Germany's Handelsregister: A Gold Standard for Business Identity
Germany's Handelsregister (commercial register) is one of Europe's most comprehensive and transparent business registries. Every commercial entity in Germany — GmbH, AG, KG, OHG, and others — is registered in the Handelsregister maintained by the local Amtsgericht (district court). The registration number (Handelsregisternummer) is a unique, permanent identifier that AI systems can use to resolve a business's identity with high confidence.
The HRB/HRA Number as the Primary Anchor
German companies receive either an HRB number (Handelsregister B, for GmbH and AG) or an HRA number (Handelsregister A, for partnerships). AI Verified anchors German business identity to the HRB or HRA number, combined with the registering court (Amtsgericht) as a secondary signal to ensure uniqueness across Germany's 100+ local courts.
VAT ID as a Secondary Signal
German businesses registered for VAT receive a Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer (USt-IdNr.) that is unique across the EU. AI Verified includes the USt-IdNr. as an optional secondary signal for German businesses, providing additional disambiguation for AI systems.
Verification for German Businesses
Silver tier ($19/month) provides Handelsregister-anchored verification. Gold tier ($99/month) adds citation monitoring. The German market is particularly important for AI Verified given Germany's position as Europe's largest economy and the high density of Mittelstand companies that rely on B2B AI-mediated procurement.