Become.com
Encyclopedia
Become.com is a product price comparison service
and discovery shopping
search engine
with a mission to help shoppers make ideal buying decisions. Become.com targets popular products such as electronics, home, garden, computers, cameras, clothing, health, beauty and more.
and Yeogirl Yun who also founded mySimon
. By Early February, 2005, the original founders added Jon Glick, past Senior Manager of Search at Yahoo. Two other executives, Greg Haslam of NexTag
, and Tony Pecora of eBay
, were also brought on board at Become.com.
Become.com is a privately-held company in Sunnyvale
, California
who received an undisclosed amount of funding during their series A round and an additional $7.2 million in the second round of funding, led by Transcosmos venture capital group, while angel investor
s Rob Conway and Bob Bozeman were also named.
On March 14, 2008 Become.com raised $17.5MM in additional funding from TPG Growth Fund. In October 2009, Become.com acquired the German e-commerce technology firm Pangora. Pangora’s Karlsruhe offices will now be the base for Become’s European operations. In September 2009, Become.com moved into the education lead generation
market with its Simply Degrees service. In October of 2009 Become.com released a Black Friday
site that organized deals by category so that users could compare the savings of Black Friday deals from different merchants, and also contained the ability to compare each individual deal to existing prices for the product from online merchants, so consumers could tell if there were real savings availably for a given product. In August of 2010, Become released a comparison shopping application for the iPad, with features like side-by-side product comparison and the ability to view objects like furniture in sample rooms to see how they work as decor.
Become.com was named the top deal tracking site by PC Magazine (December, 2008) out of ten best deal tracking sites
Become.com was named an AlwaysOn OnMedia 100 Winner (January 22, 2009)
Become.com's AIR technology was published in the August 2009 issue of Communications of the ACM
. The article, Ranking Billions of Web Pages Using Diodes, was written by Rohit Kaul, Yeogirl Yun, and Dr. Seong-Gon Kim and discusses the practical significance of the technology behind AIR ranking compared to other link-based ranking algorithms against search engine spamming techniques.
Price comparison service
On the internet, a price comparison service allows individuals to see different lists of prices for specific products. Most price comparison services do not sell products themselves, but source prices from retailers from whom users can buy...
and discovery shopping
Discovery shopping
Discovery shopping is a type of online shopping that emphasizes the browsing aspects of the shopping experience. Discovery shopping search offers shoppers guided queries for more personalized results...
search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
with a mission to help shoppers make ideal buying decisions. Become.com targets popular products such as electronics, home, garden, computers, cameras, clothing, health, beauty and more.
History
Become, Inc., was founded in 2004 by entrepreneurs Michael YangMichael Yang
Michael Yang is a Korean American entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, California. He was born in Seoul, South Korea and moved to San Jose, California on April 2, 1976 with his family when he was 14 years old...
and Yeogirl Yun who also founded mySimon
MySimon
mySimon is a comparison shopping website owned by CBS Interactive. The site offers shopping recommendations, buying advice, and side by side price comparisons for various products. The site directs users to other shopping sites such as Amazon.com when searching for products. It is not affiliated...
. By Early February, 2005, the original founders added Jon Glick, past Senior Manager of Search at Yahoo. Two other executives, Greg Haslam of NexTag
NexTag
Nextag is a price comparison service website. It started originally as a website where buyers and sellers could negotiate prices for computers and electronics products. The current business model with a focus on comparison shopping has existed since 2000. In June 2007, Providence Equity Partners...
, and Tony Pecora of eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
, were also brought on board at Become.com.
Become.com is a privately-held company in Sunnyvale
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
who received an undisclosed amount of funding during their series A round and an additional $7.2 million in the second round of funding, led by Transcosmos venture capital group, while angel investor
Angel investor
An angel investor or angel is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity...
s Rob Conway and Bob Bozeman were also named.
On March 14, 2008 Become.com raised $17.5MM in additional funding from TPG Growth Fund. In October 2009, Become.com acquired the German e-commerce technology firm Pangora. Pangora’s Karlsruhe offices will now be the base for Become’s European operations. In September 2009, Become.com moved into the education lead generation
Lead generation
Lead generation, or lead gen is a marketing tool used, particularly in internet marketing, to generate consumer interest or inquiry into products or services of a business. Leads can be generated for a variety of purposes - list building, e-newsletter list acquisition or for winning customers....
market with its Simply Degrees service. In October of 2009 Become.com released a Black Friday
Black Friday (shopping)
Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season, similar to Boxing...
site that organized deals by category so that users could compare the savings of Black Friday deals from different merchants, and also contained the ability to compare each individual deal to existing prices for the product from online merchants, so consumers could tell if there were real savings availably for a given product. In August of 2010, Become released a comparison shopping application for the iPad, with features like side-by-side product comparison and the ability to view objects like furniture in sample rooms to see how they work as decor.
Industry Recognition & Awards
Become.com was voted the Best of the Web by Forbes Magazine and Business Week during 2005 and 2006. In addition, Become.com has been mentioned several times on authoritative industry news or press sites including SearchEngineWatch, Forbes, MarketWatch and more. Many of their founders and executives have conducted interviews or QandA's with industry professionals including Marketing Shift, Organized Shopping, ClickZ, InternetNews and eCommerceOptimization.com.Become.com was named the top deal tracking site by PC Magazine (December, 2008) out of ten best deal tracking sites
Become.com was named an AlwaysOn OnMedia 100 Winner (January 22, 2009)
Become.com's AIR technology was published in the August 2009 issue of Communications of the ACM
Communications of the ACM
Communications of the ACM is the flagship monthly journal of the Association for Computing Machinery . First published in 1957, CACM is sent to all ACM members, currently numbering about 80,000. The articles are intended for readers with backgrounds in all areas of computer science and information...
. The article, Ranking Billions of Web Pages Using Diodes, was written by Rohit Kaul, Yeogirl Yun, and Dr. Seong-Gon Kim and discusses the practical significance of the technology behind AIR ranking compared to other link-based ranking algorithms against search engine spamming techniques.
See also
- Dulance - search engine
- List of search engines
- Online shopping
- Price comparison servicePrice comparison serviceOn the internet, a price comparison service allows individuals to see different lists of prices for specific products. Most price comparison services do not sell products themselves, but source prices from retailers from whom users can buy...
- Search engines
- Vertical searchVertical searchA vertical search engine, as distinct from a general web search engine, focuses on a specific segment of online content. The vertical content area may be based on topicality, media type, or genre of content. Common verticals include shopping, the automotive industry, legal information, medical...
- E-Commerce