MLC Private Equity invests in search engine Blekko.com
MLC Private Equity, a division of the National Australia Bank, has participated in a $30 million round of funding for search engine Blekko.com, alongside the likes of Russian internet company Yandex.
Yandex, the largest search engine in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Turkey, committed $15 million while the remainder was invested by MLC and existing investors US Venture Partners, CMEA Capital and PivotNorth Capital.
Blekko, which incorporated in 2007, launched a search engine last year that prompts high-quality results that eliminate spam by using integrated search algorithms and user curation from web users.
As part of the deal, Yandex will take a minority stake in the company and its CEO will join blekko's board of directors.
"We love blekko and think it's a great product - a quality search engine that organically combines search algorithms with expert opinions," Arkady Volozh, principal founder of Yandex, said in a statement. "We believe the outlook for this approach is strong and that the blekko team is poised to make it a success."
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