Pounce API Quickstart: From Zero to Enriched Company Data in 5 Minutes
Pounce gives you programmatic access to 65M+ companies from 20 countries — sourced directly from official trade registers, enriched with categories, descriptions, and employee estimates. This guide gets you from zero to your first enriched company profile.
Prerequisites
- A free Pounce account at pounce.ch
- Your API key from the Console → Keys section
- Python 3.8+ or curl
Step 1: Get Your API Key
Sign up at pounce.ch and navigate to Console → Keys. Your free tier includes 100 API calls per month — enough to evaluate the data quality.
export POUNCE_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"Step 2: Search for Companies
The /v2/entities/search endpoint lets you find companies by name, location, industry, or any combination of filters.
import requests
headers = {"X-API-Key": POUNCE_API_KEY}
# Search for fintech companies in Zurich
response = requests.get(
"https://api.pounce.ch/api/v1/v2/entities/search",
headers=headers,
params={
"q": "fintech",
"country": "CH",
"city": "Zurich",
"founded_min": 2020,
"sort": "newest",
"limit": 10
}
)
companies = response.json()["items"]
for company in companies:
print(f"{company['canonical_name']} — {company['id']}")Each result includes the company name, country, city, categories, and quality score. Use the entity detail endpoint for the full profile.
Step 3: Enrich a Company Profile
Once you have a company ID, the /v2/entities/{id} endpoint adds layers of intelligence on top of the registry data.
company_id = companies[0]["id"]
enriched = requests.get(
f"https://api.pounce.ch/api/v1/v2/entities/{company_id}",
headers=headers
).json()
print(f"Website: {enriched.get('domains', [{}])[0].get('domain', '')}")
print(f"Tech Stack: {enriched.get('categories', {})}")
print(f"Employees: {enriched.get('employee_estimate')}")
Enrichment adds: website, employee estimates, categories, and AI-generated company descriptions — each with a source reference so you can verify it.
Step 4: Monitor Changes with Webhooks
Set up a webhook to get notified when companies matching your criteria are registered or change their data.
webhook = requests.post(
"https://api.pounce.ch/api/v1/v2/webhooks",
headers=headers,
json={
"url": "https://your-app.com/webhook",
"events": ["entity.created", "entity.updated"],
"filters": {
"country": "CH",
"category": "technology"
}
}
)When configured, webhooks can notify you about new companies matching your filters.
What Makes Pounce Different
| Feature | Pounce | Traditional Providers |
|---|---|---|
| Data Source | Official trade registers | Web scraping |
| Freshness | Regularly updated | 3-6 months delay |
| Coverage | 65M+ companies, 20 countries | US-centric |
| Verification | Registry-verified | Estimated/guessed |
| Privacy | GDPR-compliant, no personal data | Gray zone |
| Pricing | From $0 (Free) to $49/mo | €10K+/year |
Next Steps
- Free tier: 100 API calls/month — sign up here
- Developer docs: Full API reference at pounce.ch/dashboard/docs
- MCP Server: Connect your AI agent directly — see our MCP integration guide
- Webhooks: Register endpoints to receive notifications about entity changes
The data is real, verified, and available today. No sales call required.