How to Find New LLCs Filed in Your State (2026 Guide)
Every state in the US requires new LLCs to file formation documents with a state agency — usually the Secretary of State or Division of Corporations. These filings are public record, which means anyone can access them. The question is how efficiently you can turn that raw data into actionable leads.
The Manual Approach: Secretary of State Websites
Most states offer a free business entity search on their Secretary of State website. You can search by entity name, filing date, or registered agent. Texas uses sos.state.tx.us, Florida uses Sunbiz (dos.myflorida.com/sunbiz), New York publishes data through its Open Data portal at data.ny.gov, and California operates bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov.
The problem with manual searching is scale. Texas alone processes roughly 800 new formations per day. Clicking through search results one at a time, copying names and addresses into a spreadsheet — you will spend hours and still miss most of the filings. Some states paginate results aggressively or require you to search by specific date ranges, making bulk access tedious.
The Bulk Data Approach
A few states offer bulk data downloads. Florida is the gold standard here — Sunbiz publishes nightly bulk CSV files that contain every entity filed or updated that day. You can download these for free and import them into a CRM or spreadsheet. New York's Open Data portal also supports bulk API access with filtering by date.
Most states, however, do not offer convenient bulk exports. Delaware's ICIS system is notoriously difficult to scrape programmatically because it relies on ASP.NET ViewState. California's bizfileonline portal is a React single-page application with aggressive rate limiting.
The Automated Approach
Services like FilingAlert handle the scraping, parsing, normalizing, and deduplicating for you. Instead of spending two hours every morning pulling data from five different state websites, you receive a clean email digest and downloadable CSV by 7am with every formation from the previous day.
What Data Is Typically Available
A standard formation filing includes the entity name, entity type (LLC, corporation, LP), formation date, filing number, registered agent name and address, and organizer or principal address. Some states include the names of members or managers, though this varies. Contact information like phone numbers and email addresses is generally not part of the public filing — that requires separate enrichment.
Why Timing Matters
The single biggest factor in converting a formation lead is speed. A business that filed yesterday is actively making purchasing decisions right now — choosing an insurance provider, hiring an accountant, selecting a registered agent. By day seven, most of those decisions are made. By day thirty, the lead is cold. If you are pulling data manually once a week, you are already losing to competitors who reach out within 24 hours.