Don’t look now, but another search engine with a specific target audience is looking to make its way into the U.S. market.
Wazap is a game search engine that is currently only available in German, Japanese, and Chinese language versions. The keyword in that sentence is “currently.” With a fresh $7.9 million in second round funding under its belt, Wazap is licking its chops as it looks to enter the U.S. market in February.
The search engine focuses on the gaming niche and aims to guide users to the newest online gaming sites.
The new injection of funds will go towards this U.S. entry, as well as the bolstering of the site’s European strength.
Wazap, based in Berlin, began as a search engine in Japan in 2004, and branched off into German and Chinese markets in 2006. It received $4 million in its first round of financing from Wellington Partners in 2005. The new $7.9 million comes by way of Partech International.
According to Parks Associates, the online games market will be very rewarding to those that can establish a strong presence. The market has been rising and is expected to reach $4.4 billion by 2010, which is a huge improvement from the $1.1 billion in revenue the market generated in 2005.
Though the gaming audience is relatively scattered without a clear leader, U.S. sites like IGN hold strong positions that will make Wazap’s entrance a bit difficult. However, the gaming search engine makes it clear that it aggregates loads of information and news for its users rather than offering unique content, making it easier for users to find what they are looking for on one results page.
So far, Wazap has experienced success overseas, holding the interests of 11 million unique users per month, with 200 million page views and revenue of $1 million last year.
Michael Cai, director of broadband and gaming at Parks Associates, said that Wazap has 70,000 subscribers in Japan, and that he expects the search engine to utilize an ad-supported business model.
CFO Philip Gienandt indicated that Wazap will look to enter the U.K. and France within the next six to 12 months, and that other markets could be entered afterwards.
Price comparisons, news, pictures, and videos will be included in the content relayed to users on the site.
Wazap is yet another search engine that expresses the belief that big sites like Google and Yahoo fail to address the needs of niche users because of their sheer size. Though they will turn up general results, they will likely fail to give users focused results, which sites like Wazap hope to do for its targeted users.
Though it’s unlikely that niche search engines will affect the big boys of search much at all in the near future, their continued emergence seems to indicate that a more specialized search experience is in demand, and for good reason. As customized and personalized content continues to be offered to online users in every realm, it should be no surprise that the search environment is beginning to follow suit.
Sources:
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=20746&hed=Game
+Search+Engine+Snags+%247.9M
http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/searchinsider/
wpn-49-20070115VideoGameSearchEngineEyesUSLaunch.html
Digg 
