Jellyfish.com was a

reverse auction A reverse auction (also known as buyer-determined auction or procurement auction) is a type of auction in which the traditional roles of buyer and seller are reversed. Thus, there is one buyer and many potential sellers. In an ordinary auction al ...

online shopping website. The

Middleton, Wisconsin Middleton is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States, and a suburb of the state capital, Madison. Middleton's motto is "The Good Neighbor City." The population was 21,827 at the 2020 census. In 2007, Middleton was chosen as the best pl ...

-based company was acquired by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

in 2007. On May 22, 2008, Microsoft officially announced the cash back service as part of their

Live Search Microsoft Bing (commonly known as Bing) is a web search engine owned and operated by Microsoft. The service has its origins in Microsoft's previous search engines: MSN Search, Windows Live Search and later Live Search. Bing provides a variet ...

group of tools. The site was shut down at midnight, February 16, 2009.

History

Jellyfish launched the first beta version of service in June 2006, after receiving an initial seed round of investment from its founders, Brian Wiegand and Mark McGuire, and Kegonsa Capital Partners.''Wisconsin State Journal'', "Jellyfish.com Raises $5 Million In Funding"
retrieved 13 March 2008 In a press release, Kegonsa Capital Partners said that it acquired 25 percent of Jellyfish.com's stock for about $600,000 in February 2006, and made 15 times its seed investment with the deal.''Wisconsin State Journal'': "Jellyfish goes big time"
retrieved 13 March 2008 In October 2006, Jellyfish raised an additional 5 million dollars in funding. According to their founders, Jellyfish has 1,000 retailers advertising more than 5 million products, from shoes to electronics to home appliances. It was expected to have 20 employees by the end of October 2006, at the Old Sauk Trails business park, on the Far West Side. Kegonsa, a

Fitchburg, Wisconsin Fitchburg is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 29,609 at the 2020 census. Fitchburg is a suburb of Madison and is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. Fitchburg consists of a mix of suburban neighbor ...

group with 42 Wisconsin investors, led the second round of investment in October 2006,''Wisconsin State Journal'', "Microsoft Buys Online Shopper Jellyfish.com"
retrieved 13 March 2008 with more than $1 million in October 2006 through the Kegonsa Co-Invest fund, for a total of $5 million. The second round investors more than doubled their investment in less than a year. In an interview in July 2007, Wiegand said Jellyfish had sold nearly $5 million worth of products, "everything from bicycles to shoes". McGuire explained that the name Jellyfish was chosen because they wanted to be completely transparent.SiliconValleyWatcher: "Jellyfish pioneers a new type of online business model"
retrieved March 19, 2008

Microsoft purchase

In 2007, Microsoft purchased Jellyfish.Official blog of Live Search team, "Microsoft acquires Jellyfish.com"
. Retrieved March 13, 2008."Microsoft buys Jellyfish comparison-shopping search engine"
. ''ZDNet'', Retrieved March 18, 2008. for an estimated price of $50 million (~$ in ). The Jellyfish engine can be used as a part of Microsoft Live Search."Microsoft acquires Jellyfish.com"
''Live Search''.. Retrieved March 13, 2008 When bought by Microsoft, it had 26 employees.

Live Search Cashback

Live Search Cashback allow users to search for products from multiple vendors and find their prices. It offers money back for purchases made through the site. This service started in June 2006
retrieved 13 March 2008 as part of Jellyfish.com and is integrated with Live Search in May 2008. Users now require to use

Windows Live ID A Microsoft account or MSA (previously known as Microsoft Passport, .NET Passport, and Windows Live ID) is a single sign-on Microsoft user account for Microsoft customers to log in to Microsoft services (like Outlook.com), devices running on on ...

to sign into their Cashback accounts instead of the previous Jellyfish.com account. Microsoft plans on using this to catch up to

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

in the search market.''BBC News'', "Microsoft adds cashback search"
retrieved 22 May 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jellyfish.Com Online retailers of the United States Product searching websites Comparison shopping websites Microsoft acquisitions Defunct companies based in Wisconsin

History

Microsoft purchase

Live Search Cashback

See also

References