SLI Systems provided cloud-based search tools for

online retailers Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the ...

under a "software as a service" (

SaaS Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software. SaaS is cons ...

) model. It was a public company listed on the New Zealand stock exchange. SLI is an acronym for Search, Learn and Improve.

Products

SLI's main product, Learning Search, uses the behavior of its users to determine search results. The company also sells a user-generated search engine optimization (SEO) product called Site Champion, and a site navigation product called Learning Navigation.

Origin

SLI Systems was formed in 2001,"Focusing on retail works for SLI"
Dene Mackenzie, 16 Jul 2014, Otago Daily Times and in 2013 the company raised $27 million NZD in its initial public offering and listed on the

NZX New Zealand's Exchange (), known commonly as the NZX, is the national stock exchange for New Zealand and a publicly owned company. NZX is the parent company of Smartshares, and Wealth Technologies. On 30 August 2020, the NZX had a total of ...

. The core technology was originally developed at GlobalBrain, a company founded in 1998"GlobalBrain back to have another crack"
21 January 2002, Andrea Malcolm, computerworld.co.nz by Grant Ryan. That company was acquired by the internet arm of US media company, NBC in April, 2000 for US$32 million, but after

dot-com crash The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compos ...

McCrone, John
Secrets to Success
''

The Press ''The Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand owned by media business Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday to Saturday. One comm ...

'' 31/07/2011. Shaun Ryan and others bought the technology back from NBC, and formed SLI Systems. SLI formerly had offices in San Jose,

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and over 400 clients internationally including, FTD, 7 for all Mankind,

Harry & David Harry and David, LLC (Harry and David) is an American-based premium food and gift producer and retailer. The company sells its products through direct mail, online and in retail stores nationwide, and operates the brands Harry & David, Wolferman's ...

, and

Next Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...

Performance

In 2013, SLI Systems launched an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

on the

stock exchange, raising $27m NZD with shares issued at $1.50, to help fund growth into important markets like Japan and Brazil. Key investors included NZ entrepreneur Sam Morgan. SLI Systems's share price performed strongly initially, rising to $2.50, before falling to as low as 71c after the company posted larger than expected losses and had some unexpected senior management changes 2015. SLI Systems announced to the New Zealand Exchange in November 2015 that revenue guidance would be 29% above the previous year. Recent significant client customer wins announced at the 2015 annual general meeting included

Lenovo Lenovo Group Limited, often shortened to Lenovo ( , ), is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, Personal computer, personal computers, ...

, David Jones,

Harvey Norman Harvey Norman is a large Australian-based, multi-national retailer of furniture, bedding, computers, communications and consumer electrical products. It mainly operates as a franchise, with the main brand and all company-operated stores owned ...

and Paul Smith. SLI Systems' UK website also list a number of clients via case studies . In January 2019 the company was taken private via acquisition by a private equity firm. The SLI search algorithm and IP were rolled into the company portfolio. The company no longer operates independently and was delisted by the New Zealand Stock Exchange in January 2019. Soon after, the US domestic headquarters in San Jose were shut down.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sli Systems Technology companies of the United States Information technology in New Zealand Search engine software Defunct software companies of the United States Companies listed on the New Zealand Exchange 2013 initial public offerings Defunct software companies of New Zealand