All eyes will turn to London this summer for the Olympics, so maybe the time is right for the British to offer up shining examples of business transparency. Duedil (standing for due diligence) aggregates information on businesses, accessible for free public perusal. (If the site can keep pace with updates on the Murdoch media empire, investors might want to line up now.)
Due Diligence Done For You
This free database of company information covers businesses in the UK and Ireland. In December of 2011, the company secured a second round of funding from Jonty Hurwitz, the founding CTO of Wonga. (In 2009, Wonga turned over £74 million.) Previously, seed funding came from Passion Capital and the prominent angel investor Federico Pirzio-Biroli.
Along with the financial boosts, Duedil revamped its website earlier in July to make it easier for users to navigate. A Google Chrome extension generates instant information on companies with websites in the U.K. and Ireland by clicking on a Duedil logo installed in the web browser. A financial ratios widget shares the insight of accountants and bankers regarding a company’s health, using gearing level, profit ratio, and return on capital figures. Furthermore, Duedil claims to have sped up data import, providing information that would ordinarily take weeks to research in less than nine minutes.
Over 10 billion pieces of information have been indexed on the site, including financials, legal history, and the credit scores of at least 8 million companies. Duedil strives to make business data easy to find, easy to understand, and share. Besides advocating for transparency, another aim of the company is to assist small to mid-sized businesses.
More Than Numbers
Duedil functions as part social network as well. Information is tied into Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. Users can follow individuals’ associations both within and outside a single company–positions held, colleagues, number of shareholders, interests outside of the company. This information intends to give users a more in depth look at companies beneath their surface faces. Users can also leave ratings of companies, similar to Yelp and other social shopping sites. Rate companies on qualities like expertise, service, and value. The idea being that users can grasp a sense of other users’ real-time interaction with a company.
Duedil is a tool for businesses to follow competition but also for learning about potential partners before entering partnerships or negotiations. The site includes options for breaking update notifications and share buttons that make it easy to pass along both links and information.
Founder and CEO Damian Kimmelman sees Duedil in a similar light to LinkedIn and Facebook but with a business slant: “Take a look at LinkedIn, it is primarily built around helping people get new jobs. Facebook has Walls and Photos–both networks work because of transparency. We wanted to build a business-centric site that focuses on that.” Kimmelman was formerly the director of a digital design agency, We Are VI Ltd. Before that, he co-founded Mackim Gaming, a startup that offered online mahjong and other peer-to-peer games with a cultural emphasis. Kimmelman serves as a mentor for Springboard startups at Cambridge University.
Want Info On U.S. Businesses?
OpenCorporates is a site similar to Duedil that posts information on companies internationally. Still in beta, the site says it offers information covering more than 43,544,095 companies in 52 jurisdictions. Founders include Chris Taggart who previously built OpenlyLocal.com and OpenCharities and Rob McKinnon who built TheyWorkForYou.
Like the team at Duedil, these tireless advocates of greater transparency in government and business dealings hail from the U.K. as well. C’mon, countrymen, where’s our own version?
