NZ Companies Register: Free Company Search, API Guide, and What the Data Includes

The New Zealand Companies Register is one of the most useful public data resources for B2B service providers in New Zealand. It contains real-time information on every company incorporated under the Companies Act 1993, updated within hours of each registration. Understanding how to use it effectively is a significant advantage for any professional looking to grow their client base.

What Is the NZ Companies Register?

The NZ Companies Register is a public database maintained by the Companies Office (a division of MBIE, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment). It records:

• Every company incorporated in New Zealand, including the registered name, company number, and date of incorporation
• The registered address (required at time of incorporation)
• The names of directors and shareholders, including the shareholding percentages
• The company's current status (registered, in liquidation, struck off, etc.)
• Annual return filing dates and filing history

The register is publicly searchable at companies.govt.nz at no cost. You can search by company name, company number, or director name.

The NZBN API: Structured Access to Company Data

The New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) is a unique identifier assigned to every business entity in New Zealand. The NZBN API, provided by MBIE at api.business.govt.nz, gives structured access to the same data in the Companies Register plus additional information not available in the basic search:

• Trading name — the name a company operates under, which may differ from the registered legal name
• Industry classification (ANZSCO) — the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations code, which describes what the company does
• GST registration status — whether the company is registered for GST, updated in near-real-time as registrations are processed
• Director appointment history — start dates and shareholding percentages for each director
• Annual return month — when the company's annual return is due each year

The NZBN API is free to use and requires registration but no usage fees.

What the Register Does Not Include

The Companies Register contains incorporation data but does not include contact information for the company itself. It will list the registered address (often a lawyer's or accountant's address for agent registrations) and the director's name, but not:

• An email address for the company or its directors
• A phone number
• A website address
• What the company actually does (beyond the broad ANZSCO classification)

Discovering contact information requires searching outside the register: Google Business Profile, the company's own website, domain registration data, and professional databases like Hunter.io.

How Many New Companies Register Each Day?

Approximately 150 to 340 new companies incorporate in New Zealand on each weekday. The number varies by day of the week and time of year, with peaks in January and after long weekends when founders who have been planning a business over the holidays finally register.

Auckland typically accounts for 35 to 45 percent of all daily registrations. Wellington accounts for approximately eight to twelve percent, followed by Christchurch at six to ten percent.

The most common industry classifications for newly-registered companies are trustee services and investment holding companies (often set up for property investment or estate planning), followed by construction and trades companies, business consulting, and technology services.

Why B2B Service Providers Monitor New Company Registrations

For accountants, bookkeepers, insurance brokers, lawyers, IT providers, recruiters, and other B2B service providers, a newly-incorporated company represents a uniquely high-intent prospect: a business that was just created and now needs all of the services required to operate.

The advantage of reaching new companies in the first 30 days is that they have no incumbent provider to displace. They are making decisions about accounting software, insurance, IT infrastructure, legal structure, and banking simultaneously, and they are actively looking for professional support.

After 90 days, most of these decisions have been made. The window of genuine open-mindedness to new service providers is concentrated in the first month or two of the company's existence.

FreshFirms: Real-Time New Company Intelligence

FreshFirms monitors the NZ Companies Register and NZBN API daily, enriches each new company record with discovered contact information (email addresses from websites, phone numbers from Google Business Profiles, and AI-generated summaries of what each company does), and delivers personalised daily alerts to B2B service providers in their target regions and industries.

Subscribers receive a morning digest of new companies in their region, with contact details and one-click intro email capability. The tech stack detection feature identifies companies running Shopify, WordPress, or WooCommerce. The AI opportunity brief explains why each specific company is relevant to the subscriber's services.

See live NZ company registration statistics, search our database of recently registered NZ companies, or start a free 7-day trial.