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Intent to sell signals in M&A
September 25, 2026
0
min.
read
The best transaction opportunities are rarely announced in advance, but if you look close enough, businesses leave clues.
Changes in ownership, management, financial performance, hiring, funding and corporate structure can all indicate that a company may be approaching a sale, acquisition, fundraising event or other significant transaction.
Handshaik helps M&A, private equity and advisory teams identify these signals, combine them into meaningful patterns, highlighting the companies worth investigating.
What are intent to sell signals?
Intent to sell signals are observable changes in a company, its shareholders, management team or financial position that can indicate an increased likelihood of a sale, succession event or other transaction.
Examples might include:
- Leadership and ownership changes
- Corporate structuring
- Financial performance/growth
- Staffing increases
- Fundraising activity
None of these signals proves that a business is for sale. The value comes from looking at several signals together, understanding how important each one is and taking into account how recently it occurred.
That is where intent data becomes useful.
With differing emphasis on the types of acquisition and buying signals M&A or PE firms and more advisor-based companies may look for, there are platforms now available to help them hone in on the ones that really matter.
And Handshaik, of course, is one of them.
Handshaik: From intent and acquisition signals to signed deals
Intent to sell signals are just one piece of a much bigger picture when it comes to investments and acquisitions… which is why Handshaik brings together a whole toolbox for sourcing, analysis and outreach. With the platform constantly subject to enhancements and improvements, it’s fast becoming an indispensable system for the entire end-to-end dealmaking process.
Aside from collating a wealth of intent signals, Handshaik offers enhanced capabilities across the whole pipeline. From building company profiles built on data that’s refreshed every day, to providing sophisticated yet simple-to-use collaboration tools, this AI-powered platform gives teams everything they need to move from intent to execution, ending with a signed, sealed deal.
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How Handshaik highlights intent to sell signals
To understand just what Handshaik can do for you when it comes to identifying and assessing potential investment and acquisition signals, here’s an overview of data that’s already available on the platform:
Director/shareholder age
While displayed in month/year bands rather than exact ages, being able to see any founders or major shareholders approaching retirement age can indicate potential succession or exit planning being undertaken or considered in the near future.
Financial growth
Strong financial/revenue growth can represent an attractive position for selling the business, with Handshaik showing stable or declining finances or consistent growth in revenue/debtors/assets over the previous 2-4 years.
Profitability inflection
Gaining a view of recent increases in profitability or margins materially improving can indicate that a company is becoming more marketable.
Growth slowing
If revenue growth is seen to be declining/flattening following a strong revenue period, owners may be considering taking money off the table.
Exceptional cash generation
Businesses with building cash balances and low debt levels are potentially attractive targets for acquisition.
Management/employee build-out
Onboarding a new financial director/CFO, Coo or NED are some examples which could signal preparation for growth, investment or exit. The same can also be said for any significant increase in employee numbers.
Senior M&A/corporate development hire
Senior hires in M&A, strategy or development is often an explicit acquisition intent signal.
Here are some additional intent to sell signals that are partially available and/or in development on the Handshaik platform:
Long ownership period
While currently available on an individual look-up basis rather than at scale, businesses that have had the same founder/shareholder for 10, 15, or 20+ years can indicate a stronger likelihood of succession or liquidity considerations.
Ownership changes
On checking, our platform will show you when a PSC was notified, indicating recent ownership change/corporate activity.
New holding company
As above, while this isn’t a tracked feature as yet, you can check for changes to holding company/group structure which can sometimes indicate an upcoming sale.
Fundraising
By segmenting equity/backing data, you can see if a company is privately or publicly owned, investor backed etc. to identify acquisitions or eventual exit cycles.
PE hold
Not tracked just yet, but you can check for private equity PSCs and their appointment date for potential side-sell indicators.
Buying signals built on intent
Knowing when to approach a prospect is key for successful outreach and any commercial buy-in or buying. That said, it’s important to acknowledge that signals are not independent, stand-alone statistics, but rather a combination of data points that indicate intention and allow investors, advisors and M&A firms to value them as true buying signals for themselves and their clients.
