How we build the database

Counts are live from the database, not hardcoded.

1. [ 01 ]

   Sourced, then verified by hand

   Every firm starts as a candidate from public sources. Before it is listed, we check its website ourselves: the firm must be real, active, London-based, and actually working in the vertical we file it under.

2. [ 02 ]

   Firms that fail verification are excluded

   Candidates with no working website, or where we can't confirm what the firm does, never enter the directory. They sit in a review queue instead of being padded into the numbers.

3. [ 03 ]

   Every firm is strategy-tagged

   Each listing carries a focus tag (deal type, stage, strategy or practice area) taken from what the firm itself says it does, so filters reflect reality rather than guesswork.

4. [ 04 ]

   User submissions are reviewed before listing

   Members can submit firms we have missed. Submissions go to a staging queue and are only added after an admin verifies them the same way, never automatically.

5. [ 05 ]

   No inflated numbers

   The counts on this page are computed live from the database, as they are on the pricing page and the directories. We do not publish invented user counts or fabricated testimonials anywhere on this site.