Search firm gets $25 million influx
Google.com, which makes software for searching the Net, sells undisclosed stakes to venture capitalists Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital.
Closely held Google.com also said John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins and Michael Moritz of Sequoia joined its board. Kleiner and Sequoia are considered among the most savvy technology venture-capital firms, having invested in companies such as Yahoo and Amazon.com. The two firms rarely back the same companies.
Palo Alto, California-based Google.com said it hopes to provide its technology to Internet sites including directories, or portals, which attract users by organizing information and offering free services such as email.
"Every portal over time should be a customer," Moritz said. "We should be a key supplier to any company on the Internet that wants a search function."
Inktomi, Compaq Computer's AltaVista unit, and Excite@Home are among companies that provide Internet search technology to other companies.
Google.com has a handful of clients, including Red Hat Software and Weather Underground. The company plans to sell advertising on its Web site.
The investments from Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia mark Google.com's first substantial round of venture-capital funding. The company wants to sell shares to the public before raising more capital, said President Sergey Brin. He declined to give an expected date for an initial public offering.
Like Yahoo, Google.com was founded by two Stanford University graduate students, Larry Page and Brin. The pair researched mathematical algorithms used in finding information online as computer-science doctoral candidates.
The Google.com technology employs a technique known as "link analysis," which evaluates the relevance of Web pages based on the number and type of other Web pages that are connected to it. Many other search technologies scour the Web for keywords.
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