Researchly Builds an A.I. Database of 7 Million DACH Companies

Austrian start-up Researchly is going after a blind spot in company data: the family business nobody thinks to search for on PitchBook. Based in Wels, it has built an AI-powered database covering about 7 million businesses across Austria, Germany and Switzerland, with the pitch of doing M&A research at the push of a button.

The target users are advisers, investors and companies hunting for acquisition targets, buyers or competitors. Researchly was founded by Leopold Bosankic, Felix Kefer and Stefan Endl, who each hold about a third of Researchly FlexCo, according to the Austrian company register. Bosankic is chief executive, Endl runs technology as CTO and Kefer is chief AI officer. The project started in 2022 as a tool for automated competitor analysis, and the company was entered in the register in early 2025. It currently has four people, with no outside funding disclosed.

The data comes from Austria’s Firmenbuch, Germany’s Handelsregister and Switzerland’s Zefix. Researchly then adds layers pulled from websites, news and live web searches, and checks them against the registers. That includes core company data like headquarters, owners, management, capital and financial statements, plus a Heat Score from 0 to 100 that signals activity such as shareholder changes, job postings, patents or news coverage.

There’s more on top: business models framed as a Business Model Canvas, positioning, competitors, technologies and digital presence. A company network maps holdings, partnerships and group structures, and an early prototype covers the robotics industry. Instead of forcing users through rigid NACE codes, the search is semantic, so someone can look for “manufacturers of industrial robots with fewer than 50 employees.” The company also shows a public example profile for Loxone, though only part of the data is free.

The dealmaking angle is where Researchly wants to matter most. Starting from a single company profile, four AI agents look for strategic buyers, acquisition targets, a valuation based on listed peers and suitable financial investors. A separate enrichment matrix lets another agent work through each cell of a table and cite sources. That is meant to save time in the Mittelstand, where thousands of family firms in Austria and Germany will need successors in the coming years and expensive bank research often does not make sense for smaller deals.