Search engine Neeva Launched today in Canada to offer users a tracking-free and ad-free alternative to search platform Google.
Since its launch in the US last year and in Europe in October 2022, Niva has grown to over one million users.
Users can customize their web search experiences without ‘corporate influence’, as the company says it never sells customer data to advertisers or allows third party tracking, prioritizing privacy and transparency for users Is.
“The Internet has evolved away from users and above all to serve the needs of advertisers,” said Sridhar Ramaswamy, chief executive officer (CEO) of Niva. “Canada has always been at the forefront when it comes to privacy, and we at Neeva are excited to officially bring our localized and private-first search engine to Canadians.”
Ramaswamy was the former senior vice president of ads at Google, and co-founder Vivek Raghunathan was vice president of monetization at YouTube.
Neeva allows users to sign up for a free basic plan or a paid premium subscription plan. The free plan allows users to search the web and connected personal accounts such as Gmail and Dropbox (subject to usage limits), set news and shopping preferences, and search from multiple devices. Premium membership allows unlimited searches and provides privacy protection tools like premium password manager and VPN (Virtual Private Network).
Search history and interactions are not stored on Niva by default, and users can choose to opt in or out of memory mode (when on, searches and interactions are saved for up to 90 days). Data generated through the use of Niva, including search history, is encrypted, both on the platform’s servers and in transit.
If users connect Niva to an external data source such as Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), Office 365, or Dropbox, the engine processes data from that source, including email, documents, contacts, calendars, and more Personal information is included. However, the company says that the information is only used to show personalized results when searching in Neeva, but “never for profit”.
Personal accounts that users can connect to Niva include Google, Office 365, Dropbox, Slack, Github, Confluence, Jira, Notion, and Figma accounts. The company says more integrations are to come.
Till date, the company has raised over US$80m from investors such as Sequoia Capital, Greylock Ventures, Inovia Capital, and Neythri Futures Fund. Additionally, Neeva’s 2021 US$40m Series B funding round was successful.
Tune into the December 17 weekend episode of Hashtag Trending, as Ramaswamy joins Jim Love, CIO of IT World Canada, to talk about Neeva.
