As organizations change, grow, and evolve due to market shifts and other factors, so too must their tech stacks. Though these adaptations are inevitable in most organizational life cycles, they aren’t indefinitely sustainable and can come with potential pitfalls. For example, the wrong tech infrastructure leads to information disparities, either because different parts of the organization have different programs and access levels or because different programs within a tech stack may not work off the same data.
To address this, PitchBook provides Direct Data products, which allow you to pull down the exact data you need in a consistent, tailored experience across all the programs you use.
What is Direct Data?
Direct Data is a system-agnostic PitchBook product offering that integrates platform data with both popular third-party programs and in-house solutions and databases. Direct Data uses flexible, custom parameters to provide you with precisely the data you need you need for the task at hand—either on demand or on a set schedule that reflects your desired cadence. Direct Data can be accessed through both a data feed and API, each of which is designed to serve different client types and use cases. We’ll dig into both below.
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What does Direct Data provide?
Before we explain the differences between our two Direct Data products, let’s look at some of their shared attributes.
Both our data feed and API deliver information on entities. An entity is any database record tracked on PitchBook, such as companies, investors, financing rounds, and funds.
Your chosen group of entities to collect data on is called a universe. Examples of our available universes include “VC-backed companies in the United States” or “companies with female founders in Europe.”
Available data universes
- Private companies and transactions
- Public companies and transactions
- Pre- and post-money valuations
- Series terms
- Deal multiples
- Company financials
(including EBITDA) - Cap tables
- Fund IRR and cash flow multiples
- Investors and strategic acquirers
- Professionals
Finally, the data set is the data items and variables— in other words, the information— that emerge from a universe. This can include items such as investments and fundraising data collected on your chosen entities.
Below, the relationship between entities, universes, and data sets is illustrated through cars trekking along the Direct Data Interchange system. Entities are represented by vehicles, roadways represent universes, and data sets are represented by facts such as vehicle’s number of occupants, what music they are listening to, and the vehicle’s speed.
What is the PitchBook data feed?
Our data feed is a customizable stream of platform data, delivered to your programs on a personalized schedule. In other words, with data feed, you can decide what data you need (and don’t need) and control how often it’s delivered to you. Using data feed, you receive accurate private market intel on a regular cadence and can easily add relevant datasets to your existing software to strengthen your analysis and discover new opportunities.
When setting up your data feed, you’ll be able to fine tune both your universe and data set to match output to your preferences. In other words, you’ll be able to custom define both the entities you capture data on and what specific data points you gather on them, giving you exactly what you need without having to sift through extraneous information.
You can also adjust your data feed to update daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly depending on your needs. Data feed also gives you control over both the file format and its end destination, with the ability to deliver to Microsoft Azure, Snowflake, Amazon Web Services, and other programs.
What is PitchBook data feed ideal for?
Data feed is best suited for larger data applications, such as machine learning, data science, and the majority of internal data systems. It is ideal for clients that want an easy-to-manipulate delivery method, since it is generally less taxing on IT resources than the API.
What is the Direct Data API?
Our flexible API empowers clients to request data on demand—instantly calling down specific data sets. With the API, you can access company, fund, and deal details to detect market shifts, conduct due diligence, and more.
The Direct Data API is a RESTful JSON that provides clients with on-demand data access for the following platform entities:
- Company
- Deal
- Investor
- Fund
- Service provider
- Limited partner
- Person
Like data feed, the Direct Data API has a configurable universe which developers can use to set parameters for their moment-to-moment updates. The immediacy of this on-demand data makes the API useful for quickly detecting market shifts and having the most current due diligence possible. Its system-agnostic construction also allows the API to be used with custom, in-house applications and CRMs.
What is the API ideal for?
The Direct Data API is typically a good fit if you require on-demand data access for a limited sample of entities and also want the freedom to change the entities in their universe regularly. Its moment-to-moment updates also make it useful for integrations that require instant or near instant record population. Though any organization with the proper infrastructure can benefit from the Direct Data API, it is especially valuable to those that want the flexibility to request information on different datasets from day to day.
Direct Data FAQ
How is Direct Data different from the PitchBook Platform?
Direct Data uses the data feed or API to deliver the contents of the PitchBook Platform to the different applications used in your workflow; they offer the same data in a different presentation.
What is the difference between the Direct Data API and data feed?
The Direct Data API delivers data on-demand, as needed, while the data feed works on a schedule and is delivered as a file that can then be uploaded into different programs.
What types of entities can I include in my API and data feed universes?
API and data feed universes both cover the following entities:
- Company
- Deal
- Investor
- Fund
- Service provider
- Limited partner
- Person
