Crunchbase

Crunchbase is the largest publicly accessible private-company database, originally built in 2007 as a TechCrunch side project and now an independent platform. It aggregates company profiles, funding rounds, investor portfolios, acquisitions, IPO data, and executive profiles across 4M+ organizations worldwide. Used by investors, sales teams, analysts, and founders for prospecting, competitive intelligence, and market research. The dataset is sourced from a combination of community contributions, AI enrichment, and live market activity from 80M+ users.

Advanced search and filtering across company attributes (stage, geography, industry, employee count, funding date, keywords). Saved searches with automated alerts on funding events, leadership changes, and company status. Crunchbase Scout for AI-assisted company discovery. Growth Scores and Heat Scores for prioritizing opportunities. Investor profiles with portfolio composition, check size, stage preferences, and co-investor relationships. Export to CSV (2K rows/month on Pro, 5K on Business). CRM integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot) on Business tier. Marketplace add-ons for verified contact data, tech stack, patents, and web traffic. Data enrichment API for feeding Crunchbase signals into internal tools and models.

Crunchbase describes itself as a predictive private company intelligence platform — AI powers company growth signals, funding/acquisition/IPO predictions, natural-language search (Crunchbase Scout), and automated record enrichment. REST API provides programmatic access to firmographics, funding rounds, investor data, acquisitions, and executive profiles; API access requires custom enterprise pricing and is separate from Pro/Business tiers. No official first-party MCP server. A community-built, open-source MCP server (Cyreslab-AI, MIT) wraps the REST API and exposes search_companies, get_company_details, get_funding_rounds, get_acquisitions, get_people — enabling Claude and Cursor to query Crunchbase via natural language. Requires a Crunchbase API key (enterprise plan) and self-hosted Node.js deployment. Also accessible via Zapier MCP. Crunchbase data is also available natively inside Perplexity Enterprise Pro (2025 partnership) and through Databricks Marketplace.

Four tiers as of 2025–2026. Free: limited profile views, no advanced search or exports. Pro: $99/month or $49/month billed annually ($588/year); unlocks full search, growth signals, AI insights, saved searches/alerts, 2K row exports/month. Business: $199/month billed annually ($2,388/year); adds CRM integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot), 5K row exports/month, SSO, contact data, team admin. Enterprise/Data Licensing/API: custom pricing — required for API access, bulk data, and enrichment pipelines. 7-day free trial for Pro. Annual billing saves 50% vs. monthly.

Native CRM integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot (Business tier and above). Chrome extension for in-browser company lookup. CSV/spreadsheet export. REST API for custom integrations (enterprise). Marketplace add-ons: verified contact data, tech stacks, patent filings, web traffic stats. 2025 partnerships: data natively surfaced inside Perplexity Enterprise Pro; predictive intelligence available via Databricks Marketplace. Zapier integration enables no-code workflow automation and MCP-based AI actions.

SOC 2 Type II certified. GDPR compliant. ISO 27001 referenced in third-party security profiles. PCI and HIPAA compliance also referenced externally. Supports SSO via Okta SAML and multiple 2FA methods. Encryption at rest and in transit standard. Notable: in January 2026, Crunchbase was reportedly the victim of a cyberattack by the group ShinyHunters, with claims of 2M+ records of personal data exfiltrated — firms should review current incident disclosures and DPA terms before onboarding sensitive workflows.

Founded 2007 by Michael Arrington (TechCrunch founder). Acquired by AOL in 2010 alongside TechCrunch. Spun out as an independent company in 2015 after raising $8.5M. Rebranded from CrunchBase to Crunchbase and launched Crunchbase Pro in 2016. HQ: San Francisco. Total funding ~$100M across 7 rounds through a Series D in July 2022. Current CEO: Jager McConnell. ~250 employees as of mid-2025. Serves 80M+ users across investors, sales teams, analysts, and founders globally.

Moderate. Crunchbase is the standard baseline sourcing layer for any VC or growth equity firm — broad coverage, affordable, fast for initial company discovery, funding history lookups, and investor network mapping. For a firm's sectors (a firm's target sectors), it provides adequate top-of-funnel coverage but lacks the depth, proprietary signals, and sector-specific intelligence of PitchBook or CB Insights. The REST API and community MCP server enable AI-native sourcing workflows — though API access requires an enterprise contract. Best used as a first-pass sourcing layer and data enrichment source rather than a primary research or diligence platform.

API access gated behind custom enterprise pricing — not included in Pro or Business tiers. No official first-party MCP server; community implementation requires self-hosting and an enterprise API key. Data recency and accuracy vary; community-contributed data can lag, particularly for early-stage and non-US companies. Export limits low at lower tiers (2K rows/month on Pro). Contact data requires add-on purchase. Weaker than PitchBook on financials, cap tables, and LP/PE data. January 2026 ShinyHunters data breach is an unresolved reputational and security concern. No direct outreach tools or investor contact facilitation.