SearchHound becomes $6m parent watchdog

ADELAIDE-BASED WebGenie Software has sold its child-proof Internet engine SearchHound to United States e-commerce company TVI Shop for $6 million.

The engine posts warnings before revealing search results of adult-related material and parents can completely block the display through a password.

Chief executive officer Siva Prasad said the engine had been independently valued at $16.5 million but was sold for a lower price in return for retaining intellectual property rights.

He said the IP rights would allow WebGenie to sell updated versions of SearchHound and develop other saleable products using the technology.

"We anticipate the technology can now be sold as a separate product to other customers at a minimum of $1.5 million per sale and we also retain the right to develop another search engine in the future." Dr Prasad said.

He expected monthly sales of the $1.5 million product to increase WebGenie's marketing budget for other products. Start-up company TVI Shop plans to lift SearchHound's profile to the ranks of InfoSeek, AltaVista and GoTo.com in cyberspace.

SearchHound was developed jointly in 1998 by WebGenie and Los-Angeles-based Aesop Marketing Corp.

Four-year-old WebGenie Software, with the backing of the SA Business Centre, generates 80 per cent of its sales in the US and 10 per cent in Europe.

Its other products include multilingual e-commerce tool Shopping Cart Professional for web-based businesses wanting to sell online.

It will also launch WebGenie Plaza next month to provide a low-cost entry into e-commerce for small businesses not connected to the Internet.

By Meredith Booth