Searching for a niche
Venture capitalists are looking to invest in start-ups focused on areas that giants like Google and Yahoo have missed. The idea is to cash in by selling these properties to one of the biggies.
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Finding millions
A variety of different search-related companies nailed down funding in 2005.
| Company | Close date (2005) | Money raised ($M) | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| BayNote | March 17 | 4.5 | Technology to increase relevancy of search engines |
| 4INFO | March 21 | 8 | Mobile-phone search services |
| FatLens | Feb. 2 | 8 | Online shopping search engine with instant messaging |
| Simply Hired | Aug. 4 | 3 | Listings from job boards and from online newspaper classifieds |
| Onmeta | Sept. 29 | undisclosed | Hosted search and shopping comparison in the entertainment field |
| EVDB | March 28 | 2.1 | Searchable events database |
| ChoiceStream | Feb. 22 | 7 | Personalized online consumer services, search |
| Feedster | June 2 | undisclosed | RSS and blog search engine |
| X1 Technologies | April 20 | 10 | Desktop-search software |
| iCrossing | June 30 | 13 | Search engine optimization, marketing services |
| Perfect Market Technologies | July 19 | 10 | Developer of Snap general search engine |
| Business.com | Feb. 23 | 6.5 | Internet-business search engine and directory |