Venture capital firm Emergence Capital Partners has funded the spin-out of CrunchBase from AOL (now part of Verizon).
Emergence Capital recognized the potential for CrunchBase to increase its scope and impact as the go-to private company database, and the firm is leading an investment round to accelerate the realization of the expanded vision.
Salesforce.com product visionary Jager McConnell will join CrunchBase as new CEO bringing product, data, strategy, marketing, and sales leadership.
Following the close of the round, AOL will continue to hold a significant ownership interest in CrunchBase, and Mark Roszkowski, SVP, Head of Corporate Development, AOL, will serve on the board of the stand-alone company.
Founded in 2007 as a crowd-sourced database to track start-ups, San Francisco-CA-based CrunchBase has developed into a platform for private company information with over 860,000 company and people profiles*.
McConnell will work with Matt Kaufman, now Head of Operations for CrunchBase, who has led the company through its growth over the years, as well as with the employees that join the new company from AOL.
*based on data published by CrunchBase at https://info.crunchbase.com/
FinSMEs
23/09/2015