Text Engine

Text Engine
Founded May 9, 2013
Founders Eric Bryant & Shari Sloane
Headquarters Bedminster, New Jersey, USA
Area served
 Global
Services Web search, mobile search
Website https://textengine.info

Text Engine is a browser-less, text message-based search engine. Users can access basic internet information, without a data plan or a wifi connection, by sending and receiving text messages. It also employs human operators to answer queries when the application is unable to retrieve the correct result.The company, founded in 2013 by Eric Bryant and Shari Sloane, is based in Bedminster, New Jersey, USA, part of the New York metropolitan area.

History

The alpha version of Text Engine was launched on May 9, 2013 in a Google Product Forum in which Google announced that it sunset a similar service.[1] The alpha version was simply called “Google SMS Search” and only allowed 15 free queries per month. After that quota was reached, users were charged a $4 fee to continue using the search engine.[2]

By June 2013, the product was released in beta and was launched as “smir.ch”. At this time the company introduced new search commands and made improvements including adding news search and simplifying weather search.[3]

By March 2015, the company had changed the name to “Text Engine” and opened the service up to users for free. New York educator, Lisa Nielsen, called Text Engine “great news for educators and students in low-income and rural communities”. Information Text Engine retrieves includes news, definitions, Wikipedia articles, business listings, driving directions and flight status.[4]

In June 2015, popular tech blog, MakeUseOf, reported that “Text Engine is an attempt to bring back the spirit of Google’s SMS search, and it’s a fairly ambitious one at that.” Text Engine does not require a downloadable app, web browser or internet access to function, making the Web accessible for feature phone and flip phone users.[5]

The company’s mission is to connect the offline world to the Internet by creating smartphones in regions that don’t have them. Currently, Text Engine has users in countries around the world, including Botswana, Uganda, Namibia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Australia, Mongolia and Pakistan.In August 2015, Startup Daily reported that Text Engine had begun licensing its codebase to developers in emerging markets. For example, the Almat Group, a Brooklyn real estate development company, has licensed the code to build a local version for Nigeria.[6]

Along with 132 other tri-state area startups, Text Engine was awarded the distinction of “Tech Company to Watch” by the Connecticut Technology Council in 2015.[7] It was also selected along with 21 other startups as a member of the reSET Impact Accelerator’s 2016 cohort.[8]

Innovation Destination Hartford reported in February 2016 that Text Engine had received “significant financial investment from Backstage Capital”, a venture capital fund in Los Angeles.[9][10][11][12] However, the exact amount was undisclosed.

Products

Text Engine is essentially a search engine that works without the need for a web browser. The platform essentially converts the Web to text messages, allowing users to get on-demand weather, news, yellow pages, flight status, and more—all without having direct access to the Internet.[13]

Human Operators

In addition to the automated search, Text Engine also provides a way for users to place orders and answer questions through the help of human operators.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "Google SMS not working anymore?". productforums.google.com. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Replacement for Google SMS Search Now Available". softpedia. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  3. ↑ "SMIR.CH SMS Search Service Gets Update". softpedia. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Get Smart by Texting w/ @Text_Engine". softpedia. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  5. ↑ "These 5 SMS Services Offer You the Internet Without a Data Plan". MakeUseOf. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Text Engine wants to bring internet search to developing countries through text messages". Startup Daily. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  7. ↑ "This Startup Brings The Web To Feature Phones Via Text Message". Venture Break. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  8. ↑ "2015 Tech Companies To Watch". ct.org. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Social Enterprise Startup Creates Text Message SMS Search Engine". www.innovationhartford.com. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Startup Roundup: Phone.com, TOMO!, Text Engine". njtechweekly.com. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  11. ↑ "TextEngine Backstage Capital". backstagecapital.com. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  12. ↑ "How This Woman Went From Homelessness to Running a Multimillion-Dollar Venture Fund". www.inc.com. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Startup Roundup: Phone.com, TOMO!, Text Engine". njtechweekly.com. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  14. ↑ "TextEngine: Bringing the web to 'dumbphones'". Backstage Capital. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
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