How to get a free list of newly registered UK companies
Companies House publishes every new UK company for free. The quickest route is its advanced search, filtered by incorporation date and SIC code. For the week of 2 to 8 November 2026 it returned 14,714 active new companies, so the real work is cutting that down to the ones worth contacting.
The three free routes
| Route | Best for | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced company search | A one-off list by date and industry | Shows 10,000 results and downloads the first 5,000 as a CSV |
| Companies House API | A repeatable weekly pull | Free key, 600 requests per 5 minutes |
| Free Company Data Product | A snapshot of the whole register | Large files, so you need a database or a script |
Start with advanced search. Only move to the API once you know the list is worth pulling every week.
Pull the list in five minutes
- Open advanced company search.
- Enter the last seven days under incorporation date.
- Set the company status to Active.
- Add the SIC codes of the companies you sell to. Companies House publishes the full code list.
- Click Download results. If the search returns more than 5,000 companies, narrow the dates or codes, because anything past that is left out of the file.
What one week looks like
We ran this search on 10 November 2026 for companies incorporated from 2 to 8 November, status Active.
| Filter | Companies |
|---|---|
| All new companies | 14,714 |
| SIC 62012, software development | 1,097 |
| SIC 41202, construction of domestic buildings | 241 |
| SIC 56101, licensed restaurants | 201 |
| SIC 64209, holding companies | 438 |
| SIC 99999, dormant companies | 97 |
That matches the official picture. Companies House recorded 193,789 incorporations from July to September 2026, roughly 15,000 a week. A company can list more than one SIC code, so rows can overlap.
Remove the noise first
- Drop companies that will not buy. Filter out SIC 99999 (dormant), 74990 (non-trading), and 64209 and 64205 (holding companies).
- Check repeated addresses. Formation agents and virtual offices register many companies at one address. Sort by address and look at the largest clusters.
- Treat SIC codes as a hint. Founders pick their own, and catch-all codes are common.
- Match the timing to your offer. A company registered last week needs a bank, an accountant and insurance. It rarely needs enterprise software, and many new companies stay small or never trade.
Turn a company into a contact
The register has no websites or email addresses, so this step takes the most time.
- Search the company name and look for a live website.
- Find the founder or director on LinkedIn, and confirm they match the company.
- Use a contact tool such as Apollo for the email. Databases often lag on brand-new companies, so expect gaps.
- Mention the event in your first line, because that is the reason you are writing.
Stay on the right side of the rules
Directors' names are personal data, so UK GDPR applies when you use them for outreach. Under PECR, limited companies count as corporate subscribers, while sole traders and some partnerships are treated as individuals. Read the ICO's direct marketing guidance and keep a suppression list.
Make it a weekly routine
The same search works through the free API on a schedule. Our open-source gtm-public-signals collector does this and removes dormant and holding companies for you.
Pulling the list takes minutes. The recurring cost is checking each company, finding the right person and writing a reason to reach out. Once that takes more than a few hours a week, compare your time against having it done for you.