Privacy Search Company Neeva Shifting Focus to AI, Ex-Google Exec Founder Explains Why

Neeva, the privacy-focused search company co-founded by former Google executive Sridhar Ramaswamy, is significantly changing its business strategy.

The company has announced the closure of its consumer search engine and a shift towards exploring the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in various applications, CNBC details in a report.

Building a Consumer Search Space Is Unattainable

In a recent blog post on Neeva's website, co-founders Ramaswamy and Vivek Raghunathan revealed their challenges in acquiring users.

They acknowledged the difficulties posed by the current economic landscape. Consequently, they concluded that building a sustainable business model in the consumer search space was unattainable.

Ramaswamy, who departed from his senior vice president role at Google's ad business in 2018, launched Neeva in 2019 to prioritize user experience overgrowth, which he believed Google was fixated on.

The company's mission was to create a search engine that offered users a private and ad-free environment while catering to their interests.

Despite building an impressive search infrastructure from scratch, capable of retrieving vast amounts of information from the web, Neeva encountered difficulty convincing users to switch to a new search engine.

Overcoming the inertia of changing default search settings and educating users about the distinctions between a search engine and a browser proved formidable obstacles.

Interestingly, getting users to pay for an enhanced experience proved to be less challenging than getting them to try a new search engine in the first place.

Neeva Is Shutting Down

Confronted with these obstacles and the evolving economic landscape, Neeva has made the strategic decision to discontinue its consumer search product and shut down neeva.com in the upcoming weeks.

"This was a very tough decision that took into account lots of things: our business progress so far, the current funding environment, and our ability to continue to grow quickly in this vastly changed search environment," Ramaswamy said in a recent tweet.

Instead, the company will focus its efforts on exploring the applications of generative AI and large language models (LLMs) in the realm of search.

The Shift to Artificial Intelligence

Neeva had already begun integrating LLMs into its search infrastructure in early 2022, aiming to create an answer engine.

The company proudly claimed to be the first search engine capable of delivering real-time AI answers with proper citations for the majority of user queries.

However, the founders now believe that their expertise in LLMs and search can be more effectively utilized in default settings, where there is a clear demand for techniques like size reduction, latency reduction, and cost-effective deployment.

During this transition, Neeva will refund the unused portion of Neeva Premium subscriptions and ensure the deletion of all user data.

Ramaswamy and Raghunathan expressed gratitude to the Neeva community for their support and promised to provide updates on the company's future direction in the coming weeks.

Neeva's strategic pivot reflects the formidable nature of competition in the search engine market, particularly against established players with significant resources.

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