Can this company beat Google at its own game?

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What’s your favorite underdog story? In sports, there have been many for me: Leicester City’s 2016 Premier League winning team, the 2004 NBA champion Detroit Pistons, and the 1988 Winter Olympics’ Jamaican bobsledding team, just to name a few.

Of course, the startup world is full of such instances – the classic tale of young upstarts beating established giants plays out over and over again. But can anyone beat the titan of titans at its own game? A new challenger to Google is approaching.

Today, we look at:

• The company looking to take on Google in the search market
• A South Korea-based startup that has secured US$27 million from SoftBank and others
• Other newsy highlights such as Chinese logistics firm Full Truck Alliance’s US$24 billion valuation, and how electric vehicles are poised to overtake their petrol-fueled brethren sooner than initially thought

PREMIUM SUMMARY

What does it take to challenge Google in its home turf?

What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done? Can it compare with looking the dominant player in your field in the eye and telling them you’re coming for them? That appears to be what Ahrefs, a Singapore-based search engine optimization service provider, is doing.

• One-horse race: Google dominates the search market, owning more than 90% of the market share. In comparison, its closest competitor, Microsoft’s Bing, has a 2.7% share.
• A better way? Ahrefs feels like it can provide a better – and fairer – alternative. It wants to implement a 90/10 profit share model with its search engine, Fairsearch, giving 90% of the profit it makes back to the content creators and websites that answer its search queries. This would also differentiate it from competitors such as Bing and Yahoo.
• Coming soon: While there’s still no target launch date for Fairsearch, Ahrefs plans to roll out the service globally this year.

Read more: With almost $100m in ARR without taking VC money, Ahrefs is now challenging Google

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