Linkdex (www.linkdex.com), a search intelligence company, launches this week at SMX EAST and debuts beta of its first product SearchDNA (www.searchdna.net) - which lets users identify highly authoritative and relevant sites from a web-map of more than one trillion links. Linkdex, created by and for marketers, is being driven by a team of tested search veterans including, CEO and founder John Straw, CTO Dr. John Woods, and vice president of product management Matt Roberts. Linkdex has received $1 million in Series A funding from Amadeus and Angels Seed Fund (AASF) and has garnered validation from reference-able analysts, including Forrester, Gartner, IDC, and Patricia Seybold Group.
New York, NY October 6, 2009 -- Linkdex (www.linkdex.com), a search intelligence company, launches this week at SMX East and debuts beta of its first product SearchDNA (www.searchdna.net) - which lets users identify highly authoritative and relevant sites from a web-map of more than one trillion links. Linkdex, created by and for marketers, is being driven by a team of tested search veterans including, CEO and founder John Straw, CTO Dr. John Woods, and vice president of product management Matt Roberts. Linkdex has received $1 million in Series A funding from Amadeus and Angels Seed Fund (AASF) and has garnered validation from reference-able analysts, including Forrester, Gartner, IDC, and Patricia Seybold Group.
Linkdex Logo
Until SearchDNA, if you needed to build and work link relationships with authoritative sites, you've been flying blind. We go hundreds of billions of links beyond those offered by all of the major engines and then allow users to simulate search algorithmsGoing beyond the first 1,000 links of the major search engines is crucial because there are truly diamonds in the rough that can make a huge difference in any marketer's campaignWe're backing Linkdex because it is clear that they've identified solutions for the current road blocks in web transparency for online marketers. This has huge potentialWe anticipate that the full spectrum of Linkdex's product suite will have a profound effect on search; their new approach to solving these longtime problems is the exact type of game changing technology we fund. "Until SearchDNA, if you needed to build and work link relationships with authoritative sites, you've been flying blind. We go hundreds of billions of links beyond those offered by all of the major engines and then allow users to simulate search algorithms," said founder and CEO, John Straw. SearchDNA resolves the long-tail of search's inherent problems with its specialized search tool that uses a web-map north of one trillion links from Linkdex's merged web and blog databases. Simply, SearchDNA identifies why some web pages are more authoritative and relevant than others.
"Going beyond the first 1,000 links of the major search engines is crucial because there are truly diamonds in the rough that can make a huge difference in any marketer's campaign," explained Straw. Like Google, SearchDNA collects a range of signals from its page crawls; however, unlike Google, it reports influence in a totally transparent manner with a uniquely customizable reporting structure.
According to SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization), the marketplace for SEM spending during 2008 topped $14 billion. Despite the industry downturn, growth is recovering as marketers become more interested in new search-targeting technologies. This creates a real opportunity for Linkdex and SearchDNA's solutions with 91 percent of advertisers saying that they engage in organic search engine optimization. This will account for approximately 11 percent of overall spending - or more than $1.4 billion in revenues.
A key element to Linkdex's success is the roster of talent it has acquired in its leadership team. Heading this new company, CEO and founder John Straw has provided marketing consulting for blue chip companies, including Audi, Hertz, Rolls Royce, Fiat/Alfa and Cisco and is a 30 year veteran of the advertising and IT sectors.
Astrophysicist and Oxford University PhD, CTO Dr. John Woods, drives Linkdex's larger vision of more transparent, better, and ethical online marketing products while simultaneously overseeing the development of the scientific and technical achievements of Linkdex's product suite. Matt Roberts, vice president of product management, co-develops the product line and complements Woods' technical mastery with his expertise in search marketing.
"We're backing Linkdex because it is clear that they've identified solutions for the current road blocks in web transparency for online marketers. This has huge potential," said Laurence John, CEO of AASF. Amadeus is a leading European focused technology VC and its seed fund specializes in funding early - high impact technology startups. "We anticipate that the full spectrum of Linkdex's product suite will have a profound effect on search; their new approach to solving these longtime problems is the exact type of game changing technology we fund."
About Linkdex
Linkdex (www.linkdex.com) is a global company founded in 2008 to provide flexible and transparent views of how websites connect to each other. Linkdex's suite of products and services provide marketers with a better map of the web and better tools for understanding search engines. With more than one trillion indexed links providing the foundation for the platform, Linkdex's first product, SearchDNA (www.searchdna.net) allows individuals to create their own customized crawls of influential sites and then fine tune those results to prioritize what's important to them - not only moving beyond the "1,000 Yahoo links", but identifying more authoritative and relevant sites. Linkdex is headquartered in London and San Francisco and is privately held. Linkdex has received Series A funding from Amadeus and Angels Seed Fund.
About Amadeus and Angels Seed Fund
Amadeus Capital Partners is one of Europe's leading technology venture capital firms. Since its inception in 1997, the firm has backed over 60 companies in industries that include communications and networking hardware and software, cleantech, medtech, computer hardware and software, media, and e-commerce. Amadeus has £460m under management. Global businesses built by Amadeus include CSR plc (LSE:CSR), the leading producer of single chip bluetooth radios for short range connections, and Solexa Ltd, the developer of next generation genetic analysis systems, merged into Illumina, Inc. (ILMN) to create the world-leader in gene-sequencing technology.
The Amadeus and Angels Seed Fund (AASF), which has £10 million under management and up to £10 million for co-investment from Amadeus III, focuses on seed stage technology companies in the UK. AASF is jointly funded by Amadeus, Capital for Enterprise Limited [BERR, business angels and private investors. AASF has access to proprietary, high-quality deal flow, complemented by the discipline of a large VC fund and the expert knowledge of business angels. www.amadeuscapital.com
