In 2019, the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship launched a new online platform called MIT Orbit. This site serves as a “one-stop-shop” for MIT student entrepreneurs. It allows them to navigate the MIT entrepreneurial ecosystem, connect and engage with members of the community, and access information to help their startup ventures. MIT Orbit also includes a robust database of MIT alumni-founded companies as well as live tracking of investments made in these ventures, all powered by Crunchbase.
MIT Entrepreneurship collaborates with Crunchbase
The impetus for partnering with Crunchbase started when the Trust Center undertook a project to determine the breadth and impact of our MIT delta v alumni teams. The goal was to track and compile each team’s progress in the years since completing delta v, a three-month educational accelerator program held annually by the Trust Center over the summer months. This project took many hours of research and outreach, and while the results were impressive, they were also static. We realized what we truly needed were “live” results so we always had an accurate measurement of new investments for past teams. We also wanted to be able to track new alumni teams following each year’s program.
Enter Crunchbase and their publicly available data.
“Working with the Crunchbase team and their APIs gave us a simple way to more efficiently track and aggregate the impact that MIT entrepreneurs are having globally,” said Paul Cheek, the Hacker in Residence at the Trust Center. “Once we aggregated information on our delta v teams, we expanded these subsets to include teams that have taken part in the annual MIT $100K Competition, the MIT Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship, and are planning to add more areas as we move forward.”
An added bonus for both Crunchbase and the Trust Center has been that more and more MIT alumni teams have been visiting the Crunchbase platform to add accurate company metrics and investment information. This is thanks to the power and impact that these teams can share with interested parties when seen as part of a collective group of MIT-founded startups.
How to get involved
If your organization is interested in learning more about the Trust Center’s work with Crunchbase, we invite you to take a look at our delta v profile or contact our Hacker in Residence, Paul Cheek.
