Frequently Asked Questions

What is Ship Shape, the "Investment Search Engine"?

Ship Shape is a specialised Search Engine that lets you search content produced by and about investors (Angels, VC firms, Family Offices, Strategic Investors, etc) and portfolio companies. We index funding news, finding who has invested in which companies, in what round size and when. We index textual content e.g. profiles of all firms, portfolio companies, individuals, to home in on exactly who you need to see.
Who might want to use Ship Shape?

Ship Shape's free-to-use search engine has been built to help entrepreneurs. We give a nod to those who help them on their journeys (VC firms, PE firms, Family Offices, Accelerators, Incubators, Universities, Corporate Financiers, Investment Banks, Government Trade Agencies and Regional/Enterprise Development Agencies). We've built for simplicity, with our complex technology cutting through the graft for those that have better things to do. We've built for all those entrepreneurs whose time is precious.
How can I export details so I can contact investors?

You can shortlist any Investment Entity, Individual who works there, and any Portfolio company that you might want to remember. Then our Shortlist function allows you to export that list as a csv so you can ingest into your CRM - or spreadsheet if you're still in the early stages!
How is Ship Shape's Search Engine different from investor databases?

Investor Databases are great - they can store and retrieve huge amounts of structured data, but you frequently need human analysts to build large and complex filters, queries, and classifications. Doesn't that feel like something technology should solve these days? Search engines, and AI data assessors look through unstructured text and can then order results by relevance (based on a number of factors). This makes search engines great for rapidly changing and evolving industries and markets....like Venture Capital and the brilliant ideas that entrepreneurs are accelerating.
How long does running a search in Ship Shape take?

Running a search in Ship Shape takes seconds, saving you the time of reading through millions of publications and finding the investors that publish content, or the funding news article about a particular round.
How can I use Ship Shape's Search Engine?

Simply head to www.shipshape.vc, login via LinkedIn SSO (Ship Shape never sees nor stores your password, and create your search profile. Search results are surfaced straight away, and you can keep searching endlessly looking for literally anything, with no limits - just as you'd expect from a search engine.
What types of investors can I find via your search engine?

Any and all investors who have invested in startups. Angels, VC firms, Strategic Investors, Family Offices, Accelerators, Incubators, Universities... if there's a footprint we will index it!
I'm an investor, how do I make sure I get recognised by start-ups?"

The best way to get recognised by start-ups is to publish content that helps attract the most relevant dealflow for you (i.e. publishing content on Decentralised Finance (DeFi) makes it easier for DeFi start-ups to find you). The more relevant content you publish, the higher you rank. If you want to make sure we index your content, please fill out this form.