Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd is a private intelligence and corporate investigations firm based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2009 by former British intelligence officers, the company operates in the field of commercial and strategic intelligence, providing bespoke investigative research, due diligence, and risk assessment services to corporate and private clients around the world. The firm is headquartered in London and has become one of the more widely recognised names in the private intelligence sector, partly due to public attention surrounding some of its work.
The company was co-founded by Christopher Steele and Christopher Burrows, both of whom had extensive backgrounds in the British intelligence services before entering the private sector. Steele, in particular, is a former officer of the Secret Intelligence Service (commonly known as MI6). The founders brought their experience in intelligence collection, analysis, and international affairs to the commercial marketplace, positioning Orbis as a specialist provider of high-level intelligence services.
What the Company Does
Orbis Business Intelligence operates within the broader industry of corporate intelligence and business investigations. Its core function is the collection, verification, and analysis of information that helps clients understand risks, opportunities, and the backgrounds of individuals, companies, and situations relevant to their commercial or strategic decisions.
The firm draws on a global network of sources and contacts to gather human intelligence and open-source information. It combines traditional investigative techniques with analytical rigour derived from the professional intelligence background of its principals. The company's work is typically confidential and tailored to the specific needs of each client, ranging from major corporations and law firms to financial institutions and high-net-worth individuals.
Orbis emphasises discretion, integrity, and the quality of its analytical output. Rather than functioning as a mass-market provider of background checks, it positions itself as a boutique consultancy delivering specialist intelligence products that require depth, judgement, and access to hard-to-reach information.
Products and Services
While Orbis operates in a discreet field and does not publicly advertise an extensive product catalogue, its service offerings generally fall within the following categories associated with the corporate intelligence and risk management sector:
Strategic Intelligence and Advisory
Orbis provides strategic intelligence to help clients navigate complex political, commercial, and regulatory environments. This includes assessments of emerging markets, geopolitical risk analysis, and insight into the forces shaping particular industries or regions. The firm's founders' backgrounds in international affairs lend particular strength to work involving cross-border and politically sensitive matters.
Due Diligence
A central part of the company's work is investigative due diligence. This involves researching the backgrounds, reputations, and integrity of individuals and organisations that a client may be considering as a business partner, investment target, counterparty, or acquisition. Due diligence engagements help clients identify hidden risks such as undisclosed conflicts of interest, links to corruption, reputational concerns, or associations that could pose legal or financial exposure.
Corporate Investigations
Orbis conducts investigations into a wide range of commercial matters. This can include fraud investigations, asset tracing, investigations into wrongdoing or misconduct, and the gathering of evidence to support litigation or dispute resolution. The firm's investigative capability draws on both open-source research and human sources.
Risk Assessment and Management
Consistent with its focus on security compliance and risk management, Orbis assists clients in identifying, evaluating, and mitigating risks that may affect their operations. This encompasses reputational risk, political risk, regulatory and compliance risk, and threats arising from specific transactions or relationships. The firm helps clients make informed decisions by clarifying the nature and severity of the risks they face.
Compliance Support
Orbis supports clients in meeting regulatory and compliance obligations, particularly those related to anti-bribery, anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, and know-your-customer requirements. As global regulatory frameworks have grown more demanding, the firm's investigative capabilities help organisations satisfy their obligations to understand the parties with whom they do business.
Litigation Support and Dispute Intelligence
The firm provides intelligence to support clients involved in legal disputes and arbitration. This can involve gathering evidence, tracing assets, understanding the positions and motivations of opposing parties, and providing intelligence that informs legal strategy.
Approach and Methodology
Orbis distinguishes itself through the professional heritage of its principals and its emphasis on the quality of intelligence rather than volume. The firm relies on a combination of human intelligence networks, cultivated over years of professional experience, and structured analytical methods to produce assessments that are actionable and reliable. Its work is characterised by discretion and confidentiality, reflecting the sensitive nature of many of the matters it handles.
The company operates on a client-by-client basis, tailoring each engagement to the particular circumstances and requirements involved. This bespoke approach is typical of boutique intelligence firms that serve a specialised clientele rather than a broad consumer market.
Reputation and Public Profile
Orbis Business Intelligence became widely known to the public through media coverage of certain work associated with the firm and its co-founder Christopher Steele. This attention brought the private intelligence industry, which normally operates out of the public eye, into wider discussion. Despite this heightened public profile, the firm continues to operate primarily in the confidential space of corporate and strategic intelligence.
Conclusion
Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd is a UK-based private intelligence consultancy specialising in corporate investigations, due diligence, strategic intelligence, risk assessment, and compliance support. Founded and led by former British intelligence professionals, the firm serves corporate and private clients seeking high-level, discreet, and analytically robust intelligence to inform their commercial and strategic decisions. Its work sits at the intersection of security, compliance, and risk management, helping clients understand and mitigate the complex risks inherent in modern global business.
