Introduction
KYB (Know Your Business) Tools are specialized software solutions designed to verify the identity and legal status of corporate entities. While KYC (Know Your Customer) focuses on individuals, KYB is a deeper investigative process that unmasks the “who” behind a company. These tools connect to official government registries, tax databases, and commercial data providers to confirm that a business is legally registered, active, and not involved in illicit activities. Crucially, modern KYB platforms go beyond basic registration checks to identify Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs)—the actual people who own or control the business—to ensure they aren’t sanctioned individuals or politically exposed persons (PEPs).
In the modern financial landscape, KYB has become a regulatory cornerstone. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws now mandate that financial institutions, marketplaces, and B2B providers know exactly who they are doing business with to prevent shell companies from being used for money laundering, terrorism financing, or tax evasion. These tools are vital because they automate a process that used to take weeks of manual document collection and legal translation. By using a KYB tool, a firm can verify a global corporate client in minutes, reducing the risk of massive regulatory fines and protecting the organization from fraudulent “ghost” companies.
Key Real-World Use Cases
KYB tools are essential for maintaining integrity in business-to-business interactions:
- B2B Payment Processing: Verifying a new merchant’s legal existence before allowing them to process credit card payments.
- Marketplace Seller Onboarding: Ensuring that “Power Sellers” on platforms like Amazon or eBay are legitimate companies rather than fraudulent fronts.
- Supply Chain Due Diligence: Checking the corporate health and ownership of suppliers to avoid forced labor violations or sanctions risks.
- Corporate Banking: Streamlining the opening of business accounts by pulling digital corporate certificates directly from state registries.
- Venture Capital & Private Equity: Performing deep-dive due diligence on target companies and their complex ownership structures before investment.
What to Look For (Evaluation Criteria)
When choosing a KYB solution, look for these specific capabilities:
- Registry Coverage: Does the tool have direct, real-time access to the corporate registries in the countries where your clients are based?
- UBO Unwrapping: Can the tool automatically “drill down” through layers of holding companies to find the real humans at the top?
- Document Verification: If the registry data is missing, can the tool use AI to verify uploaded articles of incorporation or tax IDs?
- Adverse Media & Sanctions: Does it check the company and its directors against global watchlists and negative news simultaneously?
Best for:
- Fintechs and Neo-banks: Who need to onboard corporate clients at digital speed while remaining compliant.
- Global Marketplaces: Managing thousands of sellers across different international jurisdictions.
- Compliance and Risk Officers: Roles tasked with maintaining AML/CTF (Counter-Terrorism Financing) standards.
- Legal and Professional Services: Firms performing high-level due diligence for mergers, acquisitions, or real estate deals.
Not ideal for:
- B2C-Only Businesses: Companies that only sell to individual consumers don’t need the complexity of KYB.
- Small Local Businesses: A firm dealing with only a handful of known, local partners can likely use manual government website searches.
- Unregulated Industries: If you are in a sector with zero AML requirements and low fraud risk, the cost of an enterprise KYB suite might not be justified.
Top 10 KYB (Know Your Business) Tools
1 — Moody’s (Passfort & Kompany)
Following the acquisitions of Passfort and Kompany, Moody’s has created one of the world’s most powerful KYB ecosystems, combining a massive data lake with automated workflow orchestration.
Key features:
- Direct Registry Access: Real-time connectivity to 200+ government registries worldwide.
- Automated UBO Discovery: Advanced algorithms that map out complex corporate hierarchies in seconds.
- Smart Orchestration: A drag-and-drop workflow builder to automate different checks based on risk levels.
- Continuous Monitoring: Alerts you if a business client’s status changes, such as going into liquidation or changing directors.
- Audit-Ready Reports: Generates comprehensive PDF reports of all corporate structure findings.
Pros:
- Exceptional data reliability; because they pull directly from registries, the data is legally valid for audits.
- Unified platform that handles both the data collection and the workflow management.
