Affinity is a relationship-intelligence CRM, not a startup discovery tool. Here are 6 alternatives that actually find the startups before your network introduces them.
| Tool | Best for | Starts at |
|---|---|---|
| GitDealFlow | Pre-round startup discovery | Free tier available |
| Crunchbase | Startup + investor database | From $29/mo |
| Tracxn | Sector-based startup discovery | From $15K/yr |
| Grata | B2B company sourcing | From $12K/yr |
| Dealroom | European startup data | From $10K/yr |
| Source Scrub | Bootstrapped company search | From $10K/yr |
Best for: Pre-round startup discovery | Price: Free tier available
Discovers accelerating startups from public GitHub data — no network dependency. Free tier shows top 20 trending startups immediately.
Best for: Startup + investor database | Price: From $29/mo
Largest structured startup database. Good for 'what's in my pipeline' research.
Best for: Sector-based startup discovery | Price: From $15K/yr
Best taxonomy for sector-based sourcing. Multi-signal (hiring, news, engineering).
Best for: B2B company sourcing | Price: From $12K/yr
20M+ company graph. Good for finding companies that fit your thesis.
Best for: European startup data | Price: From $10K/yr
Best European coverage. Good ecosystem analytics.
Best for: Bootstrapped company search | Price: From $10K/yr
Strong on companies not in Crunchbase. Conference-driven data.
A CRM manages your pipeline. It doesn't fill it. Affinity tells you who can intro you to Company X, but it doesn't tell you that Company X exists or is accelerating. You need a discovery layer first.
Use GitDealFlow to discover which startups are accelerating. Use Affinity to find the warm intro path to those startups. Discovery → relationship mapping → outreach.
Free tier available — get the top 20 trending startups across all 20 sectors, no credit card required.
Get the 5 names →