For example, while signals are ‘noisy’ on their own, value is realised by saving several named composites as a mandate, such as:
- Retirement sale candidate: Majority PSC aged 60, no director under 45, tenure 15+ years, no institutional investor on the register, net assets stable or rising, charge satisfied in the last 24 months.
- Scaling, pre-institutional: Net headcount up 25% over 12 months, first FD appointed, filing category stepped up, new charge registered, no PE on the register.
- Active acquirer: Acquisition completed in the last 18 months, goodwill on the balance sheet, corp dev or integration hire, new NewCo incorporated.
Composites also make the output explainable, i.e. the user sees which four signals fired, not a black-box score with no context.
Additionally, you need to combine data for ‘strength and decay’. Each signal needs two attributes beyond its definition: a strength weighting (a first-time FD appointment is not equivalent to an ARD change) and a decay period. A charge satisfied three months ago is a live signal; the same event three years ago is background. Without decay, the list becomes a permanent flag rather than a trigger.
The importance of anti-signals
When assessing and analysing buying signals, M&A intent to sell signals and the data delivered by Handshaik and similar platforms, it’s not just the positive that matters. Anti-signals are also important, suppressing targets where data indicates that approaching for a deal would be a waste of time and the team’s energy.
Anti-signals that will prevent a target being surfaced include:
- Acquired within the last 12-24 months
- Already PE-backed and early in the hold period
- In administration, liquidation or subject to a winding-up petition
- Succession clearly resolved internally, with next-generation family or management already in place and shareholding
- Recently converted to an EOT
- Dormant, or a non-trading holding company
- Already approached or marked as not relevant by the same user or firm
If you’d like to learn more about current data availability on Handshaik, where and how we draw our datapoints from and how the platform is set to expand and enhance your workflow in the near future, please talk to our team.
With a wealth of data to help you identify and analyse intent to sell signals and buying signals, M&A firms, private equity professionals and advisors can trust Handshaik as part of your modern tech stack.
Written by
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Josh Port
Founder & CEO
Share
The best transaction opportunities are rarely announced in advance, but if you look close enough, businesses leave clues.
Changes in ownership, management, financial performance, hiring, funding and corporate structure can all indicate that a company may be approaching a sale, acquisition, fundraising event or other significant transaction.
Handshaik helps M&A, private equity and advisory teams identify these signals, combine them into meaningful patterns, highlighting the companies worth investigating.
What are intent to sell signals?
Intent to sell signals are observable changes in a company, its shareholders, management team or financial position that can indicate an increased likelihood of a sale, succession event or other transaction.
Examples might include:
- Leadership and ownership changes
- Corporate structuring
- Financial performance/growth
- Staffing increases
- Fundraising activity
None of these signals proves that a business is for sale. The value comes from looking at several signals together, understanding how important each one is and taking into account how recently it occurred.
That is where intent data becomes useful.
With differing emphasis on the types of acquisition and buying signals M&A or PE firms and more advisor-based companies may look for, there are platforms now available to help them hone in on the ones that really matter.
And Handshaik, of course, is one of them.
Handshaik: From intent and acquisition signals to signed deals
Intent to sell signals are just one piece of a much bigger picture when it comes to investments and acquisitions… which is why Handshaik brings together a whole toolbox for sourcing, analysis and outreach. With the platform constantly subject to enhancements and improvements, it’s fast becoming an indispensable system for the entire end-to-end dealmaking process.
Aside from collating a wealth of intent signals, Handshaik offers enhanced capabilities across the whole pipeline. From building company profiles built on data that’s refreshed every day, to providing sophisticated yet simple-to-use collaboration tools, this AI-powered platform gives teams everything they need to move from intent to execution, ending with a signed, sealed deal.
[cta]
How Handshaik highlights intent to sell signals
To understand just what Handshaik can do for you when it comes to identifying and assessing potential investment and acquisition signals, here’s an overview of data that’s already available on the platform:
Director/shareholder age
While displayed in month/year bands rather than exact ages, being able to see any founders or major shareholders approaching retirement age can indicate potential succession or exit planning being undertaken or considered in the near future.
Financial growth
Strong financial/revenue growth can represent an attractive position for selling the business, with Handshaik showing stable or declining finances or consistent growth in revenue/debtors/assets over the previous 2-4 years.
