# Business Verification (`tolca/business-verification`) Actor

Verify companies before you pay, onboard or contract them: US sanctions and restricted-party lists (incl. OFAC SDN), UK Companies House, Canadian federal corporations, GLEIF legal entity status, contractor licences (Quebec, Washington, Oregon). One verdict per company.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/tolca/business-verification.md
- **Developed by:** [Yasser Boughazli](https://apify.com/tolca) (community)
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $50.00 / 1,000 business checks

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Business Verification (KYB): sanctions, company registries and licences

Check a list of companies before you pay, onboard or contract them. For each name, this Actor screens official public sources and returns one clear verdict: **ok**, **review**, **blocking** or **not_found**, with the reasons and the matching records.

### What it checks

| Source | Coverage |
|---|---|
| US Consolidated Screening List (includes OFAC SDN, Entity List, Denied Persons) | Restricted parties, refreshed daily |
| GLEIF (Legal Entity Identifier) | Legal name, status and country of 2.5M+ entities worldwide |
| UK Companies House | UK companies, live |
| Corporations Canada | Canadian federal corporations, refreshed weekly |
| Régie du bâtiment du Québec + RENA | Québec contractor licence and public-contract ban |
| Washington and Oregon licensing boards | US contractor licences |

Companies only: no data about individuals is searched or returned.

### How to use it

1. Paste your company names in **Companies**, one per line (legal or trade name).
2. Optional: set a **Country** (ISO-2 code like `US`, `CA`, `GB`) to narrow the search.
3. Optional: set a **State or province** (`QC`, `WA` or `OR`) to also check contractor licences there.
4. Click **Start**. Results appear in the dataset, one row per company. Export as JSON, CSV or Excel.

### Input example

```json
{
  "companies": ["Shopify Inc.", "Tesco PLC", "Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd."],
  "country": "",
  "region": ""
}
```

### Output example (simplified)

```json
{
  "input": { "name": "Tesco PLC" },
  "verdict": "ok",
  "reasons": ["Found in at least one official registry, no restricted-party match."],
  "sanctions": { "status": "clear", "matches": [] },
  "legal_entity": { "source": "GLEIF LEI (CC0)", "records": [ { "legal_name": "TESCO PLC", "entity_status": "ACTIVE" } ] },
  "company_registries": [ { "jurisdiction": "GB", "source": "Companies House (UK)", "records": [ { "company_number": "00445790", "company_status": "active" } ] } ],
  "contractor_licences": [],
  "checked_at": "2026-10-16T14:00:00.000Z"
}
```

### Verdicts

- **ok**: found in at least one official registry, no restricted-party match.
- **review**: something needs a human look (inactive company, possible sanctions match, licence not active).
- **blocking**: exact match on a US restricted-party list, or a Québec contractor banned from public contracts.
- **not_found**: no match in the sources checked. This does not prove the business does not exist: try the exact legal name with a country.

### Pricing

**$0.05 per company checked** (pay per event). A check that fails for a technical reason is not charged. You can set a maximum spend per run in the run options.

### Use cases

- Vendor and supplier onboarding (KYB)
- Sanctions screening before a payment or a contract
- Contractor due diligence in Québec, Washington and Oregon
- AI agents that need a fast yes/no before transacting

### Speed

Most checks return in under 2 seconds per company.

### Also available as a pay-per-call API

Same check for AI agents over x402 (USDC on Base, no account): `POST https://tolca.tonbot.ca/v1/verify-business`. OpenAPI: https://tolca.tonbot.ca/openapi.json

### Disclaimer

Automated name-based screening of official public sources. A possible match is not a confirmed match: confirm identity (address, registration number) before acting. Not legal advice.

# Actor input Schema

## `companies` (type: `array`):

One business name per line (legal or trade name).

## `country` (type: `string`):

ISO-2 code applied to every name, e.g. US, CA, GB. Leave empty to search everywhere.

## `region` (type: `string`):

WA, OR or QC also checks contractor licences in that jurisdiction.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "companies": [
    "Shopify Inc.",
    "Tesco PLC"
  ]
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (type: `string`):

No description

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "companies": [
        "Shopify Inc.",
        "Tesco PLC"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("tolca/business-verification").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "companies": [
        "Shopify Inc.",
        "Tesco PLC",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("tolca/business-verification").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "companies": [
    "Shopify Inc.",
    "Tesco PLC"
  ]
}' |
apify call tolca/business-verification --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,tolca/business-verification"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/bn1Yxfs9xbC3JDDoB/builds/Ct0gwakouXoVx1872/openapi.json