Irish search engine enters GEC cluster
Murgurdy, an Irish search engine start-up, is the first company to enter the Guinness Enterprise Centre’s (GEC) Microsoft BizSpark cluster, and has plans to create 20 new jobs by the end of next year.
This move into the world’s first dedicated BizSpark cluster is expected to accelerate the global launch of the Murgurdy search engine by up to nine months, meaning it can be released before the end of 2009.
The Mugurdy search engine is a unique image-based service that displays website screenshots in the results field in real-time. The search engine has been in development for two years by the co-founders of the Irish software development company, Software du Jour, Jamie and Jimmy Plenderleith.
Since entering the GEC BizSpark cluster, Mugurdy has access to 100Mbps broadband speeds, hosting facilities and a range of free Microsoft software. This has led to significant breakthroughs in testing and development, which has expedited the beta test launch.
Mugurdy has access to greater broadband speeds through the GEC’s 2.5 gigabit symmetric fibre-optic internet connection. The search engine will soon be ready for a rigorous test by 2,000 industry professionals around the world.
In addition to the IT and communication infrastructure, the GEC has also provided business development support to Mugurdy as it prepares for a round of investment funding.
Mugurdy is seeking funds for recruitment, R&D and marketing, and is currently engaged in investment negotiations with the AIB Seed Capital Fund and the Halo Business Angel Partnership.
“Our ultimate goal is to become one of the world’s top 10 search engines. The feedback from industry professionals has been extremely positive and has created a buzz among potential investors,” said Jimmy Plenderleith, joint CEO, Mugurdy.