What Novable does

Novable is a Belgian SaaS company that provides an enterprise startup intelligence and validation platform for corporate innovation teams. Founded in 2019 in Brussels by CEO Laurent Kinet, the company helps large organizations discover, validate, and engage with relevant startups beyond what generic search or LLM-driven discovery tools can deliver. Named customers include Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Engie, Fujitsu, Orange, BIC World, Etex Building Performance, and Laboratoire Aguettant, spanning energy, FMCG, aerospace, building materials, pharmaceuticals, and telecoms.

The platform is built around four integrated components: DeepMatching™, a proprietary AI engine that matches startups based on actual activities (funding events, hiring patterns, product launches, partnerships, geographic expansion) rather than keywords; the Novable Validation Framework, a four-layer methodology that converts a corporate brief into a qualified shortlist; Scott, a conversational AI Expert that enables users to explore companies and competitors on demand; and Enterprise-Readiness Level (ERL), a 0-to-5 scoring system assessing whether a startup can actually deliver at enterprise scale. Underpinning these is a proprietary database of more than 3.5 million startups across 185 countries and 300+ topics, with activity signals accumulated over six years.

Revenue is generated through subscription-based platform access (annual or monthly billing, with automatic renewal and inflation-linked price revisions) plus project-based engagements for specific campaigns. The go-to-market motion is enterprise field sales, with personalized 30-minute discovery calls and client success stories as the primary conversion mechanism. As of 2025, Novable reported $3 million in ARR on a 27-person team, with an $8.9 million valuation and no disclosed institutional funding rounds, operating from Brussels and Liège while serving clients globally.

Name

Novable

Legal name

Novable SRL

Website

https://novable.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Novable is a Belgian SaaS company providing an AI-powered startup intelligence and validation platform for corporate innovation teams. Its DeepMatching engine and proprietary database of 3.5 million startups help enterprises discover, validate, and engage with relevant startups.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Innovation Scouting Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

AI Application Enablement Platforms (Copilot/Agent Frameworks, SDKs) (HDAEANAJ)

Keywords

• Startup scouting platform
• Innovation intelligence software
• Corporate venturing tools
• AI startup matching
• Open innovation software

Headquarters

HQ city

Brussels

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Platform Subscription: Subscription-based access to the Novable startup intelligence platform with licensing fees for platform access. Includes annual or monthly subscription options with automatic renewal. Additional Services available for consultation and support.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Novable operates an enterprise-grade startup intelligence platform that combines proprietary DeepMatching™ AI with structured human expert validation to deliver decision-ready startup shortlists to large corporations. The platform indexes over 3.5 million startups across 185 countries and pairs algorithmic matching with senior innovation experts who validate and contextualize results within a guaranteed two-business-day turnaround.

Product overview

Novable operates as a unified enterprise startup intelligence platform combining multiple integrated components. The core platform integrates DeepMatching™ AI engine for activity-based startup matching, Scott (AI Expert) chatbot for conversational exploration, Real-time Search for speed-focused discovery, and Novable Experts for human validation. Enterprise-Readiness Level (ERL) provides structured scoring across all recommendations. The Corporate Venturing Framework™ offers proprietary methodology for building internal innovation capabilities, while EventScout enables event-based scouting. Deep-Dive Analysis serves as an on-demand add-on for intensive validation needs. The platform maintains a database of over 3.5 million startups and delivers validated shortlists within two business days.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Novable Platform Enterprise-grade startup intelligence platform that combines AI-powered sourcing with structured human validation to deliver decision-ready startup candidates for large organisations. Integrates DeepMatching™ AI, expert review, and scoring systems into a unified subscription workflow.
• EventScout Event intelligence product providing pre-validated startup radar for corporate venturing teams attending industry events such as MWC x 4YFN, designed as a fast track to scouting ROI during conferences.
• Corporate Venturing Framework™ Novable's proprietary methodology and framework that helps clients build internal capabilities for corporate venturing and open innovation programs, providing structured guidance for corporate-startup collaboration.
• Deep-Dive Analysis On-demand expert service that engages directly with candidate companies to validate assumptions, clarify positioning, and conduct deeper analysis aligned with specific client needs when standard shortlists require additional validation.

Quantifiable outcome

• 87% faster validation results compared to other scouting channels
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• YumanacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 May 2025Novable x Yumana partnership announced in May 2025 as 'The 1st Complete Open Innovation Solution.' Combined capabilities for comprehensive corporate startup collaboration, presented at events including Innov8rs Berlin 2025.
• OrangeFabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrangeFab is the corporate startup program of Orange, working under a corporate mentoring strategy and venture clienting model. Novable helps identify strategic and innovative challenges in business units that can be solved by startups, boosting them into the Orange ecosystem. Ariane Chan, Head of OrangeFab BeLux, describes the collaboration as seamless and beyond what you'd get from a simple SaaS tool.
• Manual.tocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with OrangeFab in corporate-startup collaboration initiatives. Manual.to is referenced alongside OrangeFab in client success stories as part of collaborative innovation programs.
• imec istartminorOthersNovable is part of the imec istart portfolio, a startup acceleration program from the Belgian technology innovation hub. Displayed as part of their ecosystem recognition.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Innosabi: Enterprise innovation management software for startup collaboration and open innovation programs — direct competitor in the corporate-startup engagement workflow that Novable's validation layer feeds into.
• Itonics: AI-powered innovation management platform used by enterprises for trend scouting, technology radar, and startup intelligence — overlapping product scope with Novable's DeepMatching and scoring systems.
• CB Insights: Market intelligence platform that uses AI to help enterprises scout emerging technologies, startups, and trends — directly overlapping Novable's enterprise startup intelligence value proposition with comparable B2B SaaS subscription economics.
• Dealroom.co: Global startup and venture capital intelligence database widely used by corporates for innovation sourcing and dealflow — direct competitor in the European startup intelligence market Novable serves.
• Crunchbase: Public startup and funding database with enterprise tiers (Crunchbase Pro/Enterprise) used for innovation scouting and market mapping — overlaps with Novable's discovery and validation offerings.
• Tracxn: Startup research and intelligence platform serving enterprise customers with curated startup data and sector research — directly comparable in business model, target buyer (enterprise innovation teams), and product category.

Broad incumbents

• PitchBook: Premium private market data provider owned by Morningstar, used heavily by corporate development and venture teams for deal sourcing — adjacent incumbent with broader private capital coverage but comparable corporate buyer.
• Battelle: Large applied science and innovation services organization that runs corporate innovation and open innovation programs — comparable buyer need (corporate venturing, technology scouting) though delivered via services rather than SaaS.

Emerging players

• Startup Genome: Global innovation ecosystem research and ecosystem development organization — comparable in the startup mapping and ecosystem intelligence space, though more research-oriented than enterprise SaaS.
• Tunnel: AI-driven startup scouting and trend intelligence platform targeting corporate innovation teams — emerging direct competitor with comparable AI-first positioning in the same buyer segment.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/_novable_
• Facebookfacebook.com/gonovable
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/novable

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Novable