Inven
Inven · Business
Inven is an AI platform for M&A that searches a proprietary database of more than 28 million private companies to source targets, map markets, and build deal materials.
About Inven
What Is Inven
Inven is a private market data platform built for mergers and acquisitions. It combines a large company database with an AI engine so analysts can search beyond the usual lists and surface targets that are easy to miss. The company says its data covers more than 28 million private companies, and it counts over 1,000 investment banks, private equity firms, consultancies, and corporate development teams as users.
The problem it solves is scale. Deal sourcing has traditionally meant pulling from a handful of directories, then enriching each company by hand. Inven lets a team map a whole sector in minutes, enrich hundreds of companies at once, and move from raw data to a client-ready deck without switching tools. Integrations reach into the places analysts already work, including Excel, PowerPoint, and Claude.
The main limit is that this is an enterprise product. There is no free tier or public self-serve plan, so you have to book a demo and go through a sales process. Pricing is quoted on request, which makes it hard to judge cost before you talk to the team.
Getting Started
- Book a demo through the Inven site to see the platform against your own sourcing questions.
- Agree on a plan with the sales team, since there is no public self-serve signup.
- Log in to the web app and set up your first search by sector, geography, and size.
- Review the surfaced companies, enrich the shortlist, and export the results.
- Connect Inven to Excel, PowerPoint, or Claude if you want the data inside your existing workflow.
Product Information
A quick look at Inven's pricing, supported platforms, and performance.
Best for
The users, tasks, and scenarios where this tool fits best.
Users
- M&A analysts and associates
- Private equity deal teams
- Investment bankers
- Corporate development teams
Tasks
- Sourcing acquisition targets
- Mapping a market
- Enriching a company list
- Building deal materials
- Monitoring a portfolio or pipeline
Scenarios
- Backing a buy-and-build strategy
- Preparing a pitch
- Scanning a new sector
- Keeping a target list fresh
Key features
Private Company Database
Inven runs on a proprietary dataset that the company says spans more than 28 million private companies. That breadth is the point: search results include firms that never show up in common directories, which is where a lot of missed deals hide. Traceable data means an analyst can check where a figure came from before putting it in front of a partner.
AI Deal Sourcing
The AI engine turns a plain description of what you are looking for into a ranked set of companies. You describe the sector, size, and geography, and it runs an M&A target search that pulls companies that fit, rather than making you filter a giant list by hand. Firms that need deal sourcing software with this reach use it to widen the top of the funnel. The company says users find up to ten times more relevant targets with this approach.
Market and Sector Mapping
The market mapping tool takes a whole industry and places its companies in a structured view. A team that used to spend days building a sector map can get a first pass in minutes, then refine it. This is aimed at the early part of a deal, when you need to see the shape of a sector before picking names.
Bulk Company Enrichment
Enrichment fills in detail for a list of companies in one pass. Instead of looking up each firm's size, location, and profile one at a time, an analyst runs the list through Inven and gets the fields back together. The company cites hundreds of companies enriched at one go.
Excel and PowerPoint Integration
Inven plugs into Excel and PowerPoint, the two tools deal teams live in. The Excel add-in pulls live company data into a cell, and the PowerPoint add-in helps turn findings into client-ready deliverables. This keeps the output in formats a firm already shares.
Inven MCP and Claude Skills
Inven offers an MCP server that exposes its private market company data to AI tools, and a set of skills that brings a firm's playbook into Claude. This is for teams that want Inven's data to show up inside an AI assistant or an agentic workflow instead of only in the web app.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Covers more than 28 million private companies, so searches reach firms that ordinary directories miss.
- AI sourcing turns a plain description into a ranked target list, and the company reports up to ten times more relevant results.
- Market mapping compresses days of sector research into minutes.
- Excel, PowerPoint, and Claude integrations keep the data inside tools analysts already use.
- Backed by traceable data, so figures can be checked before they reach a partner.
Cons
- No free plan or self-serve signup, so you cannot try it without going through a demo and sales process.
- Pricing is quote on request, which makes budgeting hard before you talk to the team.
- It is built for M&A and private market work, so it is not useful for general research or consumer tasks.
- Reviewers on G2 note that contact information can be inconsistent and that some markets have thinner coverage.
Frequently asked questions
Inven is an AI platform for M&A. It searches a proprietary database of more than 28 million private companies to help teams source targets, map markets, enrich company lists, and build deal materials.
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