Mahalo

company

About

Mahalo is an online web directory and knowledge-sharing service that helps individuals find the best information on the required topics.

  • 11 - 50

Details

Last Funding Type
Series B
Last Funding Money Raised
$16M
Industries
Internet,Knowledge Management,Search Engine
Founded date
Jan 1, 2007
Number Of Employee
11 - 50
Operating Status
Active

Mahalo is a human powered search engine founded by Silicon Alley veteran entrepreneur Jason Calacanis. Results are generated non-algorithmically by a team of profile builders who create pages for search terms. Mahalo includes the most appropriate hand found links and information about for about 10,000 unique queries.

By 2008 the company hoped to reach 25,000 profiles. Not unsurprisingly, search results are generated at a limited speed, because of the absence of an automated engine. However, results pages are often very deep and useful. Searching queries for which a page has not been created are supplemented with Google search results. Theoretically, Google users shouldn't have a problem switching over.

Results pages are a mix between a traditional search layout and Wikipedia. Any factual information is concisely listed to the side of the all links, while links results are split into different categories with the "top 7" heading up the page. Results categories beyond the top 7 are decided upon by Mahalo guides. These categories are tailored specifically to the search term. Thus, a search for a person might include a professional profile, statistics for an athlete or a "gossip" section for celebrities. Searches for companies generally include recent news, products or stock information. Because search results are ultimately subjective, Mahalo allows users to submit their own links for consideration. These links are voted on and eventually published or not.

Although the manual creation process will force Mahalo to grow its index very slowly, founder Jason Calacanis claims the company can operate for [four years without any revenue](http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/30/jason-calacanis-launches-mahalo-today-human-powered-search/).

Mahalo is one of a few substantially funded alternative search engines including [Powerset](http://crunchbase.com/organization/powerset), Hakia, [Wikia](http://crunchbase.com/organization/wikia), and [ChaCha](http://crunchbase.com/organization/chacha). [Wikipedia](http://crunchbase.com/organization/wikipedia) can also be considered a competitor.

Funding Rounds

Number of Funding Rounds
Total Funding Amount
2
$21M
Mahalo has raised a total of $21M in funding over 2 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Jan 1, 2007 from a Series B round.
Announced Date Round Money Raised Number of Investors Lead Investors Post Valuation
Jan 1, 2007 Series B $16M 2 Detail
Jan 1, 2006 Series A $5M 1 Detail

Investors

Number of Lead Investors
Number of Investors
2
Mahalo is funded by 2 investors. News Corp and Sequoia Capital are the most recent investors.
Investor Name Lead Investor Funding Round
News Corp Series B
Sequoia Capital Series B