# Startup Funding Rounds Scraper (`automation-lab/startup-funding-rounds-monitor`) Actor

Monitor public startup funding announcements from TechCrunch, Crunchbase News, and FinSMEs. Extract company, round, amount, investor, date, headline, and source records.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/automation-lab/startup-funding-rounds-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Stas Persiianenko](https://apify.com/automation-lab) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Automation, News
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Startup Funding Rounds Scraper

Collect recent **startup funding rounds** from public TechCrunch, Crunchbase News, and FinSMEs announcements.
The Actor turns scattered startup funding news into typed records with company, disclosed amount, round, investors, publication date, headline, and source URL.
Use it for recurring investor research, sales signals, market intelligence, or a one-time funding dataset.

The Actor is an announcement monitor, not a private company database.
It reads public news surfaces and never requires a Crunchbase login or API key.

### What does Startup Funding Rounds Scraper do?

Startup Funding Rounds Scraper:

- checks public funding-news feeds from three selected publications;
- recognizes company-specific financing announcements;
- excludes common listicles, trackers, and aggregate trend articles;
- normalizes compact amounts such as `$25M` to `25000000` when the currency is USD;
- extracts stages such as Seed, Series A, Series B, growth, and debt when stated;
- captures named lead investors when they appear in the public summary;
- applies source, date, keyword, amount, and result-count filters;
- deduplicates records and sorts the newest announcements first;
- saves integration-ready JSON to the default Apify dataset.

This cross-source feed differs from company-profile search tools: its primary record is a newly published funding event.

### Who is it for?

#### Investors and venture teams

Create a current sourcing feed, identify companies entering a new stage, and route selected announcements into a research queue.

#### B2B sales and partnerships teams

Use recently funded companies as time-sensitive account signals for outreach, enrichment, or territory planning.

#### Analysts and researchers

Build a repeatable public-news dataset without manually copying funding announcements from several publications.

#### Data and automation teams

Schedule the Actor and deliver normalized rows to a warehouse, spreadsheet, webhook, or downstream Actor.

### Which public sources are supported?

| Input value | Publication | Coverage |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `techcrunch` | TechCrunch Venture | Company-specific venture and startup financing announcements in the public feed |
| `crunchbase-news` | Crunchbase News | Public funding reporting and indexed company-round announcements |
| `finsmes` | FinSMEs | Company funding announcements from the public feed or its indexed public-news surface |

Select one source for a focused workflow or all three for broader monitoring.
Source availability and editorial frequency vary.
The Actor does not claim every private transaction or every funding event worldwide.

### What startup funding round data is extracted?

| Field | Type | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `company` | string | Company named as raising or receiving financing |
| `round` | string or null | Reported stage or financing type |
| `amount` | string or null | Amount as written by the publication |
| `amountUsd` | number or null | Normalized value for USD-denominated amounts |
| `currency` | string or null | Detected `USD`, `EUR`, or `GBP` code |
| `investors` | string\[] | Lead investors explicitly stated in the available summary |
| `announcedAt` | ISO string | Publication time of the announcement |
| `source` | string | Stable source key |
| `sourceName` | string | Publication name |
| `sourceUrl` | string | Public article or indexed announcement URL |
| `headline` | string | Original funding-news headline |
| `summary` | string or null | Public feed summary, when available |
| `scrapedAt` | ISO string | Time the Actor normalized the item |

Nullable fields stay `null` rather than being guessed.
An empty `investors` array means the available public feed text did not state a lead investor.

### How to run the Actor

1. Open **Startup Funding Rounds Scraper** in Apify Console.
2. Choose one or more news sources.
3. Set `maxItems` to the maximum newest matching records you need.
4. Optionally add a date, company/topic keywords, or a minimum disclosed USD amount.
5. Click **Start**.
6. Open the **Dataset** tab to inspect, download, or integrate the results.
7. For ongoing monitoring, schedule the same Task and process newly observed source URLs downstream.

The prefilled input uses all supported sources and completes without credentials or a proxy setting.

### Input parameters

#### `sources`

Array of one or more supported source keys.
Defaults to all three publications.
Duplicate source values are rejected by the input schema.

#### `maxItems`

Maximum newest records saved after filtering and deduplication.
Allowed range: 1–1,000.
The default is 100.

#### `sinceDate`

Optional ISO 8601 date or timestamp.
Only announcements published on or after this value are returned.
Use an absolute date so scheduled Tasks remain reproducible.

#### `keywords`

Optional list of case-insensitive company or topic terms.
Terms are matched against company names, headlines, and available summaries.
Short terms such as `AI` are matched as whole words to avoid accidental substring matches.

#### `minAmountUsd`

Optional non-negative USD threshold.
When set, non-USD announcements and records without a disclosed USD amount are excluded.
No currency conversion is inferred.

### Example input

```json
{
  "sources": ["techcrunch", "crunchbase-news", "finsmes"],
  "keywords": ["AI"],
  "minAmountUsd": 10000000,
  "maxItems": 50
}
```

This workflow returns public AI-related announcements with a disclosed USD amount of at least $10 million.