Profitability inflection
Gaining a view of recent increases in profitability or margins materially improving can indicate that a company is becoming more marketable.
Growth slowing
If revenue growth is seen to be declining/flattening following a strong revenue period, owners may be considering taking money off the table.
Exceptional cash generation
Businesses with building cash balances and low debt levels are potentially attractive targets for acquisition.
Management/employee build-out
Onboarding a new financial director/CFO, Coo or NED are some examples which could signal preparation for growth, investment or exit. The same can also be said for any significant increase in employee numbers.
Senior M&A/corporate development hire
Senior hires in M&A, strategy or development is often an explicit acquisition intent signal.
Here are some additional intent to sell signals that are partially available and/or in development on the Handshaik platform:
Long ownership period
While currently available on an individual look-up basis rather than at scale, businesses that have had the same founder/shareholder for 10, 15, or 20+ years can indicate a stronger likelihood of succession or liquidity considerations.
Ownership changes
On checking, our platform will show you when a PSC was notified, indicating recent ownership change/corporate activity.
New holding company
As above, while this isn’t a tracked feature as yet, you can check for changes to holding company/group structure which can sometimes indicate an upcoming sale.
Fundraising
By segmenting equity/backing data, you can see if a company is privately or publicly owned, investor backed etc. to identify acquisitions or eventual exit cycles.
PE hold
Not tracked just yet, but you can check for private equity PSCs and their appointment date for potential side-sell indicators.
Buying signals built on intent
Knowing when to approach a prospect is key for successful outreach and any commercial buy-in or buying. That said, it’s important to acknowledge that signals are not independent, stand-alone statistics, but rather a combination of data points that indicate intention and allow investors, advisors and M&A firms to value them as true buying signals for themselves and their clients.
For example, while signals are ‘noisy’ on their own, value is realised by saving several named composites as a mandate, such as:
- Retirement sale candidate: Majority PSC aged 60, no director under 45, tenure 15+ years, no institutional investor on the register, net assets stable or rising, charge satisfied in the last 24 months.
- Scaling, pre-institutional: Net headcount up 25% over 12 months, first FD appointed, filing category stepped up, new charge registered, no PE on the register.
- Active acquirer: Acquisition completed in the last 18 months, goodwill on the balance sheet, corp dev or integration hire, new NewCo incorporated.
Composites also make the output explainable, i.e. the user sees which four signals fired, not a black-box score with no context.
Additionally, you need to combine data for ‘strength and decay’. Each signal needs two attributes beyond its definition: a strength weighting (a first-time FD appointment is not equivalent to an ARD change) and a decay period. A charge satisfied three months ago is a live signal; the same event three years ago is background. Without decay, the list becomes a permanent flag rather than a trigger.
The importance of anti-signals
When assessing and analysing buying signals, M&A intent to sell signals and the data delivered by Handshaik and similar platforms, it’s not just the positive that matters. Anti-signals are also important, suppressing targets where data indicates that approaching for a deal would be a waste of time and the team’s energy.
Anti-signals that will prevent a target being surfaced include:
- Acquired within the last 12-24 months
- Already PE-backed and early in the hold period
- In administration, liquidation or subject to a winding-up petition
- Succession clearly resolved internally, with next-generation family or management already in place and shareholding
- Recently converted to an EOT
- Dormant, or a non-trading holding company
- Already approached or marked as not relevant by the same user or firm
If you’d like to learn more about current data availability on Handshaik, where and how we draw our datapoints from and how the platform is set to expand and enhance your workflow in the near future, please talk to our team.
With a wealth of data to help you identify and analyse intent to sell signals and buying signals, M&A firms, private equity professionals and advisors can trust Handshaik as part of your modern tech stack.
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The next step is your best step
One platform, hundreds of signals; see how Handshaik can shape your investment and acquisition success.
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Additional resources
September 15, 2026
0
min.
read
What is Companies House and what does it do?
Companies House is a UK government agency responsible for storing and managing official business records and private company information. It’s a familiar, traditional data resource for those in the investment or mergers and acquisitions (M&A) space, with a history dating back to 1844.
