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Powerset (company)

Powerset (company)

A company that created an internet search engine. It was started in 2005 and acquired by Microsoft in 2008.

Powerset was a California-based company with technology to conduct searches on the internet using natural language processing (NLP). The technology was able to consider the semantic meaning behind keyword searches, not just the keywords themselves. It was focused on the structure of language so that users would get more relevant search results when using the product.

Product

Powerset was used to search articles using NLP on Wikipedia. Upon entering the keywords or question in the search engine box, users would be presented with relevant images, tags, and summaries.They could click on an article, which they would then view along with a side box containing "factz". The "factz" were brief facts that were related to the topic and users were also able to click on those in order to be taken to an article that was related to the previous one.

Funding and Acquisition

The company had two funding rounds, raising a total of $20.5 million. In 2008, Microsoft acquired Powerset for a reported $100 million. The technology was then integrated into Bing, Microsoft's own search engine.

Timeline

June 1, 2007
Powerset raises a $12,500,000 series A round from Bezos Expeditions, Foundation Capital, Founders Fund, Reid Hoffman and Scott Banister.

Funding Rounds

Patents

Further Resources

Title
Author
Link
Type
Date

Bing finds meaning in Powerset

Cade Metz

Web

July 1, 2009

Powerset shows semantic search solution

Paul Miller

Web

May 12, 2008

References

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