### Example output

```json
{
  "company": "June AI",
  "round": "Pre-Seed",
  "amount": "$20M",
  "amountUsd": 20000000,
  "currency": "USD",
  "investors": [],
  "announcedAt": "2026-07-31T07:00:00.000Z",
  "source": "finsmes",
  "sourceName": "FinSMEs",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.finsmes.com/2026/07/june-ai-raises-20m-in-pre-seed-funding.html",
  "headline": "June AI Raises $20M in Pre-Seed Funding",
  "summary": "June AI Raises $20M in Pre-Seed Funding FinSMEs",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-11T06:45:00.000Z"
}
```

Publication data changes over time, so current runs will return different companies and dates.

### How much does it cost to monitor startup funding rounds?

Pricing has two events:

- one `start` event for each run;
- one `item` event for each funding-round record saved.

At the current FREE-tier prices of $0.005 per start and $0.0092 per item:

| Saved records | Example event cost |
| ---: | ---: |
| 1 | $0.0142 |
| 25 | $0.2350 |
| 100 | $0.9250 |

Paid Apify plans receive the tier price shown in Console.
The Actor does not charge the item event for filtered, duplicate, failed, or empty records.
Apify platform usage rules and rounding still apply.

### Monitoring and change-detection workflow

A scheduled run produces a fresh dataset rather than mutating an old global dataset.
For reliable monitoring:

1. save `sourceUrl` as the stable event identity in your destination;
2. schedule the Actor daily or at the interval appropriate for your team;
3. upsert rows by `sourceUrl` or by source, company, amount, and publication date;
4. notify only on identities not seen in earlier runs;
5. enrich selected companies in a separate workflow when deeper company data is needed.

The Actor does not persist a private cross-run seen-item list.
This keeps each run deterministic and avoids mixing datasets between users.

### Export startup funding companies to a spreadsheet

From the Dataset tab, download JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or another supported Apify format.
For an automated spreadsheet workflow:

1. schedule the Actor;
2. connect the run dataset to Make, Zapier, n8n, or your own webhook consumer;
3. map `company`, `amount`, `round`, `announcedAt`, and `sourceUrl` columns;
4. deduplicate on `sourceUrl` in the destination;
5. add CRM ownership or research status columns downstream.

### API usage with cURL

Set `APIFY_TOKEN` in your environment and run:

```bash
curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~startup-funding-rounds-monitor/runs?waitForFinish=300" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"sources":["finsmes"],"maxItems":20}'
```

Fetch dataset items using the `defaultDatasetId` returned by the run.
Do not place long-lived tokens in source code or public URLs.

### JavaScript API example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/startup-funding-rounds-monitor').call({
  sources: ['techcrunch', 'crunchbase-news', 'finsmes'],
  maxItems: 50,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);
```

### Python API example

```python
import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(os.environ['APIFY_TOKEN'])
run = client.actor('automation-lab/startup-funding-rounds-monitor').call(
    run_input={
        'sources': ['techcrunch', 'crunchbase-news', 'finsmes'],
        'keywords': ['AI'],
        'maxItems': 50,
    }
)
items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
print(items)
```

### Use with Apify MCP

Add the Actor to Claude Code:

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http apify \
  "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/startup-funding-rounds-monitor"
```

