1. Overview
The Target Screening API identifies and scores potential acquisition targets for a defined acquirer. Given an acquirer and a set of strategic criteria, Wokelo’s AI pipeline searches its coverage universe of 3M+ companies, evaluates each candidate target against the acquirer’s profile, M&A history, and stated thesis, and returns a ranked list with AI-generated deal scores, synergy commentary, and full firmographic and financial profiles. This is an asynchronous API — submitting a request returns arequest_id immediately, and you must poll for status and then retrieve results once the job is complete. Read more about the async pattern in How Async APIs work.
Each target in the result set is evaluated across five dimensions:
- Overall Score — composite strategic fit rating (1–10)
- Query Relevance Score — how closely the target matches the stated thesis in
detailed_queryandkeywords - Deal Feasibility Score — likelihood the acquirer can financially execute the acquisition given size, balance sheet, and deal history
- Deal Precedent Score — alignment with the acquirer’s historical M&A pattern and deal size
- Synergy Potential Score — quantified revenue and cost synergy opportunity between acquirer and target
Commentary paragraph synthesising the deal thesis — calling out specific product overlaps, customer-base expansion, integration challenges, and valuation considerations.
Common use cases:
- Corporate development — Generate a scored target pipeline for a strategic acquirer’s M&A team, refreshed quarterly
- Buy-side M&A advisory — Build a target universe for a sponsor or strategic client engagement
- Private equity bolt-on sourcing — Identify add-on acquisitions for portfolio companies based on their existing profile
- Investment banking — Populate target lists for buy-side mandate pitch books or thesis-driven outreach
- Strategic planning — Build-vs-buy analyses for new product categories or geographic expansion
This API is asynchronous. You submit a job, receive a
request_id, poll until status is "COMPLETED", and then read results from the same response. See How Async APIs work.2. Quick Start
Step 1 — Submit the job3. Authentication
All requests must include a Bearer token in theAuthorization HTTP header. No other authentication method is supported.
4. Request Reference
Endpointcompany is required; all parameters fields are optional refinements. The parameters object itself must always be included in the request body — pass empty values ("", [], {}) for any fields you do not want to filter on.
Full request example:
5. Response
Job submission response
When you submit the job, you receive a response immediately with arequest_id and an initial status.
Completed result response
Oncestatus is "COMPLETED", the result contains a result array of target objects.
Target object fields
Each object in theresult array contains the following fields:
Identity & firmographics
Product & business
People & funding
Financials (primarily for public companies)
M&A history
AI scoring
The
Commentary field is the richest AI output in the response — a full paragraph synthesising why the target does or does not fit the acquirer’s thesis. Read this carefully before relying on the numeric scores alone.6. Examples
Buy-side sourcing for corporate development
Find acquisition targets for Klaviyo — Series A and B SMS marketing and push notification infrastructure companies in the United States — anchored on Attentive and Postscript. Filter to high-fit candidates and sort by feasibility.Bolt-on screening for a PE portfolio company
Identify bolt-on acquisitions for a portfolio company. Use a narrower thesis indetailed_query, restrict by geography, and filter to a target size that the portfolio company can realistically absorb.
Public-company target screen
For larger strategic acquirers evaluating public-to-public deals, restrict to public targets and use revenue filters to focus on scaled assets.7. Error Handling
The API uses standard HTTP status codes. All error responses include a JSON body with adetail or message field.
Error response example:
8. Best Practices
Write a specificdetailed_query — this is the highest-leverage parameter
The detailed_query is by far the most impactful way to sharpen the target universe. A vague query like "cybersecurity targets" returns a broad, noisy result set. A specific query naming the product category, customer segment, deal size, and strategic rationale returns a tight, actionable list. For example:
“B2B SaaS companies in endpoint security and zero-trust networking with mid-market and enterprise distribution, 100M ARR, and a complementary go-to-market motion”is far stronger than:
“cybersecurity companies”Anchor niche or jargon-heavy markets with
sample_companies
For specialised verticals where the AI cannot fully infer the thesis from a topic and keywords alone, supply 2–4 representative permalinks in sample_companies. This dramatically improves precision. Use the Company Search API to resolve company names to permalinks.
Always include the full parameters object
Even when you don’t want to filter on a field, the API expects the parameters object with every field present. Pass empty values ("", [], {}) for unused filters. Omitting parameters entirely will return a 400 Bad Request.
Use both Overall Score and Query Relevance Score for triage
These two scores measure different things. Overall Score is the composite strategic fit including feasibility, precedent, and synergies. Query Relevance Score measures only how closely the target matches the stated thesis. A target with high Query Relevance but low Overall Score is an on-thesis fit that’s hard to execute (e.g. too expensive, off-precedent); a target with high Overall Score but moderate Query Relevance is an adjacent opportunity worth exploring even if it wasn’t the original ask.
Filter on Deal Feasibility Score to drop financially out-of-reach targets
A high Overall Score paired with a low Deal Feasibility Score (≤4) usually means the target is strategically attractive but priced beyond what the acquirer can realistically execute. For most pipelines, drop these unless the acquirer is open to merger-of-equals or stock-heavy structures.
Cross-check Deal Precedent Score for stylistic fit
The Deal Precedent Score measures whether the proposed deal looks like the acquirer’s prior M&A. A low score doesn’t disqualify the target, but flags that the deal would be a departure — useful context for senior-stakeholder conversations.
Read the Commentary for the full deal narrative
The Commentary field is the richest AI output — a full paragraph synthesising the strategic rationale, synergy thesis, integration considerations, and key risks. Use it to draft the strategic-rationale section of a board memo or buy-side pitch, and to brief deal teams before outreach.
Iterate the query — treat the first run as a diagnostic
Review the top 20 targets and their commentaries from the first run, then refine detailed_query, swap sample_companies, or tighten filters and re-run. Two or three iterations typically produce a substantially better target universe than a single pass.
Store the request_id for auditability
Target screens are associated with your account and a specific point in time. Store the request_id alongside the acquirer, thesis, and run date so you can re-retrieve the result set later, track how the universe evolves across quarterly refreshes, and audit which target list was used for a given mandate or board update.
9. Related APIs
Buyer Screening
Identify and score potential acquirers for a target company — the inverse of Target Screening.
Market Map
Discover and map all companies competing in a specific market or product category.
Competitor List
Generate a structured list of direct and indirect competitors for any company.
Company Deep Intelligence
Generate deep AI intelligence on any target — business model, financials, strategy, and M&A history.
Company Instant Enrichment
Synchronously enrich firmographic and financial data for any target in the screened list.
Industry Deep Intelligence
Generate a deep intelligence report on the industry behind the screen for thesis development.