Help: How to upload a list to PitchBook

Overview

The Upload a List feature allows you to import your external files into PitchBook, making it a convenient option if you have already compiled an offline list of organizations. When you upload a file to PitchBook, it will be stored as a new list on the PitchBook Platform, enabling you to enhance your research using PitchBook’s data. After uploading your files, you can create alerts for specific organizations or individuals that interest you.

This article will guide you through the process of uploading files to the PitchBook Platform as lists, running searches, setting alerts for organizations, and more. It will also explain how to view and modify previously saved lists as needed.

Requirements

You can upload a list for the following list types:

• Companies
• Investors
• Limited Partners
• Service Providers

If you have a list of funds, deals, or people, you can copy and paste a list of names into several search fields or on the My Lists tab on the Saved Searches & Lists page. You can also use a list of funds in the Portfolio Forecasting tool.

Prepare your file

First, prepare your file for upload.

You can upload a CSV, XLS, or XLSX file created with the template below or your own spreadsheet. If you use your own spreadsheet, ensure that the data in the columns matches these data types:

• Firm Name (Required if a website is not provided)
• Website (Required if a firm name is not provided)
• HQ City
• HQ State/Province
• HQ Country
• HQ Post Code
• Ticker
• Primary Contact

Tips and tricks

1. For the best matches, include as much data as possible about each organization. Only the firm name or website is required, but including data in additional columns will allow us to match more of the list and to match with a higher match score.
2. Remove endings like “Inc.,” “Ltd.,” and “Co.” from your list of firm names. Including these in the list can make a match for the firm name more difficult.
3. You can upload a maximum of 50,000 rows at one time.

Upload your file

1. Once you create your file of companies, investors, limited partners, or service providers, you can upload it in four different locations. There are slight differences in the process across these locations; however, they follow the same general steps.

Option A. The Upload a List tab in the PitchBook sidebar.

Option B. The My Lists tab within the Saved Searches & Lists tab. You can find Saved Searches & Lists in the PitchBook sidebar.

Option C. The Upload a List button on the Search Tools page.

Option D. The Upload a List link above several fields across different screeners, such as the Company Names or Investor Names field.

2. Click Upload a List or Create List to begin uploading. The wording will vary based on your location in the platform.

3. In the My Lists tab only (option B), you will next need to give your list a name to save it for later. Then, click Upload a List. In the other locations, the upload a list menu in step 4 will display immediately.

4. In the upload a list menu, drag the file from your computer into the grey box or click Browse to find your file on the computer.

a. From the Upload a List tab (option A) or the Search Tools page (option C), you can upload a list of companies, investors, limited partners, or service providers.

b. From screeners (option D) or the My Lists tab (option B), you must upload the type of list that matches the field you have selected. For example, if you choose Companies in the Create List menu on the My Lists tab, you must upload a list of companies only.

Map data headers

In this next step, the system will confirm where key data is located in your spreadsheet. The headers from your uploaded file will appear in the Your Headers column.

1. In the PitchBook’s Headers column, choose the column header from each drop-down menu that corresponds to the matching type of information.

2. Then, click Next on the bottom left to run our matching algorithm and receive your match results.

View and adjust match results

Once the matching process completes, you’ll see tabs for Matched Firms and Unmatched Firms. Depending on where you have uploaded your list, the names of these tabs may vary slightly. For example, you could see “Matched Companies” or “Matched Investors”.

The following sections outline how to review both tabs, interpret the results, and make adjustments as needed. Please note that filtering options are not available within the Matched Firms and Unmatched Firms tabs.

Matched Firms tab

On the Matched Firms tab, there are multiple tools to review the list of matches to ensure accuracy.

1. You can use the match score in the Score column to prioritize firms for review. The score is calculated by comparing PitchBook’s matching criteria to your provided data.
2. You can hover over each match score to see the criteria used to create the match.
3. You can also sort your matched and unmatched results by clicking the arrow in the Score and Firm Name from PitchBook columns.
4. To restore the original order of results from your uploaded list, select Restore Default in the upper right corner of your match results.

If you find that an entity is matched incorrectly, you can update it to a different PitchBook profile.

