Open Dataset, GitHub Engineering Velocity Panel for Venture-Backed Startups
Released under CC BY 4.0. Citable via DOI 10.5281/zenodo.19650920. Currently Q3 2026; data last refreshed 2026-08-25.
Downloads & mirrors
The same canonical CSVs are served from five independent mirrors so you can pick whichever fits your stack.
Canonical research mirror. Loadable via `datasets.load_dataset('the-data-nerd/vc-deal-flow-signal')`.
Citable archive. Version DOI 10.5281/zenodo.19650920; concept DOI 10.5281/zenodo.19650919 always resolves to the latest version.
Notebook-friendly mirror with full README and per-file descriptions.
Autosyncs from the live API endpoint each day. SPARQL-queryable via Data.world's query layer.
Always-fresh live endpoints: /api/signals.csv and /api/signals.json. Refreshed weekly.
Three CSV configurations
309 rows total across the three configs. All three share the period column for time-series joins.
startup_signals
~~250 rows
Per-startup, per-period observations: 14-day commit velocity and change %, contributor count and growth %, new-repo count, inferred signal type, GitHub URL.
periodsector_slugsector_namestartup_namestagegeographycommit_velocity_14dcommit_velocity_change_pctcontributorscontributor_growth_pctnew_repossignal_typegithub_urlsector_aggregates
~~50 rows
Sector-level rollups: tracked-startup count, mean and median commit velocity, total 14-day commits, mean contributor count, count of positive-velocity movers, top mover, dominant signal type.
periodsector_slugsector_namestartups_trackedavg_commit_velocity_14dmedian_commit_velocity_14dtotal_commits_14davg_contributorspositive_velocity_counttop_mover_nametop_mover_change_pctdominant_signal_typesignal_type_timeseries
~~10 rows
Signal-type frequency by period with share of total. Useful for tracking aggregate shifts between framework migrations, hiring bursts, infrastructure buildouts, and deploy spikes.
periodsignal_typestartup_countshare_of_totalVariables measured
| Variable | Unit | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Commit Velocity (14-day) | commits | Total commits to an organization's most active public repository over a rolling 14-day window. |
| Commit Velocity Change | percent | Percentage change in commit velocity compared to the preceding 14-day window. Primary ranking signal. |
| Contributor Count | contributors | Number of unique contributors to the organization's most active public repository. |
| Contributor Growth | percent | Period-over-period change in unique contributor count. Surfaces engineering hiring bursts. |
| Signal Type | categorical | Classification of acceleration pattern: framework migration, engineering hiring burst, infrastructure buildout, or deploy frequency spike. |
Citation
Use whichever format your venue requires. ORCID iD 0009-0002-2222-4112 and the persistent DOI both resolve to the canonical record.
APA
The Data Nerd. (2026). VC Deal Flow Signal: A Longitudinal Panel of GitHub Engineering Velocity for Venture-Backed Startups (1.0.0) [Dataset]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19650920
BibTeX
@dataset{thedatanerd_2026_vc_deal_flow_signal,
author = {The Data Nerd},
title = {{VC Deal Flow Signal: A Longitudinal Panel of
GitHub Engineering Velocity for Venture-Backed
Startups}},
month = apr,
year = 2026,
publisher = {Zenodo},
version = {1.0.0},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.19650920},
url = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19650920},
license = {CC-BY-4.0}
}CITATION.cff
cff-version: 1.2.0
title: "VC Deal Flow Signal, Startup Engineering Acceleration Dataset"
type: dataset
authors:
- name: "The Data Nerd"
affiliation: "VC Deal Flow Signal"
version: "1.0.0"
date-released: "2026-04-19"
doi: "10.5281/zenodo.19650920"
license: "CC-BY-4.0"Related resources
- SSRN working paper methodology, classification rules, and early observations.
- Methodology page full breakdown of how each signal is computed.
- Data sources every API endpoint, update cadence, and licensing detail.
- Citations to this dataset papers, blog posts, and tools that have used the data.