// startup autopsy

IndexTank

Built search so well that LinkedIn bought the whole team

acquisition gone wrongAcqui-hire

Fatal mistake: IndexTank's technology was strong enough to attract LinkedIn's acquisition but the standalone product couldn't survive the transition into a large corporate environment.

Founded	2009
Closed	2012
Country	USA
Sector	Developer tools

50%

Key Events Timeline

2009-01-01

FOUNDING

IndexTank founded in the USA, building a real-time search-as-a-service API for developers.

2010-03-01

FUNDING

IndexTank raises $1.6M to scale its search infrastructure and developer customer base.

2010-09-01

PRODUCT LAUNCH

IndexTank launches public API, gaining developer adoption and positive technical reviews.

2011-08-01

ACQUISITION ATTEMPT

LinkedIn acquires IndexTank for its real-time search technology and engineering talent.

2012-03-01

SHUTDOWN

LinkedIn shuts down the IndexTank service, ending access for all existing customers.

Full Analysis

Analyst plan

Documented cause

IndexTank was a real-time hosted search startup providing search-as-a-service for developers. LinkedIn acquired it in October 2011 but shut down the service after six months (April 2012). While IndexTank was te...

chnically a successful acquisition exit, it failed commercially as LinkedIn did not continue the product, forcing users to migrate to alternatives.

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€2.9M

Peak valuation

HypeCycle · MoatType · ResearchTags

IndexTank raised €1.6M before indextank's technology was strong enough to attract linkedin's acquisition but the standalone product couldn't survive the transition into a large corporate environment. ended it. See the documented cause, verified lesson and all failure signals.

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