Introducing Gumshoe Capital Intelligence: Public-Record Research for Serious Investors
Gumshoe Capital Intelligence is a forensic public-record research suite built for Australian investors, due-diligence teams, and legal and accounting practices who need facts — not opinions — about the companies they are evaluating.
The Problem We Kept Hearing About
For years, Australian investors, family offices, M&A advisors, and legal practitioners have operated with the same frustration: when you need to understand who is really behind a company, what its regulatory history looks like, whether its directors have been involved in failed or disputed ventures, and whether the public record tells a different story from the pitch deck — you largely have to piece it together yourself.
Commercial due-diligence firms exist, but they are priced for ASX 200 transactions. Law firms can run searches, but they are not in the business of synthesis. Business intelligence services often deliver opinion dressed as analysis, without citation, without reproducibility, and without a clear methodology.
We built Gumshoe Capital Intelligence to fill that gap: forensic public-record research, delivered with full citations, at a price point accessible to serious investors who are not running billion-dollar mandates.
Our Philosophy: Forensic, Not Editorial
| Risk Type | Risk Level | Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| Insufficient Due Diligence | High | Financial Loss |
| Inaccurate Public Records | Medium | Reputation Damage |
| Non-Compliance | High | Regulatory Action |
| Information Overload | Low | Time Inefficiency |
| Biased Research | Medium | Incorrect Decisions |
The single most important principle behind every report we produce is this: we assemble facts, not opinions.
That is not a marketing line. It is a methodological commitment. Every claim in a Gumshoe Capital Intelligence report must be traceable to a specific public record — an ASIC document, an ABR extract, a court filing, a published media report, a gazette notice. If we cannot cite it, we do not include it.
What this means in practice:
- We do not rate companies. We do not score them. We do not recommend for or against investment.
- We do not interpret what our findings mean for your decision. That is your work, or your advisor's.
- We do not include background assertions ("this is a well-regarded operator") without a citable basis.
- We use precise language: on date X, ASIC recorded Y. Not "the company appears to have" or "it is understood that."
This approach may feel clinical. It is meant to. Intelligence work is not journalism. It is not commentary. It is the disciplined extraction and presentation of what the public record actually contains.
Why Transparency Is Non-Negotiable
The Australian financial and commercial landscape has a long history of disclosure failures — not always from bad actors, but from systems that reward confident narrative over verifiable fact. We have seen prospectuses that describe directors without mentioning their prior insolvencies. We have seen corporate websites that present group structures without acknowledging the entities in between. We have seen investment memoranda that omit court proceedings that are fully on the public record.
None of that information is hidden. It simply is not assembled, cited, and presented in a format that decision-makers can act on quickly.
When a Gumshoe Capital Intelligence report cites a fact, that citation includes enough detail for the reader to independently verify it. Our findings are reproducible. If ASIC shows something different tomorrow, we want you to be able to check. That is what transparency means in this context.
The Public Records We Work With
Australian public records are remarkably rich — richer than most investors realise. Our research methodology draws on:
- ASIC: Company registration, officer history, share structure, charges, deregistration events, enforceable undertakings, banning orders, and licence history.
- ABR: ABN registration, GST status, entity type, business names, and associated entities.
- Court registers: Federal, state, and territory court proceedings where parties are identifiable. Judgments, winding-up applications, and enforcement actions.
- Insolvency notices: External administration appointments, ASIC published notices, and gazette records.
- Media archives: Structured review of indexed media reporting with source, date, and context noted.
- Land title and property records: Where relevant to entity operations or security structures.
- Parliamentary and regulatory records: Senate submissions, ACCC decisions, APRA publications, and other regulatory outputs.
The skill in intelligence research is not finding these records — most are accessible to anyone with patience. The skill is knowing where to look, how to cross-reference across sources, how to interpret corporate structures and officer relationships, and how to present the findings in a format that is immediately usable.
The Product Suite
Gumshoe Capital Intelligence launches with four products, designed to serve different stages of the due-diligence lifecycle.
QuickScan™ — $499, delivered within 48 hours
A structured public-record screen of a single Australian entity. QuickScan covers ASIC company status and officer history, ABN and business name registrations, known court proceedings and insolvency events, and a structured media summary. It is designed as a first-pass screen: fast enough to run before a meeting, detailed enough to surface the issues that warrant deeper investigation. Every finding is cited. Delivery is by PDF report to your nominated email.
