE Software",
        "slogan": "All-in-one Firm Management Software for Engineers, Architects, Consultants, & Professional Services Firms.",
        "industry": "Software Development",
        "headquarters_location": "West Hollywood, CA",
        "headquarters_country_code": "US",
        "offices_cities": [
          "West Hollywood"
        ],
        "company_size_from": 201,
        "company_size_to": 500,
        "employees_in_linkedin": 409,
        "linkedin_followers": 28157,
        "website": "https://www.bqe.com/",
        "domain": "bqe.com"
      }
    }
  ]
}

For the fields each view returns and how view relates to query, see Business Search field views.

Get started

Data extraction

Web search

AI training data

Proxy networks

Writing queries

Searchable fields

Example request

​Writing queries

​Searchable fields

​Example request

Writing queries

Searchable fields

Example request