- Metaweb
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This article is about the company Metaweb Technologies. For the defunct Quicksilver Wiki, previously known as The Metaweb, see Neal Stephenson.
Metaweb Technologies, Inc. 
Type Private Industry Data management Fate acquired
(by Google in July, 2010)Founded 2005 Founder(s) Danny Hillis, Robert Cook Headquarters San Francisco, California, USA Key people Danny Hillis,Chairman
Thomas Layton, CEO[1]
Robert Cook, EVP, Product Development
John Giannandrea, CTOProducts Freebase — an online database Website www.metaweb.com Metaweb Technologies, Inc. was a United States company based in San Francisco that developed Freebase, described as an "open, shared database of the world's knowledge". The company was founded by Danny Hillis in July, 2005, and operated in stealth mode until 2007. Metaweb was acquired by Google in July, 2010[2]. Although Metaweb no longer exists as a separate corporate entity, Freebase and its associated website freebase.com continue to be provided as an open database under Metaweb's original CC-BY licensing terms.
Contents
Funding
On March 14, 2006, Metaweb received $15 million in funding. Investors included: Benchmark Capital, Millennium Technology Ventures, and Omidyar Network.[3] Kevin Harvey of Benchmark Capital is a member of Metaweb's board of directors. On January 15, 2008, Metaweb announced a $42.5 million Series B round led by Goldman Sachs and Benchmark Capital.[4]
Acquisition
On July 16, 2010, Google acquired Metaweb for an unspecified sum.[5]
See also
- Radar Networks — developers of semantic web applications for the general public
- DBpedia - community effort to extract semantic information from Wikipedia
- Web 2.0
- Semantic Web
References
- ^ Metaweb announces hiring of Thomas Layton, CEO
- ^ "Metaweb joins Google" (Press release). Metaweb. 2010-07-16. http://blog.freebase.com/2010/07/16/metaweb-joins-google/. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
- ^ "Metaweb Technologies, Inc. Receives $15 Million of Financing From Benchmark Capital, Millennium Technology Ventures and Omidyar Network" (Press release). Benchmark Capital. 2006-03-13. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-14-2006/0004319555. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
- ^ Metaweb Raises $42.5 Million led by Goldman Sachs and Benchmark Capital (company press release)
- ^ Deeper Understanding with Metaweb (company press release)
External links
- Metaweb Technologies, Inc. — company homepage
- Freebase — Metaweb's online database
- Freebase Blog
Categories:- Companies based in San Francisco, California
- Online databases
- Semantic Web
- Semantic Web companies
- Companies established in 2005
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
