 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Data management |
| Founded | July 2005; 19 years ago (2005-07) |
| Founder | Veda Hlubinka-Cook, Danny Hillis, John Giannandrea |
| Fate | acquired by Google in July 2010 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Key people | Kurt Bollacker (Chief scientist) Danny Hillis (Chairman) Thomas Layton (CEO) Veda Hlubinka-Cook EVP, product development John Giannandrea (CTO) |
| Products | Freebase — an online database |
| Website | www.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.
Metaweb was acquired by Google in 2010. Google shut down Freebase in 2016, transferring some of the data that met the required notability criteria to Wikidata.
Funding
On March 14, 2006, Metaweb received $15 million in funding. Investors included Benchmark Capital, Millennium Technology Ventures, and Omidyar Network. On January 15, 2008, Metaweb announced a $42.5 million Series B round led by Goldman Sachs and Benchmark Capital.
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.
References
- ^ "Metaweb joins Google" (Press release). Metaweb. 2010-07-16. Archived from the original on 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
- Metaweb announces hiring of Thomas Layton, CEO Archived 2008-02-20 at the Wayback Machine
- 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.
- "From Freebase to Wikidata: The Great Migration" (PDF). 11 April 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- 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.
- "So long and thanks for all the data!". 2 May 2016. Archived from the original on 22 January 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
- "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.
- Metaweb Raises $42.5 Million led by Goldman Sachs and Benchmark Capital Archived 2008-03-04 at the Wayback Machine (company press release)
- Deeper Understanding with Metaweb Archived 2010-07-18 at the Wayback Machine (company press release)
- Companies based in San Francisco
- Online databases
- Semantic Web companies
- Software companies established in 2005
- Google acquisitions
- Software companies disestablished in 2016
- 2010 mergers and acquisitions
- 2005 establishments in California
- 2016 disestablishments in California
- American companies established in 2005
- American companies disestablished in 2016