Companies House has several key roles, including:
- Incorporating and registering new limited companies
- Storing publicly accessible statutory documents e.g. Director/ownership details and annual accounts
- Dissolving or striking off inactive/fraudulent businesses
- Governing legal filing compliance
With its public register available online, you can access Companies House data for free, using it to help build company profiles of potential investment and acquisition targets.
While the data provided by Companies House is of value to investment and M&A firms, it does have its limitations, requiring a lot more manual work than purpose-built systems to access the detailed information and insights needed for effective deal sourcing. At Handshaik, we offer one of the market’s strongest Companies House alternatives, with an AI-native platform that adds even more power to your private company information collation.
More than just a company search tool, Handshaik gives you everything that Companies House can, and much, much more.
Handshaik: Companies House data just got deeper
Dealmaking starts with data. It’s the essential foundation for finding targets and building prospect profiles.
Handshaik scrapes ~5.5m companies to build up comprehensive profiles to assist users and our agents with their sourcing and UK company research. We go far beyond using SIC to determine what a company does.
Did you know that the fastest growing sic in the UK is: 01120 - growing of rice? Obviously it's not possible to grow rice in the UK, but it's number two on the list of hundreds of options, so you can imagine individuals completing their company registration and quickly clicking anything. It's amusing in one way, but concerning in another as it truly shines a light on the inaccuracy of the SIC data.
This flows through our AI natural language search, which lets you describe your ideal target, get a list in seconds of every relevant company in that universe, rank results based on unique criteria and share example companies to benchmark, which spits out an explanation as to why each company is a fit based on your unique brief. You can jump into a company to see the full interactive profile, covering more about the company, financials, group structure, shareholders and directors, with an ability to click a button and enrich results to get mobile numbers and emails for any individual at the company. You can then shortlist all the companies you want to monitor, and nurture the targets in Handshaik's collaborative pipeline tracker, with space to add colleagues into the targeting team, add notes/interactions and get real time progress analytics.
From private company information to the sealed deal – explore Handshaik
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Is Companies House suitable for deal sourcing?
Companies House is a great start for gathering data and completing your due diligence. But as a standalone solution, it’s just not enough. While it’s a useful source of raw company data, if you need deeper insights, ownership context, and a workflow that actually helps you find and win deals, you’ll quickly outgrow the API-only approach.
For investors, private equity firms and other professionals seeking opportunities in the UK, this core database will give you the tools to do corporate background checks on persons with significant control, compliance matters and potential fraud risks. It’s also a good starting place for financial analysis, company monitoring and general market research.
Unfortunately, as a government platform rather than an actual deal sourcing tool, it’s a little lacking when it comes to thorough investment and acquisition research – and the steps required thereafter. Most professionals choose to pay for a more comprehensive solution, or build a tech stack of several platforms to create a tailored online workspace for the entire pipeline.
So, what are the limitations of Companies House, and how can more modern alternatives bridge the gap?
Why dealmakers are seeking better Companies House alternatives
It may be the original, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best. Deal sourcing and management software has come a long way over recent years, with various platforms offering to collate data directly from Companies House and other sources.
While some may still choose to incorporate Companies House data into their research and profiling process, many are trusting more contemporary AI-based solutions to collate, cross-reference and organise data.
If one new platform can do the work of several – plus offer additional tools for efficiency and accuracy – it’s a no-brainer, especially when Companies House has some limitations that other resources may not, such as:
- It uses Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes which need to be translated into company’s core economic activity
- Lack of deeper data such as ownership type, investor-backed etc.
- No ability to identify full group structure, including international entity group structure
Using Companies House as your primary deal sourcing tool means you’ll still need to build and maintain a lot of your company profiles yourself, adding to development time and costs compared to a dedicated platform.
With these things in mind, it’s easy to see why more in-depth solutions have been created. Platforms such as Handshaik offer deeper, richer detail and a whole dashboard of tools that leaves Companies House all but redundant. Rather than the API/DIY route offered by Companies House, harnessing a fully-managed platform like Handshaik can save you money and the time you’d spend cleaning, structuring and maintaining the raw data provided by Companies House.
A new platform for private company information and deal sourcing
Traditional methods for gathering and managing your private company information can leave you with data holes, inaccuracies and thin results.
