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Search - Sunday, August 5, 2007

Search Co. Accoona Files IPO

Founded in 2004, Accoona has gone from startup to IPO rapidly. It's fitting that the name Accoona is derived from the Swahili phrase, Hakuna Matata, which means “don’t worry be happy.” On the other hand, the company at launch was heralded as a potential Google killer and that hasn't come to pass. Chess champion Anatoli Karpov and China Daily Information are investors and Eckhard Pfeiffer, former Compaq Computer CEO, was founder and investor. Additionally, none other than Bill Clinton launched the site with a paid promotion (the money was donated to charity).

Accoona.com is a search engine with interactive tools that provides users with web, business and news results. Accoona is powered by proprietary artificial intelligence technology and has several business areas: search, eCommerce, advertising and data driven lead generation. The company is also developing a presence in China.

Accoona is looking to raise $80.5M in the offering and may use a portion of the proceeds to acquire or invest in complementary companies.

In the first quarter of this year Accoona had a loss of $14.8M, compared with a loss of $5.5M in the year-ago period. Revenues for the quarter rose to $37.5M from $23M in the year-ago quarter.

Read - Reuters report