Deal Origination Software for UK M&A, Corporate Finance and Private Equity Teams

Deal origination software helps M&A teams, corporate finance advisers and private equity investors identify acquisition targets, build buyer lists and manage deal sourcing more efficiently.

USP Data is the complete system for building a list of viable target firms. You can start with a list of firms of interest from any source, import them into USP Data, and expand your list by finding more companies that match your criteria. Once you have a list, you can apply selection criteria using the latest data on 5.5 million UK firms—financial, ownership, geographic, and sector. The resulting shortlist can be analysed, and contact details of directors and shareholders can be exported for further action.

USP Data is designed to handle multiple concurrent searches across over 1,700 sectors of UK industry. Each project can be run and saved in the built-in CRM, where contact and financial records stay up to date automatically. You can import data and match it with Companies House records, saving or viewing customised templates of key data columns, ready for export.

A key advantage of USP Data is the inclusion of 1000+ researched sector reports. Many competing databases rely on the 5.5 million Companies House firms, but they depend on SIC codes—roughly 730 vague classifications. These codes are assigned at a company’s formation and rarely updated, so businesses that evolve or don’t correctly classify themselves become mismatched. This makes SIC codes unsuitable for precise sector analysis, as comparisons become muddled, limiting the usefulness of industry benchmarks.

One of USP Data’s key advantages is its 1,000+ researched sector reports. These are built on decades of research, using industry association lists, trade fair data, and other sources. Unlike broad SIC codes, these reports deliver finely tuned sector groupings. This lets you quickly find the companies you need, saving you the time of manual sorting.

M&A teams begin with a brief, outlining sectors, firm size, profitability, and other criteria. They apply these filters to the latest data on 5.5 million UK companies on the workspace within USP Data, producing a shortlist in minutes. They can set maximum and minimum values for any of the 42 metrics provided like profitability or employee numbers. Once the shortlist is created, they can view it in templates specifed to display exactly the relevant data for the listed companies.  Using this list view template it is easy to suppress unsuitable firms, export the chosen data or save the list into the built in CRM as a project for later attention.

Our deal origination software is updated weekly, capturing changes in 5.5 million companies—from credit scores and new directors to ownership shifts. You can monitor signals like new accounts filed, changes in shareholder structure, or shifts in profitability. These transaction triggers help you spot companies at pivotal moments—whether it’s a strong growth, decline, or leadership change—so you can target them with greater precision using USP Data.

When you have a sell-side mandate, USP Data makes it easy to identify potential acquirers. Enter your client’s company into the “Find a Firm” tool. USP links all 5.5 million companies, allowing you to track directors, shareholders, and sectors. Once identified, you load sector peers into the workspace and apply financial, geographic, or scale criteria. USP Data also lets you conduct a Michael Porter-style analysis, reviewing not just buyers, but also suppliers, complementary firms, and substitutes. Sector reports help you expand your search and produce a wide-ranging list of related companies, all within USP Data.

USP Data includes a built-in CRM that acts as a central hub for all your projects. Whether you’re evaluating scaffolding firms or exploring legal practices, you can save these lists into the CRM, adding your own contact details, notes, and progress updates. You can monitor interactions, bring the list back into the workspace for further screening, and export updated data. By organising lists in projects, such as top targets or warm leads, you can subtract and refine pools so you do not duplicate effort. Plus, since financial and contact data updates automatically, your lists stay current, making it easy to revisit and track progress over time.

What is deal origination software?

USP Data is called deal origination software because it quickly connects you to all 5.5 million UK companies, enabling fast screening, refining, and reporting. You can apply custom criteria, such as financials, ownership, and geography, and export precise contact details, including registered, trading, director, and shareholder addresses. Furthermore, USP Data’s unique sectorisation goes beyond standard SIC codes, providing focused, tailored sectors that save you time compared to broad classifications. In short, if you need targeted leads, USP Data is the fastest, most precise tool.

What is the difference between SIC codes and researched sector classifications?

SIC codes are standard classifications applied to all UK limited companies at inception. They are often chosen in a broad, unrigorous way. In contrast, USP Data’s research sector classifications are a unique feature that provides far greater focus. Instead of just a broad SIC code—like a general heating and ventilation code—USP Data offers dedicated sector reports, such as one for heating and ventilation contractors and another for plumbers. This means, rather than sifting through tens of thousands of firms, you get directly to the relevant ones, saving you time and ensuring you focus on exactly the companies that matter. Plus, USP Data helps you avoid missing key firms that might be misclassified in a random SIC code, ensuring a sharper, more efficient search.

USP Data is deal origination software that helps corporate finance advisers, M&A teams, private equity investors and strategic acquirers identify acquisition targets, build buyer lists and uncover transaction opportunities across more than 5.5 million UK companies.

Using financial data, ownership intelligence, researched sector classifications and company monitoring tools, users can move from an acquisition brief to a qualified target list in minutes.

USP Data combines standard company information with more than 1,000 researched sector classifications, shareholder profiling, keyword search, CRM tracking and comparative analysis tools.

Whether you are sourcing acquisition opportunities, researching niche sectors or building strategic buyer lists, USP Data provides the intelligence needed to identify and monitor the right companies.

Why M&A Teams Use USP Data

✓ The latest data on 5.5 million UK companies

✓ Uniquely: 1,000+ researched sector classifications

✓ Shareholder and ownership intelligence

✓ Acquisition target and buyer identification tools

✓ Integrated CRM and company monitoring to save time

✓ Comparative analysis and reporting and unlimited exporting of relevant data