Graphiq

Graphiq (formerly FindTheBest) is a semantic technology company^[2] that uses artificial intelligence to rapidly create interactive data-driven infographics.^[3] Its intent is similar to Wolfram Alpha which is designed to provide users with direct information on a variety of subjects rather than going through a search engine. Graphiq's flagship product for online content creators, Graphiq Search,^[4] allows users to access it's library of 10B+ interactive visualizations.^[3] Additionally, Graphiq offers 22 vertically aligned research sites^[5] that allow consumers to research important topics. The company states that 33 million visitors use Graphiq research sites every month.^[6][7] The data from Graphiq is mined from a variety of public and private sources and presented to users in a visual table with filters and ratings.^[8]

Graphiq is based in Santa Barbara, California and has raised $32 million in total funding from venture funding companies by 2013.^{[3][8][9][10]}

History

The company was founded in 2009 as FindTheBest by Kevin J. O'Connor, former CEO and co-founder of DoubleClick, Scott Leonard and Brayton Johnson.^[11] The site was publicly launched in 2010 with nine comparison categories, including health, education, business, and sports.^[12][13] The venture was funded with an initial investment of $750,000 each from the founders, followed by $2 million by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in December 2010.^[13]

In 2011, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers invested an additional $4 million into the company.^[1] FindTheBest also added another $11 million in Series B funding from New World Ventures, Montgomery & Co., Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and others.^[14] In May 2014, FindTheBest had reached 23 million visits per month and employed a team of approximately 110 people.^[15]

The company has continually added new services. In 2011, it launched FindTheData.com. The AssistMe option was added in 2012. In January 2013, the company made its first international expansion and launched sites in Spain, South Korea, and New Zealand. In April 2013, the company launched sites in Germany and the United Kingdom.^[15] Its real estate research site FindTheHome launched in 2014.^[16]

In August 2015, the company rebranded to Graphiq Inc. and launched a new set of tools for publishers.^[17][18] According to an article in TechCrunch, those "products include Graphiq Search, where journalists can search through the company’s existing visualizations; a Graphiq Feed with news alerts and research; and Graphiq Plugins, starting with integrations for WordPress and WordPress VIP, which automatically recommend visualizations that may be relevant for a given story."^[18] At the time, the company's database included 1 billion entities, 120 billion attributes and 25 billion relationships.^[18]

Product

The company's primary consumer offering is its vertically aligned research sites, which let users research products and services on a desktop or mobile device, such as cars, colleges, investment advisors, smartphones, computers.^[13][19] Users can filter their options and view Smart Ratings to assist in narrowing down their product selection. They are also able to add or edit product and service listings. Each edit is reviewed by Graphiq’s team before it goes live.^[20]

The company offers a variety of products for online content creators and journalists, including Graphiq Search, Feed and Plugins.^[21] Publishers that use Graphiq visualizations include AOL, MSN, The International Business Times and Hearst Newspapers.^[18] In August 2016, Reuters announced a partnership with Graphiq to deliver a suite of interactive visualizations to Reuters customers.^[22][23][24] In October 2016, The Associated Press announced an expanded collaboration with Graphiq to introduce paired visualizations with AP text content.^[3][25]

Business model

Kevin O'Connor launched the service in response to poor search results he sometimes received from Google searches. The site attempts to bridge the gap between search engines like Google and review-type services like Yelp. O'Connor describes it as a "research engine." Each research site is free for consumers and monetized with advertisements.^[26][27] The visualizations pull from the same database that powers the research sites and each visualization includes the Graphiq logo and a link back to one of the company's research sites where they monetize users with advertisements.

See also

• Wolfram Alpha
• Knowledge Graph

References

External links

• Official website
• Company blog