Marqo, a London and Melbourne, Australia-based startup enabling AI-powered search and discovery, closed $5.2 million in a seed funding round led by Blackbird Ventures, a prominent venture capital firm.
Other investors participating in the round include Creator Fund, January Capital, and the co-founders of Cohere, Ivan Zhang, and Aidan Gomez.
The funds will be used to develop a new form of vector search technology that continuously improves based on user engagement.
Marqo is an end-to-end multimodal vector search engine for developers that includes all the infrastructure to enable AI-powered real-time search at scale.
The startup leverages advanced machine learning models to deliver more precise and contextually relevant search outcomes. Users can search using text, images, or a combination of both. The technology initially targets end-user searches (e-commerce, marketplaces) but has applications in generative AI, analytics, and security.
Marqo's unique approach involves allowing its machine learning models to learn and improve from user engagement, continuously enhancing the relevance of the search results. Marqo's belief in democratizing AI technology fuels its decision to open-source the core Marqo code, meaning it is free and available for anyone to use.
"Search is in desperate need of modernization; the vast majority of search experiences are based on legacy keyword search systems, which provide poor results," said Marqo's co-founder and CEO, Tom Hamer. "Customers want search experiences that anticipate their needs, not just match keywords. This is especially important for businesses where the search bar is the core product, such as ecommerce. By automatically improving based on user interaction, Marqo provides highly relevant results, and increases customer conversion rate, order value, and revenue."
Company: S2Search Australia Pty Ltd.
Raised: $5.2M
Round: Seed Round
Funding Month: August 2023
Lead Investors: Blackbird Ventures
Additional Investors: Creator Fund, January Capital, Ivan Zhang, and Aidan Gomez
Company Website: https://www.marqo.ai/
Software Category: Multimodal Vector Search Engine
About the Company: Founded by Jesse Clark, and Tom Hamer, Marqo is an end-to-end, multimodal vector search engine. With Marqo, users can easily implement AI-powered search, leveraging the latest machine learning models. With offices in Melbourne, London, and San Francisco, Marqo's mission is to democratize AI technology, allowing transformative search experiences to be built with ease.
Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/marqo-secures-us5-2m-to-bring-continuous-learning-vector-search-to-businesses-301902319.html