Crunchbase Free API provides access to basic company and startup data, enabling businesses to discover and research organizations, track industry trends, and gather insights about the startup ecosystem through comprehensive business intelligence and market research capabilities.
Power end-to-end data operations for your Crunchbase Free API with Nexla. Our bi-directional Crunchbase Free connector is purpose-built for Crunchbase Free, making it simple to ingest data, sync it across systems, and deliver it anywhere — all with no coding required. Nexla turns API-sourced data into ready-to-use, reusable data products and makes it easy to send data to Crunchbase Free or any other destination. With comprehensive monitoring, lineage tracking, and access controls, Nexla keeps your Crunchbase Free workflows fast, secure, and fully governed.
Features
Type: API
SourceDestination
Seamless API Integration: Connect to any endpoint as source or destination without coding, with automatic data product creation
Visual Composition & Chaining: Build complex integrations using visual templates, chain API calls, and compose workflows with data validation and filtering
API Proxy: Expose curated slices of your data securely with a secure and customizable API proxy that validates and transforms data on the fly
Request optimization with intelligent batching, retry, and caching to minimize API calls and costs
Before creating a Crunchbase Free credential, you need to obtain an API user key from your Crunchbase account. The API user key is required to authenticate with the Crunchbase ODM API v3.1.
To obtain your API user key, you need to have a Crunchbase account with API access enabled. Once you have access to your account, you can generate an API user key from your account settings. The API user key is used to authenticate all API requests to the Crunchbase ODM API v3.1 using the user_key query parameter. For detailed information about API key setup and authentication, refer to the Crunchbase API documentation.
After selecting the data source/destination type, click the Add Credential tile to open the Add New Credential overlay.
New Credential Overlay – Crunchbase Free
Enter a name for the credential in the Credential Name field and a short, meaningful description in the Credential Description field.
Enter your Crunchbase API user key in the API User Key field. This is the API user key you obtained from your Crunchbase account settings. The API user key is sent as the user_key query parameter to authenticate all API requests to the Crunchbase ODM API v3.1.
Keep your API user key secure and do not share it publicly. The API user key provides access to your Crunchbase account and should be treated as a sensitive credential. The Crunchbase API uses token-based authentication, and the API user key is included in the query string for all API requests.
Click the Save button at the bottom of the overlay. The newly added credential will now appear in a tile on the Authenticate screen during data source/destination creation.
To create a new data flow, navigate to the Integrate section, and click the New Data Flow button. Select the Crunchbase Free connector tile, then select the credential that will be used to connect to the Crunchbase Free instance, and click Next; or, create a new Crunchbase Free credential for use in this flow.
Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure data sources to ingest data from common Crunchbase Free endpoints. Select the endpoint from which this source will fetch data from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Available endpoint templates are listed in the expandable boxes below.
Fetch Organization by Domain Name
This endpoint fetches organizations by submitting a domain name, which will then return information about corresponding organizations. Use this endpoint when you need to retrieve organization data based on domain names.
Enter the domain name of the organization you wish to fetch data for in the Organization Domain Name field. For example: nexla.com or www.nexla.com. The default value is nexla.com if not specified.
The endpoint uses GET requests to https://api.crunchbase.com/v3.1/odm-organizations?user_key={api_key}&domain_name={domain_name} where {api_key} is your API user key from the credential configuration and {domain_name} is the domain name you provide. The endpoint URL is automatically constructed based on your credential's API key and the domain name parameter.
The endpoint uses incrementing page-based pagination, automatically fetching additional pages as needed using the page and items_per_page query parameters. The endpoint starts from page 1 and continues fetching pages until all available organizations have been retrieved. By default, the endpoint retrieves up to 100 items per page.
The endpoint will return all organizations matching the domain name. The response data is extracted from the data.items array in the API response ($.data.items[*]), with each organization record processed individually.
Domain names should be entered without the protocol (https://) prefix. For example, use nexla.com instead of https://nexla.com. This endpoint supports pagination through page and items_per_page query parameters. Nexla automatically handles pagination to retrieve all available records by incrementing the page number until no more data is returned. The endpoint uses incrementing page-based pagination (iteration.type: paging.incrementing), starting from page 1. By default, the endpoint retrieves up to 100 items per page (page.expected.rows: 100). The response data path is $.data.items[*], which extracts all items from the data.items array in the API response. For detailed information about fetching organizations by domain name, see the Crunchbase API documentation.
Fetch Organization by Domain Name from Lookup
This endpoint fetches organizations by submitting domain names from a Nexla Lookup, which will then return information about corresponding organizations. Use this endpoint when you need to retrieve organization data for multiple domain names stored in a Nexla Lookup.
Select the Nexla Lookup that contains domain names to iterate over from the Lookup for fetching Domain Names dropdown menu. The lookup should contain domain names in one of its columns.
Enter the column name that contains the domain names in the Domain Name column name in Lookup field. This should match the exact column name in your selected lookup that contains the domain name values.
The endpoint uses GET requests to https://api.crunchbase.com/v3.1/odm-organizations?user_key={api_key}&domain_name={domain_name} where {api_key} is your API user key from the credential configuration and {domain_name} is iterated from the selected lookup column. The endpoint URL is automatically constructed for each domain name in the lookup.
