TechCrunch Cashing In on CrunchBase

TechCrunch just announced that they have a premium report of an analysis of 2008 according to data gathered on CrunchBase. The report is available for $149, and includes data about startup financing, products, trends and exits.

Two things strike me here.

First, CrunchBase is finally proving as an asset, with TechCrunch cashing in on its non stop data gathering. Whether or not this is moral is a point to argue about — after all, it is a wiki, most of the data is community driven. But in any case, the TechCrunch empire has another income stream, unrelated to the traditional media advertising revenue stream.

Second, we all know the downturn is here, but put visually through the graph of the number of founded startups per month:

From 170 to 20 in 1 year. Phew. But then again, this can also be seen in an optimistic perspective — the market is now less competitive for startups, and if you’ve got the funding and the business model, you might get through this survival of the fittest battle with a winner.