We go out of our way to only add companies that have been involved in M&A, either as Buyer, Seller, and/or as the Target. If a company has not been involved in M&A, we do not add. This limits the total number of companies in the Mergr, however as we are an M&A-focused database, this also limits irrelevant results when searching.

Once you've built a list, you can also sort the results, save the search, or export via CSV.

The Company Search interface is designed to filter businesses on Mergr using a variety of company, ownership, and/or M&A attributes.

Here is a brief guide to the 11 company search options.

Note: To view all search options (as shown below), be sure to expand the default search menu by selecting 'More Options'.

1. Keyword - Names/Tickers

If you know the company you're interested in - directly enter the name of the company here. If the company is public, you can search via ticker symbols as well. (Eg. 'Ping Identity', 'MSFT')

2. Keyword - Descriptions

To isolate or identify specific types of companies - try the Keyword - Descriptions field. This field will keyword search the descriptions we have for each company and is the easiest way to identify niche companies. (Eg. 'Laboratory Equipment', 'SS7')

3. Sector

For general filtering by industry - select from the Sector dropdown. Every company is assigned to one of 60+ sectors. You can select more than one sector at a time to expand your search.

4. Revenue

The majority of companies in the Mergr database are private and do not disclose revenue - however, when Revenue figures are disclosed, we add to the database. Use the Revenue dropdown to filter companies by revenue. Keep in mind that when using this filter, you will filter out companies that do not have revenue figures. This search criteria is most useful when looking up public companies.

5. State / Province

Look-up and build lists of companies by US State or Canadian Province. You can select multiple to expand your search results.

6. Country

Look-up and build lists of companies by country. You can select multiple to expand your search results.

7. City

Look-up and build lists by city. You can expand the list of cities you wish to search by adding 'OR'. For example, to look-up all companies in 'San Francisco', 'Oakland', and 'Menlo Park', enter 'San Francisco OR Oakland OR Menlo Park'.

8. Ownership Status

All Companies in the Mergr database fall under one of four current ownership categories.

You can also look-up companies using a 'former' ownership attribute.

9. Company Status

By default - all Companies added to the database are Active, however we tag Companies that no longer exist or have been folded into another organization as 'Defunct'.

10. and 11. M&A Activity

If you want to isolate Companies that have acquired (10) or sold (11), select these criteria.

Selecting 'w/ Buy-Side M&A' will deliver all companies with at least 1 acquisition. Selecting 'w/ Sell-Side M&A' will yield all companies with at least 1 divestiture or exit.

If you're more interested in companies that have recently done an acquisition (or exit), select the 'within past 2 years' option.

You can also search companies based on the attributes of the companies they have acquired (or sold) by selecting 'Sector' or location, etc.

Final Search Note: By only including companies that have Bought, Sold, or Been Bought or Sold, we have already created a highly curated liste of companies to search through. Given so, we highly suggest building lists using 1 - 3 attributes and only adding more criteria if your list is still more than you are looking for. If you select too many characteristics, your list will narrow quickly.

After doing a company search (and by default when loading the search page), results are sorted by total acquisition count, high to low. Acquisition count is the sum of all buy-side M&A events that a company has according to info in the Mergr database.

In addition to sorting by acquisition count, other sort options include,

If you are interested in Saving your set of search results, select 'Save Search'. You will be prompted with a pop-up to name your search. Your 'Saved Search' will appear in the top right column on the 'Dashboard' page.

You can also export your search results via CSV by selecting the 'Download' button. There are a variety of fields that you can include (or exclude) when downloading and you can control this info by first selecting the dropdown icon next to the 'Download' button, and then choose the fields of interest to you.

Special Note When Downloading:

The Company Search Results table is designed to quickly show you basic company attributes, such as location, industry, and revenue (if available), but also M&A totals and ownership info.

The left side of the results table lists company info and will also display whether a company is public (in black as shown below with stock exchange and stock symbol), acquired, PE backed, or private.

The right side of the table totals all-time M&A activity and lists M&A totals from the last 5 years with a simple chart.