Item: PitchBook
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with PitchBook

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

As an economist in DSIT, I typically would use PitchBook to get information about the investment in technology sectors and emerging sectors. This solves the problem of our limited understanding of some of these areas and helps us to support strategic decision making with robust evidence and insights. The scope of the use is varied, from stats that we quote in published documents to insights for ministers, or evidence to design policy and spend decisions.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Gives clear investment information.
Offers support on tailored use and flexibility especially with ill defined sectors and emerging sectors.

Cons

I think the interface can appear slightly overwhelming and could be simplified a bit or made more straightforward to navigate. Potentially just by highlighting on a home page top uses and having landing pages that aggregate key activities.

Return on Investment

Definitely helps with business decisions and providing ministers with insights
We are able to use it in a lot of different use cases across the department and it’s sectors, so it very good value for money for the license

Customer Service

I had a really really positive experience of flexible, friendly and supportive engagement from Nicola Joseph. She helped give me a run through that made me feel a lot more confident using PitchBook and getting the Maximum value from it. I really feel that she made an impact, and all the people I’ve engaged with about PitchBook have similarly positive experiences.

Comprehensive Data Quality

As an analyst for a government department, I primarily focus on high level macro data for my sectors and policy rather than detailed individual business insights - so I wouldn’t say I use PitchBook for this purpose particularly, but have faith it would be useful, as I think the data that I have encountered holds up really well against other sources.

Usability

It’s a great tool that is very flexible and responsive, but it can be quite complicated. I don’t think that’s a bad thing as we are working in complex areas, and I think PitchBook already does a great job of demystifying and enabling users like me to upskill and maximise the value we get. I think the user interface could still be a bit simplified and the website itself could offer more guidance for when we aren’t directly engaging with helpful customer support leads.

Alternatives Considered

Beauhurst, Bloomberg Terminal and fDi Markets

Really well - though I think Beauhurst has the edge on UK specific investments, and Bloomberg has the edge on immediate updates. I think PitchBook is better than fDi Markets though, I would definitely recommend purchasing a PitchBook license over fDi Markets - but in a policy area that isn’t considering international investment, I might go with Beauhurst.

Key Insights

Do you think PitchBook delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with PitchBook's feature set?

Yes

Did PitchBook live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of PitchBook go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy PitchBook again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Beauhurst, Bloomberg Terminal, fDi Markets

Likelihood to Recommend

As mentioned earlier, it’s really great for investment information. It helps a lot to get clear and comparable figures, and is the go to source for those international comparisons which many other sites lack. I think it could be fleshed out even more by perhaps developing more flexible approaches to company identification.

PitchBook Feature Ratings

Comments

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PitchBook is my departments go-to for international investment insights