Chapter 4: Research Terms & Sources
In this chapter, we explain in detail the individual criteria that you will need to look for when conducting research, and where you can look for it. Use this section to learn about the key terms that will appear during the screening and profiling of research targets, and to learn the format we would like information entered in. Headings marked with an asterisk are optional, and as such, may not be included, depending on the assignment.
Enterprise information may be added either in the Target Profiling panel for the project the company is associated with, or by visiting the specific page of the enterprise you are profiling. Any of the columns mentioned in this section may be accessed on either or both pages. Note that some fields differ between strategic and financial (investment) companies. Terms are listed alphabetically, with financial-specific fields listed separately at the end of the page.
Abbr. (Abbreviated) Name
Formal Name
A dropdown list for the business model that the enterprise uses to generate revenue. These include:
Manufacturing - companies that derive revenue from making physical products and components. Include any companies in the building construction industry under this label, unless they are a supplier of construction materials.
Distribution - Business model where a company that acquires products from manufacturers and resells them to consumers or retailers.
Retail - Businesses that sell products directly to consumers, either through physical locations or online via e-commerce.
Services - Businesses that sell services to companies or individual consumers
Software - Companies that develop digital products that generate revenue through direct software sales, subscription fees, and other revenue streams like advertising.
This should be indicated by the company’s website.
City
EBITDA %*
Here, we should give the official designation of the company as recognized by governmental and regulatory bodies. This name is essential for clear identification and may include specific legal identifiers such as "LLC", "Inc.", "SRL", "GmbH", etc. It is important to distinguish this from the name the company does business under, which may be distinct from the legal name.
Usually, you should find that this Typically, this can be found on the company website, either on the contact us or terms and conditions page. Alternatively, you can find this in one of the company information databases we use (like Orbis), or by using Google to find company filings. To prevent duplicating of company profiles, we should be consistent in the format we use for company names and their different legal identifiers. The following identifiers should be inputted as follows:
AG (Germany, public)
AS (Norway)
Co., Ltd. (China, others)
GmbH (Germany, other DACH)
GmbH Co. & KG (Germany, other DACH)
Kft. (Hungary)
Inc. (US, others)
Ltd. (UK, private)
LLC (US, others)
Pte. Ltd. (India, Singapore, Australia, others)
PLC (UK, public)
SA (France, public)
SAS (France)
SARL (France)
SE (Sweden)
SL (Spain)
SPA (Italy)
SRL (Italy)
SP ZOO (Poland)
If you are unsure about how to enter one of these, please consult with us directly.
Every company is categorised by what industry they operate in. We classify companies using an overarching Industry Group, a sub-industry, and ultimately, the specific industry the company operates in. Each term we use to categorise companies is visible in the Industry Classifications spreadsheet attached to this chapter.
The company’s main contact phone number. If the company website lists multiple telephone numbers for different branches, use the HQ number. Typically found on the company’s website, or can be located in DBs like Pitchbook or Orbis under Contact Information.
Ownership refers to the company's ownership structure, distinguishing how control is distributed and the source of its capital. The ownership categories are:
Private: The company is independently owned, without external investment, and controlled by a limited number of shareholders. This status indicates that the company is self-funded or relies on internal resources.
Private (Backed): The company has received external capital from venture capital (VC) firms or private equity (PE) investors. Despite this external funding, it remains privately controlled, with investors likely holding a stake in the company.
Private (Subsidiary): Previously a private entity, the company has been acquired by another corporation. It now operates as a subsidiary of the parent company, maintaining its operations while under new ownership.
Public: The company's shares are traded on a stock exchange, allowing public investment. Ownership is distributed among public shareholders, and the company is subject to regulatory reporting and transparency requirements.
Division Public: A company where the ultimate owner is a corporation with publicly traded on a national stock exchange.
Division Private Equity: The company has been acquired by a private equity group or individual investor. Importantly, this should be reserved for companies where private equity groups have majority stakes in the businesses. Companies with minority stakes from investors should be labelled as Private - Backed.
Division Venture Capital: The same as above, but the acquirer is a venture capital investment fund.
NFP: A non-profit organisation.
Division NFP: A subsidiary owned by a non-profit organisation.
Government: A state-owned organisation.
JV: Joint Venture. A project started by two or more partnering enterprises.
