Metaweb
Former American data management company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
| |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Data management |
| Founded | July 2005 |
| Founder | Veda Hlubinka-Cook, Danny Hillis, John Giannandrea |
| Fate | acquired by Google in July 2010[1] |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | Kurt Bollacker (Chief scientist) Danny Hillis (Chairman) Thomas Layton (CEO)[2] Veda Hlubinka-Cook EVP, product development John Giannandrea (CTO) |
| Products | Freebase — an online database |
| Website | www.metaweb.com |
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]