Stream > Case Studies > Stream’s Activity Feed API Boosts Real-Time Updates for Crunchbase

Stream’s Activity Feed API Boosts Real-Time Updates for Crunchbase

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

Applicable Industries

Cement
Equipment & Machinery

Applicable Functions

Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
Time Sensitive Networking

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

Crunchbase is a leading provider of private-company prospecting and research solutions. It is used by salespeople, entrepreneurs, investors, and market researchers to prospect for new business opportunities. With over 60 million annual visitors, Crunchbase requires a scalable, reliable tech stack that can handle billions of API calls and updates per year. The company offers a range of paid products, from Crunchbase Starter, a self-service search and tracking functionality, to Crunchbase Pro, which helps find and close deals through relevant account recommendations, account qualification tools, and CRM integrations. The Crunchbase Enterprise plan includes even greater functionality and hands-on support for large prospecting teams.

The Challenge

Crunchbase, a leading provider of private-company prospecting and research solutions, was facing a challenge with its in-house feed solution. The existing system was only capable of sending daily updates to the platform’s registered users, who follow specific companies and whole markets. This was a disadvantage for salespeople who rely on timely updates for business opportunities. To provide their growing base of business development customers a competitive advantage, Crunchbase required a customizable, low-latency news feed that displayed important updates such as funding announcements, new hires, and IPOs in real-time.

The Solution

Crunchbase integrated Stream’s activity feed API into their system in just two months. This allowed them to send reliable, real-time updates to registered Crunchbase users. One of the key reasons Crunchbase chose Stream’s activity feed API over other feed providers was the ability to build a custom ranking function on an aggregated feed. This meant that while most posts such as product announcements and news events populated in the order they were posted, high-value posts such as important funding rounds, mergers, acquisitions, and initial public offerings were prioritized at the top of the feed. This ensured that users didn’t miss these crucial company updates. Using Stream’s Java SDK and REST API, Crunchbase was able to get the activity feed up and running on their platform in a relatively short time.

Operational Impact

The integration of Stream’s activity feed API into Crunchbase's system has led to a significant increase in user engagement. Now, half of Crunchbase’s users interact with the activity feed in a given session, and they are getting more value out of Crunchbase’s core products. The real-time updates have made Crunchbase an essential business tool for their core customers, as their evolving dataset can be easily monitored and searched. In a profession where timing is everything, Crunchbase is enabling their business development and sales customers to have the tools and information they need to make the right connections, with the right prospects, at the right time.

Quantitative Benefit

Over half of Crunchbase’s registered users interact with the activity feed per session, leading to deeper engagement with the platform.
Crunchbase saw an increase in weekly active users (WAU) after the integration of Stream's activity feed API.
The integration process with Stream's Java SDK and REST API took only two months.