Intelligence Dossier™ — $2,800, delivered within 7 business days
Our flagship product. A 30–60 page forensic intelligence report covering a single entity or corporate group across ten structured sections: entity structure and history, directorship and officer analysis, share register and beneficial ownership (where ascertainable), financial indicators, regulatory and licensing history, insolvency and litigation record, related-party and associated-entity mapping, media and reputational record, key risk indicators, and researcher observations. Every claim is cited. The Dossier is the product for M&A pre-commitment, investment committee preparation, and formal due-diligence processes.
Capital Monitoring™ — $299 per month
Ongoing monitoring of up to three Australian entities. We check for ASIC officer and company changes, new court proceedings, insolvency notices, and media events on a regular cadence and deliver structured alerts when material changes are detected. Monitoring is appropriate for existing portfolio companies, counterparties in ongoing commercial relationships, and entities where the situation is known to be fluid.
Intelligence Series™ — Free
Periodic published research on notable Australian companies, structures, and market events. The Intelligence Series applies the same forensic methodology as our commissioned reports but is published openly and distributed free to subscribers. It is not financial commentary. It is structured public-record analysis of entities and events we consider instructive. Subscribe at gumshoe.au.
Who Commissions Gumshoe Capital Intelligence
Our typical clients include:
- Family offices and private investors evaluating unlisted investment opportunities, co-investments, or counterparties in private transactions.
- M&A advisors and corporate finance teams conducting vendor or acquirer due diligence, particularly for transactions where formal legal due diligence has not yet commenced.
- Legal practices advising clients on transactions, disputes, or recovery actions where a rapid public-record screen is needed.
- Accounting and advisory practices onboarding new clients or conducting AML/KYC-adjacent research (noting that our reports are not AML compliance instruments).
- Insolvency practitioners mapping related-party structures and historical director conduct in the early stages of an administration.
What We Are Not
Gumshoe Capital Intelligence does not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence. We do not provide financial product advice. Our reports are factual intelligence documents — the public-record equivalent of a title search or a company search — not recommendations to invest, divest, lend, or act in any particular way.
If you need advice about what our findings mean for your specific situation, you should engage a licensed financial adviser, solicitor, or accountant as appropriate. We can tell you what the public record says. We cannot tell you what to do about it.
Commission Your First Report
QuickScan™ is available to commission immediately at $499, with delivery within 48 hours. If you have a more complex brief — a corporate group, a contested structure, a situation requiring a full Dossier — contact us to discuss scope and timeline.
We designed Gumshoe Capital Intelligence for practitioners who take their due diligence seriously. If that describes you, we would like to work with you.
Uncommon Insights
One often-overlooked aspect of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) is the requirement under section 205B for directors to disclose their interests in other companies. This is particularly relevant when conducting due diligence on a company, as undisclosed director interests can indicate potential conflicts of interest or other governance issues. ASIC has demonstrated a willingness to take enforcement action against directors who fail to comply with this requirement, as seen in the 2020 case of ASIC v King (No 2) [2020] FCA 328.
When conducting public-record research, it is essential to consider the potential for inconsistencies in ASIC's database. For example, ASIC's Organisations and Business Names register may not always reflect the current status of a company, particularly if there have been recent changes to the company's structure or ownership. To mitigate this risk, researchers should cross-check information against other public records, such as the Australian Business Register (ABR) or court filings, to ensure accuracy and completeness.
The ATO's Tax Transparency Report, which discloses tax information for large and medium-sized businesses, is often overlooked as a source of valuable information for due diligence purposes. The report provides insights into a company's tax compliance and financial performance, which can be used to identify potential risks and areas for further investigation. By incorporating this information into their research, investors and due-diligence teams can gain a more comprehensive understanding of a company's financial position and tax obligations.
ASIC's Regulatory Guide 108 (RG 108) provides guidance on the requirements for companies to lodge notices with ASIC in relation to changes to their company details. However, what is often not appreciated is that these notices can provide valuable insights into a company's governance and compliance practices. By analyzing these notices, researchers can identify potential red flags, such as frequent changes to a company's directors or shareholders, which may indicate underlying governance issues or other compliance risks.
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