SearchMe

The platform's core product was a search engine that displayed results in a horizontal, scrollable stack of images, similar to the Cover Flow interface used by Apple's iTunes. Users could flip through these visual snapshots to quickly assess a site's relevance and design before clicking through. The service indexed over a billion pages and utilized predictive technology to suggest search categories as a user typed a query. The business model was intended to be supported by advertising, with ads displayed as visual snapshots of products or company pages, aiming to bring brand advertising into the search experience. The company also experimented with other services, including Wikiseek for indexing Wikipedia and a music streaming service.

SearchMe secured significant financial backing, raising a total of $31 million from notable investors including Sequoia Capital, DAG Ventures, and Lehman Brothers. Despite this funding and initial interest, the company struggled to gain traction. Visitor numbers declined from 1.8 million in March 2009 to 600,000 by May of the same year. Faced with high server maintenance costs and insufficient visitor volume to break even, SearchMe shut down its search engine operations on July 24, 2009. The company dismissed most of its 45 employees and stated an intention to pivot toward the broadband TV market, a plan that ultimately did not materialize.