At Handshaik, we’ve worked hard to develop an all-in-one solution for your deal sourcing and dealmaking workflow, giving you a more complete and comprehensive alternative to Companies House that will enhance every aspect of UK business development. It’s designed to save you hours of admin, facilitate close team collaboration and bring better results, faster.
As well as providing extended ownership insights, e.g. if its investor-backed or employee owned, and matching registered entities to the trading companies, with trading location data to give a more accurate reflection of a businesses presence, Handshaik offers a wealth of features and capabilities, including…
Natural language search
Flexible search modes include conversational language discovery and classic, structured filtering – giving you both deterministic and non-deterministic options to map the UK market.
Accurate company information
Company data is collected from an ever-expanding catalogue of proprietary data sets, deep online searches, Companies House and more.
Up-to-date people data
Handshaik collates people and contact details through LinkedIn and by waterfalling through leading providers such as Apollo, ContactOut, Wiza and Hunter – with daily refreshes for rich, accurate results.
New and hidden targets
Richer data and sophisticated analysis tools surface strong targets that may otherwise be missed, while constant activity monitoring highlights opportunities before they become common knowledge.
Compare, identify, build
Instantly compare company profiles and criteria points, identify potential prospects and build target lists in one easy-to-use system.
Manage workflows
With Kanban-style workflow management, you can assign targets, add notes against companies, track outreach/progression and collaborate throughout the entire dealmaking process, for fluid, streamlined partnerships.
Ready for more investment and M&A success? Choose Handshaik as your Companies House alternative for better data, better teamwork and better deals.
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Free data. But at what cost? Companies House alternatives to enhance your M&A activities
Written by
Josh Port
Founder & CEO
August 3, 2026
0
min.
read
What is AI for M&A?
Using AI in mergers and acquisitions is a growing trend, giving dealmakers better tools to enhance the process of finding, qualifying and executing investment opportunities more efficiently. According to Deloitte’s 2025 M&A Generative AI Study, 86% of respondents reported the integration of GenAI into their workflows, with 65% doing so within the past 12 months.
In the M&A and deal sourcing space, AI can be utilised throughout the acquisition lifecycle, gathering and processing large volumes of company data to assist professionals with core tasks such as:
- Business ownership, structure and financial details
- Analysing and identifying potential investment targets
- Analysing market signals
- Comparing targets based on key criteria
- Team collaboration
- Acquisition outreach and pipeline management
Rather than replacing dealmakers, AI acts as an intelligent assistant – feeding teams streamlined, organised data that allows them to make more educated decisions. Able to collate, sift and categorise thousands of records in minutes, AI deal sourcing software reduces this huge administration burden from professionals, giving them a host of newly available hours to focus on fostering relationships and forwarding deals.
For those concerned about GDPR, data quality and accuracy, modern AI solutions are incredibly sophisticated and programmed to meet compliance requirements. They also work on natural language processing, making search simpler, and visual dashboards to make company comparisons easier.
AI in M&A often takes the form of a tech stack – a cluster of platforms working together to ensure as many aspects of the deal sourcing workflow as possible are automated and improved. This gives users the flexibility to build their own personalised solution, focused on their unique needs.
Handshaik AI: deal sourcing software for success
With optimised research facilities at your fingertips and tools to take you right through to deal completion, Handshaik AI is an end-to-end solution for M&A teams who want to swap endless manual admin for enhanced insight and efficiency.
From in-depth, accurate research, to smart collaboration and analytical capabilities, Handshaik powers up performance at every stage of your M&A pipeline.
Here’s a quick look at how Handshaik AI makes mergers and acquisition activities easier, clearer and more informed.
Explore the potential of AI for mergers and acquisitions
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How does AI improve the deal sourcing process?
Traditionally, deal sourcing and M&A firms relied on personal networks, existing contacts, referrals, manual database searches and cold outreach. With most admin done by hand and a lack of joined-up services, fast progress and team collaboration wasn’t easy.
While these approaches are still used within the industry, new AI platforms offer broader and deeper resources, along with a much faster way to filter results and find the best opportunities. With the right software, you can track and manage the entire pipeline, with full team visibility to ensure everyone is always on the same page.
