Guide to Venture Capital Dealflow Management Tools

There are a number of tools that we see our VC (and corporate VC and family office) customers using to track and manage their dealflow. Many of these clients integrate our data into these systems (via our API), so we wanted to provide an overview of the dealflow management tools we hear our investors are using.  

Below, we provide an overview of the tools with some data on customers, price points and more. For many of our younger VC or family office customers, we hope this guide may be useful as you figure out which tool(s) you are going to use. Specifically, we cover the following dealflow management solutions: 

1. Salesforce
2. SugarCRM
3. Microsoft Dynamics
4. Gust
5. Base
6. Nimble
7. Sellsy
8. Zoho.com
9. RelateIQ
10. Streak
11. Sevanta Dealflow
12. Caplinked
13. Dropbox for Business
14. Trello Business Class
15. Basecamp

If we’ve missed any, leave a comment below, and we’ll update the guide over time.  If you are affiliated with any of these vendors and want to share additional information, leave a comment as well.

Pricing for VC Dealflow Management Systems

Before diving into each vendor individually, below is an overview of pricing to help compare the different tools. With the exception of Basecamp (which charges based on data), these prices are how much each service charges per user per month.

Salesforce

Description – Salesforce is an enterprise cloud computing provider. Using salesforce.com’s social and mobile cloud technologies, companies can connect with customers, partners and employees in entirely new ways.

Pricing – This screen shot is only for Salesforce “Sales Cloud”, but has multiple options with different prices that can be found here.

Select Customers – GE Capital, Schwab, Thomson Reuters, General Catalyst Partners (past)

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Our observations – This is a favored tool of many of the larger venture firms. Salesforce’s VC-oriented offering is not a solution immediately usable out of the box based on what we’ve seen. Most venture firms have invested in customizations to Salesforce as a result.

Of course, Salesforce has a very robust 3rd party dev ecosystem and our customers have had success integrating our API into their Salesforce systems.

Sugar CRM

Description – SugarCRM delivers an integrated solution that empowers every user who interacts with customers to better understand and engage their customer, so every connection drives value. SugarCRM’s market-leading open Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform delivers the agility, flexibility, and security required to equip each customer facing professional with the information and tools they need to know their customers better, do their job better, and deliver a consistent, superior customer experience across the organization, every time.

Pricing – 

Select Customers – BancVue, Technology Advisors, One Financial, Hilco Global

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Our observations – We used to hear about SugarCRM a lot more a few years ago among venture firms, but we’ve been hearing it less as of late.

Microsoft Dynamics

Description – Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a customer relationship management (CRM) business solution that drives sales productivity and marketing effectiveness through social insights, business intelligence, and campaign management in the cloud, on-premises, or with a hybrid combination.

Pricing – This screenshot is for the sales packages for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. There are other multiple options with different prices that can be found here.

Select Customers – Strategy&, Pandora, ING Bank, Dell

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Gust

Gust is a global platform for the sourcing and management of early-stage investments. Gust enables skilled entrepreneurs to collaborate with the smartest investors by virtually supporting all aspects of the investment relationship, from initial pitch to successful exit.

Pricing – Varies on organization needs (must schedule a demo. Can schedule a demo here.

Select Customers – iNovia Capital, SAP Ventures, Greycroft Partners, RRE Ventures

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Our observations – Gust generally seems to be oriented towards angel groups versus venture funds based on what we’ve heard from venture clients. But we’ve seen it come up in conversations with some VC customers so it was worthy of inclusion.

Base

Description – Base is the industry’s first Intelligent Sales Productivity Platform. Base leverages big data and mobility to help sales teams close more deals faster, while providing leaders with perfect pipeline visibility. With remarkably easy to use yet powerful web and mobile apps, Base is designed for the new way people work, allowing them to tap valuable sales and customer data anytime, from any device.

