FirstGlance

FirstGlance connects startup founders with early-stage investors. Investors can find companies using filters such as industry, stage, and location, save searches, and follow companies for updates on progress and traction. Founders choose what to share in startup profiles and can review analytics on profile views and engagement. Founders can connect with investors when ready, while investors can request information and schedule meetings. FirstGlance says founders can use verified metrics to build credibility. It is available on Android, iOS, and the web, and has a free plan. For FirstGlance Pro founders, it advertises more than $3 million in software credits and discounts across 270+ vetted tools, including Google Cloud, Notion, Segment, and Mixpanel. The company was founded in 2024 and is headquartered in the United States. Its privacy notice says it does not collect information from third parties, though it may receive social-login profile information if a user chooses that option. It may use Google Analytics and cookies or similar tracking technologies.

FirstGlance offers company discovery and founder profiles with a free plan across web and mobile. Its privacy notice describes potential analytics, tracking, and social-login data practices for readers to consider.

FirstGlance suits startup founders seeking visibility with early-stage investors and investors looking to discover companies. Founders can choose what to share and connect when ready.

FirstGlance is a startup discovery service that pairs investor search tools with founder-controlled company profiles. It suits early-stage investors looking to track startups and founders seeking a way to present their companies. Its two-sided approach is useful, but the strongest extras are reserved for Pro founders.

Overview

Investors can filter companies by industry, stage, location and other criteria, save searches, and follow startups for progress and traction updates. Founders decide what their profiles say and can connect with investors when ready; investors can request information and schedule meetings. That makes FirstGlance more relevant to ongoing discovery and introductions than a directory used only for occasional company lookups.

The homepage cites more than 100 active early-stage investors and over $1 billion in dry powder. Those figures give founders a sense of the audience FirstGlance is targeting, but they do not promise attention or introductions for any individual startup.

Key features

• Investor discovery: Search filters and saved searches help investors focus on companies that match their interests. Following companies and seeing updates makes the service useful beyond a one-time search.
• Founder profiles and analytics: Founders control what they share and can monitor profile views and engagement. That combination offers a way to shape a startup's presentation and see whether it is drawing interest, though the metrics do not by themselves establish investor intent.
• Connections and credibility: Founders can choose when to connect, while investors can request information or schedule meetings. FirstGlance also says founders can build credibility with verified metrics, a potentially useful signal for presenting a company.
• Pro founder perks: FirstGlance advertises more than $3 million in software credits and discounts across 270+ vetted tools, including Google Cloud, Notion, Segment and Mixpanel. These perks are specifically for FirstGlance Pro founders, so they should not be treated as part of the general free offering.

Pricing

FirstGlance has a free plan, making it a low-commitment option for investors exploring startup discovery and founders building profiles. No paid-plan price or billing term is established here, so a Pro subscription should be considered custom pricing; the software-credit benefits are tied to that Pro tier.

The free option lowers the barrier to trying a two-sided discovery platform, but founders who want the advertised credits and discounts need Pro. There are no published seat counts, usage quotas, trial duration or renewal terms to weigh against that upgrade.

Platforms

FirstGlance is available on Android, iOS and the web. Its privacy notice refers to a mobile app named FirstGlance: Startup Discovery, giving users options beyond a browser-based experience.

Who it's for

FirstGlance is a sensible fit for early-stage investors who want saved searches and continuing company updates, and for founders who want control over their profiles and a way to initiate or receive investor contact. It is less compelling for someone seeking only a static company list, or for a founder who expects profile analytics and visibility to guarantee investor interest.

Privacy-conscious users should note that FirstGlance may use cookies or similar tracking and Google Analytics, and may receive social-login profile information if that sign-in option is chosen. Payment data is handled and stored by Stripe. The company says it uses technical and organizational security measures, while acknowledging that internet transmission and storage cannot be guaranteed fully secure.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Investors can save filtered searches and follow startups, supporting repeat discovery rather than one-off browsing.
• Pro: Founders control profile disclosures and can track views and engagement, giving them both presentation control and a basic audience signal.
• Pro: Free access and Android, iOS and web availability make it accessible to both sides without an initial paid commitment.
• Con: The most concrete additional founder benefit—credits and discounts across 270+ tools—is restricted to Pro founders.
• Con: The investor figures on the homepage do not indicate likely profile-level reach, so founders should not assume a listing will produce meetings.
• Con: Analytics and tracking practices may concern users who prefer to minimize data collection.

Alternatives

For a wider set of startup-database options, browse Startup Databases. Choose Tracxn if you want a freemium service with a free trial and a Premium tier described as offering unrestricted access, taxonomy and custom reports; its Lite tier has usage limits.

ITjuzi is worth considering if you want a freemium database with a published monthly plan at CN¥108 a month, including 500 download credits. For a paid service with bespoke terms tied to data requirements, users, integrations and commitment length, consider Beauhurst.

StartupList Africa is a paid option at $299 a year, with limited startup profiles, basic funding data and search filters, plus a weekly newsletter and community access. CB Insights is a paid alternative with a free trial and a User License at $417 a month, billed annually at $5,000, for readers seeking its AI-powered insights and broad company and data coverage.

FlareSight may suit investors who want a free tier to browse more than 127,228 companies with all search filters, accepting a five-profile-views-per-day cap and one view-only watchlist. Discover Startups is another free-plan option, while Selva offers free public and login tiers.

Verdict

FirstGlance is best for early-stage investors who want to follow startups over time and founders who want control over how their company is presented and when to engage. Its free plan and two-sided profile-to-contact flow are the main reasons to choose it. Look elsewhere if you need a clearly defined paid tier or database scale and usage terms spelled out before committing, or if you expect a profile alone to deliver investor attention.