Private Equity: Investment funds that generate revenue by investing in and helping to grow mature businesses.
Venture Capital: a form of private equity fund that targets provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number of employees, annual revenue, or scale.
To find the ownership status of a business, start with PitchBook or Orbis, where detailed financial and ownership information is available for numerous companies.
In Orbis: all information on ownership is listed on the right-hand side: Corporate Ownership > Ownership Structure. Look at the controlling shareholders (i.e. shareholders with the highest % ownership). Orbis will not tell the type of entity that is in the shareholding structure. Google the name of a company that holds the majority to understand better its nature - if it's another private company, or PE/VC.
Orbis Example A: For IMP, we see that Greenlyx Technologies SL. controls 71.4%, which is controlled by Infosistema, which is controlled by Joyn. S.A. In this case, we will record Joyn. S.A. as the ultimate owner of IMP. A brief research on Google shows that Joyn. S.A. is a private company.
Therefore, the ownership information for IMP will look like follows: Ownership Status: Acquired (Operating Subsidiary), Parent: Joyn SA.In Pitchbook, look up the Ownership section. Here, the top shareholders and their positions will be listed for reference.
On the company’s website, look up the “About Us” or “History/Our Story” sections to see if they mention their status as a family-owned (private) or acquired business.
Shareholders are also typically listed in companies houses for the country the business is headquartered in. See the Revenue section for a complete list of companies houses.
If the company is owned by a corporation or private equity group, we should list this in the Parent column. Like with the company name, enter the full legal name of the parent company, including things like “LLC, Ltd., GmbH”, etc. If the parent company is not already listed in the database, we should create a new profile for the parent, using the button, as demonstrated in the accompanying screenshot.
The postal/zip code of the company’s HQ.
We often need to list the key products and/or services offered by the enterprises we are researching. The products/services listed should be the top 3 most important offerings of the business, and ideally should be broad enough to effectively capture the suite of products/services offered by the enterprise. The most important offerings are typically the first 3 product/service areas listed by the company on its website, as enterprises will prioritise highlighting their most commonly sold products.
Consider the example of education technology firm Wacebo Europe. In this instance, we see that their main products under technology include immersive classrooms, smart tablets, and interactive tables. We should try to be specific when listing these products, without utilising the company’s brand names. For example, Wacebo’s 3 products could be listed as “Immersive Classrooms”, “Video Wall Displays”, and “Interactive Tables”. If the company does not have three distinct offerings, list the 1 or 2 that they do offer.
Here, we should record the company's total gross sales (typically labelled as revenue or turnover) for the most recent financial year available. For parent companies that own multiple subsidiaries, use consolidated figures where possible, as these typically encompass earnings from all locations. If only separate subsidiary revenues are available, add them together to obtain the total. Some databases provide revenues in USD or other currencies. Convert and record this figure in EUR as a rounded number. We should prioritise data from reliable sources. Sources we consider reliable are:
Orbis (primarily for European companies)
North Data, for companies incorporated in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland
Company website
Company Registries of the country where the business is incorporated, incl:
USA (registries vary by State)
A complete list of country registries can be found here (note that not all registries are public).
Dun & Bradstreet (DnB)
However, it is often the case, especially for smaller businesses, that reliable revenue figures can not be found. In such cases, we should make an estimate based on what information we can find. Less reliable sources that may have revenue information for target companies include:
Please follow either situation 1 or 2, based on what information we can find:
Situation 1: If 2 or more revenues given from less reliable sources have a difference of less than €2M for smaller companies (under €10M in revenue), €5M for and is consistent across sources with minor discrepancies, make an informed estimate of the revenue.
Situation 2: When there is significant variance in revenue figures from unreliable sources, or there is no information available on these websites, base the estimate on a revenue-per-employee ratio. It's expected that revenue data may not be available for all companies. In these cases, we may therefore estimate revenues by calculating the ratio of employee numbers to the revenues of other businesses in the same industry. This may not always be possible, however, due to time constraints. As such, guidance on this point will be given on a per-project basis.
The source of the revenue should also be listed in the drop down menu under Revenue Source.
The street where the company’s HQ is located. Should be listed under the Contact Us section of the company website.
