AOL is considering spinning off technology-company CrunchBase to reflect its value, chief executive officer Tim Armstrong said.

AOL, which acquired CrunchBase owner TechCrunch in 2010, could remain a partial shareholder in the database company, Armstrong said at a TechCrunch conference in London. “I think CrunchBase could be a very big company on its own,” Armstrong said.

A spin-off would let AOL reap benefits from its acquisition of TechCrunch while continuing its move beyond a collection of news and entertainment websites to a focus on online-advertising services and software. TechCrunch keeps statistics such as funding rounds and employee counts for venture capital-backed companies. AOL, based in New York, doesn't provide information on sales and profits at CrunchBase and TechCrunch. Along with the Huffington Post, AOL.com and others, they're part of the company's brand group, which had sales of $794.4 million (€625.68m) last year. Armstrong reiterated that AOL isn't going to merge with Yahoo! brushing off a campaign by Yahoo activist investor Starboard Value LP to combine the companies.

The statement came as start-ups gathered in London earlier this week for the TechCrunch Disrupt Europe Startup Battlefield. At it an Irish app, CareZapp, was selected as one of the start-up finalists. It is a free mobile app that enables care and support organisations to manage large care groups.