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Venture capitalists for years had avoided backing Google
competitors because of its dominance of internet searching
across most of the world.
But growing consumer privacy concerns and a resurgence of
antitrust scrutiny on Google from regulators in the United
States and elsewhere has led to what some investors perceive as
an opening.
"We're at a critical inflection point in the internet's history,
and we must take steps to restore trust online," Benioff said in
a press release. He called You.com "the future of search".
Benioff's involvement with the startup includes the transfer of
the You.com domain name, which he has owned since the 1990s.
Neither he nor the startup would comment on the terms of the URL
exchange, and it was not clear whether the transfer formed part
of the overall investment. Beyond Benioff's TIME Ventures, other
investors include Breyer Capital, Sound Ventures and Day One
Ventures.
Founded last year by two former top AI scientists at Salesforce,
You.com lets users set preferred websites. For instance, users
who like to get information from Reddit and Yelp would see rows
of search results from those services before links from the
broader web.
You.com will not track users across the web nor sell
"privacy-invasive ads", according to co-founder and CEO Richard
Socher. He added the company will not log searches and clicks
when users opt for an incognito mode.
The startup aims to collect fees for facilitating transactions
like food orders or flight bookings, and wants to help other
publishers generate revenue through ads embedded among search
results.
New antitrust rules would help You.com grow, Socher said, adding
that popular browsers owned by Apple Inc and Google in the name
of security make it difficult for users to replace Google as the
default search.
(Reporting by Paresh Dave in Menlo Park, California; Editing by
Jan Harvey)
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