Don't say we didn't tell you so. Accoona, the search engine no one had ever heard of, is gone.
The company's history reads like is a comedy of errors. When we first heard about the money-losing Jersey City-based startup filing for IPO last year, our impulse was to run away screaming. Things only got worse: Accoona's IPO was an auction (red flag), run by something called "the Maxim Group" (another red flag). Then Maxim ran away screaming from the startup (that's three).
When we last followed up in April we found the company had shrank from 200 employees to 8. It was consdering finally shutting down the search engine, which would make sense given that the CEO didn't know enough about the technology to be able to explain it. That's literally what Valentine J. Zammit told the New York Times: “I do not know about technology enough to be able to explain it.” That's no longer a problem.
See also:
Accoona Files For $81 Million IPO: Run Away Screaming
Analyzing Accoona: It's As Bad As We Thought
Accoona: Insult to Injury, as Underwriter Flees
Accoona RIP? No, Says Person Answering Accoona's Phone
