A local search engine

Guruji.com is the latest in a string of India-specific search engines

Anurag Dod

Guruji.com, backed by Sequoia Capital India, has launched a local search engine aimed at Indian Web users. The site focusses on providing better search results to Indian consumers by leveraging proprietary algorithms and data in the Indian context. The company has a server farm which it uses to index the entire universe of Indian Web sites. Further, the company is using proprietary algorithms to go deep into the Indian Internet domain and fetch relevant results to search queries of Indian consumers.

Anurag Dod and Gaurav Mishra, former IIT Delhi alumni with significant Internet and search experience, returned from Silicon Valley to start Guruji.com in early 2006 after Sequoia provided seed funding to the venture. Sequoia is a pioneering investor in several leading Internet businesses globally including Google, Yahoo, Paypal and YouTube.

According to a study done by the Internet and Mobile Association of India, there are about 65 million people who use search engines in India, and the current size of the market for search engine advertising is $50 million. This market is expected to grow significantly over the next five years.

Said Mishra, now COO of Guruji.com, “90 percent of Internet search queries are local in nature, and Guruji.com will deliver better search results than any other search engine in these instances. For example, if a user types a search 'Pizza in Koramangala, Bangalore' or 'Chinese restaurant, Juhu, Mumbai,' he will be able to see local business listings as well as articles, reviews, blogs or any other Web
references.”

Added Sumir Chadha, Managing Director of Sequoia, “We are excited to have partnered with Guruji.com."