Cons:
- Premium pricing that is mostly geared toward larger enterprise budgets.
- The vast array of features can lead to a steeper learning curve for new compliance teams.
Security & compliance: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and fully GDPR compliant.Support & community: Enterprise-grade support with dedicated account managers and extensive documentation.
2 — Sumsub
Sumsub is an “all-in-one” verification platform that has gained massive popularity for its sleek user experience and developer-friendly integration.
Key features:
- Unified KYB/KYC: Seamlessly switches from verifying a business to verifying its directors’ IDs in one flow.
- Global KYB Coverage: Coverage of 220+ countries and territories with automated data retrieval.
- AI Document Review: High-speed verification of corporate documents like tax certificates and bank statements.
- Travel Rule Solution: Specialized features for crypto companies needing to comply with international standards.
- No-Code Customization: Easy-to-build onboarding journeys for businesses without needing heavy engineering.
Pros:
- One of the most modern and intuitive interfaces in the RegTech space.
- Fast implementation via a robust API that is popular with startups and high-growth fintechs.
Cons:
- Can be “overkill” if you only need very basic business registration checks.
- Support for niche, smaller registries in certain developing nations can be more manual.
Security & compliance: GDPR, SOC 2, and localized compliance settings for over 200 jurisdictions.Support & community: 24/7 technical help, a great online knowledge base, and an active developer community.
3 — Ondato
Ondato offers a complete suite of compliance tools, with a strong focus on the European market and high-security biometric verification.
Key features:
- KYB Data Automation: Automated data gathering from official registries to confirm company existence and status.
- UBO Identification: Tools to identify and verify the identity of individuals with significant control.
- Risk Scoring: Customizable scoring models to flag high-risk businesses automatically.
- Video Verification: High-end biometric checks for company representatives to prevent deepfake fraud.
- Case Management: A central hub for compliance officers to review and manage flagged business applications.
Pros:
- Strong focus on “Human-in-the-loop” support for complex cases that AI can’t solve.
- Excellent compliance with strict EU regulations (AMLD5/AMLD6).
Cons:
- The interface, while functional, is slightly more traditional than some of the newer SaaS competitors.
- Global registry coverage outside of Europe and North America is slightly less comprehensive.
Security & compliance: ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, and fully aligned with EBA (European Banking Authority) guidelines.Support & community: Solid customer success team and detailed digital onboarding guides.
4 — Trulioo
Trulioo is a global giant in identity verification, offering the “GlobalGateway” platform which provides a single point of access to thousands of data sources.
Key features:
- Business Search: Instant access to 250 million business records globally.
- UBO Unwrapping: Automated tools to identify stakeholders and verify them via Trulioo’s KYC network.
- Registry Image Retrieval: Ability to pull actual digital copies of articles of incorporation and annual filings.
- Watchlist Screening: Screens businesses and their owners against 6,000+ global lists.
- Customizable Workflows: Allows for different screening depths depending on the jurisdiction.
Pros:
- The “network effect” of having so many data sources under one API is a huge time-saver.
- High stability and performance even during massive bursts of onboarding traffic.
Cons:
- Pricing is often opaque and requires a sales consultation for volume-based quotes.
- Some users report that the dashboard can be complex to navigate initially.
Security & compliance: SOC 2, ISO 27001, and strictly adheres to global data residency requirements.Support & community: High-touch enterprise support and a professional services wing for implementation.
5 — Middesk
Middesk has built a reputation as the premier KYB solution for the US market, focusing on high-quality, real-time data from the Secretary of State (SOS) offices.
Key features:
- SOS Direct: Real-time pulls from all 50 US state registries.
- Industry Classification: Automatically identifies the business category (NAICS) to help with risk assessment.
- Lien & Litigation Search: Goes beyond identity to check for bankruptcies or active legal issues.
- Tax ID Verification: Real-time verification of EINs directly with the IRS.
