Metaweb Technologies, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryData management
FoundedJuly 2005; 18 years ago (2005-07)
FounderVeda Hlubinka-Cook,
Danny Hillis,
John Giannandrea
Fateacquired by Google
in July 2010[1]
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
,
United States
Key people
Kurt Bollacker
(Chief scientist)
Danny Hillis (Chairman)
Thomas Layton (CEO)[2]
Veda Hlubinka-Cook
EVP, product development
John Giannandrea (CTO)
ProductsFreebase — an online database
Websitewww.metaweb.com

Metaweb Technologies, Inc. was a San Francisco–based company that developed Freebase, described as an "open, shared database of the world's knowledge". The company was co-founded by Danny Hillis, Veda Hlubinka-Cook and John Giannandrea in 2005.[3]

Metaweb was acquired by Google in 2010.[1] Google shut down Freebase in 2016, transferring some of the data that met the required notability criteria to Wikidata.[4][5][6]

Funding

On March 14, 2006, Metaweb received $15 million in funding. Investors included Benchmark Capital, Millennium Technology Ventures, and Omidyar Network.[7] On January 15, 2008, Metaweb announced a $42.5 million Series B round led by Goldman Sachs and Benchmark Capital.[8]

Kevin Harvey of Benchmark Capital was a member of Metaweb's board of directors.

Acquisition

On July 16, 2010, Google acquired Metaweb for an undisclosed sum.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b "Metaweb joins Google" (Press release). Metaweb. 2010-07-16. Archived from the original on 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
  2. ^ Metaweb announces hiring of Thomas Layton, CEO Archived 2008-02-20 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Markoff, John (2007-03-09). "Start-Up Aims for Database to Automate Web Searching". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2018-04-17. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  4. ^ "From Freebase to Wikidata: The Great Migration" (PDF). 11 April 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  5. ^ Douglas, Jason (December 16, 2014). "Announcement: From Freebase to Wikidata". Freebase Discuss. Google Groups. Archived from the original on January 22, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  6. ^ "So long and thanks for all the data!". 2 May 2016. Archived from the original on 22 January 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  7. ^ "Metaweb Technologies, Inc. Receives $15 Million of Financing From Benchmark Capital, Millennium Technology Ventures and Omidyar Network" (Press release). Benchmark Capital. 2006-03-13. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
  8. ^ Metaweb Raises $42.5 Million led by Goldman Sachs and Benchmark Capital Archived 2008-03-04 at the Wayback Machine (company press release)
  9. ^ Deeper Understanding with Metaweb Archived 2010-07-18 at the Wayback Machine (company press release)
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