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Crunchbase

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Crunchbase
Type of site
Data as a service
Available inEnglish
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California
Owner
  • TechCrunch (2007–2015)
  • Crunchbase, Inc. (2015–present)
Created byMichael Arrington
Employees153 (2019)
URLwww.crunchbase.com Edit this at Wikidata
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedMay 17, 2007; 19 years ago (2007-05-17)
Current statusOnline

Crunchbase is a database providing information on private and public companies. Its content is compiled through a combination of live company data, artificial intelligence, and market activity contributed by a user base of over 80 million.

History

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Crunchbase's former logo, used before the name was changed from CrunchBase to Crunchbase

Founded in 2007 by Michael Arrington, Crunchbase was originally established as a supplementary database to track various startups featured in articles on TechCrunch. In September 2010, the platform was acquired by AOL as part of its broader acquisition of the TechCrunch network.[1]

In November 2013, AOL entered into a dispute with startup Pro Populi over the company's use of the entire Crunchbase dataset in apps developed by Pro Populi, despite having distributed the data under the Creative Commons CC-BY attribution license. Pro Populi was represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.[2] AOL eventually conceded that Pro Populi could continue to use the dataset but adopted the CC BY-NC license for future revisions.[3] A snapshot of the 2013 dataset is still available for download under the CC-BY license on the Crunchbase website.[‡ 1]

In 2014, Crunchbase added incubators and venture capital partners to the startup database.[4] The next year, Crunchbase went private, separating from AOL, Verizon, and TechCrunch, after announcing it raised $8.5 million in investment funding.[5] In 2016, the company rebranded from CrunchBase to Crunchbase and launched its first product, Crunchbase Pro.[6] In April 2017, Crunchbase announced an $18 million Series B from Mayfield Fund.[7] At the same time, Crunchbase launched two new products – Crunchbase Enterprise and Crunchbase for Applications.[8]

In 2018, Crunchbase launched Crunchbase Marketplace, providing subscriptions to data from third parties.[9] The following year, Crunchbase announced a $30 million Series C led by Omers Ventures.[10]

Over time, Crunchbase expanded its role in several phases: initially serving as a data resource for investors, later licensing its dataset to professional platforms (such as LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and NASDAQ), and eventually creating integrations with workflow tools including Salesforce,[‡ 2] HubSpot,[‡ 3] and Outreach.[‡ 4] These partnerships and integrations fueled steady growth, with the platform's user base surpassing 80 million by the mid-2020s.[citation needed]

In 2025, Crunchbase partnered with Perplexity, making Crunchbase's firmographic and funding data available within Perplexity Enterprise Pro.[11] Crunchbase also partnered with Databricks, making its predictive private company intelligence available through the Databricks Marketplace for use within analytics environments.[‡ 5]

On 28 January 2026, Crunchbase was a victim of a cyberattack allegedly done by the group ShinyHunters who claims to have stolen more than 2 million records containing personal data.[12]

Products

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Crunchbase's core offerings include:[‡ 6][13]

  • Crunchbase Pro, a paid subscription service that offers advanced search filters, analysis tools, and alerts for monitoring private companies.
  • Crunchbase Business, which provides additional team-oriented features including data export capabilities, CRM integration, and API access.
  • Crunchbase API.
  • Data enrichment to give tools access to Crunchbase's proprietary data and predictions.
  • Data licensing to share Crunchbase's proprietary data and predictions.

References

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  1. ^ Sweney, Mark (September 29, 2010). "AOL buys TechCrunch". The Guardian.
  2. ^ Kravets, David (November 2013). "AOL Smacks Startup for Using CrunchBase Content It Gave Away". Wired. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  3. ^ "Startup Settles Creative Commons Licensing Dispute with Tech Database" (Press release). Electronic Frontier Foundation. December 12, 2013. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  4. ^ Shieber, Jonathan (September 10, 2014). "CrunchBase Grows Its Global Reach, Adding Incubators, VC Partners And A New Leaderboard Feature". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  5. ^ "AOL/Verizon Completes Spinout Of CrunchBase Funded By Emergence Capital". TechCrunch. September 22, 2015. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  6. ^ "CrunchBase Pro brings new search and analysis features for power users". TechCrunch. September 12, 2016. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  7. ^ "Crunchbase raises $18M, debuts Enterprise business intelligence, plans 'Marketplace' for 3rd party data". TechCrunch. April 6, 2017. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  8. ^ Zakrzewski, Cat (April 6, 2017). "Crunchbase Expands Paid Services, Raises $18 Million". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  9. ^ "Crunchbase opens a marketplace for 3rd-party data in bid to be the 'master database for companies'". TechCrunch. February 21, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  10. ^ "Crunchbase raises $30M more to double down on its ambition to be a 'LinkedIn for company data'". TechCrunch. October 31, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  11. ^ Vaughan-Nichols, Steven (October 21, 2024). "Perplexity AI's new tool makes researching the stock market 'delightful'. Here's how". ZDNET. Retrieved January 25, 2026.
  12. ^ "Crunchbase confirms hack by ShinyHunters, 2M records up for grabs". Cybernews. January 27, 2026. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
  13. ^ "Crunchbase Pricing Plans & Cost 2023 | G2". G2. Archived from the original on July 17, 2023. Retrieved June 1, 2026.

Primary sources

In the text, these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):

  1. ^ "2013 Snapshot". crunchbase.com. Archived from the original on June 26, 2017. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  2. ^ "Act on Accounts Faster: The New Crunchbase Salesforce Integration". about.crunchbase.com. Retrieved December 4, 2025.
  3. ^ "Build and Track Pipeline with Crunchbase's New HubSpot Integration". about.crunchbase.com. Retrieved December 4, 2025.
  4. ^ "Discover, Qualify and Connect with Prospects: Introducing Crunchbase's Outreach Integration". about.crunchbase.com. Retrieved December 4, 2025.
  5. ^ "Crunchbase Meets Databricks - Crunchbase". about.crunchbase.com. Retrieved December 4, 2025.
  6. ^ "Product Pricing". Crunchbase. Retrieved December 4, 2025.
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