- Continuous Monitoring: Detects when a business becomes inactive or files new documents.
Pros:
- Arguably the best accuracy and data freshness for US-based business verification.
- Sleek, modern API that developers love.
Cons:
- Very focused on the US market; firms with international needs will need a secondary provider.
- Lacks the deep UBO “unwrapping” features for complex offshore structures compared to Moody’s.
Security & compliance: SOC 2 Type II, and built to satisfy US banking and “Know Your Customer” regulations.Support & community: Responsive Slack-based support for many clients and a clear developer portal.
6 — Fenergo
Fenergo is a heavy-duty “Client Lifecycle Management” (CLM) platform that is a favorite among the world’s largest investment banks.
Key features:
- End-to-End Onboarding: Handles the entire process from initial interest to final approval.
- Regulatory Rules Engine: A massive library of global rules that automatically adjusts based on the entity type.
- Hierarchy Visualization: Advanced graphical maps showing how various companies and individuals are linked.
- ESG Integration: Can incorporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data into the KYB process.
- Document Management: Secure vault for storing all verified corporate documents for multi-year retention.
Pros:
- The most robust choice for firms dealing with extremely high complexity and “institutional” clients.
- Reduces the need for multiple siloed systems by managing the entire client relationship.
Cons:
- Extremely high cost and long implementation times (often 6-12 months).
- Way too complex for a small fintech or a simple B2B marketplace.
Security & compliance: FFIEC compliant, SOC 2, and specialized for Tier 1 bank security standards.Support & community: Professional services, global training centers, and annual user conferences.
7 — Encompass Corporation
Encompass specializes in “Corporate Digital Identity,” using automation to create a complete picture of a business from disparate sources.
Key features:
- Dynamic KYB: Automatically builds a profile by combining data from registries, stock exchanges, and regulators.
- Visual Corporate Maps: Highly detailed diagrams that show cross-border ownership.
- Zero-Touch Automation: Designed to perform initial KYB without any human analyst intervention.
- Legacy System Integration: Specifically built to plug into older banking systems and CRMs.
- Audit Trail: Every data point is timestamped and attributed to its source for regulatory defense.
Pros:
- Excellent for cross-border KYB where identifying foreign ownership is the primary challenge.
- Significantly reduces the “analyst time” spent manually drawing corporate trees.
Cons:
- The interface is highly technical and designed for professional compliance investigators.
- Requires a high volume of data to truly show its value.
Security & compliance: ISO 27001, GDPR, and compliant with major global AML directives (AMLD5, etc.).Support & community: High-level enterprise support and specialized consulting for digital transformation.
8 — Onfido
Onfido is a global leader in AI-based ID verification, and their KYB product leverages their world-class “Atlas” AI to verify the humans behind the business.
Key features:
- Company Records Search: Direct access to over 100 million corporate records globally.
- UBO Screening: Screens all identified owners against sanctions and PEP lists.
- Biometric IDV: Industry-leading “liveness” checks for the company’s directors.
- Custom Risk Signals: Allows firms to flag specific business types or countries as high risk.
- Studio Orchestration: A visual workflow builder that allows you to create complex “If/Then” logic.
Pros:
- Unbeatable if you need the highest quality biometric verification for the UBOs.
- Sleek, consumer-grade experience that makes the business owner feel like they are using a modern app.
Cons:
- The KYB data depth is slightly less than specialized “registry-first” tools like Moody’s or Trulioo.
- Can be expensive for firms with a very high volume of low-risk checks.
Security & compliance: SOC 2, ISO 27001, and localized data privacy certificates in the UK and EU.Support & community: Robust documentation, 24/7 help desk, and dedicated customer success.
9 — Shufti Pro
Shufti Pro is an AI-powered verification service that offers an incredibly broad range of services with a focus on global accessibility and multiple languages.
Key features:
- Global KYB Registry Search: Covers 250 million companies in 150+ countries.
