Microsoft can’t get Yahoo, but it can still keep buying search companies.
The software beast Tuesday said it has agreed to acquire Powerset, a “natural language” search startup based in San Francisco.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“This is a great team with a wide range of experience from other search engines and research organizations like PARC (formerly Xerox PARC),” Microsoft’s Live Search blog said.
Powerset is among a new breed of semantic search startups that promise to revolutionize the way people scour the Internet. The company has licensed a natural language parser from Xerox PARC that helps it index elements for search. Powerset launched a Wikipedia search tool in May 2008 that responds to keywords, phrases, and questions.
The software giant says Powerset will fit in with its efforts in natural language technologies at Microsoft Research. Powerset employees will join Microsoft’s Search Relevance group but will remain in San Francisco.
Formed in 2005, Powerset is backed by the Founders Fund, Foundation Capital, Paperboy Ventures, and angel investors. The startup scooped up $12.5 million in first-round funding in 2006.