Crunchbase is a comprehensive 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.
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 the 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 that Pro Populi developed 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, and then announced $8.5 million in funds raised.[5] In 2016, the company rebranded from CrunchBase to Crunchbase and launched its first product, the paid database 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]
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