Entities

Funded company

A company which has known backing from PEs, VCs, angels, grants, or is affiliated with an accelerator or university.
​Startup

“A startup is a company designed to grow fast.” - Paul Graham

The question of what a startup is, is a complex one. For a detailed approach, take a look at this article we wrote: What is a Startup?

In practical terms, at Dealroom, we qualify startups based on the following characteristics:

1. Rapidly scaling/scalable: as a result of #1, this means that the company can achieve high growth by leveraging its platform.

2. Founded after 1990

3. Innovative by design: the product and/or business model are innovative. In most cases, the company is tech-enabled: proprietary tech/software or business processes heavily enabled by tech.

In other words, a startup is a venture-backable company.
For companies that we do not consider as a startup, you may find their profiles tagged with our outside tech tag.
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Scaleup

A scaleup in its growing phase (growing revenue and over 51 employees).
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Corporate

A company that has reached the mature stage of its life cycle, through its development, expansion, or acquisition of other companies.
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Investor

An entity or individual investing capital in companies (including investment funds (angel funds, VC. PE), Family offices, CVC, Corporates, Angels).
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Service Provider

A company providing services to other companies on a project basis. Under service provider you'll find the following industries: consulting, digital services, financial advisory, legal services and recruitment.

People

Include angel investors, founders, employees, and users. A people entity that makes various investments into startups is considered as an Individual Angel investor.
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Universities

Educational institutions.
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Governments and Non-Profits

Government agencies and non-profit organisations.
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New Funds

According to Investopedia: “An investment fund is a supply of capital belonging to numerous investors used to collectively purchase securities while each investor retains ownership and control of his own shares”.
​At Dealroom, we keep track of some of the different types of funds: venture capital, private equity, growth equity, life sciences, renewables, and corporate. An illustrative example is the following:

A fund is closed when all the money has been invested. For VC firms, the process of raising capital is known as fundraising. In addition to Venture Capital funds, we also track Private Equity, Growth Equity, Corporate, Life Sciences, Renewables, and Other fund types.

SPAC

A company created specifically to pool funds in order to finance a merger or acquisition opportunity within a set timeframe. The opportunity usually has yet to be identified. SPACs are a subset of “blank check” companies.
At the moment in Dealroom they are companies with the outside tech and spac tags.

Crowdfunding

Platforms for equity crowdfunding. Example Seedrs.

Workspace

A company that provides a working environment. Example Lxfactory

Event tech

Tech conferences and events. Example Websummit.