Leap2 launches new iOS and Android apps, raises $1.6M

Search platform combines Web and social results to give a complete search experience

For a long time, when we thought of search it was Google and its list of websites that they were giving us for information. More recently a new type of search has been gaining steam: one that will give you results based on social media, like Facebook's Graph Search. But what if those two types of search could be combined?

That is essentially what Leap2 does. It is a new search platform, one that pulls in content from the web as well as social conversations, images and local results, to give a complete search experience. The company, which is launching revamped iOS and Android apps, is has also received $1.6 million in funding, it was announced Tuesday.

The new capital came from individual and institutional investors led by Dundee Venture Capital, with support from OpenAir Equity, LinseedCapital and Wichita Technology Corporation. The company had previously raised a $480,00 seed round from family and friends, founder and CEO Mike Farmer told me in an interview.

While Leap2 has been around for two years, this is the company's first major public launch, and it plans to also launch a Web version of the app soon as well.

The new Leap2 apps contain a slew of new features including Leap2 Live, which brings search to your home screen; enhanced menus and navigation; improved local results including maps and driving directions; search alerts; interactive search history; improved social and news results; and enriched sharing tools.

Founded in 2011, Kansas City-based Leap2 "does away with sponsored lists," Farmer said. "We give a perspective on what's going on right now."

For example, if someone were to look up a restaurant, they would get real time results about what people were saying about that restaurant on social media. If a band were playing there that night, the searcher would see the tweets sent out about the event.

Leap2 separates itself from other social media search engines, like Graph Search, by being able to show posts from anyone and anywhere, whereas Graph Search only shows friends, or friends of friends. 

"The old way of searching was like going to the library and going straight to the card catalog," said Farmer. "With Leap2, its like going to the librarian and finding out more interesting information on a variety of other topics."

"We want to give people an interactive experience, one that keeps them informed and ambient."

The way that search results are laid out, there is a search bar in the middle. Above it are real-time social results, while underneath it are the Web results.

While the results will not autorefresh, users can set up alerts for certain searches, and receive real-time updates that way.

The service, which has "north of 10,000 users" on Android and iOS combined, primarily displays real-tme results from Twitter and news organizations, but Twitter is just the first step, Farmer said. The company has plans to incorporate other social networks, including Facebook and Yelp. There are "preliminary conversations" happening with some other social networks right now, said Farmer. 

Farmer believes that the social networks can help him, and he can, in turn, help the social networks.

"By displaying strong local results, we can have a positive effect on social interplay," he said.

Eventually, Farmer says that he intends to monetize by using his company's unique vantage to provide revelant, sponsored results.

"Combining search and social media is also combining intent and engagement," he said. So with that knowledge, Leap2 can potentially offer ads, coupons and deals for restaurants and stores that people search for with the app. 

"We want to give our users the most enhanced searching experience."

(Image source: https://www.leap2search.com)