Realtime search engine, OneRiot raises $7 mln

Colorado-based realtime search engine, OneRiot proving to play a leading role in the sector

Realtime search is here to stay.  OneRiot, a realtime search engine, announced late yesterday evening it had secured $7 million in Series C funding led by Appian Ventures, Commonwealth Capital Ventures and Spark Capital.  This brings the company's total financing to $27 million.

Ever since the rise of Twitter, the realtime search space has been of much interest to entrepreneurs and investors.  Ron Conway, a well-known angel investor recently stated that in the next three years, realtime search would make up 25% of the Web, which would represent a $5 billion dollar opportunity dominated not by one or two companies, but a wide range of companies similar to Twitter...like OneRiot, which makes use of Twitter users live updates.

Unlike Google, OneRiot delivers its search results based on what it refers to as the "pulse" of the Web.  This meaning basically what people are currently talking about and sharing with each other online.  For example, it will constantly scan through sources like Twitter, Digg and Flickr, sites people use to share things in the moment.  So it works great especially for finding things like the latest news and the latest photos and videos around that particular news.  The company also has a product called RiotFeeds, which are basically realtime feeds around a wide variety of topics.

Currently, OneRiot said it delivers its realtime search results to millions of users both on its site and to third parties which utilize its search API.  Its partners include Yahoo and Microsoft - Microsoft recently released a version of Internet Explorer bundled with OneRiot's realtime search.  

Partnering with Yahoo and Microsoft have definitely helped OneRiot distinguish itself in the realtime search space as plenty of other companies, including the giant Google, are beginning to build products in the sector.  One of OneRiot's smaller competitors is Scoopler, which delivers live search results that actually update within your browser in realtime without making you refresh your browser (OneRiot makes its users refresh their browsers in order to see more updates.)  Twitter also has its own realtime search feature through its recent acquisition of Summize, now known as Twitter Search.

Based in Boulder, Co., OneRiot plans to use the funding to continue building and improving its service.