- UBO Verification: Multi-layered search to find and verify the identities of business owners.
- Document Authentication: AI that can read and verify corporate documents in over 150 languages.
- Real-Time Sanctions Screening: Continuous monitoring of companies against thousands of global lists.
- Configurable API: Allows for very specific data points to be requested during the check.
Pros:
- Very fast verification times, often delivering results in under 60 seconds.
- Strong language support makes it ideal for businesses operating in emerging markets.
Cons:
- The automated AI sometimes requires more manual “review” than more expensive enterprise tools.
- The dashboard can feel a bit cluttered due to the massive amount of data presented.
Security & compliance: GDPR, PCI DSS, and SOC 2 Type II.Support & community: Multi-language customer support and a helpful online integration portal.
10 — Kyckr
Kyckr is a pure-play KYB specialist that focuses almost entirely on providing legally authoritative corporate data directly from the source.
Key features:
- Primary Source Data: They do not use scraped or “stale” data; everything is pulled live from registries.
- Company Watch: Automated monitoring that pings you the second a company changes its status.
- Structured Data API: Delivers registry data in a clean, JSON format that is easy for engineers to use.
- UBO Portal: A specialized interface for compliance teams to verify shareholders.
- Certificate Retrieval: Ability to purchase official, stamped certificates from government offices.
Pros:
- If you need “the truth” for a high-stakes legal case, Kyckr is the tool of choice.
- Very straightforward, “no-nonsense” approach focused solely on KYB.
Cons:
- Lacks the broader “onboarding journey” or “identity verification” features found in Sumsub or Onfido.
- You pay for the data quality, which can be higher per-check than broader data providers.
Security & compliance: ISO 27001 and GDPR compliant.Support & community: Expert-level support from people who understand the nuances of global corporate law.
Comparison Table
| Tool Name | Best For | Platform(s) Supported | Standout Feature | Rating |
| Moody’s | Global Enterprise | Cloud / API | Direct Registry Connectivity | 4.8 |
| Sumsub | Fintechs & Startups | SaaS / Mobile SDK | All-in-One KYC/KYB Flow | 4.7 |
| Ondato | EU Compliance | Cloud / API | Video Biometric Verification | 4.5 |
| Trulioo | Global Data Access | API / SaaS | Access to 250M Records | 4.6 |
| Middesk | US-Based Businesses | API / Dashboard | IRS / SOS Direct Sync | 4.8 |
| Fenergo | Tier 1 Banks | On-Prem / Cloud | Institutional Lifecycle Mgmt | 4.2 |
| Encompass | Investigation Teams | Cloud / Hybrid | Automated Corporate Mapping | N/A |
| Onfido | High-Security IDV | Mobile / Web SDK | Atlas AI Biometrics | 4.6 |
| Shufti Pro | Emerging Markets | SaaS / API | 150+ Language Support | 4.5 |
| Kyckr | Legal-Grade Accuracy | API / Web | Primary Source Guarantee | N/A |
Evaluation & Scoring of KYB Tools
| Criterion | Weight | Evaluation Focus |
| Core Features | 25% | Registry depth, UBO identification, and sanctions screening. |
| Ease of Use | 15% | Dashboard UI, developer experience (API), and end-user onboarding. |
| Integrations | 15% | Connectivity to CRMs, core banking systems, and Slack/Teams. |
| Security & Compliance | 10% | SOC 2/ISO certifications, data residency, and encryption. |
| Performance | 10% | Latency of the check and accuracy of the data (freshness). |
| Support | 10% | Technical docs, 24/7 help desk, and account management. |
| Price / Value | 15% | Cost per check vs. manual labor savings and risk reduction. |
Which KYB (Know Your Business) Tool Is Right for You?