Industry Group/Sub-Industry/Industry
Office Phone*
Ownership
Parent
Post Code
Products/Services
Revenue
Street
Preferred Geographies (Financial Only)
The shortened name of the business that the company is usually referred to as, sometimes called the DBA or t/a (“doing business as”, “trading as”) name. Usually, this is just the legal name of the business, minus the legal identifier: e.g., PlainView Research GmbH is our legal name, but our abbreviated name would just be recorded as PlainView Research. However, this is not always the case: occasionally the DBA name is entirely distinct from the legal name. The name used by the company to refer to itself on its website will indicate what the Abbr. name is.
Business Model
When providing M&A support services, we often will need to outreach businesses on behalf of our clients to gauge their interest in partnering with our clients. To that end, we must collect the contact details of the 2 key decision makers at a firm. You can add contact details by pressing the + icon in the Contact Details tab to bring up the following panel.
The point of contacts (POC) we should list are the largest shareholders of the business. If the largest shareholders cannot be confirmed, then the POCs should be the managing director/CEO of the business, or a partner. Alternatively, for PE contacts, we should list the partner that manages portfolio companies in the industry we are looking to contact them regarding. Sources for contacts are as follows:
(i) Orbis
Under shareholder structure in Orbis, we can see who the largest shareholders are by percentage. See the Ownership section for how to determine the largest shareholder using Orbis.
(ii) Pitchbook
For certain companies, Pitchbook lists business shareholders under the Ownership tab. Alternatively, we may record the Managing Director/CEO/President as POC, if they are listed in the team section.
(iii) Website Team Page
Under the “Team” page of a website, we can normally identify who the key decision makers are. In the example on the right-hand side, clicking on David Bole’s profile reveals that he is the founder and director, so can reliably be listed as a decision maker.
(iv) National Company Registries (Company Houses)
Countries which have national databases of all companies incorporated there can be a valuable tool for identifying owners and officers of a business. See the Revenue section for a complete list of companies houses with URLs.
The city where the company’s headquarters are located. This can typically be found under the company website’s “Contact” page, or at the bottom of its website. We may also identify this in Pitchbook or Orbis, or listed in the Companies House of the country where the business is incorporated in. Searching the name of the business on Google will often also bring up the address of the business, but if the city is found this way, it should be double-checked to ensure the HQ city is the one listed, as opposed to a city where the company has a branch.
Country
This field is a drop down menu and should indicate the country where the company's headquarters are legally registered. This can typically be found under the company website’s “Contact” page, or at the bottom of its website. We may also identify this in Pitchbook or Orbis.
Contact
Description
Since our preferred method of outreaching targets is by email, we should find the professional email address of all points of contact. This should be specific to the point og contact - we should not include generic (e.g., info@xxx.com) email addresses unless no others are available. Below, we list all available methods of finding contact email addresses.
(i) Generating email address in the database
The PlainView workspace has an internal API function linked to the prospecting tool Hunter that enables us to find email addresses of company points of contact based on their name and the company URL, as can be seen in the example below. Pressing Find with Hunter.io populates the email address, with the Email Status column verifying this address as correct.
(ii) Company Website Team Pages
The first place to look for email addresses should be the company website. POC email addresses are often listed alongside their descriptions.
(iii) Hunter.io
www.hunter.io is our go-to tool for finding contact emails. Under the “Email Finder” tool, we can type in the POC’s name and the company website URL to find their email address. Using the Domain Search tool also generates all identifiable email addresses from a domain address. Sometimes, however, if the company URL has an “accept-all” inbox, these emails cannot be verified through Hunter.
(iv) Pitchbook
Decision maker emails are found in Pitchbook under the “Team” tab by hovering over the email icon.
(v) Rocketreach.co
Rocketreach can be a useful tool for finding the email address of contacts if they can be found on LinkedIn. The website offers 5 free credits per month.
(vi) Testing Common Email Formats
Finally, target emails can be identified by testing the contact name with common email address formats in gmail. These include:
[firstname.lastname]@companyurl.com
[inital.lastname]@companyurl.com
[firstname]@companyurl.com
[firstnamelastname]@companyurl.com
[lastname]@companyurl.com
[initials]@companyurl.com
Inputting an email address in gmail creates a link for the profile. Checking this will tell you whether the address is valid or not. A generic looking account with a grey-blue icon is not likely to be valid. However, if the profile logo colour or picture changes, it can be confirmed as an active address. See the images on the right for a comparison.
