Bring Market Intelligence
to CrewAI
Learn how to connect CB Insights to CrewAI and start using 13 AI agent tools in minutes. Fully managed, enterprise secure, and ready to use without writing a single line of code.
What is the CB Insights MCP Server?
Connect your CB Insights enterprise account to any AI agent and take full control of your market intelligence workflows through natural conversation.
What you can do
- Organization Research — Search companies by name and retrieve full profiles including industry classification, employee count, and headquarters
- Funding Intelligence — Track the complete funding history of any organization, from Seed rounds to IPO, with amounts and lead investors
- Competitive Mapping — Identify direct competitors for any company based on market positioning and funding patterns
- Deal Tracking — Browse recent investment deals across the market or filter by specific organizations
- Investor Profiling — Explore investor profiles, fund strategies, and their full portfolio of backed companies
- AI-Powered Q&A — Ask natural language questions about markets, trends, and technologies and get data-backed answers
How it works
1. Subscribe to this server
2. Enter your CB Insights Client ID and Client Secret (provisioned by your account manager)
3. Start querying market intelligence from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client
Who is this for?
- Venture Capitalists — instantly screen deal flow, check competitor landscapes, and validate funding histories without switching tools
- Corporate Strategy Teams — monitor market movements, track emerging competitors, and assess investment opportunities through conversational AI
- Founders & Entrepreneurs — research investors, understand competitive dynamics, and prepare for fundraising rounds with comprehensive data
Built-in capabilities (13)
CB Insights AI chat
Verify connectivity
Get deal details
Get investor details
Get investor portfolio
Get competitors
Get organization funding
Get organization details
List recent deals
List deals by organization
List industries
List investors
Search organizations
Why CrewAI?
When paired with CrewAI, CB Insights becomes a first-class tool in your multi-agent workflows. Each agent in the crew can call CB Insights tools autonomously, one agent queries data, another analyzes results, a third compiles reports, all orchestrated through Vinkius with zero configuration overhead.
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Multi-agent collaboration lets you decompose complex workflows into specialized roles, one agent researches, another analyzes, a third generates reports, each with access to MCP tools
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CrewAI's native MCP integration requires zero adapter code: pass Vinkius Edge URL directly in the
mcpsparameter and agents auto-discover every available tool at runtime - —
Built-in task delegation and shared memory mean agents can pass context between steps without manual state management, enabling multi-hop reasoning across tool calls
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Sequential and hierarchical crew patterns map naturally to real-world workflows: enumerate subdomains → analyze DNS history → check WHOIS records → compile findings into actionable reports
CB Insights in CrewAI
CB Insights and 3,400+ other MCP servers. One platform. One governance layer.
Teams that connect CB Insights to CrewAI through Vinkius don't need to source, host, or maintain individual MCP servers. Every tool call runs inside a hardened runtime with credential isolation, DLP, and a signed audit chain.
Raw MCP | Vinkius | |
|---|---|---|
| Server catalog | Find and host yourself | 3,400+ managed |
| Infrastructure | Self-hosted | Sandboxed V8 isolates |
| Credential handling | Plaintext in config | Vault + runtime injection |
| Data loss prevention | None | Configurable DLP policies |
| Kill switch | None | Global instant shutdown |
| Financial circuit breakers | None | Per-server limits + alerts |
| Audit trail | None | Ed25519 signed logs |
| SIEM log streaming | None | Splunk, Datadog, Webhook |
| Honeytokens | None | Canary alerts on leak |
| Custom domains | Not applicable | DNS challenge verified |
| GDPR compliance | Manual effort | Automated purge + export |
Why teams choose Vinkius for CB Insights in CrewAI
The CB Insights MCP Server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS — a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts. All 13 tools execute in hardened sandboxes optimized for native MCP execution.
Your AI agents in CrewAI only access the data you authorize, with DLP that blocks sensitive information from ever reaching the model, kill switch for instant shutdown, and up to 60% token savings. Enterprise-grade infrastructure, zero maintenance.
* Every MCP server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS - a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts optimized for native MCP execution. See our infrastructure
How Vinkius secures
CB Insights for CrewAI
Every tool call from CrewAI to the CB Insights MCP Server is protected by DLP redaction, cryptographic audit chains, V8 sandbox isolation, kill switch, and financial circuit breakers.
Frequently asked questions
Can my AI agent retrieve the full funding history of a specific company just by providing the Organization ID?
Yes! Use the get_org_funding tool with the Organization ID. Your agent will return every funding round — Seed, Series A through D, and IPO — including amounts raised, lead investors, round dates, and post-money valuations.
How do I map out the competitive landscape for a target company?
Simply ask the agent to run get_org_competitors with the Organization ID. It will return direct competitors ranked by market positioning, funding similarity, and industry overlap, giving you an instant competitive analysis.
Does the integration allow modifying data or creating entries in CB Insights?
No. All 13 tools are strictly read-only query operations — searching organizations, tracking funding, analyzing competitors, and exploring investors. The only write operation is chat_cbi, which sends a question to the AI engine. No destructive actions exist, ensuring your data remains secure.
How does CrewAI discover and connect to MCP tools?
CrewAI connects to MCP servers lazily. when the crew starts, each agent resolves its MCP URLs and fetches the tool catalog via the standard tools/list method. This means tools are always fresh and reflect the server's current capabilities. No tool schemas need to be hardcoded.
Can different agents in the same crew use different MCP servers?
Yes. Each agent has its own mcps list, so you can assign specific servers to specific roles. For example, a reconnaissance agent might use a domain intelligence server while an analysis agent uses a vulnerability database server.
What happens when an MCP tool call fails during a crew run?
CrewAI wraps tool failures as context for the agent. The LLM receives the error message and can decide to retry with different parameters, fall back to a different tool, or mark the task as partially complete. This resilience is critical for production workflows.
Can CrewAI agents call multiple MCP tools in parallel?
CrewAI agents execute tool calls sequentially within a single reasoning step. However, you can run multiple agents in parallel using process=Process.parallel, each calling different MCP tools concurrently. This is ideal for workflows where separate data sources need to be queried simultaneously.
Can I run CrewAI crews on a schedule (cron)?
Yes. CrewAI crews are standard Python scripts, so you can invoke them via cron, Airflow, Celery, or any task scheduler. The crew.kickoff() method runs synchronously by default, making it straightforward to integrate into existing pipelines.
MCP tools not discovered
Ensure the Edge URL is correct. CrewAI connects lazily when the crew starts. check console output.
Agent not using tools
Make the task description specific. Instead of "do something", say "Use the available tools to list contacts".
Timeout errors
CrewAI has a 10s connection timeout by default. Ensure your network can reach the Edge URL.
Rate limiting or 429 errors
Vinkius enforces per-token rate limits. Check your subscription tier and request quota in the dashboard. Upgrade if you need higher throughput.