Masterseek
Encyclopedia
Masterseek Corp. is a B2B
(Business to Business) search engine
founded in Denmark
in 1999. It currently hosts over 83 million worldwide company profiles from 75 countries, and business subscribers are given complete control over their corporate profiles. According to the amount of listed profiles, they are the largest B2B search engine worldwide.
in 1999. Their Denmark headquarters is located at Bredgade 29, DK-1260 Kbh. K, and they also have a current headquarters in New York City
, at 82 Wall Street
. The website remained under development and beta testing until 2005, when it soft-launched on limited data.
According to its executives, Masterseek utilizes a business model based on an annual business subscription fee of USD $149, in return for which subscribers receive full editing control over their corporate profile, content and advertising, and control over widgets and embedded video, among other factors.
The company is top ranked by Alexa
under the category of business search engines.
. Accoona had been launched in 2004, with U.S. President Bill Clinton
serving as their initial spokesman. The search engine had been fairly successful in the United States and China
, where it had an exclusive partnership with China Daily News
. On August 3, 2006, TIME had dubbed Accoona one of its "50 best websites," illustrating how the search engine used artificial intelligence
to "understand" the meaning of keyword queries. Accoona had run into difficulties and gone defunct by early October 2008, withdrawing its IPO.
After Masterseek bought the remaining search engine codes, domain name, and assets, Accoona was integrated with Masterseek, and re-launched in the USA and China. It was launched in Europe in January 2009. Accoona information was also integrated into the Masterseek search engine.
In September 2010, an iPhone
application to read the search engine had been launched in English and Chinese.
, LinkedIn
, Google
, and Wikipedia
.
It works on mobile devices such as the iPhone
and iPad
, and through browser plugins for Internet Explorer
, Firefox, and Google Chrome
.
to add job searches to Masterseek business profiles.
, Denmark's cycling team, beginning with the team's involvement in the Tour de France
. The Masterseek name began to be displayed on the team's apparel that week, with the Tour's start in London
.
Business-to-business
Business-to-business describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer...
(Business to Business) search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
founded in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
in 1999. It currently hosts over 83 million worldwide company profiles from 75 countries, and business subscribers are given complete control over their corporate profiles. According to the amount of listed profiles, they are the largest B2B search engine worldwide.
Founding
Masterseek was founded in Denmark by Rasmus ReferRasmus Refer
Ramus Refer is a Danish entrepreneur and business owner best known for founding the B2B search engine Masterseek.-Early life:...
in 1999. Their Denmark headquarters is located at Bredgade 29, DK-1260 Kbh. K, and they also have a current headquarters in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, at 82 Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
. The website remained under development and beta testing until 2005, when it soft-launched on limited data.
According to its executives, Masterseek utilizes a business model based on an annual business subscription fee of USD $149, in return for which subscribers receive full editing control over their corporate profile, content and advertising, and control over widgets and embedded video, among other factors.
Finances
As of June 2008, accountancy firm Horwart International had approximated the raw market value of the Masterseek company at $150 million. The company remains privately owned, but also in June 2008, it sold 10% of its authorized stocks to a range of foreign investors. The company announced on January 31, 2009 that they company was again offering a limited number of shares for sale in order to raise $4-6 million dollars in order to gain a listing on the Swedish marketplace Akie Torget. Founder Refer also announced there were plans for an IPO. By October 2009, they had signed with the Swedish-based company Thenberg & Kinde Fondkommission AB for financing. Masterseek later announced in September 2010 that the search engine had doubled in value over the previous two months, and that financial experts had estimated Masterseek's net worth to $275 million, the equivalent of $9 per share. As of May 11, 2011, the company has total authorized issue of 30 million shares.Statistics
In June 2008, the company stated it had 50 million company profiles, from over 75 countries, and handled 90,000 B2B searches daily. The company stated they had 82 million profiles on March 21, 2011, with an average of 300,000 new profiles added monthly. As of April 16, 2011, Masterseek stated they had 83 million worldwide company profiles listed.The company is top ranked by Alexa
Alexa
- Names :*Alexa , discussion of the name itself*Alexa Chung, British TV presenter*Alexa Davalos, French-American actress*Alexa Demara, American actress*Alexa Gerasimovich, American actress*Alexa Glatch, American tennis player...
under the category of business search engines.
Acquiring Accoona
On October 30, 2008, it was announced that Masterseek had acquired the B2B search engine AccoonaAccoona
Accoona was an internet company having offices in Jersey City, New Jersey and Shanghai, China. Their main product was a search engine that claimed to use artificial intelligence to better understand searches. On June 23, 2005, in the ABC Times Square studios, the AI Accoona Toolbar, driven by a...
. Accoona had been launched in 2004, with U.S. President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
serving as their initial spokesman. The search engine had been fairly successful in the United States and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, where it had an exclusive partnership with China Daily News
China Daily News
China Daily News is a Traditional Chinese-language newspaper published in Tainan City, Taiwan....
. On August 3, 2006, TIME had dubbed Accoona one of its "50 best websites," illustrating how the search engine used artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
to "understand" the meaning of keyword queries. Accoona had run into difficulties and gone defunct by early October 2008, withdrawing its IPO.
After Masterseek bought the remaining search engine codes, domain name, and assets, Accoona was integrated with Masterseek, and re-launched in the USA and China. It was launched in Europe in January 2009. Accoona information was also integrated into the Masterseek search engine.
Technology
The search engine is intended to establish contact between worldwide buyers and suppliers. The Masterseek search engine relies on web crawlers that automatically collect and sort company details from the internet. Searches can look up company profiles, contact information, and descriptions of products and services. Searches can be global, national, regional, or involved local markets. Hits are listed by relevance according to search terms. There are different search options, including a specific product search, company searches, and people searches. Results can be displayed in most languages. The search engine also offers MasterRank, a point system for ranking corporate websites.In September 2010, an iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
application to read the search engine had been launched in English and Chinese.
Beta version
Masterseek released a new Beta Version of its search engine on March 25, 2011. Before then, it was accessible to business owners, managers, and other professionals, but the Beta Version made searching the site free and open to the public. The Beta Version also allows subscribers complete control over their profiles and advertising, and facilitates TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a business-related social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. , LinkedIn reports more than 120 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French,...
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, and Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
.
It works on mobile devices such as the iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
and iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
, and through browser plugins for Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
, Firefox, and Google Chrome
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or...
.
Simply Hired
On August 16, 2011, it was announced the Masterseek had partnered with the website Simply HiredSimply Hired
Simply Hired is a employment website for job listings and online recruitment advertising network. The company aggregates job listings from thousands of sites across the Web including job boards, newspaper and classified listings, associations, social networks, content sites and company career sites...
to add job searches to Masterseek business profiles.
Sponsorships
On July 5, 2007, Masterseek announced they were cosponsors to Team CSCTeam CSC
Team Saxo Bank-SunGard is a professional cycling team from Denmark. It competes in the UCI ProTour. The team is owned and managed by former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis, under the management of his company Riis Cycling. The sponsor is a Danish investment bank.Founded for 1998 Team home – Jack...
, Denmark's cycling team, beginning with the team's involvement in the Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
. The Masterseek name began to be displayed on the team's apparel that week, with the Tour's start in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Management
- Rasmus ReferRasmus ReferRamus Refer is a Danish entrepreneur and business owner best known for founding the B2B search engine Masterseek.-Early life:...
- Founder, Director, President of Technology - Qasim Raza - Chief Technology Officer