Exa’s company search indexes 50M+ companies, updated weekly, and supports natural language queries across industry, funding stage, headcount, geography, and technology. Read the blog post: [Introducing Exa’s Company Search Benchmark](/content/blog/company-search-benchmark/index.html).

For agentic list-building and enrichment out of the box, use [Websets →](/content/docs/websets/api-guide/index.html).

## When to Use

If you’re building:

- A **GTM intelligence or lead-generation platform**  
  Build targeted company lists by industry, headcount, geography, and funding stage  
  - “Series A fintech companies in Switzerland with 50–200 employees”  
  - “Japanese AI companies founded in 2023”

- A **finance or investment research tool**  
  Source deals, map competitive landscapes, and track funding rounds  
  - “agtech companies that raised Series A in the US”  
  - “startups that raised 30M to 80M”

- A **competitive intelligence or market-mapping workflow**  
  Discover emerging players and alternatives in a space  
  - “companies like Stripe”  
  - “competitors of Notion”

- A **consulting or professional services engagement**  
  Research industries, identify vendors, and build market scans for client deliverables  
  - “German enterprise SaaS companies with more than 500 employees”

## Basic Usage

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.exa.ai/search \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{  
    "query": "Agtech companies optimizing pesticide placement with computer vision",
    "category": "company",
    "type": "auto",
    "numResults": 10
  }'
```

Try it now: [Company Search in the API Playground →](https://dashboard.exa.ai/playground/search?q=fintech%20companies%20in%20Switzerland&c=company&filters=%7B%22text%22%3A%22true%22%2C%22type%22%3A%22auto%22%2C%22highlights%22%3A%22true%22%7D)