For **Claude Desktop**, **Cursor**, and **VS Code**, add this equivalent MCP server JSON in the client's MCP configuration:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/startup-funding-rounds-monitor"
    }
  }
}
```

Example prompts:

- “Run the startup funding rounds monitor for all sources and return the 25 newest announcements.”
- “Collect current FinSMEs funding announcements and summarize disclosed amounts by round.”
- “Find public AI funding rounds above $10 million and prepare rows for my sourcing sheet.”

### Integrations

Useful destinations include:

- Apify webhooks for run-completion notifications;
- Make, Zapier, or n8n for no-code routing;
- Google Sheets or Airtable for analyst review;
- BigQuery, Snowflake, or PostgreSQL for historical analysis;
- a CRM enrichment workflow for selected newly funded accounts;
- Slack or email alerts generated by your own downstream automation.

The output uses the default dataset for straightforward compatibility.

### Accuracy, limits, and failure behavior

- The Actor monitors public announcements; it is not a complete funding database.
- Editorial feeds can be delayed, changed, or temporarily unavailable.
- Amount and round fields are extracted only when the source text states them clearly.
- `amountUsd` is populated only for USD text; EUR and GBP are not converted.
- Investor extraction depends on an explicit “led by” phrase in available feed text.
- Some source summaries contain only a headline, so `investors` can be empty.
- One unavailable source does not discard useful records from other selected sources.
- If every selected source fails, the run fails instead of returning a misleading successful empty dataset.
- A valid query with no matches succeeds with zero dataset items and no item charge.
- The Actor uses bounded direct HTTP requests and does not expose a paid proxy mode.

### Tips for better results

- Use one source when source consistency matters more than breadth.
- Keep `sinceDate` close to your monitoring interval for smaller downstream diffs.
- Use specific company or sector keywords rather than very broad two-letter fragments.
- Apply `minAmountUsd` only when excluding undisclosed and non-USD rounds is acceptable.
- Set `maxItems` above expected daily volume when scheduling, so the cap does not hide older matching announcements.
- Treat `sourceUrl` as provenance and verify material investment decisions against the publication.

### Responsible and legal use

This Actor accesses public news surfaces.
You are responsible for using the data in accordance with applicable laws, source terms, privacy rules, and your organization's policies.
Do not use funding news to make unlawful discriminatory decisions, send abusive outreach, or misrepresent inferred facts as source statements.
Respect publication attribution and keep `sourceName` and `sourceUrl` with derived datasets.
For consequential investment or compliance decisions, verify the original announcement and other primary sources.

### Troubleshooting

#### Why did the Actor return zero records?

Check whether your `sinceDate`, keywords, minimum amount, and selected source combination is too restrictive.
Remove filters one at a time.
A zero-item run can be correct and does not incur item events.

#### Why is `amountUsd` null?

The announcement may omit an amount or use a non-USD currency.
The Actor does not silently convert EUR or GBP values.
Use the original `amount` and `currency` fields when available.

#### Why is the investor list empty?

The public feed summary did not explicitly identify a lead investor in a supported phrase.
Open `sourceUrl` for full article context rather than treating an empty list as “no investors.”

#### What happens when a publication blocks a feed?

The Actor classifies access challenges separately from valid empty feeds.
For FinSMEs, it can use a public FinSMEs-restricted indexed news surface.
If one source fails, other selected sources can still produce records; if all fail, the run fails.

### Frequently asked questions

#### Does this scrape private Crunchbase data?

No.
It reads public Crunchbase News reporting and does not use private company profiles, a login, or a Crunchbase API key.

#### Can it monitor a list of exact company domains?

Not directly.
Use `keywords` for public headline/summary matching or join the output to a separate company-enrichment workflow.

#### Does it send alerts by itself?

No.
Schedule the Actor and connect run completion or dataset rows to an Apify webhook, integration platform, or your own notification service.

#### Are funding amounts guaranteed?

No.
Amounts are nullable because some publications describe investments without disclosing a figure.
The Actor preserves the source wording and avoids estimating missing values.

### Related automation-lab Actors

- [Crunchbase Company and Funding Search Scraper](https://apify.com/automation-lab/crunchbase-company-funding-search-scraper) for public company-profile and funding-search workflows.
- [TheHub Nordic Startup Directory Scraper](https://apify.com/automation-lab/thehub-nordic-startup-directory-scraper) for Nordic startup directory research.
- [Tracxn Startup & Company Intelligence Scraper](https://apify.com/automation-lab/tracxn-company-intelligence-scraper) for URL-driven public company intelligence.

Use this Actor when the buyer job starts with newly published funding events; use a related company Actor when the job starts with company profiles or directory discovery.

# Actor input Schema

## `sources` (type: `array`):

Public funding-news sources to monitor. Select one source for a focused feed or combine all sources.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of newest matching funding-round records to save.

## `sinceDate` (type: `string`):

Optional ISO 8601 date. Only announcements published on or after this date are returned.

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Optional case-insensitive terms matched against company names, headlines, and summaries.

## `minAmountUsd` (type: `number`):

Optional minimum USD amount. Records without a disclosed USD amount are excluded when this filter is set.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "sources": [
    "techcrunch",
    "crunchbase-news",
    "finsmes"
  ],
  "maxItems": 20,
  "sinceDate": "2026-08-01",
  "keywords": [
    "AI"
  ],
  "minAmountUsd": 10000000
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

Dataset containing all matching startup funding round records.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "sources": [
        "techcrunch",
        "crunchbase-news",
        "finsmes"
    ],
    "maxItems": 20,
    "sinceDate": "2026-08-01",
    "keywords": [
        "AI"
    ],
    "minAmountUsd": 10000000
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("automation-lab/startup-funding-rounds-monitor").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "sources": [
        "techcrunch",
        "crunchbase-news",
        "finsmes",
    ],
    "maxItems": 20,
    "sinceDate": "2026-08-01",
    "keywords": ["AI"],
    "minAmountUsd": 10000000,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("automation-lab/startup-funding-rounds-monitor").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "sources": [
    "techcrunch",
    "crunchbase-news",
    "finsmes"
  ],
  "maxItems": 20,
  "sinceDate": "2026-08-01",
  "keywords": [
    "AI"
  ],
  "minAmountUsd": 10000000
}' |
apify call automation-lab/startup-funding-rounds-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,automation-lab/startup-funding-rounds-monitor"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/n2gfXMZnyfJ0O6uog/builds/orgKxwFeEohCru6hJ/openapi.json