platform · startup database

startup databases, and the layer that comes before them

a startup database is where you look up a company that already exists. crunchbase, pitchbook, harmonic, tracxn - they differ on coverage, price, and freshness, but they share one limit: a company has to be visible to be in them. frontrun is the layer that surfaces companies before they qualify.

what is a startup database?

a startup database is a catalog of companies with data on funding, founders, sector, and traction, used to research and diligence deals. crunchbase is broad and accessible; pitchbook is the enterprise system of record; harmonic indexes nearly every company that incorporates; tracxn and others map specific markets. all of them are retrospective by design - a company enters the database once it's web-visible or has announced a round. frontrun is not a database of announced companies; it's a signal layer that flags companies pre-round, before they'd appear in one.

how the databases differ

coverage vs price vs freshness is the real tradeoff. harmonic maximizes coverage of formed companies; pitchbook maximizes depth and record-keeping at enterprise price; crunchbase maximizes accessibility; tracxn and dealroom map thematic markets. pick by whether you need totality, depth, or affordability - they're diligence tools, and all of them are retrospective.

the layer before the database

no database can list a company that isn't visible yet. frontrun fills that gap with pre-round signal from the follow graphs of 1,000+ investors, surfacing companies at double-digit followers, months before they'd hit any catalog. run it on top of whatever database you use for diligence - earliness first, records second.

tool	strength	type
Harmonic	coverage of formed companies	retrospective database
PitchBook	depth, records, fund data	retrospective database
Crunchbase	accessible, broad	retrospective database
Frontrun	pre-round signal, earliest	behavioral signal layer

which is right for you

you need to diligence visible companies

use a database - harmonic for coverage, pitchbook for depth, crunchbase for accessibility.

you need to find companies first

a database can't list what isn't visible. frontrun surfaces pre-round companies before they'd enter one.

you want both

run frontrun on top of a database - earliness from behavioral signal, records and diligence from the catalog. many funds do.

the receipts

frontrun's flags carry dated provenance, so "we saw it early" is checkable per company:

@techdollarhq - flagged at 13 followers, $3M pre-seed 123 days later
@orthogonal_sh - flagged 184 days before a $4.3M round led by Pantera
@rialto_xyz - flagged at 18 followers, 26 days before its Robinhood partner announcement

frequently asked

what is the best startup database in 2026?

it depends on the job: harmonic for coverage, pitchbook for depth and fund data, crunchbase for accessible breadth. all are retrospective - for finding companies pre-round, pair one with frontrun's signal layer at $99/mo.

what's the difference between a startup database and frontrun?

a database catalogs companies once they're visible; frontrun flags them before the round from investor follow-graph signal. one is for diligence, the other for earliest sourcing - they're complementary.

is there a free startup database?

crunchbase has a limited free tier for basic lookups. for pre-round sourcing rather than lookups, frontrun is $99/mo with a 7-day trial and includes api + mcp access.

see the signal before the round

7-day free trial · $99/mo · API + MCP for agents

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