Neeva Shuts Down Consumer Search Engine, Shifts Focus to Artificial Intelligence Use Cases

On Saturday, Neeva, the privacy-focused search company co-founded by former Google executive Sridhar Ramaswamy, announced that it would be shutting down its consumer search engine. The company will now focus on exploring use cases for artificial intelligence. In a blog post on Neeva’s website, Ramaswamy and Vivek Raghunathan, another co-founder of Neeva, wrote that “acquiring users has been really hard.” They said that this challenge, in addition to the “different economic environment,” have made it clear that a business in consumer search is not sustainable.

Exploring Use Cases for AI

After leaving his role as senior vice president of Google’s ad business in 2018, Ramaswamy built Neeva in 2019. He said that he left Google due to disillusionment with the company’s relentless focus on maintaining growth at the expense of users. Neeva will explore use cases for generative AI and large language models in search going forward, according to the post.

Refunds for Neeva Premium Users and Deletion of User Data

Neeva.com and its consumer search product will shut down over the next few weeks. Neeva users with a paid subscription to Neeva Premium will receive a refund for the unused portion. Additionally, the company is deleting all user data as part of the shutdown, Ramaswamy and Raghunathan said in the blog post.

The Future of Neeva

Ramaswamy said in a tweet on Saturday that “This was a very tough decision that took into account lots of things: our business progress so far, the current funding environment and our ability to continue to grow quickly in this vastly changed search environment.” The executives said they will have more to share about the future of Neeva in the coming weeks.

While Neeva will no longer operate as a consumer search engine, the company’s focus on exploring use cases for AI may lead to new innovations in the search industry. The challenges of acquiring users and navigating the economic environment have made it clear that a business in consumer search is not sustainable for Neeva. However, with a shift in focus, Neeva may be able to make valuable contributions to the field of artificial intelligence.