Search start-up appeals to well-heeled Cuban

Broadcast.com founder and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is backing a new internet search start-up that aims to take over where Google leaves off.

Dallas-based upstart IceRocket is trying to throw a new twist on search results, along with some financial and advisory help from billionaire Cuban. The company is mixing its own web search technology with "metasearch" features that tap into rival engines.

But it's hoping to set itself apart with features, such as more powerful image searching and an email-based service that can be used on handhelds and other mobile devices.

Blake Rhodes, CEO of IceRocket, said: "We don't need to recreate what [Google] is doing. There is a ton of room on the edges to do well things that they don't do well."

Google users are now "facing an overwhelming volume of choices to the point where you always feel like you are missing something," he added.

IceRocket is part of a new generation of search engines, some of which hope to "out-Google Google", and some of which simply want to capture a narrowly defined portion of the internet search market.

While none have anything but a tiny fraction of the audience of Google, the search giant's impending initial public offering - which is expected to raise as much as $3.3bn - has been tantalising for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists of all stripes.

John Borland writes for News.com