The endpoint uses incrementing page-based pagination, automatically fetching additional pages as needed using the page and items_per_page query parameters. The endpoint starts from page 1 and continues fetching pages until all available organizations have been retrieved. By default, the endpoint retrieves up to 100 items per page.
The endpoint will return all organizations matching the domain names from the lookup. The response data is extracted from the data.items array in the API response ($.data.items[*]), with each organization record processed individually.
This endpoint iterates through all domain names in the selected lookup column, making a separate API call for each domain name. The lookup must contain domain names in the specified column. Domain names should be stored without the protocol (https://) prefix. This endpoint supports pagination through page and items_per_page query parameters. Nexla automatically handles pagination to retrieve all available records by incrementing the page number until no more data is returned. The endpoint uses incrementing page-based pagination (iteration.type: paging.incrementing), starting from page 1. By default, the endpoint retrieves up to 100 items per page (page.expected.rows: 100). The response data path is $.data.items[*], which extracts all items from the data.items array in the API response. For detailed information about fetching organizations by domain name, see the Crunchbase API documentation.
Fetch Recently Updated Organizations in Location
This endpoint fetches recently updated organizations located in a specified region. Use this endpoint when you need to retrieve organizations that have been updated within a certain time period in a specific location.
Enter the location string to filter organizations in the Location field. The location string can be comma-separated for multiple locations. For example: California or California, New York. The default value is California if not specified.
Enter the date to restrict results to organizations updated since this time in the Updated Since (Nexla Macro or Absolute Date) field. You can use Nexla macro format for relative dates (e.g., {now}, {now-1}) or an absolute date. The default value is {now-1} if not specified.
The endpoint uses GET requests to https://api.crunchbase.com/v3.1/odm-organizations?user_key={api_key}&locations={location}&updated_since={updated_since} where {api_key} is your API user key, {location} is the location string, and {updated_since} is the updated since date. The endpoint URL is automatically constructed based on your credential's API key and the provided parameters.
The endpoint uses incrementing page-based pagination, automatically fetching additional pages as needed using the page and items_per_page query parameters. The endpoint starts from page 1 and continues fetching pages until all available organizations have been retrieved. By default, the endpoint retrieves up to 100 items per page.
The endpoint will return all recently updated organizations in the specified location. The response data is extracted from the data.items array in the API response ($.data.items[*]), with each organization record processed individually.
Location strings can be comma-separated for multiple locations. The updated_since parameter accepts Nexla macros like {now} for the current time or {now-1} for one day ago, or you can use absolute dates. This endpoint supports pagination through page and items_per_page query parameters. Nexla automatically handles pagination to retrieve all available records by incrementing the page number until no more data is returned. The endpoint uses incrementing page-based pagination (iteration.type: paging.incrementing), starting from page 1. By default, the endpoint retrieves up to 100 items per page (page.expected.rows: 100). The response data path is $.data.items[*], which extracts all items from the data.items array in the API response. For detailed information about fetching organizations by location, see the Crunchbase API documentation.
Fetch People by Query String
This endpoint fetches people by submitting a query string, which will result in a full-text query of name, title, and company. Use this endpoint when you need to search for people based on their name, job title, or company affiliation.
Enter the query string for the full-text search in the Query String field. This query will search across name, title, and company fields. For example: Crunchbase or CEO. The default value is Crunchbase if not specified.
The endpoint uses GET requests to https://api.crunchbase.com/v3.1/odm-organizations?user_key={api_key}&query={query} where {api_key} is your API user key from the credential configuration and {query} is the query string you provide. Note: The endpoint URL uses odm-organizations but the query parameter filters for people data.
The endpoint uses incrementing page-based pagination, automatically fetching additional pages as needed using the page and items_per_page query parameters. The endpoint starts from page 1 and continues fetching pages until all available people have been retrieved. By default, the endpoint retrieves up to 100 items per page.
The endpoint will return all people matching the query string. The response data is extracted from the data.items array in the API response ($.data.items[*]), with each person record processed individually.
The query string performs a full-text search across name, title, and company fields. This endpoint supports pagination through page and items_per_page query parameters. Nexla automatically handles pagination to retrieve all available records by incrementing the page number until no more data is returned. The endpoint uses incrementing page-based pagination (iteration.type: paging.incrementing), starting from page 1. By default, the endpoint retrieves up to 100 items per page (page.expected.rows: 100). The response data path is $.data.items[*], which extracts all items from the data.items array in the API response. For detailed information about fetching people by query, see the Crunchbase API documentation.
Once the selected endpoint template has been configured, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu to retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched. Sample data will be displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right, allowing you to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.
Crunchbase Free data sources can also be manually configured to ingest data from any valid Crunchbase ODM API v3.1 endpoint, including endpoints not covered by the pre-built templates, chained API calls, or custom request parameters. Select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen, and follow the instructions in Connect to Any API to configure the API method, endpoint URL, date/time and lookup macros, path to data, metadata, and request headers.
Crunchbase Free API endpoints typically follow the pattern https://api.crunchbase.com/v3.1/{endpoint_path} and require the user_key query parameter with your API user key for authentication. API responses nest records in a data.items array, so the Path to Data field is usually set to $.data.items[*].
Once all of the relevant settings have been configured, click the Save button to save and create the new Crunchbase Free data source. Nexla will now begin ingesting data from the configured endpoint and will organize any data that it finds into one or more Nexsets.
