SemantiNet Raises $1.7 Million
Duncan Riley
21 comments »
Semantic web search startup SemantiNet has raised an initial round of $1.7 million from Giza Venture Capital.
The Tel Aviv, Israel based company is aiming to “make life easy again” by providing semantic web search that allows users “to take advantage of the variety and richness of information and services that exist on the Internet, but in a way that is simple, smart and intuitive,” with the ultimate goal of allowing users to “achieve more while working less.”
SemantiNet was founded in 2006 and includes Yossi Vardi as one of its investors.
(via Globes Online)
“that allows users “to take advantage of the variety and richness of information and services that exist on the Internet, but in a way that is simple, smart and intuitive,” with the ultimate goal of allowing users to “achieve more while working less.””
At least they have a fresh perspective on the whole thing. Not like those other vague, generic models.
@1,
LOL!!!
Duncan, Can you tell us what they actually hope to do? That’s some of the vaguest web speak I’ve read in a while.
Hahah!
semantic web is with us!!!
http://www.spymac.com/details/?2331213
Yawn, another search engine, boring.
I think I just hit “buzzword” bingo!
.rb
Sounds like total BS. How did this ever get funded? Add them to the deadpool and confiscate their cash:)
The welcome page is NEON green. That was enough to make me close my tab.
what semantic technology do they use? anyways, a semantic search is HOT now.
I think TC has been infiltrated by the Mossad
Went to their website and attempted to sign up for the beta testing.. the link failed, not a real good start, can’t even find information on their own website!
It seems that Tech Crunch is running more and more frequent stories on “web organizers”. Are portals going the way of widgets, everyone wants their own?
What I want to know is when is Tech Crunch going to do a story on Arkayne?
another more
Duncan,
You are two out two! You covered two Israeli companies that raised funding in less than 24 hours (Semantinet and UnisFair)
But i’m not surprised - the Israeli startup market is on fire, and that’s exactly the focus of my blog, VC Cafe (http://www.vccafe.com) the hub for Israeli startup news. Subscribe to the feed for daily updates.
In 2007 alone Israeli High-Tech Capital Raising in 2007 Reached $1.76 Billion - Highest in Six Years
Read more about it on:
* Israel 2008: What the Bulls and Bears are saying
http://www.vccafe.com/2008/01/.....re-saying/
Other recent headlines:
* Bitesize newsbrief: Israeli business headlines for the week of 01.21.08 | VC Cafe
*iMedix wins Crunchies award in San Francisco
* Israeli singer serenades launch of MacBook Air (watch the video)
* Yahoo! opens R&D center in Israel, inks deal with Walla!
* Techcrunch post stirs political debate
This is a spoof? Right? Its not April 1st. The last 2 TC posts both look like April Fools Day pranks
Eager to know what they will do. It seems to be another bad idea.
I know the company from the inside and the generic description on TC does not reflect the company at all.
Their technology may transform the way web is consumed and shaped. I cannot say more (signed on NDA ) but they have a truely disruptive technology. Wait for their releases… All the commenters above will eat their hats.
- Nir (BTW I’m not involved with them in any way currently)
Duncan,
Thank you for linking to the Globes article.
It was a great surprise to see us mentioned in TechCrunch.
For those who commented: I promise to disclose more information in the very near future so please stay tuned.
p.s
SemantiNet is not developing another “semantic search engine”
I think I have a vague idea on what they are aiming at. If they can pull it out it might the thing that kills Google. (Don’t we all feel a little bored with the “Do no evil” slogans?)
Hi there, it seems that people are getting to understand the usefulness of semantics. We have done so for about 10 years and for the last 10 years worked on a model to express knowledge and use it in practical situations - not just search or tagging that is a very shallow application of the ideas. In the next few months we are going live with an entirely semantically based knowledge repository and enterprise management system. The interface will allow interaction with the thing almost like humans would. No search needed. You can run big enterprises (we already running 4 insurers on this in offline mode). This is not just a layer which allows easier search of info - this is the real deep info/knowledge itself. Interestingly it removes almost entirely the need for IT. You will be able to run any business or personal social life on it. We think it can be a Google/IBM/Oracle/SAP killer. It does not improve on the way traditional stuff works but changes entirely the model of interaction with web and computer.
If anybody has more questions send me email to Pawel@ThoughtExpress.Com
We are soon coming out of stealth mode
Cheers