Pricing –

Select Customers – Stryker, Xerox, Aflac, Expensify

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Nimble

Description – Nimble has re-imagined customer relationship management by pioneering the world’s first Intelligent Relationship platform. It auto-magically pulls contact profiles, email conversations and social signals into one simple place so you can effectively engage them everywhere you work.

Pricing –

Select Customers – Skymax, Youtoo Media, Wayferry, AP Consulting

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Sellsy

Description – Located in the heart on New-York City, Easybill, Inc. is the legal US representative for Sellsy, an innovative sales software solution created in 2009 in France. With more than 6000 active customers and serving 20 000 end users, Sellsy is a quickly growing player in sales management. Available in English and French, Sellsy has already been adopted by companies in over 30 countries.

Pricing – 

Screenshot – 

Our observations – Heard about this one from some European VC customers.

Zoho.com

Description – Zoho.com offers a comprehensive suite of award-winning online business, productivity & collaboration applications. Customers use Zoho Applications to run their business processes, manage their information and be more productive while at the office or on the go, without having to worry about expensive or outdated hardware or software.

Pricing – This screenshot is for the sales packages for Zoho CRM. There are other multiple products with different prices that can be found here.

Screenshot –

RelateIQ

Description – RelateIQ, now a Salesforce.com company, has re-thought customer relationship management from the ground up, building the world’s first Relationship Intelligence platform. It automatically captures data on your most important sales prospects, making it easy to collaborate with your teammates to close deals faster.

Pricing – 

Select Customers – Accel Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Upfront Ventures

Screenshot –

Our observations – RelateIQ has probably had the most buzz of any venture capital dealflow management system in the last year.  Of all platforms, Salesforce and RelateIQ have had the most integrations created with our API by venture firms.

Streak

Description – Streak was born out of the frustration of constantly having to switch between our inbox (where we do our work) and separate systems. Our goal is to take the work out of managing the processes you do everyday. Streak lets you keep track of all your deals right from your inbox. We let you group emails from the same customer together into one view and push that customer through your pipeline. When a new email comes in, you’ll have all the context you need.

Pricing –

• Free for basic features, tracking up to 200 emails/month and up to 5 collaborators on a pipeline
• $19/user/month Starter plan with up to 10 collaborators, unlimited boxes and email tracking
• $65/user/month Corporate plan with up to 25 collaborators, email filters, reports, and formulas
• $119/user/month Enterprise plan with unlimited collaborators, permissions, and premium phone and email support

Select Customers – Cowboy Ventures

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Sevanta Dealflow

Description – Sevanta Systems provides software and workflow consulting services to venture firms, private equity groups, and Fortune 500 corporate investment teams through the world. Launched in 2005, the flagship product, Sevanta Dealflow, was designed as a full-service, customizable dealflow management solution based on deep experience in the field.

Pricing – Custom features and pricing for each firm. General costs include:

• An annual retainer that covers our expert consulting as well as technical configuration of your system.
• An annual license and hosting fee based on the number of users who need access.
• Customization fees based on our hourly rate for consulting and programming time.

A demo can be scheduled by email dealflow@sevanta.com or calling +1-888-727-9644

Select Customers – InterWest Partners, Flybridge Capital Partners, SoftTech VC, Nexus Venture Partners

Screenshot –

Caplinked

Description – CapLinked makes it faster, safer, and easier to manage business transactions in the cloud. CapLinked’s secure platform provides companies with easy-to-use tools for capital raises, asset sales, mergers & acquisitions, real estate deals, investor & board reporting, business development negotiations, and other types of complex business transactions.

Pricing – A quote for your business can be found on their site here. Prices start from $39 per month/per user.

Select Customers – Founders Fund, OnDeck Capital, NextView Ventures, Proprietary Capital

Dropbox for Business

Description – Dropbox is the simple, powerful home for your photos, videos, docs, and other files. Dropbox for Business is the secure home for all your work. Anything your team adds to Dropbox will automatically sync to all their computers, mobile devices, and even the Dropbox website, so everyone can work together anywhere.

Pricing –

Select Customers – Accel Partners

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Trello Business Class