Some key ways that your deal sourcing pipeline will improve with the introduction of AI include:
- Better intelligent target identification – rapid screening of turnover, EBITDA, employees, ownership structure, hiring trends etc with daily refreshes
- Smarter buyer matching – comparing previous acquisitions, criteria, strategy, deal scope and more
- Market monitoring – constant updates on news, press releases, websites, directorships, funding and M&A activity
- Collaboration – with all information in one place, colleagues can view outreach progress, meeting summaries, formal documentation and more from one shared platform
In the cited Deloitte report, among those who have already adopted AI in the M&A space, 40% apply it to strategy and market assessment, 35% to target screening and 32% to deal execution. Also, according to PwC, global M&A deals increased in value by 26% in 2025, with large deals up by 17% and mega deals by 31%.
With the time AI can save throughout the deal sourcing pipeline, it’s no longer a ‘nice to have’ but a ‘need to have’ if you’re going to keep up in this competitive marketplace.
How does Handshaik AI work for M&A users?
As one of the more recent additions to the AI for M&A market, Handshaik has been developed to bridge the gaps left by other AI deal sourcing solutions.
A comprehensive platform that ensures consistency in your entire pipeline management, Handshaik speeds up every step without compromising on accuracy or quality, so you can:
- Access extensive private company intelligence resources immediately
- Receive daily refreshes on the latest company, ownership, financial and contact data
- Qualify and compare acquisition opportunities via a visual dashboard
- Identify investment targets in minutes – including niche and less visible opportunities
- Manage and keep track of outreach and progress right up until the deal is signed
An AI-native deal sourcing platform designed to save you time, prevent false leads and enhance teamwork and decision-making, Handshaik can be used as a standalone solution or integrated with your existing tech stack.
Driving deal growth with sophisticated AI solutions
The time saved by integrating AI into your M&A workflow is just one benefit it offers. With data cleaned, organised, analysed, categorised and scored in a fraction of the time it would take by human hand, you’ll also have more clarity and confidence in your deal decision making.
Using Handshaik or a combination of AI deal sourcing tools, this necessary and modern step forward will also progress growth through a range of commercial benefits:
Increased efficiency
With masses of research admin removed from your workload, you and your team have more time for outreach, nurturing, negotiation, building larger pipelines and executing deals – and much faster.
Deeper insight
With AI, acquisition targets that usually remain hidden are brought to the surface, helping you to find emerging companies and underserved markets for better quality insight and opportunities.
Higher conversion rates
With its more targeted and organised approach, AI helps improve target qualification and buyer matching, while also increasing relevant conversations, engagement and ultimately, conversions.
Scale and speed
With AI supporting your M&A activities, you can identify trends and react much faster than before, monitor markets continuously and scale your origination efforts without onboarding more staff.
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AI for M&A: How the right platform can transform your deal sourcing and business growth
Written by
Josh Port
Founder & CEO
July 20, 2026
0
min.
read
What is private company data software?
Are you currently using a range of UK company search platforms to collate insights into potential investment, advisory or acquisition opportunities?
Does your private company database return the information you want in an instant? With fully enriched company profiles created from proprietary data points beyond the usual reports?
Are you looking for an AI-native platform to help you target new customers, monitor existing clients or undertake effective market and competitor analysis?
Despite being the core foundation of the business development pipeline, gathering, storing and sorting company data has traditionally been an unnecessarily laborious task, taking time better spent on advancing deals.
Now you can spend less time getting more information, with the latest AI-powered private company intelligence software. Designed to take the donkey-work out of deal sourcing, and with hundreds of firmographic and personnel datapoints, you can build a company database that delivers a shortcut to success by allowing you to:
- Instantly collate and analyse millions of company data points
- View consolidated information across ownership, structure, financials and more
- Analyse and identify companies against specific acquisition criteria
- Access real-time data with daily auto-updates
- Conduct quality market analysis with filters for scale/quantum etc.
- Evaluate investment potential with side-by-side comparisons
Whether you want a standalone solution or a UK company search platform to integrate into your current tech stack, this new approach to company intelligence will enhance your operations immediately.
