Discover Startups vs StartupDB

Discover Startups is a vetted directory and matchmaking platform for early-stage, product-based founders. Its free Directory gives startups a profile, visibility to investors, media, buyers and partners, and watchlist notifications. Investors, journalists, retail buyers and brand partners can search using filters such as stage, sector and location, then contact founders directly through their inbox without per-introduction fees. Submissions are reviewed to check that a startup is real, its founder can be reached and its data is honest; revenue and stage are not acceptance gates. The paid Matchmaker plan adds AI-powered matching across press, retail, investor and event opportunities, with curated options founders can pursue or pass on. Founders can edit profiles, pause matching for audiences and add audiences they want to reach. Matchmaker also includes a founder-only WhatsApp community, events and webinars. It is an invite-only beta: applications are reviewed by hand, invitations arrive in small batches, and billing starts only after an invitation. Matchmaker costs £49.99 a month once invited. Service businesses are not accepted.

StartupDB is a free database of startups, investors and people, organized around investment relationships and funding rounds. Company records can include funding dates, amounts, investor roles and source URLs, and facts link to sources for checking. Its data draws on reviewed public investor portfolio pages, public news, company and investor websites, and edits by staff, founders and investors. The database is available through a read-only MCP server and REST API, without an account or API key. The MCP server has six tools for searching investors, startups and people and retrieving individual records. The REST API provides GET endpoints for searches, individual records, investor portfolios and company funding activity, returning JSON. Both interfaces allow 120 requests per minute per IP address, with no daily cap. StartupDB says coverage is not complete, so a missing round or investor means only that the information is absent from the database. Dataset facts and compilation are licensed under CC BY 4.0 for commercial reuse with attribution; third-party logos, photos and site text are excluded. Founders and investors can claim and correct pages, and staff review reported issues. StartupDB says it was built at Workshop.