Former Google ads boss launches ‘Web3’ search startup with backing from Coinbase, top VCs
Summary
Armed with a rolodex of eminent Silicon Valley connections, Ramaswamy secured $40 million in funding in May to establish nxyz as a separate entity to Neeva, a privacy-focused search engine he also owns. Ramaswamy built Neeva in 2019 after leaving his role as senior vice president of Googles $150 billion ad business a year earlier, which he says was over disillusionment with its relentless focus on maintaining growth at the expense of users. Nxyzs launch comes as crypto investors reel from a deep pullback in token prices, with bitcoin , the worlds largest digital currency, down 70% from its all-time high. "Web3 developers today lack fast, flexible, and reliable infrastructure to support their applications, which holds the industry back from widespread adoption," said Matt Huang, co-founder and managing partner at Paradigm. Meanwhile, the space is rife with scams, including infamous "rug pulls" where fraudsters flee a bogus token project once theyve pocketed enough cash.