Handshaik: your private company database builder
Quality data makes quality deals, and a more fluid deal sourcing pipeline.
Handshaik puts all the private company information you need right at your fingertips, pulling live, rich results from a multitude of publicly available sources and proprietary datasets. No more outdated details and broad-range financial estimates: just clear facts and concrete figures.
You also have the reassurance that Handshaik’s sophisticated AI agent learns from a broader range of ‘hidden’ datapoints. This gives you a more rounded view of what a company truly does, who they serve, their accreditations, any awards and more.
See how the Handshaik UK company search platform works here, and how it will accelerate your investment and acquisition workflow and outcomes.
Explore the potential of our private company intelligence platform
See how you can harness Handshaik to make smarter, faster deal sourcing decisions.
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A new era of company intelligence = better business opportunities
Gathering data on potential acquisition and investment targets has never been easier – but not all platforms are created equal. While traditional software covers Companies House and other public company data sources, Handshaik combines these results with a myriad of proprietary commercial datasets, LinkedIn people data (including skills, interests, experience, education) and the strongest contact data on the market.
As an AI-native platform, Handshaik allows you to search in natural language and explore data in much deeper detail from an intuitive, visual dashboard. Potential targets are ranked and assigned a relevance score, providing rationale for their fit based on the brief, with only the most important data points selected to clearly justify its place on the list. Collaboration and workflows are also improved through smart pipeline management tools.
Functionality includes the ability to assign selected targets and contacts to specific team members; once they receive their in-app notification, they can progress outreach and head towards a team win, with all updates visible to all team members.
How does the Handshaik UK company search platform work?
Devised and developed in the UK, Handshaik combines private company data, ownership intelligence, financial information and pipeline management workflows into one interface.
Taking away tedious and time-hungry administration tasks from your team, Handshaik’s data depth and accuracy supports smarter decision-making and a speedier pipeline.
Handshaik provides instant access to a suite of search, collaboration and workflow management tools, with an at-a-glance view of all collated data, including:
- Analyst-grade business summaries
- Detailed ownership information
- Financial performance data
- Filters to help estimate turnover for small companies
- GDPR-compliant and verified contact information
- Company records and insights
- Growth and intent signals
- Research history
Streamlined and seamless, Handshaik does the hard work in a fraction of the time, while you focus on reaching the deal-sealing handshake. Describe what you’re looking for, and the platform will qualify opportunities against your criteria, delivering the finished article ready for you to act on.
How your private company database drives business growth
Implementing the right business tools can help you uncover opportunities that traditional company search methods may miss.
Providing the clarity, context and commercial insights required to approach acquisition targets with confidence, here’s how Handshaik’s private company intelligence capabilities will help you make bigger, better deals.
Precise company data
From well-known sources like Companies House, Apollo, Wiza, Contact Out, and LinkedIn, to online deep-dives and a growing list of proprietary datasets, your records are detail-rich, up-to-date and always accurate.
Constant monitoring
Business moves fast, blink and you could miss a golden opportunity. Always in monitoring mode, Handshaik highlights events and activity, so you can engage prospects before they reach the market.
Instant analysis
Data points are analysed instantly, so you can compare results, identify possible prospects and opportunities, build target lists and progress outreach in super-quick time, all from one system.
Side-by-side views
No more spreadsheets... compare core criteria in clear visuals, allowing you to evaluate financial fit and acquisition potential in line with your strategy, and without the need to crunch numbers.
Outreach support
Handshaik’s private company intelligence supports relationship building with targets through intelligent workflows to help you manage and control the entire deal sourcing pipeline.
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Deeper data, better deals: UK private company intelligence in one enhanced platform
Written by
Josh Port
Founder & CEO
July 10, 2026
0
min.
read
What is AI deal sourcing software?
Are you looking for the latest deal sourcing software to help you reduce tedious administration and fast-track your investment and acquisitions lifecycle?
Do you need a comprehensive solution to help you quickly identify opportunities and build powerful relationships, without wasting time on dead-ends?
