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Kagi raises $670k

blog.kagi.com

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Re: Kagi raises $670k

#141

Post by dns_snek »

pixeladed wrote: post #53

Neeva - cofounded by an ex-Google exec also provided a paid search experience with similar features. They have since shut down and in their blog post pointed out that the issue they faced was not convincing people that they should pay for search but rather the fact that distribution of their service is difficult (i.e. being browser defaults, at work, on people's phones). What's Kagi doing differently to be able to su…

> What's Kagi doing differently to be able to succeed?

Define success? It outperforms every other search engine in terms of quality of results and at least from what I understand, they're not too far off from breaking even on their salaries.

Neeva was a VC funded abomination and it showed, they even had deals with "big brand" companies like LastPass to offer bundles, but their core product sucked. Neeva search results were often worse than Google. That's not the case with Kagi.

Re: Kagi raises $670k

#142

Post by detourdog »

drcongo wrote: post #106
pixeladed wrote: post #53

Neeva - cofounded by an ex-Google exec also provided a paid search experience with similar features. They have since shut down and in their blog post pointed out that the issue they faced was not convincing people that they should pay for search but rather the fact that distribution of their service is difficult (i.e. being browser defaults, at work, on people's phones). What's Kagi doing differently to be able to su…

I tried Neeva and immediately hated it - it felt slow and clunky. I tried Kagi and immediately loved it enough that I've been paying ever since they let me. I think the big thing that Kagi is doing differently to Neeva is just being good.

My first Kagi search was so rich with results it was a throwback to a different era.

Re: Kagi raises $670k

#143

Post by Taniwha »

EGreg wrote: post #87

Anyone here old enough to remember when Kagi was a payment gateway? At least, I think it was. It was the first one I used, back when I used to make "shareware" software. Ah, those were the days.

Yes you remember correctly

Re: Kagi raises $670k

#144

Post by dcow »

Animats wrote: post #6

"Kagi is building a novel ad-free, paid search engine and a powerful web browser as a part of our mission to humanize the web." With 670K? Cuil went through about $30 million to develop a standalone search engine. And that was fifteen years ago, when search was simpler. There may be a market for a search engine company that profitably runs a low-cost operation with very few ads and makes real efforts to keep out spam…

Kagi has been around since 2018. They're privately bootstrapped (not by a VC firm). 670K is not the only money that's gone into the business. 670K is how a bootstrapped company responsibly raises money.

Re: Kagi raises $670k

#145

Post by sgt »

function_seven wrote: post #41

I had to read the headline twice. At first I read it as $670 million, and I was very sad. That’s “VCs gonna enshittify it in 3 years” money. But then I saw the “K” and grinned. This is proper bootstrap money, and makes me hopeful that Kagi will stay close to its original mission. Congrats. I am really pulling for you, Vlad.

It's not $670 million, it's: They've raised a bunch of money!

Now let's go and blow that money in Vegas.

/s

Re: Kagi raises $670k

#146

Post by ColinHayhurst »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #139
fauigerzigerk wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I think a small operation is exactly the sort of outfit to do it. A small operation in terms of number of developers yes. But not being able to subsidise user growth means they will never be able to build their own full web index as the fixed cost of doing that is too high for a small number of users. As a consequence, they will always be at the mercy of Google/Bing. The range of things they can innovate on will alw…

> A small operation in terms of number of developers yes. But not being able to subsidise user growth means they will never be able to build their own full web index as the fixed cost of doing that is too high for a small number of users. What do you reckon the cost of doing this would be? Just doing the napkin math for say a Mojeek sized index (couple of billion docs) doesn't seem to justify a particularly astronomi…

7 billion+ actually, and our investment level mentioned here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36517505

Re: Kagi raises $670k

#147

Post by pindab0ter »

sgt wrote: post #145
function_seven wrote: post #41

I had to read the headline twice. At first I read it as $670 million, and I was very sad. That’s “VCs gonna enshittify it in 3 years” money. But then I saw the “K” and grinned. This is proper bootstrap money, and makes me hopeful that Kagi will stay close to its original mission. Congrats. I am really pulling for you, Vlad.

It's not $670 million, it's: They've raised a bunch of money! Now let's go and blow that money in Vegas. /s

Is there any specific reason for this take?

Re: Kagi raises $670k

#148

Post by EGreg »

Taniwha wrote: post #143
EGreg wrote: post #87

Anyone here old enough to remember when Kagi was a payment gateway? At least, I think it was. It was the first one I used, back when I used to make "shareware" software. Ah, those were the days.

Yes you remember correctly

My friend Tom Connolly who wrote the first editor for Kaleidoscope (before Mac OS X came out, you could style your own buttons etc) used it, and that's how I found out.

https://www.akamaidesign.com/studio/

UPDATE: his web design and hosting service was very advanced for its time!

https://www.akamaidesign.com/

Re: Kagi raises $670k

#150

Post by int_19h »

gman83 wrote: post #39

I find the data on their pricing interesting. It says 300 searches per month is enough for 99% of users. I'm pretty sure I use more than 300 searches every day. Edit: 300/day is too much, apparently I use about 100/day according to my search history.

They explained their reasoning on HN before. The number refers to the average user of online search in general, not the average Kagi user (who tends to be more technical and uses search more).
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