Ark (YC W12) raises big seed round

http://allthingsd.com/20120425/people-search-engine-ark-raises-biggest-y-combinator-seed-round-ever/

by priley • 14 years ago

37 23 14 years ago

derwiki• 14 years ago

Anyone know why they pivoted? As of last summer, they were doing Cause related stuff (like we do at Causes.com). It was a little weird -- I saw a few cartoons on their site of a cute penguin (their logo) standing triumphantly over a dead polar bear (with the Causes logo). They also became the Mayor of our office on 4sq. So.. seeing that they're doing people search right now is a bit of a departure.

kloncks• 14 years ago

Seems they still have this Cause related stuff, accessible via link in footer.

http://ark.com/fund/

priley6• 14 years ago

We were just messing with you guys (Causes). ;) You can have your 4sq mayorship back. We initially were trying to enable people to connect based on similar charity interests. It's still available and people still use it. We just broadened the focus.

2pasc6• 14 years ago

Congratulations to them! It's impressive, and the product seems really interesting.

But having 9 VC invested in your Company is really not an idea situation. (cf: http://blog.eladgil.com/2012/04/vc-signaling-coming-home-to-...)

I am wondering why they did not want to/could not raise money from one VC only who would have lead the round (with say $3M) with super angels and individuals completing the round. That would have made their Company so much more manageable at the board level...

alexandros• 14 years ago

Having 1 VC invest is a problem as the company is dependent on them to invest in the next round or face signalling problems. The VC may use that to force worse terms. Having 9 VCs is less of a problem. Or at least if all 9 VCs that have followed your company since seed round refuse to invest in the next round, you probably have more serious problems to worry about than the signalling issues.

2pasc6• 14 years ago

Well....I see what you are saying. But if none of the 9VC want to follow up... the Company is toast for sure ;-)

ianedwards2• 14 years ago

The other negative signal is all their talk of doing "massive" things. Did fb ever talk this way? Not to my knowledge ... they just DID things. Lot's of hype / cockiness on this one.

2pasc6• 14 years ago

Totally agree. Everybody forgets that neither Facebook, nor Google, eBay, LinkedIn, Youtube, were saying they were doing massive things. And yet...

34code2• 14 years ago

Ark has indexed 1 billion+ profiles and more coming in the pipeline. I do not know of any other search engine that has accomplished that yet. Yet, I get what you mean... I guess Ark will eventually adopt a "keep calm and ship" attitude as it matures.. Its still a very young company (about 20 people).

priley6• 14 years ago

I'm sorry you think we are overly ambitious. Zuck was very demonstratively inspired and confident (see below), and we are all better off that we was.

dmbaggett2• 14 years ago

Part of what’s hard about social search is that Facebook prohibits outside crawlers. But Riley said he’s confident that he can get Facebook data, because he has gotten advice from Facebook CTO Bret Taylor, and has worked with Facebook’s legal team to make sure everything’s kosher.

This would seem to be a key point. Can anyone provide further details? Facebook hasn't historically shown much inclination to let others into the walled garden: http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2010/04/how-i-go...

Why would Facebook allow this?

ianedwards2• 14 years ago

Because they're not using a crawler, that's why. Or, at least, that's my sense of things.

dmbaggett2• 14 years ago

Wait, so now anyone who wants to index Facebook can, as long as they don't crawl? Obviously, that's not true. So what's the deal? Does Facebook now have warrants in ark.com or something? There must be some quid pro quo.

34code2• 14 years ago

Ark is "already" doing massive things for sure. It already has indexed 1 billion+ profiles and more coming in the pipeline. I do not know of any other search engine that has accomplished that yet

priley6• 14 years ago

Thanks! But we feel like we are only 1% done. Our team has confidence in what we can accomplish... now it's just a matter of execution and having smart hackers on the team.

sytelus• 14 years ago

Does anyone has invites to check out Ark?

Ark (YC W12) raises big seed round

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