Business lookups

Two calls: a free search that finds businesses on CAC’s register, and a lookup that returns one business’s full record, with its address and officers.

Search CAC’s register

GET /v1/businesses/search?query= takes a business name, or a registration number with or without its prefix (7654321, RC 7654321, BN-1234567). You get up to 50 businesses, best match first.

curl "https://api.fastcac.com/v1/businesses/search?query=Ada%20Foods" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FASTCAC_KEY"

Response (200)

{
  "object": "list",
  "data": [
    {
      "object": "cac_record",
      "number": "7654321",
      "type": "RC",
      "type_label": "Company",
      "name": "ADA FOODS LIMITED",
      "status": "ACTIVE",
      "active": true,
      "registered_on": "2024-03-18"
    },
    {
      "object": "cac_record",
      "number": "1234567",
      "type": "BN",
      "type_label": "Business name",
      "name": "ADA FOODS VENTURES",
      "status": "INACTIVE",
      "active": false,
      "registered_on": "2023-08-02"
    }
  ],
  "has_more": false
}

Field	What it is
`number`	The registration number, digits only, as CAC stores it.
`type`	The register: `BN` business name, `RC` company, `IT` incorporated trustees, `LP` limited partnership, `LLP` limited liability partnership. The same number can exist in more than one.
`status`, `active`	As CAC lists it (`ACTIVE`, `INACTIVE`, `STRUCK OFF`…), and whether that’s `ACTIVE`. Businesses usually go inactive for unfiled annual returns.
`registered_on`	`YYYY-MM-DD`.

Search is free, with live and test keys alike: test keys search the real register too. It allows 30 searches a minute per organization with a live key and 10 with a test key; live lookups, verifications and new monitors count towards it too, since each searches CAC. A query shorter than 2 characters is 400 parameter_invalid. When CAC’s search doesn’t answer you get 503 cac_search_unavailable; try again in a minute.

Look up a business

POST /v1/businesses/lookups with the number returns its full record: name, status, registration date, address, email and its officers.

curl https://api.fastcac.com/v1/businesses/lookups \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FASTCAC_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"number": "RC 7654321"}'

Response (201)

{
  "object": "cac_lookup",
  "id": "cacl_7d33or8TF86voj7RKlJoO9",
  "number": "7654321",
  "type": "RC",
  "type_label": "Company",
  "name": "ADA FOODS LIMITED",
  "status": "ACTIVE",
  "active": true,
  "registered_on": "2024-03-18",
  "address": "12 ADMIRALTY WAY, LEKKI, LAGOS",
  "email": "hello@adafoods.ng",
  "officers": [
    {
      "name": "ADA CHIOMA OBI",
      "role": "director",
      "status": "active",
      "nationality": "NIGERIAN",
      "appointed_on": "2024-03-18"
    }
  ],
  "amount_charged": "250.00",
  "transaction_id": "wtx_1wXWimpHA9SSUHix3GJGug",
  "created_at": "2026-10-28T15:16:03Z"
}

The number can carry its prefix (RC 7654321) or go with type. If it exists in more than one register and you send neither, you get 400 type_required with the registers in details.types.
officers are the proprietors, directors, secretaries and persons with significant control (psc), with name, role, status, nationality and appointment date only. Presenters and witnesses on CAC’s filing are left out, and so are dates of birth, ID numbers, phones, emails and home addresses.
status is always read fresh from CAC’s register.

GET /v1/businesses/lookups/{id} returns it again, free. Only your organization, in the same mode, can read it. We keep the record encrypted.

Pricing

Search is free. A lookup costs ₦250 from the wallet of the key’s mode; the current price is on the Pricing page. It shows as a cac_lookup_charge in your transactions.

Outcome	Charged
The record	Yes
`404 cac_record_missing`: CAC has no business with that number. We check this first.	No
`503 lookup_unavailable`: CAC’s records didn’t answer	No: charged, then refunded (`cac_lookup_refund`)
`503 cac_search_unavailable`: CAC’s search didn’t answer. Checked before any charge.	No
`402 insufficient_balance`: the wallet can’t cover it. Checked first, so nothing is searched or looked up.	No
`400`: the number or `type` isn’t valid	No

Send an Idempotency-Key: a retry with the same key gets the first answer and isn’t charged again. Live lookups allow 60 a minute per organization.

Test mode

Test lookups never reach CAC. Every number returns the same test business: ADA FOODS VENTURES when type is BN, ADA FOODS LIMITED otherwise, with ADA CHIOMA OBI as its proprietor or director. ?simulate=cac_record_missing gives the 404, lookup_unavailable the 503 and insufficient_balance the 402. Search answers from the real register in test mode; ?simulate=cac_search_unavailable gives its 503.

Get started

Dashboard

Registering a business

Business data

Webhooks

API basics

Resources

Going live

Search CAC’s register

Look up a business

Pricing

Test mode

​Search CAC’s register

​Look up a business

​Pricing

​Test mode

Search CAC’s register

Look up a business

Pricing

Test mode