People always have questions, and they always want answers. These days, a person can rely on that great big ball of information called Googlel to get an answer for obscure questions, like what's the release date for Bioshock: Infinite? It happens to be in 2012. For factual tasks a search engine is great. But what about when you need an explanation? If the information you crave is about the most haunted location in Jackson county, Ohio, or if you want to find out if freckles may be related to cancer, then a search engine may be more hindrance than help. With 25,000 sites, of varying credibility, weighing in on the topic, it is no surprise when information overload sets in. Sometimes you just want one answer.
That is where, Carmel, Indiana-based ChaCha comes into play. The four-year-old startup, which provides real-time, human-powered, answers, just raised $20 million. This was the company's Series F round of funding. The round was led by Rho Ventures and VantagePoint. This round brings the company's total funding raised to nearly $72 million. Previous investors in ChaCha include Bezos Expeditions, Morton Meyerson, the Simon family, Rod Canion, and Jack Gil.
ChaCha has answered nearly one billion questions in the past two years, and it sees 15 million unique users every month, according to its release. ChaCha also claims to have surpassed Google in mobile text search.
The company supports itself with ad revenues from ads placed into the answers from live guides, usually at the end of the message. Some of the companies that ChaCha works with include: Paramount Pictures, McDonald’s, Palm, Coca-Cola, AT&T, J&J, P&G, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and The CW Network. While no specific sales figures were released, the company did state that its year-to-date ad sales are up 292% from the same period a year ago. In addition, its Q3 revenue is up 302% from Q3 of last year.
ChaCha did not say what it plans to do with this new funding, but it may have something to do with its soon-to-deploy MMS service.
The service will provide movie trailers, video clips, coupon images, and rich media ads, to a wide variety of phones.
This service will definitely help them distinguish themselves from competing sites, such as Formspring, JustAnswer, LawPivot and Quora, which also work with the question and answer format. Another competitor, Aardvark, was recently acquired by Google, for For $50 million, and is currently part of Google Labs.
ChaCha has not yet responded to our request for comment.
(Images courtesy of ChaCha)
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ChaCha answers who, what, when, where and why, and has emerged as the No. 1 way for advertisers and marketers to engage their audience. Through its unique “ask-a-smart-friend” platform, ChaCha has answered nearly one billion questions since launch from more than 15 million unique users per month via SMS text (242-242™), online (chacha.com), Twitter (@chacha), Facebook app, iPhone app, Android app, and voice (1-800-2-ChaCha™). Working with major brands such as Paramount, AT&T, Palm, Johnson&Johnson, P&G, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Sonic, and presidential political campaigns, ChaCha.com is one of the fastest growing mobile and online publishers according to Nielsen and Quantcast.
ChaCha was co-founded by proven innovator and entrepreneur Scott Jones and is funded by VantagePoint Venture Partners, Rho Ventures, Bezos Expeditions; Morton Meyerson, former President and Vice Chairman of EDS as well as Chairman and CEO of Perot Systems; Rod Canion, founding CEO of Compaq Computer; the Simon family; and Jack Gill, Silicon Valley venture capitalist.
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Pearl.com is the world’s largest source of professionals online, and provides people with easy access to 10,000 independent, verified professionals in 700 specialties for one-on-one answers to just about any question or concern. Whether you need a medical explanation, help with a legal question or a way to save money on your car, tech or appliance repair, Pearl.com gives customers access to “wisdom when you want it™.”
Formerly known as JustAnswer®, the company has been growing revenue an average of 123 percent year over the last five years and currently generates revenue in 196 countries and 22 currencies. Pearl.com was founded in 2003 by serial entrepreneur Andy Kurtzig as a way for his then-pregnant and worried wife to talk with an OB/GYN about her round-the-clock health concerns in a more convenient way. Today, the company has evolved into a platform for people around the world to communicate directly with verified professionals in hundreds of categories as varied as pet behavior and tax law to antique appraisal and computer repair, anytime, from anywhere, affordably.
Recognized by the Better Business Bureau with an A+ rating and boasting relationships with brands such as Dr.Phil.com, PetMD and Car Talk, Pearl.com is now one of the largest and fastest growing providers of access to professional services online. The company has increased revenue for 33 quarters since inception and grown an average of 123% per year since 2008. The Board of Directors includes Charles Schwab, Larry Sonsini (Observer), Bob Finocchio and Sandy Robertson.
