DataFox now alerts you to business opportunities you might not find on your own

DataFox, a startup with a web service for sifting through the Internet for key information about privately held companies, is introducing today an Enterprise tier of service, which comes with integration to the Salesforce.com lead-tracking software and dedicated analysts to help, among other features.

Also today, DataFox is announcing that it can accept people’s existing spreadsheets and then automatically start tracking companies in those spreadsheets, ensuring that researchers can keep up with the latest information on the companies they want to watch. And not only that — DataFox is rolling out Smart Lists, which bolster researchers’ company lists with all-new companies that meet preset parameters.

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“It’s literally as if they had two JP Morgan analysts sitting in their office, working full time,” DataFox cofounder Bastiaan Janmaat told VentureBeat in an interview.

DataFox’s move to add these features shows the startup believes the intelligent use of data can help people do their jobs more effectively. In this case, it’s a matter of finding the signal amid all the noise — and finding out what to pay attention to. Think of DataFox’s Smart Lists as a recommendation engine for companies, instead of for movies or musicians. And the model could become popular, with DataFox now focusing more on corporate development, business development, and sales — not just financial services domains like private equity and investment banking.

Around 25 companies, including Box, GE, and Intuit, have already signed up for the new enterprise package, Janmaat said.

The integration with Salesforce includes a sidebar that can show up in Salesforce. From there, it’s possible to add a company to Salesforce as a sales lead or start discussing a news item DataFox detects in Salesforce’s Chatter enterprise social networking app. These capabilities have the potential to enrich the average salesperson’s daily workflow right from within Salesforce — just as some other startups have been seeking to do.

DataFox’s competitors include Mattermark and Tracxn. Competition could also come from companies that track media, like Quid.

San Francisco-based DataFox currently employs 12 people; it has raised a total of $2 million.