# Funded Startups Scraper (`shaharyar/topstartups-scraper`) Actor

Scrapes recently funded startups from topstartups.io: name, what they do, industry, HQ, headcount, funding round, amount, year, investors and website. Filter by stage, industry, size, founding year, investor and location.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/shaharyar/topstartups-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Muhammad Shaharyar](https://apify.com/shaharyar) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Automation, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#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

## Top Startups Scraper

Pulls funded startups from [topstartups.io](https://topstartups.io) into a clean dataset:
company name, what they do, industry, HQ, headcount, founding year, funding round,
amount raised, year, investors, and website.

Useful for VC sourcing, sales prospecting, market research, and recruiting.

### What you get

| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| `name` | Amigo |
| `description` | Every clinical workflow on one unified data foundation |
| `industries` | `["Artificial Intelligence", "Enterprise Software", "Healthcare"]` |
| `hq` / `hqLocations` | New York, New York, USA; San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA |
| `employeeCount` | 11-50 employees |
| `foundedYear` | 2024 |
| `fundingRound` | Series A |
| `fundingAmount` | $18M |
| `fundingYear` | 2025 |
| `valuation` | $4.2B (when disclosed) |
| `investors` | `["General Catalyst GSV Ventures"]` |
| `websiteUrl` | https://amigo.ai/ (tracking parameters stripped) |

Filter by funding stage, industry, company size, investor, HQ location and funding year.

### How it crawls

`topstartups.io/robots.txt` says:

```
User-Agent: *
Disallow: /*?page=
```

So this scraper **never paginates.** Instead it reads the site's own `sitemap.xml`,
takes the filtered listing URLs published there, and de-duplicates the cards it gets
back. `isAllowedByRobots()` refuses any URL carrying a `page` parameter, and there is a
test that keeps it that way.

Coverage therefore comes from breadth of filter pages, not depth of pagination. Raise
**How many listing pages to read** for more coverage.

It also behaves politely on purpose:

- one request at a time, never parallel
- a random 1.5–4 s pause before each request (fixed intervals are the easiest bot tell)
- session rotation, so a blocked session is retired rather than reused
- five retries with backoff
- optional proxy, off by default — you should not need one at this pace

### Input

```json
{
  "maxItems": 100,
  "fundingRound": ["Seed", "Series A"],
  "industries": ["FinTech"],
  "companySize": ["11-50 employees"],
  "hqLocation": "New York",
  "minFundingYear": 2024,
  "maxListingUrls": 60,
  "minDelayMs": 1500,
  "maxDelayMs": 4000
}
```

Every field is optional. With no input it returns 100 startups across all stages.

### Running it locally

```bash
npm install
npm run test:parser          # unit tests, no network needed
apify run                    # needs the Apify CLI: npm i -g apify-cli
```

### Publishing to Apify Store

```bash
apify login
apify push
```

Then in the Apify console: **Actor → Publication → Publish to Store**, set pricing
(pay-per-event is the current model), and fill in the SEO description.

### A note on limits

The site's data is public and this scraper stays inside what `robots.txt` allows, but
terms of service can change. Re-read them before you run this at volume or resell the
output, and keep the delays where they are.

# Actor input Schema

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

Stop after this many startups. Keep it low while testing.

## `fundingRound` (type: `array`):

Leave empty for every stage.

## `industries` (type: `array`):

Leave empty for every industry.

## `companySize` (type: `array`):

Headcount bands. Leave empty for any size.

## `investors` (type: `array`):

Only startups backed by these funds.

## `hqLocation` (type: `string`):

Free text, e.g. "New York", "London", "Remote".

## `minFundingYear` (type: `integer`):

e.g. 2024. Leave empty for any year.

## `maxListingUrls` (type: `integer`):

The scraper reads the site's own filter pages (from its sitemap) and de-duplicates. More pages means better coverage and a longer run.

## `minDelayMs` (type: `integer`):

Human-like pacing. Lower is faster but ruder to the site.

## `maxDelayMs` (type: `integer`):

Maximum delay between requests (ms)

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional. Only needed if you are pulling large volumes.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "maxItems": 100,
  "fundingRound": [],
  "industries": [],
  "companySize": [],
  "investors": [],
  "hqLocation": "",
  "maxListingUrls": 60,
  "minDelayMs": 1500,
  "maxDelayMs": 4000,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `startups` (type: `string`):

No description

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("shaharyar/topstartups-scraper").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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("shaharyar/topstartups-scraper").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 '{}' |
apify call shaharyar/topstartups-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,shaharyar/topstartups-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

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/xA4QK81ZF4Ld0zc4d/builds/ch5KRf1Alyh33Hreh/openapi.json