Intelius Acquires Spock
Intelius Inc. has acquired the Silicon Valley-based search engine known as Spock. The acquisition poses many ramifications for Intelius, which also operates a people search engine.
In effect, Intelius and Spock have sired the biggest people search index in the Internet. Billions of public records, culled from government bureaus, courthouses, social networks, professional databases, and many other public agencies conspire to build this massive network of personal profiles. Built on Intellius‘ proprietary semantic technology, the people search engine allows users to locate the whereabouts of just about anyone in the US.
Spock’s acquisition comes on the heels of the launch of iSearch; Intelius’ next-generation people search service. During the Software & Information Industry Association’s annual CODiE Awards in March 2009, iSearch was named a finalist for the Best Online Directory award.
Spock was founded by Indian-American entrepreneurs Jaideep Singh and Jay Bhatti in 2006. Incidentally, Intelius was built by another Indian-American entrepreneur, businessman extraordinaire Naveen Jain.
Both companies have zeroed in on people search, a niche in information commerce that has achieved greater bearing in later years. In return, the concept of white pages in the web is bordering on the edge. The decline in landline telephones and the rise of wireless ones only serve to intensify the situation. Apparently, subscribers of wireless telephones do not have listings in white pages. Where online white pages have gone, people search engines are moving in.
Underscoring the relevance of people search today, visits to Intellius and Spock clock in at 40 million every month. To date, Intelius has served over eight million unique clients since its establishment in 2003.
Intelius provides intelligence services, anywhere from people searches to background checks to reverse phone lookups to employment screenings. It was the winner of the 2006 Stevie Award for Best New Company. According to Deloitte & Touche, it is the 127th fastest-growing technology company in North America.
