Frequently Asked Questions

Substox answers one question about any brand you can think of: can I invest in this? Search a company and we tell you whether it is publicly traded, privately held, or owned by a larger parent you can buy. If a brand is private, we point you to the public companies that give you the closest exposure.

Yes. Every company profile, sector page, and monopoly breakdown on the site is free and needs no account. Substox earns affiliate commissions on some outbound links, which never changes what the data says.

No. Substox is an educational and research resource, not a licensed financial adviser, broker, or dealer. Nothing on the site is a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Ownership structures and market data are published so you can do your own research, and you should confirm anything important with a qualified professional before you invest.

Substox tracks thousands of public companies across six continents, plus the major private companies, holding companies, non-profits, and unicorn startups that shape the same markets. Coverage grows continuously as filings and ownership changes are processed.

Plenty of household names are privately held (IKEA, SpaceX, Valve), owned by a parent company (Instagram belongs to Meta), or structured as co-operatives and foundations. In each of those cases there are no shares available on a public exchange. Our private-company pages explain who owns the brand and which listed companies come closest to giving you exposure to it.

A monopoly is one company controlling nearly all of a market. A duopoly is two companies splitting it. An oligopoly is a small handful dominating between them. Substox groups companies this way because market structure shapes pricing power and how durable a business is, which matters more to long-term returns than a single quarter of earnings.

Company listings, tickers, sectors, and market capitalisations are compiled from public exchange data and company filings, then reviewed by hand before publication. Market values move constantly, so treat figures as a snapshot rather than a live quote.

Please tell us. Email substox2025@gmail.com or use the contact form with the company name and what looks off, and we will check the source and correct it.

Substox was founded by Thomas Kempf, an aspiring economics teacher who built the site after realising how many well-known brands sit inside publicly traded holding companies. You can read the full story on the about page.