ON - Omidyar Network

Metaweb is building a new infrastructure for the Web that enables individuals and communities to organize relevant information and share it with like-minded people online.

Why We Invested

Metaweb is a San Francisco-based technology company whose first product is Freebase, an open database of the world’s information. Built by the community and for the community, Freebase enables users to query, contribute to, or build applications on top of its database of structured information. By creating a passionate global community of users, Freebase connects people with shared interests and facilitates quick and easy access to quality information online.

Freebase covers millions of topics in hundreds of categories, drawing from large open data sets like Wikipedia, MusicBrainz, and the SEC archives. This information is supplemented by the efforts of a passionate global community of users, who work together to add structured information on everything from European railway stations to the chemical properties of common food ingredients.