> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.istari.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Niche & deep-tech finder

> Find the companies that actually do one specific thing — a niche product or a frontier technology — anywhere in the world.

**Inputs:** `what` (free text — a product, technology, or capability) · optional `location`. **Returns:** the companies whose business *is* that thing.

This is the template for the long tail: corrugated cardboard, solid-state batteries, hydrogen electrolyzers, quantum computing. GOI's corpus is SME- and niche-heavy and web-verified, so the companies exist — the trick is precision. A bare semantic search drifts to adjacent topics; the fix is to **anchor**.

## The recipe

Set `ISTARI_API_KEY`, then swap in your `what` and `anchor` terms. The request maps to `POST /v2/search`.

```python theme={null}
import os
import requests

API_KEY = os.environ["ISTARI_API_KEY"]


def find_niche_companies(what: str, anchor: str) -> list[dict]:
    body = {
        "describe": what,  # rich description — carries the specifics
        "keywords": {
            "must_all": [anchor],  # the one word that MUST be in the description
            "must_not": ["consulting", "recruitment", "marketing agency"],
        },
        "filters": {
            "nace_code": ["NACE C: Manufacturing"],  # optional — drop to include services
        },
        "columns": ["domain", "name", "country", "nace_code"],
        "size": 15,
        "dedup": True,
    }
    resp = requests.post(
        "https://api.istari.ai/v2/search",
        headers={"x-api-key": API_KEY, "Content-Type": "application/json"},
        json=body,
    )
    return resp.json()["data"]


for row in find_niche_companies("quantum computing", "quantum"):
    print(row["domain"], "-", row["name"])
```

The **anchor** (`keywords.must_all`) is what turns a fuzzy semantic match into a precise one. The `describe` field carries the nuance the anchor can't (`solid-state`, `green hydrogen`, `fault-tolerant`).

## What each lever does

| Lever                   | Role                                                                                                                 |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `describe`              | Full natural-language description. Carries specificity the single anchor word can't.                                 |
| `keywords.must_all`     | **The anchor.** The defining term that must appear in the company's description. This is what removes drift.         |
| `keywords.must_any`     | Use *instead* of `must_all` for spelling/synonym variants (`electrolyzer`/`electrolyser`, `e-bike`/`electric bike`). |
| `keywords.must_not`     | Strips perennial noise — consultancies, recruiters, agencies. Add `"distributor","reseller"` to keep only makers.    |
| `filters.nace_code` = C | Optional. Restricts to manufacturers when you want builders, not services.                                           |

## Validated examples

One pattern, five wildly different niches — all returned the real players:

| Niche (`what`)         | Anchor                                     | Representative hits                                   |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| Quantum computing      | `quantum`                                  | Rigetti, PsiQuantum, Quantum Circuits, Anyon, SEMIQON |
| Solid-state batteries  | `battery`                                  | Solid Power, QuantumScape, QingTao, Jinyu             |
| Vertical farming       | `vertical farming`                         | Netled, GoodLeaf, 4D Bios, AGEYE                      |
| Hydrogen electrolyzers | `electrolyzer`/`electrolyser` (`must_any`) | Exion Hydrogen, CENmat, PERIC, Electrogenos           |
| Corrugated cardboard   | `corrugated`, `cardboard`                  | Kartonex, Bipack, EICSA, SouthEastern                 |

## Notes

* **The anchor is everything.** Drop `keywords.must_all` and the semantic query drifts to neighbors (battery analytics, packaging consultants). Keep it tight and literal.
* **Handle spelling/synonyms with `must_any`.** `["electrolyzer","electrolyser","electrolysis"]` caught makers using any spelling. Same for regional terms.
* **One anchor word beats two.** `["corrugated"]` pulled some corrugated-*metal* makers; `["corrugated","cardboard"]` (both required) fixes it. Add a second anchor only to disambiguate.
* **Ignore the `Total` field** in keyword mode — it shows `0` while returning a full page. Count the rows.
* **Don't set `min_score`** — hybrid retrieval collapses under a floor here.
* This is also how you find **"innovative / deep-tech companies in X"**: anchor on the technology, not on a company `type` (startup typing is sparse in the corpus and will cost you real matches).