Atlas Informatics, a US-based search engine technology developer backed by software provider Microsoft, is shutting down, it announced last week.
Atlas has created a search engine index that collates user data from across hard disks, cloud services and electronic communications. Atlas opted to market the platform through a freemium subsription model rather than advertising.
The company said in a statement on its website: “We joined the fight because we saw information overload as a righteous cause, but we faced the ever-present challenge of fundraising.
“With the small amount of money remaining, the company has elected to make an orderly shutdown of the business to ensure employees and user data were treated fairly.”
Microsoft participated in Atlas’s only funding round, a November 2016 round that included venture capital firm Aspect Ventures and private investor Nathan Myhrvold, in which it raised $20.7m.
Index searches on the platform will cease from October 25 and Atlas plans to destroy all user data the next day. The startup, which emerged from stealth in 2015, had already laid off 11 members of its team in March this year.