A business registry is the official government record of the companies formed or registered in a state, typically maintained by the Secretary of State. When a business incorporates or forms an LLC, it files articles with the registry, which then holds its legal name, formation date, status, registered agent, and often its officers. It is the primary source of truth that a company legally exists.
A typical filing records the entity's exact legal name, its type (LLC, corporation, partnership), the date it formed, its current status (active, dissolved, delinquent, withdrawn), its registered agent for service of process, and its jurisdiction. Annual reports and amendments add to this trail over time, so the registry doubles as a history of the company's legal life.
There is no single national business registry in the United States. Each state runs its own, with its own format, fields, and search interface, and a company operating in several states appears in each one separately. Building a national view of a business means reading all of these registries and resolving the same company across them.
Related on Amalgament: Business records API · Learn: KYB
Yes. State business registries are public records, which is why company formation data can be searched and used for verification and due diligence without any private information.
Active (or in good standing) means the entity has met its state filing requirements and is legally recognized. Statuses like dissolved, delinquent, or withdrawn signal that it has lapsed, closed, or left the state.
More terms: KYB (Know Your Business) · UCC filing (UCC-1) · APN (Assessor's Parcel Number) · MCP server · Entity resolution · UEI and SAM.gov · Non-FCRA (business-purpose) data · Context layer (for AI)