Google’s Very First Press Release

On the day of Google’s birthday, it seems only fitting to dig up one of the company’s pride and joys…it’s very first press release.

The release announces a $25 million round from Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins and also officially announced the term “Googlers” to the world.

“Google should become the gold standard for search on the Internet,” said Michael Moritz (a British venture capitalist with Sequoia Capital) . “Larry and Sergey’s company has the power to turn Internet users everywhere into devoted and life-long Googlers.”

That year the company had just moved into their new premises at 165 University Avenue in Palo Alto, with all of their 8 employees (!?). Later that year the company moved again, and their first new hire, a chef! For other interesting notes, check out our “What Google was originally called and other interesting facts about Google’s humble beginning” post.

Google Receives $25 Million in Equity Funding

Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Lead Investment; General Partners Michael Moritz and John Doerr Join Board

Palo Alto, Calif. — June 7, 1999 — Google, a start-up dedicated to providing the best search experience on the web, today announced it has completed a $25 million round of equity funding led by Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Google also announced that Michael Moritz, general partner of Sequoia Capital, and John Doerr, general partner of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyers, have joined its board of directors. Michael Moritz is currently a director of numerous companies, including Yahoo, eToys, Quote.com, eGroups, PlanetRx, Flextronics, and WebVan. John Doerr was a co-founder of @Home and is a director of several high growth internet companies, including Amazon.com, Drugstore.com, Handspring, Healtheon/WebMD, Homeshop.com, Intuit, and Sun Microsystems.

“We are delighted to have venture capitalists of this caliber help us build the company,” said Larry Page, CEO and co-founder of Google. “We plan to aggressively grow the company and the technology so we can continue to provide the best search experience on the web.”

Google employs several key technologies to generate search results of unprecedented accuracy and quality. These technologies extend Stanford University research into large-scale data mining of the Web. “A perfect search engine will process and understand all the information in the world,” said Sergey Brin, Google president and co-founder of Google. “That is where Google is headed.”

Google’s technology highlights include PageRank, a patent-pending, objective measure of the importance of web pages. PageRank is computed by solving an equation of 500 million variables and two billion terms. Google’s innovative user interface includes dynamic summaries, a cached web, and the time-saving “I’m feeling lucky” button.

“Google should become the gold standard for search on the Internet,” said Michael Moritz. “Larry and Sergey’s company has the power to turn Internet users everywhere into devoted and life-long Googlers.”

“Search is extremely challenging, and improvements in the technology are significant,” said John Doerr. “One hundred million web searches are performed every day. Quickly finding the right information is critical for web users in many professions. Google revolutionizes search technology and delivers information in a way that focuses on the user.”
About Google

Google is dedicated to providing the best search experience on the web. Google has its own search destination site at http://google.com. Google also offers co-branded solutions for information content providers. Google was founded in September 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, building on three years of research as computer science Ph.D. candidates at Stanford University. Traffic has been growing at a rate of 50% per month since Google’s inception, fueled only by word of mouth. The Company’s name is derived from “Googol,” the name for the number 1 followed by 100 zeros, and reflects the immense amount of information available on the Internet. Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information, making it universally accessible and useful. Google is based in Palo Alto, California.

Google is privately held and venture funded by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital. Other investors include Stanford University; Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and current Vice President at Cisco Systems; and Ram Shriram, former President of Junglee and current Vice President of Business Development at Amazon.com. For more information, visit Google at http://google.com.
About Sequoia Capital

Sequoia Capital was formed in 1972 and has now provided the original, start-up venture financing for companies that now have a combined market value of more than $300 billion. Sequoia Capital has been the founding investor in dozens of companies including Cisco Systems, Apple Computer, Yahoo!, Linear Technology, Electronic Arts, Vitesse Semiconductor and International Network Services. Sequoia Capital has financed a variety of other best of breed Internet companies – including LinkExchange (acquired by Microsoft), GlobalCenter (acquired by Frontier), AtWeb (acquired by Netscape), BillPoint (acquired by eBay), ChipShot, Quote.Com, WebVan, eLoan, eToys, NextCard, PlanetRx and Scient.
About Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Kleiner Perkins was formed in 1972 and has served as lead investor in five of the top 10 new internet companies, including Amazon.com, America Online, @Home, Excite, Healtheon, Intuit, and Sportsline. These new internet companies have added more than $250 billion in value in the last four years.