Discover connections

When Middesk verifies a business, it analyzes the people, addresses, and business data associated with that business to discover connections to other businesses in its identity graph. These connections surface other businesses that may share common ownership, management, or operating locations, enabling more comprehensive due diligence without manual research.

How Middesk discovers connections

Middesk maintains an identity graph built from Secretary of State registrations, business filings, and other public records. When Middesk verifies a business, it compares the business’s people, addresses, and data against this graph to find other businesses that share those attributes. A shared officer appearing on two businesses, an overlapping registered address, or a common business relationship each represent a connection worth investigating.

Each discovered connection includes a confidence score between 0 and 1 that reflects the overall strength of the connection. The score increases when multiple attributes overlap. Middesk returns results in descending order by confidence, so the strongest connections appear first.

Understanding connections

Every connection includes the specific connecting elements that link it to the ordered business. There are three connecting element types:

• Connecting people. Individuals found on both the ordered business and the connected business. Each person includes their name, titles (for example, “CEO” or “Registered Agent”), and the sources where the connection was found, such as Secretary of State registrations.
• Connecting addresses. Physical addresses shared between both businesses. Each address includes labels (for example, “primary”) and the sources where the address was found. A shared registered office or principal address suggests an operational link between the two businesses.
• Connecting businesses. Businesses found in authoritative records that establish a link between the ordered and connected business. This happens in three ways:
  • Outbound reference. The ordered business’s own records name the connected business.
  • Inbound reference. The connected business’s records name the ordered business.
  • Shared reference. Both the ordered business and the connected business name the same third business in their records.

Confidence scoring

The confidence field is a float between 0 and 1 that represents how strongly two businesses are connected. Higher values indicate more overlapping data points across the connection types described above.

The score combines weighted signals:

• High confidence (0.90 or above). Multiple connecting elements overlap. For example, a shared person plus a shared address, or an outbound or inbound business reference combined with a shared person or address.
• Medium confidence. A single strong signal is present. For example, a shared person alone, or a direct business reference alone (outbound or inbound, where one business names the other in authoritative records).
• Lower confidence. A shared address alone, particularly when the address is high-frequency (PO boxes, registered agent offices, or coworking addresses).
• Lowest confidence. Only a shared third-party reference, with no overlapping people or addresses. This pattern is common when both businesses happen to use the same registered agent or share a generic service provider, which often doesn’t indicate a real operational link.

Use the confidence score to prioritize which connections to investigate first. Connections with high confidence are strong leads for further diligence, while lower-confidence connections may warrant manual review.

How to discover connections

$
curl -X POST https://api.middesk.com/v1/businesses \
>
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
>
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
>
  -d '{
>
    "name": "Acme Corporation",
>
    "addresses": [
>
      {
>
        "address_line_1": "123 Main Street",
>
        "city": "San Francisco",
>
        "state": "CA",
>
        "postal_code": "94105"
>
      }
>
    ],
>
    "orders": [
>
      { "product": "business_verification_verify" }
>
    ]
>
  }'

$
curl https://api.middesk.com/v1/businesses/{business_id}/connections \
>
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

1
{
2
  "object": "list",
3
  "data": [
4
    {
5
      "object": "connection",
6
      "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001",
7
      "name": "Acme Holdings LLC",
8
      "confidence": 0.96,
9
      "connected_business_id": null,
10
      "connecting_people": [
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        {
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          "name": "John Doe",
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          "titles": ["CEO"],
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          "sources": [
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            {
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              "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000002",
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              "type": "sos_registration",
18
              "metadata": {
19
                "state": "IL",
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                "file_number": "12345"
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              }
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            }
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          ]
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        }
25
      ],
26
      "connecting_addresses": [
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        {
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          "full_address": "123 Main St, Springfield, IL 62701",
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          "labels": ["primary"],
30
          "sources": [
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            {
32
              "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000002",
33
              "type": "sos_registration",
34
              "metadata": {
35
                "state": "IL",
36
                "file_number": "12345"
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              }
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            }
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          ]
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        }
41
      ],
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      "connecting_businesses": [
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        {
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          "name": "Acme Holdings LLC",
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          "titles": ["MANAGER"],
46
          "sources": [
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            {
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              "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000002",
49
              "type": "sos_registration",
50
              "metadata": {
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                "state": "IL",
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                "file_number": "12345"
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              }
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            }
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          ]
56
        },
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        {
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          "name": "Acme Corporation",
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          "titles": [],
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          "sources": []
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        },
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        {
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          "name": "National Registered Agents Inc",
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          "titles": ["REGISTERED AGENT"],
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          "sources": [
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            {
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              "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000002",
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              "type": "sos_registration",
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              "metadata": {
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                "state": "IL",
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                "file_number": "12345"
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              }
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            }
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          ]
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        }
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      ]
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    }
78
  ],
79
  "has_more": false,
80
  "total_count": 1
81
}

$
curl -X POST https://api.middesk.com/v1/businesses \
>
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
>
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
>
  -d '{
>
    "connection_id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001",
>
    "orders": [{ "product": "business_verification_verify" }]
>
  }'