Two weeks after Microsoft announced its $1.2 billion acquisition of FAST Search & Transfer, enterprise-search competitor Endeca is getting a $15 million cash infusion from Intel and SAP. This is on top of the $50 million Endeca has already raised in the past few years from Lehman Brothers, Granite Global Ventures, Ampersand Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Venrock Associates and DN Capital.
Boston-based Endeca powers enterprise search for big companies including Borders, Boeing, the Census Bureau, the EPA, Ford, Hallmark, IBM, and Toshiba. The company specializes in guided search, auto-categorizing results based on the keywords someone enters. It is already a substantial company, with 500 employees and a $30 million quarterly revenue run-rate. It was founded in 1999. Update: The company says its full-year 2007 revenues were $108 million, compared to $69 million in 2006. It also says it broke even on profits last year. Endeca is still private, so these are unaudited numbers.
“Boston-based Endeca powers enterprise search for big companies including Borders, Boeing, the Census Bureau, the EPA, Ford, Hallmark, IBM”
Their product powers IBM yet IBM is developing their own with Yahoo:
http://omnifind.ibm.yahoo.net/
Interesting…
Search is hot! It’s time to check Google’s alternatives. Charles Knight of AltSearchEngines.com has developed a top list on http://altsearc...es-of-the-year/
Damn, Run on Sentence… I don’t know how college professors grade Techcrunch blogs.
After Microsoft’s acquisition of FAST this was bound to happen. I have a few friends at FAST who were amazed when Microsoft acquired them, because they thought that Endeca would have been a sweeter deal. Well, now we know why they stayed away.
Enterprise Search is the next “big thing” that all ERP players have determined to have as a “must have” tool set. This is a good move for SAP in that regard. With respect to their products, however, much is left to be desired.
Something smells…the ‘inside talk’ last year was get ready ready for Endeca IPO. Perhaps they are NOT doing so well and this very mature software player needs help from sugar daddies.
Pathetic !
In this latest funding round, Intel alone is kicking in $10 million, the chip giant said. That leaves SAP with the remaining $5 million tab. And, of course, these corporate titans are looking to get something out of their investment.
Endeca claims IBM but all public facing IBM is powered by Fast and I would think they use their own stuff internally. Endeca used to power the laptop part of IBM, now lenovo. But now Lenovo too is a fast customer I read. Looks like endeca is tanking…….
Something is not right. This kind of funding dilutes existing share-holders equity. Companies don’t get funding like this unless they need it. Why does a 9 year old, 500 employee software company, need $15M?