Data cloud co Snowflake buys search startup founded by former Google employees

Data cloud company Snowflake has acquired Neeva, a search startup founded by former Google employees. The terms of the current transaction, including the deal size, have not been disclosed.

The acquisition enables Snowflake to gain access to advanced search technologies, allowing it to elevate the search and conversation capabilities within its platform, said Benoit Dageville, Co-founder and President of Products at Snowflake, in a blog post, announcing the deal.

Dageville noted that search is crucial for businesses’ data interactions and “the ability for teams to discover precisely the right data point, data asset, or data insight is critical to maximising the value of data”.

“That’s why Snowflake is acquiring Neeva, a search company founded to make search even more intelligent at scale,” he added.

This development comes a few days after Neeva announced that it will be shutting down and “shifting to a new area of focus”. The startup, which offers an ad-free, private search engine, was founded by Sridhar Ramaswamy (former SVP of Ads at Google) and Vivek Raghunathan (former VP of Monetization at YouTube). 

The search startup has developed a unique search experience that uses generative artificial intelligence (AI) and other innovative technologies, enabling users to explore and uncover data in new ways.

As part of the acquisition, individuals from Neeva’s leadership and other team members will join Snowflake, Dageville said. 

“Excited for the @Neeva team to be joining @SnowflakeDB to bring the power of search, AI and LLMs (large language models) to people!” Ramaswamy tweeted.

Neeva has secured a total funding of $77.5 million across two rounds, with its most recent funding coming from a successful Series B round on March 8, 2021, according to Crunchbase.

(This story has been updated to reflect a change in the headline and description of Snowflake)