Siri, it showed me the fintech companies that were established in the last two years, that did not take off in the last year but grew by 100% in the same period; And can Twitter’s traction grow by at least 50% in the last six months, founded by Stanford students?
This is the harmonic view; Well, only if you swap out Siri for Harmonic’s text-based startup search tool. The data platform developed by the co-founders Brian Casey And Max Ruderman thinks it can help executives find the next big startup without hundreds of hours of manual searching and research.
Harmonic is a more differentiated version of its biggest competitors, Crunchbase and Pitchbook, which aggregates and organizes personal startup data. “We look at every part of the web where there might be information about companies and take that structured and unstructured information and see how we can combine it all into a canonical representation of a company,” Ruderman told TechCrunch.
Harmonic sum variation, per Ruderman, is used to identify which population data is more accurate for certain sensitivities and then combine those sources to produce “the most accurate, fresh representation at any given time.
Harmonic joins a flock of other startups trying to make innovation more informed, transparent and fair. In theory, algorithmic investing bypasses preconceived notions from investors and pushes emotions aside. Fintech unicorn Clearco and venture firm SignalFire have spent years implementing data-driven investment processes, joining Angelist and Hume Capital.
In a landscape where investors learn discipline, information feels safe. However, as other solutions develop, the purity and reliability of the said data is called into question. (One founder once joked that Andreessen Horowitz was an investor in his startup on Crunchbase, a joke to show the poor quality of data on the platform, Bloomberg reports) as other investors flocked to put money into the startup.
Ruderman admits that data reliability and consistency is one of the hardest problems to get right – and their strategy is a big differentiator for them. “We’re able to keep the data up-to-date and confidently integrate disparate structured and unstructured data from across the web,” says Ruderman. Use freshness, inventory and taxonomy.
When asked for more details on how to get the ultimate in freshness, Ruderman didn’t share too many details (and since it’s a competitive pad, I’m not too surprised). He also said pricing will evolve as the product evolves, but for now the startup charges licensing and API usage fees.
Ruderman’s background adds some color to why he’s confident in seeking the best. The co-founder has been at Google for 6 1/2 years – his last role as a senior software engineer on a team in search where Google was building tools for UX research and design at scale. Prior to that, he spent time learning about behavioral economics in the People Operations department, technical infrastructure on the Business Intelligence team, machine learning on the Finance team, and finally Search.
So far, his direction and the company behind it has landed Harmonic at least 150 clients, including SaaS startups. Breaks, Vouch, Notion and Map, and venture firms such as Floodgate, A16z and Accel. Some of those early adopters turned out to be the startup’s biggest investors. Harmonic announced today that it has closed a $20 million Series A round led by Sozo Ventures, which led its $10 million seed round last year, in participation with Craft Ventures. Floodgate, another client, was Harmonic’s first investor.
“By creating a very powerful discovery tool in the venture, it allows capital to flow more effectively into more innovation … If we bring this to sales teams, it allows teams to bring their services and push them at the right time,” Ruderman said. . “And ultimately, we want to help talent find startups that match their skills and move startups forward.”
