What is it?
In order to identify and scout relevant Startups or Companies smoothly - ITONICS offers a native integration with Crunchbase. Crunchbase is a plaatform for finding business information about private and public companies including data about investments and funding information, founding members and individuals in leadership positions, mergers and acquisitions, news, and industry trends.
Please note: This feature needs to be activated by ITONICS. Please contact your Customer Success Manager or Account Manager for further assistance.
How does it work?
Setting up the Crunchbase-ITONICS connection
The first step is to enable the Crunchbase module for a specific entity you want to work with. Go to Settings > Entity Configuration > Entity Configuration and open the entity by clicking the edit (pen) icon.
Look for the Crunchbase card under the Modules/Features section and check the box on the left corner of the module card. (Please contact your CISM if the card is not visible). When the checkbox is marked, the card should change the layout color from light grey to the system color. Don’t forget to press the Save button at the bottom of the page.
After enabling the module, you can configure it according to your preferences. To access the Crunchbase Configuration, click on the respective entity (e.g. Company) and go to Manage Crunchbase Integration.
The API Key was already activated by default. That is why you only have to conduct the field mapping to determine which ITONICS field has to be enriched with which Crunchbase information. Here is how you use the Field Mapping:
ITONICS recommends the following mapping for a correct integration:
- Choose the respective ITONICS Field (1).
- Choose the Crunchbase Field to enrich the ITONICS Field (2).
- Remove the field mapping (3).
- Add more fields to the mapping(4).
ITONICS recommends the following mapping for a correct integration:
| ITONICS Field | ITONICS Field Type | Crunchbase-Field | Example | Available with the ITONICS Key |
| Company Name | Single Line Input Field | legal_name | ITONICS | Yes |
| Profile Image | Single Line Input Field with URL Validator | image_url | https://res.cloudinary.com/crunchbase-production/image/upload/c_lpad,h_170,w_170,f_auto,b_white,q_auto:eco,dpr_1/v1488216205/forhvpqdjetyo4ymgzi7.jpg | Yes |
| Abstract | Multi-Line Input Field | short_description | Enterprise End2End Innovation software. From trends and technologies to ideation and roadmapping. All on one platform! | No |
| Business Model/Product/Technology | RTE Field | description | ITONICS is a software and consulting company with a focus on collaborative enterprise software solutions in strategic foresight, trend, technology, innovation, ideation and portfolio management. | Yes |
| Website | Single Line Input Field with URL Validator | website_url | https://www.itonics-innovation.com/ | Yes |
| Tags | Tag Field | categories | Communities, Consulting, Software | Yes |
| Location | Location Field | location_identifiers_location | Chicago, Illinois, United States, North America | Yes |
Please configure the following fields beforehand in the field configuration:
| ITONICS Field | ITONICS Field Type | Crunchbase-Field | Example | Available with the ITONICS Key |
| Phone Number | Single Line Input Field | phone_number | (650)601-5000 | Yes |
| Contact E-Mail | Single Line Input Field | contact_email | support@itonics-innovation.com | Yes |
| Number of Founders | Single Line Input Field | num_founders | 4 | Yes |
| Founded on | Text Field with Number Validation | founded_on | 2009 | Yes |
| Created at | Date Picker | created_at | 01.06.2015 (in Crunchbase) | Yes |
| Founders | Term Search Field | founder_identifiers | Steve Jobs, Ron Waynce, Steve Woznicak | Yes |
The 3.11.0 release includes a more robust and flexible field mapping for Crunchbase List Fields. Now, the following logic is applied:
- Mapping an ITONICS Single Line Input Field to a Crunchbase List Field will list all values comma-separated in the ITONICS system.
- Mapping an ITONICS Simple Text Field to a Crunchbase List Field will list all values comma-separated in the ITONICS system.
- Mapping an ITONICS Rich Text Field to a Crunchbase List Field will list all values comma-separated in the ITONICS system.
- Mapping an ITONICS Term Search Field to a Crunchbase List Field will create a term for each value in the ITONICS system.
- Mapping an ITONICS Tag Search Field to a Crunchbase List Field and create a tag for each value in the ITONICS system.
Once you have configured the field mapping successfully, please do not forget to hit the Save button at the bottom of the page.
Want to automate things? ITONICS can pull regular updates on created elements to have the latest information at hand. Note that elements in Draft, Review, and Published status are considered in the update process. Reach out to your Customer Innovation Success Manager to set up this feature.
Creating content elements from Crunchbase
Once Crunchbase was activated for a certain element you have now two options to create elements of this entity type:
- Create with Crunchbase allows you to search and create a specific element based on the defined data mapping. (1)
- Create from Scratch allows you to create the element manually in the usual way (2)
If you decide to go with Crunchbase simply click on the Crunchbase tile and hit the create button. Once clicked, a search bar appears which allows you to query for a specific element in Crunchbase.
By providing a search term to query for a specific title of a startup / company, a suggestion bar indicates the search results.
Any existing element matching the search term will be indicated with the Already created tag (4) and its detail page can easily be accessed via the button to open in a new tab (3). To create a new element for a non-existing result, click on the + icon (5). Once the result has been chosen, you are then forwarded to the creation page of the element. The mapped fields are already pre-filled with the content of Crunchbase. You can now enrich other fields manually or directly save the new element.
Besides, there is the option to utilize Advanced Search capabilities, aiming to not only search for a specific company / startup, but broaden the search and utilize generalized filters such as filtering for an industry, startups of a specific size or founded in a particular year. Basically, this allows to build a “query” of filter criteria sent to Crunchbase, which allows you to scout and search for relevant startups / companies, that might still be unknown to you. Clicking on the button will open a new filter section with these predefined filter fields.
The filters are divided into general Overview filters to allow filtering for an industry, domain, specific keywords in the company’s Crunchbase description, its foundation year, and more. Further, there is a Financials section covering properties like the last funding round, as well as Company Status filters, such as a startup’s IPO status.
However, be aware that the filter properties available in the advanced search are dependent on the license key provided. Per default, ITONICS provides a Bronze key, which excludes most financial filters.
In below’s example, Startups matching the keyword Agentic AI in their Crunchbase description are returned as filter results (maximum 50 results). If a result seems relevant and interesting, again click on the + icon (5) to open the create form for this element in a new tab. You may do this for all results provided, each opening a new tab to create the element. Once done, or if you want to restart the filter selection, click on the Reset Filters button (6).
Please note that information sourced from an activated Crunchbase integration will not be included in an export file due to copyright protection agreements.
Please also note that when you have already company information collected, and Crunchbase is activated thereafter with the synchronization option activated, and the company website domain entered, also this company information will be updated by the Crunchbase synchronization for the fields mapped.
Note: To prevent overwriting issues, ITONICS recommends to not configure the same fields within the mapping configuration of the Crunchbase, Tracxn, Trendone, respectively Salesforce, if they are utilized simultaneously for the same entity type.