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This is the page housing Mahalo's official Press Release and related images and information.
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Mahalo Press Release
- Human-powered search engine Mahalo.com launches with investors including Sequoia Capital, Elon Musk, News Corp, CBS Corporation and Burda Media.
- Wall Street Journal's D Conference (Northern San Diego), May 30th, 2007: Serial entrepreneur Jason McCabe Calacanis today launched Mahalo.com, a human-powered search engine, at the Wall Street Journal's D Conference. The site is currently being launched in Alpha with the Internet's 4,000 most popular search terms completed. The Santa Monica-based company hopes to reach 10,000 search terms by the end of the year. At that point it will enter Beta, and launch shortly thereafter.
- "We're in month five of a five-year project," explained Calacanis, "but we wanted to get some real-world feedback, so we're launching it early here at D Conference."
- The site is focused on the top English-language search terms, including verticals such as travel, products, news, entertainment, sports, food, and health. "Google's mission is to index the world's information; our mission is to curate that wonderful index," said Calacanis. "It's my belief that humans can play a significant role in the development of search results and we're going to try to figure out exactly what that role is over the next couple of years. I am really looking forward to hearing what people think of the Alpha," he added.
- Roelof Botha, a partner at Sequoia Capital who serves on Mahalo's board, said, "We're thrilled with the results Jason and his team have produced in such a short period of time—we look forward to user feedback so we can continue to improve the service."
- Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind PayPal, SpaceX and Tesla Motors, said, "Search results edited by objective human experts mean you get all the important information on the first page and don't have to waste time sorting through low value links. The incredible growth of Internet access, combined with what Mahalo has developed, have finally made this approach cost effective." Mr. Musk is co-lead of Mahalo's second round of financing and will be joining Mahalo's board.
- "Plainly, human editing can improve search; the promise here is to aggregate that process at scale," said Jeremy Philips, News Corporation's executive vice president, office of the chairman. Mr. Philips will be joining Mahalo's board.
- Additionally, the firm announced that it has closed two rounds of financing to date. Lead investors include Sequoia Capital, Elon Musk and NewsCorp. Additional investors include CBS Corporation, Hubert Burda Media, Allen & Co., David Bradley, Gigi Brisson, Sandy Climan, Mark Cuban, Matt Coffin, Ted Leonsis, Jonathan Miller, Mark Pincus, Ryan Scott, and Fred Wilson.
About Sequoia Capital
- Sequoia Capital provides startup venture capital for very smart people who want to turn ideas into companies. As the "Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs," Sequoia Capital's Partners have worked with innovators such as Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Bob Swanson of Linear Technology, Sandy Lerner and Len Bozack of Cisco Systems, Dan Warmenhoven of Network Appliance, Jerry Yang and David Filo of Yahoo!, Jen-Hsun Huang of nVIDIA, Michael Marks of Flextronics, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen of YouTube, Steve Goldman and Sujal Patel of Isilon Systems, and Dominic Orr and Keerti Melkote of Aruba Wireless Networks. To learn more about Sequoia Capital visit www.sequoiacap.com.
About Elon Musk
- Mr. Musk is CEO and CTO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), which he founded in 2002. SpaceX develops rockets and spacecraft for missions to Earth orbit and beyond. Last year, SpaceX won the NASA competition to design, build and demonstrate operation of a commercial replacement for the Space Shuttle, which retires in 2010.
- Prior to SpaceX, Mr. Musk co-founded PayPal, the world's leading Internet payment system, and served as the company's chairman and CEO. PayPal currently has over 100 million customers in 190 countries, processes tens of billions of dollars per year, and went public on NASDAQ in early 2002. Mr. Musk was the largest shareholder of PayPal until the company was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in mid-2002. Before PayPal, Mr. Musk co-founded Zip2 Corp., a provider of Internet software to the media industry, with investments from The New York Times Company, Knight-Ridder, MDV, Softbank and Hearst. He served as chairman, CEO and CTO. In early 1999, Zip2 was sold to Compaq for over $300 million in an all-cash transaction.
- In addition to his current day to day role at SpaceX, Mr. Musk is also chairman and the primary investor in Tesla Motors and SolarCity, where he plays a significant role in their strategic direction and product development. Both companies are intended to help address the risk of CO2-driven climate change.
About News Corporation
- News Corporation (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) had total assets as of March 31, 2007, of approximately US$62 billion and total annual revenues of approximately US$28 billion. News Corporation is a diversified entertainment company with operations in eight industry segments: filmed entertainment; television; cable network programming; direct broadcast satellite television; magazines and inserts; newspapers; book publishing; and other. The activities of News Corporation are conducted principally in the United States, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and the Pacific Basin.
About CBS Corporation
- CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A and CBS) is a mass media company with constituent parts that reach back to the beginnings of the broadcast industry, as well as newer businesses that operate on the leading edge of the media industry. The Company, through its many and varied operations, combines broad reach with well-positioned local businesses, all of which provide it with an extensive distribution network by which it serves audiences and advertisers in all 50 states and key international markets. It has operations in virtually every field of media and entertainment, including broadcast television (CBS and The CW &mdash a joint venture between CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment), cable television (Showtime and CSTV Networks), local television (CBS Television Stations), television production and syndication (CBS Paramount Network Television and CBS Television Distribution), radio (CBS Radio), advertising on out-of-home media (CBS Outdoor), publishing (Simon & Schuster), interactive media (CBS Interactive), music (CBS Records), licensing and merchandising (CBS Consumer Products) and video/ DVD (CBS Home Entertainment). For more information, log on to www.cbscorporation.com.
About Hubert Burda Media
- Hubert Burda Media is one of Germany's leading media companies, with substantial international assets in Central and Eastern Europe as well as Asia. The company's global magazine portfolio comprises over 250 titles, a host of web and radio content, television productions and direct marketing activities. Consolidated group revenues for 2005 were US$1.98 billion. For more information, log on to www.hubert-burda-media.com.
- Burda Digital Ventures is the Venture Capital arm of Hubert Burda Media. Burda Digital Ventures is committed to building outstanding companies in the Digital Space together with the best entrepreneurial talent available. Since 1999 the company has invested in more than 30 companies in the areas of Media, Platforms, Commerce, Games & Entertainment as well as Wireless.
- For more information contact: media@mahalo.com
- Human-powered search engine Mahalo.com launches with investors including Sequoia Capital, Elon Musk, News Corp, CBS Corporation and Burda Media.