Full-time employees refer to individuals employed by the company on a permanent, full-time basis. Source this number from reliable databases, as it's often more readily available than revenue data. If the employee count is an estimate, highlight it in red.
Reliable sources include:
PitchBook
Orbis
Company website
Company Houses of the country of target's incorporation
If a reliable source does not have FTE numbers, we should estimate the figure using LinkedIn’s employee numbers. The source used for FTEs should also be recorded in the FTE Source column.
In this column, we should provide a brief description of the company’s products/services and customers. We follow a strict format when entering descriptions, with each description being no more than 1-2 sentences and 40-50 words long. Often, the company description field will be filled automatically. If this is sufficiently descriptive, it can be left unchanged. However, this should be altered if the description is very vague, and reads something like “This company is active in the Computer Services industry.” In the company page within the PlainView workspace, there is an AI generator for descriptions that can be used to expedite the process. This creates an automatic description for the company, but is only accurate roughly ⅔ of the time. When using this function, we should therefore check the description against the company website to ensure it is accurate, and make any necessary amendments ourselves.
When writing the description manually, we should mention the activity of the business (whether they are a manufacturer, distributor, service provider), their key products/services (ideally 2-3), and what applications/industries their products or services are used in. The company website should list enough information to produce these descriptions. Avoid using “&”, “/” symbols when writing descriptions.
Description Formula:
“Company Activity” of “3 Products or Services” for “3 Target Industries”.
Examples of good descriptions:
"Manufacturer of infusion and transfusion warmers, pressure infusers, and disposable plastic products for respiratory, dental, and laboratory sectors."
"Service provider specializing in digital strategy, branding, and website development for B2B, e-commerce, and recruitment industries."
EBITDA stands for Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortization, and is used to determine the total net earnings of a company. EBITDA is mostly available for European companies due to national reporting standards, and can be found using Pitchbook or Orbis. If EBITDA data is unavailable, we don’t need to estimate it. The EBITDA% figure that should be entered into the database is calculated using the formula EBITDA/Revenue, and be expressed as a percentage.
For example, a company with an EBITDA of €1M and a revenue of €5M would have an EBITDA% calculated as 1 / 5 = 0.2 (20% converted to percentage). Used to help evaluate the profitability of a company (larger EBITDA margins indicate greater profitability of enterprise operations). If a company has EBITDA information available, it is likely that they will also list the EBITDA margin (may be called EBITDA%). If this, for some reason, is not available, but EBITDA is, then the margin should be calculated using EBITDA/Revenue.When entering EBITDA%, give figures rounded to 1 decimal place.
FTE (Full-Time Employees)
Preferred Revenue (Financial Only)*
(Multiple choice) Which countries the financial company invests in. This is usually explained on the website, or can be seen under Investment Preferences.
The target revenues range of businesses the company chooses to invest in, in €M.
Preferred Verticals (Financial Only)*
(Multiple choice) This field is to further specify what niche markets the fund targets investment. Only add labels from this column if they are relevant to the fund being profiled - if none are, this field can be left blank. See the spreadsheet linked below for definitions of different vertical labels.
Investment Range (Financial Only)
The target investment size for funds in €M - i.e., how much a fund seeks to invest at a time.
Investment Preferences (Financial Only)
The sectors that the company seeks to invest in. We should choose all areas from the dropdown menu that the fund(s) targets for investment. We use the same labels for Investment Preferences as we do for the Sub-Industry field. See the spreadsheet linked at the bottom of the page for category definitions.
Year of Acquisition
Here, we should note the year when the company received significant external funding or was acquired. This can be found under the “Deals” tab in Pitchbook, or under “Shareholder History” in Orbis (the year when the majority shareholders change can be taken as the year of acquisition). If Orbis or Pitchbook does not provide the year, it is always a good practice to search for press releases announcing the acquisition on Google or on the company website’s news archive.
Verticals
This field includes further descriptive labels that help us to more specifically describe the area of business the company is active in. It is not necessary to always enter this field, but if one or more of the labels applies to the company being profiled, they should be selected. Check out the Industry Classifications Spreadsheet under Additional Resources to see definitions for each Vertical label.
Website
The URL for the company’s primary website. Should be entered in www.xxx.com format (do not include https://) . If not already populated, this can be generated using the button next to it - but we should always check the URL in these cases to ensure it is correct.