Union Square Ventures Invests In Duck Duck Go’s Search Algorithm

Duck Duck Go has been competing with Google on search for the last four years. Up until now, the startup had been completely bootstrapped. But now Duck Duck Go is tweaking its business model. Founder Gabriel Weinberg has decided to raise money from Union Square Ventures. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Weinberg recently hired Duck Duck Go’s first employee. The decision to grow the company internally is based on Duck Duck Go’s recent external growth. Pageviews are up. Duck Duck Go is receiving about 300,000 search queries per day, which is up from the 200,000 received in June.

USV partner Brad Burnham will join Duck Duck Go’s board. Jim Young from i/o ventures and Joshua Schachter from Tasty Labs also participated in the round, along with a few other angels. The money will be used to make new hires, which will allow for a faster release cycle.