Ask Yale Library: Management and Entrepreneurship

Yale Library provides access to several databases for building custom lists of companies. We recommend starting with the following:

• Capital IQ
• Orbis
• CB Insights 

 

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Capital IQ - Recommended starting point

Capital IQ is a data-rich company research platform with strong screening tools, making it an excellent choice for quickly building a targeted list of companies. It includes extensive coverage of both public and private companies, as well as PE and VC investments. 

Building a Company List

1. Start a Company Screen

• Click the Screening tab
• Select Companies

2. Add Location Criteria

• In the Company Details box on the left, choose Geographical Locations
• Select your preferred locations and click Add Criteria

3. Add Industry Criteria

• Click Industry Classifications
• Browse the industry tree or search by keyword
• Select an industry and click Add Criteria
• Tip: Not sure which industry to choose? Open the profile of a company you’re interested in and see how Capital IQ classifies it.

4. Add Keywords

• Use a keyword search in Business Descriptions to further refine your search to include certain lines of business, products, or practices

Additional Criteria for Job‑Search Target Lists

• Company Status
  Under Company Status, select Operating and Operating Subsidiaries to ensure the companies are active/still in business
• Company Size
  Under Company Statistics, set minimum or maximum employee counts to narrow large result sets
• Yale Alumni
  In the Education box (third column), select Colleges/Universities, search for Yale, choose from the results, and click Add Criteria

Viewing, Saving, and Exporting

• After selecting all desired criteria, click View Results
• Screens can be saved and modified, and exported to Excel

Additional Help

Click the Help link in the upper‑right corner of Capital IQ. Under Basics you’ll find:

• New User Training
• Webinars & Videos
• User Guides 
• FAQs

 

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Orbis - Good for international companies 

Orbis 
Orbis, produced by Moody’s (formerly Bureau van Dijk), provides information on more than 400 million companies worldwide. It is especially strong in its coverage of private companies and corporate ownership structures.

Bulding a Company List

1. Start a Search

• Click the Search icon in the left navigation menu to create or build your search

2. Search by Geographic Location

• Select Add a Search Step, then select Location
• Choose a Country, Region, City, or Postal code
• Click OK

3. Search by Industry

• Select Activities and Industry
• To limit results by classification codes, choose Industry Classification and select SIC, NAICS, or NACE codes
• To search business descriptions for keywords, select Activity text search
• Click OK

4. Search by Company Size or Revenue

• Select Financials
• Choose Key Financials and Employees
• Click Edit to specify criteria such as revenue or employee counts
• Click OK

5. Add Additional Criteria and Export

• Apply any other filters you need, then click View Results
• Export your results to Excel or customize your results using the Add/Remove Columns function

 

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CB Insights - Good for identifying startups

CB Insights
CB Insights covers global venture capital (VC), private equity (PE), mergers & acquisitions (M&A), and IPO activity related to private companies.

Access requires users to create an individual account using a Yale email address through the Yale CB Insights portal.

Bulding a Company List

1. Open Advanced Search

• Log in and click Advanced Search at the top of the page
• Enter keywords (e.g., fintech, digital health)
  • Use commas for multiple terms
  • Use quotes for exact phrases
• Click Search

2. Switch to Company Search

• Click the Companies tab.
• Use filters on the left to refine your list.

Key Filters to Use

• Company Attributes: Filter by Location
• Financing & Exits: Filter by Latest funding round, Investment stage, or Funding date. Financing & Exits can also be used to filter by VC‑backed companies or investor type

Results update automatically as you add filters.

Tips

• Explore Expert Collections to find companies in categories like AgTech, Telehealth, or Gaming.
• Add more data columns using the + icon (upper‑right corner).

3. Export & Save

• Select companies using the checkboxes.
• Download your results once selections are made.
• Save searches to your individual account.

Note: Standard accounts can download up to 6,000 profiles per year

Other options for identifying VC and PE-backed companies include PitchBook and Preqin.