With deal sourcing - or deal origination - being the first crucial step in the investment and acquisition process, you need the right tools to make it count. A built-for-purpose AI deal sourcing platform gives you the tools to manage and improve every stage of your workflow, allowing you to:
- Collate vast amounts of data from multiple sources in an instant
- Access the best contact data on owners and management teams
- Analyse and identify/disqualify targets within minutes
- Utilise proprietary data and scoring to aid the qualification process
- Compare companies and opportunities automatically
- Harness efficient pipeline management features to track and analyse outbound performance
- Collaborate and coordinate with your team throughout the pipeline
- Divert time from manual tasks to progressing the right deals
Bringing research, company intelligence and relationship management together in one intuitive and insightful platform, AI deal sourcing software puts an end to sluggish, fragmented systems, replacing them with streamlined investment and acquisition pipelines.
With plans to integrate with existing tech stacks, Handshaik’s deal sourcing software is precise, detailed and delivers the capabilities to find, nurture and win from one central system.
Handshaik: your end-to-end deal sourcing solution
Manual tasks are a thing of the past, and faster growth is your future.
Our AI-powered deal sourcing solution provides you with the bigger picture. Using natural language and flexible search criteria, Handshaik pulls rich-results from multiple live sources, including Companies House, proprietary corporate datasets, contact information, websites and news items.
Here’s a quick look at how the Handshaik AI deal sourcing platform will improve your investment and acquisition performance.
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Investment intelligence that redefines dealmaking
Sophisticated in its simplicity, Handshaik’s deal origination software prevents you from wasting precious hours on endless admin and manual pipeline management.
Traditionally, the deal origination and acquisition process required separate tools, multiple spreadsheets and disjointed workflows. Tasks ended up duplicated, teams had limited visibility into collaboration, and admin time was swallowed that could have been better spent sealing the most lucrative deals.
Now, with access to AI-powered search and analysis, you can gain deeper insight, evaluate targets and use human language to narrow down results in a matter of moments. Everything you need, right at your fingertips.
Manual processes such as updating records and market mapping are now fully automated, and your team has a real-time view of each potential opportunity, allowing you to approach the right prospects, at the right time.
How does the Handshaik deal origination platform work?
An AI-native deal sourcing platform, Handshaik does the dirty work for you.
Combining live business data, game-changing search methodology, workflow tools, and collaboration features in one place, Handshaik provides enhanced tools to make market-mapping, deal origination, and pipeline building faster, more accurate, and more effective.
If you want to work smarter, not harder, this innovative deal sourcing software gives your team the tools to:
- Identify investment targets in minutes
- Pinpoint businesses that are likely to require your advisory services
- Access the latest company, ownership, financial and contact data
- Qualify and compare acquisition opportunities
- Describe your ideal target criteria, then let Handshaik score and explain the best matches.
A proactive platform populated with the most precise data, Handshaik offers complete visibility across the pipeline and the ability to integrate with existing tech stacks... so you get a comprehensive and complete view of company intelligence and intent signals.
The outcome?
Viable investment opportunities, confident decision-making and a faster investment lifecycle.
Using data-led deal origination to drive growth
The beauty of an AI-powered deal sourcing platform is its ability to elevate your deal origination journey at every step.
You can harness Handshaik to deliver deeper, richer research results, group targets into criteria-based lists, and manage the entire approach/outreach/completion process.
In a nutshell, here’s how you can utilise Handshaik’s core functions to fast-track your growth.
Quality, deep-dive data
Refreshed daily and drawing from a wide range of proprietary and leading third-party sources, Handshaik’s company results are enriched with financials, ownership structures, growth signals, contact data and business insights.
Instant analysis
Analysing billions of data points in an instant, you can identify and build target lists at speed, comparing results to drill down the best possible M&A opportunities.
Not just who, but why
An AI deal sourcing platform designed to deliver, the system surfaces key signals and shows why a company matches your search criteria, rather than just returning a list of vague targets.
Track and monitor
Not all deals are ready to be made, so our platform allows you to monitor company and ownership changes and track financial updates, so you can align your strategy accordingly.
Collaborate
Create collaborative lists and assign targets to your team in-platform, drawing on visual workflow tools and features to track outreach and progression through the deal pipeline.
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Find, nurture and win: One AI deal sourcing platform = countless opportunities
Written by
Josh Port
Founder & CEO
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