Stealth search company Blekko gets $3M
Blekko, a stealth search company started by Topix co-founder Rich Skrenta, has raised $3 million in a second round of funding, according to TechCrunch.
Little is known about the company, and right now its website contains nothing more than a photo of, um, a puppet (see above). But apparently Netscape and Ning co-founder Marc Andreessen, SoftTech VC and Western Technology Investment all think Skrenta (famous for creating the first computer virus) has a good idea, as they’ve contributed the funding at a $23 million post-money valuation. Blekko previously raised a $2 million seed round.
To casual observers, Google seems to have the search market locked up, but that doesn’t stop startups from trying to take on the search giant (or to create a niche outside of Google’s shadow), and it doesn’t stop VCs from investing in them. The funding news comes just two days after Powerset launched its search tool (currently restricted to Wikipedia and Freebase). Powerset has raised $14.5 million, while another stealth search startup, Cuill, has raised a total of $33 million.
Next Story: Comcast buys Plaxo to make itself more socially viable
Previous Story: GreenFuel not giving up, with another $13.9M for algae farms
About the Author, Anthony Ha
Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on enterprise technology, cloud computing, and tech policy. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.