name: research-startups
description: Research AI startups, founders, and funding with the Silicon Valley Atlas directory. Use when someone asks who is building something, wants a market map of a sector, asks about a startup's funding, investors, or founders, or wants recent announcements from companies they track.
Research startups and founders
Connect the hosted SV Atlas MCP server at https://svatlas.io/mcp and sign in
with your existing Atlas Google account before using these tools. Never ask
for a password or token in chat. If the server is unavailable or sign-in is
required, explain how to connect and stop; do not invent results. Tool names
may have a client-specific prefix; use the connected server's tool catalog.
Search and product matching use the account's monthly quota; other reads do
not.
For OpenClaw, configure the connection once with
openclaw mcp set svatlas '{"url":"https://svatlas.io/mcp","transport":"streamable-http","auth":"oauth"}',
then openclaw mcp login svatlas. Installing this skill does not connect the
server. Ask before creating or changing outreach lists.
- Who is building X:
search_companies with the problem, buyer, or
technology in plain words. Use program to stay within one accelerator.
For a full sector or a whole list, use export_companies and page through.
- One company:
get_company with the slug. Report stage, team size,
funding rounds with investors, founders, and signals, each with its source.
- Founders:
search_people with keywords, program, vertical, location,
or founding-year window.
- What changed:
company_updates returns sourced product announcements
for companies on the person's lists.
- Missing details:
enrich_company or enrich_founder queues a refresh.
Say it was queued; the result appears later, not in this answer.
Every fact in Atlas comes from a public page. Quote the source link when you
state a number or a date, and say plainly when Atlas has no data on
something instead of filling the gap. Link companies as
https://svatlas.io/companies/<slug>.