Solo Users vs SMB vs Mid-Market vs Enterprise
If you are a Solo User (like a freelance investigator), you might only need a tool like Kyckr to pull an occasional report. SMBs and high-growth startups should look at Sumsub or Middesk for their ease of setup and fair pricing. Mid-Market firms with more complex international needs will find Moody’s or Trulioo to be the most balanced. Enterprises (large banks and global institutions) almost certainly require the “institutional-grade” power of Fenergo or Encompass.
Budget-Conscious vs Premium Solutions
For those on a Budget, Sumsub and Shufti Pro offer the most transparent “pay-as-you-go” style pricing. If you are looking for a Premium solution where data accuracy is non-negotiable and you have the budget to match, Moody’s and Kyckr are the gold standards for legally-defensible registry data.
Feature Depth vs Ease of Use
If you prioritize Ease of Use and want to be up and running in a few hours, Middesk and Sumsub have the best modern developer experiences. If you need extreme Feature Depth—specifically for unwrapping 10 layers of a Cayman Islands holding company—you will need the more technical, high-depth tools like Encompass or Moody’s.
Integration and Scalability Needs
If you are building a custom product and need an API that can Scale to millions of checks, Trulioo and Onfido have the infrastructure to support that volume without latency. If you need Integration with a legacy core banking system, Fenergo is designed specifically for those complex corporate environments.
Security and Compliance Requirements
Firms with strict Security requirements (especially those in the EU) should look toward Ondato or Encompass, which are built specifically with European data sovereignty and the latest AML directives in mind.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the difference between KYC and KYB?
KYC (Know Your Customer) verifies individuals. KYB (Know Your Business) verifies legal entities, including their registration status, legal structure, and who the actual owners (UBOs) are.
Why is finding the UBO so important?
Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs) are the people who ultimately profit from a company. Regulators want to ensure that these individuals are not criminals or sanctioned persons hiding behind a corporate name.
How often should I re-verify my business clients?
Most regulations suggest “Continuous Monitoring,” but at a minimum, businesses should be re-verified annually or whenever a major event (like a change in directors or a merger) occurs.
Can KYB tools verify companies in “Offshore” jurisdictions?
Yes, tools like Moody’s and Kyckr specialize in reaching registries in places like the British Virgin Islands or the Cayman Islands, though these checks often cost more.
Does KYB prevent fraud?
Absolutely. It prevents “Ghost Companies” (entities that don’t exist) and “Shell Companies” (entities with no real operations) from opening accounts and moving illicit funds.
Is manual KYB possible?
It is, but it’s incredibly slow. An analyst would have to manually contact foreign registries, wait for mail, and hire translators. KYB tools automate this into a 5-minute process.
What documents are typically required for KYB?
Common documents include Articles of Incorporation, Certificates of Incumbency, Tax ID letters, and a list of directors and significant shareholders.
Can KYB tools help with Sanctions screening?
Yes. Most KYB tools automatically screen the company name and its directors against global watchlists (like OFAC, UN, and EU lists) in real-time.
What is a “Registry Pull”?
This is when the KYB tool connects directly to a government database (like Companies House in the UK) to download the most recent legal filing for a business.
How much do KYB tools cost?
Pricing varies from $5 to $50+ per check, depending on the country’s registry fees and the depth of the investigation required.
Conclusion
Selecting the right KYB (Know Your Business) Tool is one of the most important decisions for any firm involved in B2B transactions or financial services. the landscape of corporate crime is more sophisticated than ever, and relying on manual checks is no longer a viable strategy. Whether you choose the all-in-one agility of Sumsub, the US-specific precision of Middesk, or the institutional power of Moody’s, the goal is the same: to create a “wall of trust” that keeps your organization safe and compliant.
The “best” tool for your company will depend on where your clients are located and the level of risk you are willing to manage. For high-growth fintechs, speed and API ease are king. For legacy banks, data depth and regulatory defensibility are paramount. By investing in a robust KYB solution, you aren’t just checking a compliance box—you are building a faster, safer, and more scalable business.