1. Click on the entity listed in either the Firm Name from PitchBook or the Firm Name from the File column.
2. Select a different profile match from the suggestions available in the drop-down menu. When you manually adjust a match, the organization will have a Score of Matched by You.

Unmatched Firms tab

On the Unmatched Firms tab, review any firms that could not be matched to organizations in PitchBook.

1. Use the search field in the Firm Name from PitchBook column to search PitchBook for matches.
2. Select a match from the drop-down menu. Once you have assigned a match, the organization will move to the Matched Firms tab with a Score of Matched by You.

If an entity you’re trying to match does not have a PitchBook profile, you can request that our Data Operations team build a profile by requesting research through the platform.

Note: When you upload a list within a specific screener field or through the My Lists tab, you will only receive match results for organizations that match the type of field you uploaded your list to. For example, if you upload a list from the Service Provider Names field, you will not receive matches for firms that PitchBook only tracks as companies and not as service providers. In these cases, the entity will not be included in the Matched or Unmatched tab if it does not meet the list type criteria where the list is uploaded.

Use your list

Once you upload a list, you can immediately use it in a search to gather data about those organizations. This section will provide instructions on how to run a search using the Upload a List link within the screener fields.

1. Click Search or Add to Search, depending on where you are in the platform. In screeners, uploaded lists are applied directly to a specific field, such as “Company Names,” before running the search.
2. After uploading your list to the screener field, select Add to Search at the bottom of the window.
3. Then, select Search in the top-right corner of the page to run your search.
4. Lastly, navigate to the relevant search results tab. Your search results will gather data strictly on the entities in your uploaded list.

Note: If you have a list of funds, deals, or people, you can copy and paste a list of names into several search fields or on the My Lists tab on the Saved Searches & Lists page. See the FAQs section for instructions.

Set alerts

If you save your search results as a list, you can set alerts for the organizations in your lists using the Alerts column on the Saved Searches & Lists page. To learn how, refer to the Saved Searches & Lists section of our How to create and edit alerts and subscriptions article.

Manage previously uploaded lists

You can return to a previously uploaded list at any time from the Upload a List tab in the PitchBook sidebar. Uploaded files are kept here for future reference, additional queries, and continued matching of unmatched records as new firms are added to PitchBook. These files are stored in an encrypted database, so only you have access to them.

Hover over the name of any list to see options to View Results, Download List, and Delete List.

Note: Downloading your match results from the Upload a List tab does not count toward your download limits in PitchBook.

FAQs

If a subsidiary company does not have a PitchBook profile, it may be matched to its parent company’s PitchBook profile. As a result, multiple matched results can roll up under one parent entity.

Option 1: To add a list of funds, people, or deals directly into a search, you can copy and paste a list of relevant names into search fields labeled with “name.” For example, a list of fund names can be copied into the Fund Name field within an Investors & Funds search.

Note: You can also copy and paste a list of companies, investors, limited partners, and service providers into their relevant name fields as well. However, we recommend using the upload a list feature when possible for a streamlined experience and easier matching troubleshooting.

Option 2: You can also use the Saved Searches & Lists tab to create this list.

1. Visit Saved Searches & Lists in the PitchBook sidebar.

2. Click the My Lists tab.

3. Select Create List.

4. Select your desired list type.

5. Copy the names of the funds or people from your offline list, or copy the PBIds of the funds, people, or deals. Then, paste these into the IDs or Names field in the Create List menu.

6. Click Create.

If you’ve opted to copy and paste a list of names into a search, you may notice that two or three tabs emerge within the “names” field:

1. The tab labeled with a number lists all the names you’ve tried to upload. It indicates whether the entity uploaded successfully, if the entity needs validation, or if the entity was not found.
2. The tab with the question mark icon indicates the results where a tentative match has been made. To confirm or change these matches, click on the result and select the correct drop-down suggestion. If the suggestion is incorrect, edit the name within the field. Try removing endings like “Inc.,” “Ltd.,” and “Co.”
3. The orange exclamation point icon indicates that there was no match found. Edit the name within the field or click the x symbol to the right of the name to delete it from your list.

Please note that only matched entities will appear in your search results.

Helpful links

To understand how this feature fits into a broader workflow, check out PitchBook Pioneer’s course–Wealth Managers: Getting Started.