PitchBook to give early-stage startups free access, using their data to feed a new tool for VCs

The launches come as first-time startup financings hit a record. There were an estimated 8,625 such deals in the U.S. through the third quarter, already more than the 8,507 in all of 2021, according to the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor. PitchBook attributes part of the surge to AI, which it says is making it easier to start companies.

The startup program is open to pre-seed and bootstrapped companies that haven’t taken money from a venture firm or other institutional investor, or raised a priced round, the type of funding round that sets a valuation.

Founders can use PitchBook to find investors who are active in their sector and stage, and to compare their valuation and growth against similar companies.

To keep their free access, startups must update their company information every quarter. PitchBook says that information can include financials, team growth and product milestones. Only “select portions” of that data will go into Origin, the company said, without saying which.

Origin covers about 25 million companies, including stealth, pre-funding and bootstrapped companies. About 15 million of them are new to PitchBook. It scores companies on how well they match an investor’s criteria and sends alerts when they show new activity.

“What’s been missing is visibility into the stage before a company raises, when the most important signals are the hardest to see,” said Paul Santarelli, PitchBook’s chief solutions officer, in a statement announcing the products.

PitchBook didn’t disclose pricing for Origin, and the product’s web page currently asks investors to join a waitlist.