InvestorUniverse vs Beauhurst

What Beauhurst is

Beauhurst tracks private companies across the UK, Germany and Ireland. Its site says it holds more than 7.5 million private company profiles with daily updates across 190 or more datapoints per company, covering funding history, ownership, hiring, location changes and growth signals. It says analysts verify its data.

It offers several products, listed on its pricing page as Beauhurst Advise, Invest, Impact, Sales and Insights.

Its site describes fifteen years of work on getting private company data right and says it goes beyond web scraping. That is the company's own description, and it explains why its main customers are organisations that rely on the data for regular decisions.

Who it suits

Beauhurst's products are aimed at advisory firms, investors and accelerators, universities and government bodies, sales and marketing teams, and research and consultancy teams. Its client list includes Coutts, Crowdcube, Foresight and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

That is an organisational audience: teams who track many companies and need dependable UK data over time.

I did not see founders raising a round among the audiences it lists. It is a data service for organisations, with account management and quotes built around team needs.

What it costs

Beauhurst does not publish prices. Its pricing page says pricing is a custom quote that depends on data needs, number of users, integrations and length of commitment, and it asks you to contact the team. Subscriptions include a dedicated account manager and CRM integrations.

InvestorUniverse prices are public. Your top 10 is free, the full report is a one-off purchase, and monthly plans start with Spark at £79.

Where Beauhurst is strong

UK depth. A UK-centred database of this size, with daily updates and detailed company signals, is valuable for anyone who has to find, track or advise growing companies. Investors use it to source deals, and advisers use it to understand a market.

The account manager and CRM integrations also suit teams that want data inside their existing systems.

Its focus on three markets, the UK, Germany and Ireland, makes it a natural fit for anyone working across them. It also describes a team of analysts who check its data, which matters to teams relying on it for decisions.

Where InvestorUniverse is a better fit

We look from the founder's side. You give us your startup and raise, and we score UK investors on stage, sector, cheque size, geography and recent activity. You receive up to 100 best-fit investors with a written reason for each one.

That makes it a good fit when you are a founder with a round to run and a short timeline. There is no quote to request and no contract to sign. Our funding newsroom also follows UK rounds, so you can see recent activity as you plan your outreach.

A founder needs an answer to one question: who should I email first? We rank UK investors for your raise and explain each match, so the answer comes with its reasoning attached.

Our scope is far smaller, by design. Beauhurst tracks millions of companies, and we track investors and how well each one fits your stage, sector, cheque size and geography.

When I'd use Beauhurst instead

I'd use Beauhurst if I worked at an investor, an accelerator, a bank or an advisory firm and needed to monitor the UK private company market on a regular basis. I'd also use it for sales prospecting into UK growth companies, which its own site lists as a use.

If I needed company-level data on thousands of businesses, that is what it is built for.

If you are a founder selling to UK growth companies, Beauhurst's data on funding and hiring signals could help you find buyers as well as investors. Its own site lists sales and marketing teams among its users, so that use is one it describes itself.

How they can work together

If an adviser or an accelerator already gives you access to Beauhurst, use it to study similar companies and see who has backed them. Then use InvestorUniverse to turn your own details into a ranked list of UK investors, with reasons you can use in outreach.

The free top 10 once you sign up is a quick way to compare.

Quick summary

Beauhurst is a UK, German and Irish private company data platform with custom quotes. InvestorUniverse is a UK investor shortlist for founders with a free top 10 once you sign up, a one-off full report and plans from £79 a month. I'd choose Beauhurst for market tracking and InvestorUniverse for running a raise.

If you are not sure which you need, ask who will use the tool. A team tracking the market suits Beauhurst. A founder with a raise to run suits a ranked list, and ours starts free.