Private investments have exploded in recent years, and with that growth comes a new challenge: how to make sense of an increasingly crowded and complex private market.
For due diligence analysts, sourcing, evaluating, and tracking private companies isn’t just a task — it’s a constant balancing act.
Between digging through fragmented data sources, tracking down accurate contact information, and staying on top of market movements, it’s easy to lose valuable time.
What analysts and investment teams need is a single platform — one that brings together financial data, competitive intelligence, funding histories, key contacts, and market insights all in one place.
The good news?
There are several databases designed to do just that. From well-established players to newer tech-driven platforms, today’s private company databases are more powerful and user-friendly than ever.
In this article, we’ll explore the top private company databases. By the end of this, you’ll have a better understanding of what each one offers and how they can help you and your investment team work more efficiently.
PitchBook is a top trusted private market database. They are known for their deep coverage of venture capital, private equity, and M&A transactions. The platform provides detailed financials, valuations, investor histories, and executive profiles, making it a go-to resource for institutional investors and dealmakers. PitchBook delivers insights into market trends, funding activities, and emerging technologies. The platform's proprietary datasets and analytical tools, such as cash flow forecasting and fund manager scoring, allowing professionals to make informed investment decisions.
CB Insights serves as an AI-powered platform that transforms complex, manual research tasks into almost instantaneous, automated processes. By analyzing vast datasets, the platform offers predictive insights into company success, enabling users to evaluate markets, competitors, and potential investments with unprecedented speed and accuracy. This efficiency allows professionals to focus on strategic decision-making, confident in the platform's data-driven analysis.
Bloomberg's platform for private market solutions offer comprehensive tools and data for every stage of private equity investing. This includes market insights, fundraising data, portfolio management tools, and performance analytics. The platform supports decision-making with detailed financial information, industry trends, and proprietary analysis. It aims to streamline operations and enhance investment strategies for private equity firms.
Dakota Research addresses the challenges of private fund investing by offering a centralized, user-friendly platform that simplifies decision-making and enhances your ability to navigate private markets effectively. From uncovering new opportunities to streamlining due diligence, Dakota Research is designed to transform your approach to private market intelligence.
With Dakota Research, users gain access to a curated universe of private funds, each featuring detailed qualitative profiles, including strategies, performance data, and key contacts. The platform’s research capabilities, consultant recommendations, and relevant news provide the critical insights needed to make informed, data-driven decisions.
What sets Dakota Research apart is its combination of private market insights, fundraising intelligence, and CRM tools in a single platform—tailored specifically to meet the needs of due diligence analysts. This all-in-one approach simplifies the research process and helps drive smarter, more confident investment decisions.
Crunchbase is a prospecting solution that offers comprehensive data on private companies, enabling users to discover and act on private market opportunities efficiently. The platform provides the opportunity to deep dive into company deals and access data that is difficult to find, helping users make their next decisions with confidence.
Owler is a competitive intelligence platform offering data on over 20 million private and public businesses. It provides detailed company profiles, including annual revenue, employee count, key competitors, funding history, and recent news. With its advanced search capabilities, users can filter the extensive company database by various criteria such as revenue, sector, location, and employee count. Owler's dynamic competitive graph maps over 45 million competitive relationships, helping businesses visualize their competitive landscape and discover new opportunities. Additionally, Owler offers real-time news tracking and personalized alerts, ensuring users stay informed about critical events affecting their industry.
Grata is an AI-powered deal sourcing platform designed to help professionals discover and connect with private companies. By analyzing over 1.2 billion web pages, Grata offers comprehensive coverage of more than 12 million hard-to-find companies. With features like similar company identification and smart recommendations, Grata streamlines the process of market mapping and target discovery. Additionally, the platform provides contact information for over 8 million executives, facilitating outreach to key decision-makers.
SourceScrub is an AI-driven deal-sourcing platform designed to enhance private equity and venture capital deal origination. It continuously crawls over 220,000 sources to identify private companies, offering users access to a comprehensive database of more than 16 million companies. Features include advanced market mapping tools, conference planning capabilities, and accurate contact information. SourceScrub's platform enables users to efficiently discover, track, and engage with high-potential targets, streamlining the deal-sourcing process.
Which Private Company Database is Best for You?
Choosing the right private company database ultimately comes down to your goals, workflow, and the type of insights you need. Each platform excels in different areas, so understanding your priorities will help guide your decision:
- If you’re sourcing deals and need deep financial and transaction data, platforms like PitchBook and Grata offer the most comprehensive coverage.
- For corporate strategy teams focused on innovation and emerging trends, CB Insights delivers predictive insights and forward-looking data.
- If your priority is competitive intelligence and tracking company activity in real time, Owler and Crunchbase offer valuable tools for keeping up with competitors.
- For institutional sales teams focused on fundraising and investor intelligence, Dakota Research is purpose-built to streamline the research and outreach process.
- For private equity deal teams focused on proactively identifying and engaging with founder-owned businesses, SourceScrub delivers a purpose-built platform designed specifically to accelerate proprietary deal sourcing.
- And if you want a trusted platform with a mix of public and private data, Bloomberg remains a top choice.
In many cases, firms find value in using a combination of these platforms to get a full view of the private market landscape. Whether you’re an investor, dealmaker, or business development professional, the right data - and the right platform - can make all the difference.
For more information on Dakota Research, book a demo!
