Noble Grossart Investments Ltd. Invests $5 Million in hakia, Web's New Meaning-Based Search Engine

WebKnowHow
Thursday, November 23, 2006; 04:44 AM

Noble Grossart Investments Ltd. has invested $5 million in hakia, Inc., the web’s new meaning-based search engine, it was announced today.

According to Dr. Riza Berkan, founder and CEO of hakia, “Having Noble Grossart Investments as an investor is an endorsement of our technology and team. In addition, our company’s access to Sir Angus Grossart, as an advisor, makes us stronger far beyond the investment itself.”

Added Sir Angus Grossart, chairman of Noble Grossart Investments, Ltd., “I believe that the team at hakia has the discipline and brain power to drive search to a new level. It is the right team and the right time to make meaning-based search a reality.”

hakia was founded by Dr. Riza Berkan, a nuclear scientist by training with a specialization in artificial intelligence and fuzzy logic, and Dr. Pentti Kouri, a New York-based economist and venture capitalist. Professor Victor Raskin, a father of ontological semantics and a noted international authority in the field of computational linguistics, serves as hakia’s scientific advisor.

hakia’s core shareholders are comprised of prominent private and institutional global investors including Noble Grossart Investments. Representative private investors include Dr. Kouri; Lu Pat Ng; and Murat Vargi, one of the founding shareholders of Turkcell, the leading GSM operator of Turkey and the only NYSE-listed Turkish company.

hakia’s other institutional investors include Alexandra Investment Management, an SEC-registered investment adviser which manages a global multi-strategy hedge fund with an event-driven focus; Prokom Investments, one of the largest investment groups in Poland; and KVK, the largest distributor of mobile telecommunication services and products in Turkey.

The hakia Board includes Anuj Mathur, Alexandra Investment Management; Dr. Riza C. Berkan; Bill Bradley, former U.S. Senator; John Gryzmala; Murat Vargi and Dr. Pentti Kouri.

About Noble Grossart Investments Limited

Noble Grossart Investments Limited is a subsidiary of Noble Grossart Limited. It primarily makes investments in private companies where it can act as a strategic advisor and long-term investor. Noble Grossart Limited is a merchant bank which was formed in 1969. Noble Grossart has concentrated on providing corporate advice and investment banking support and has a position of unique flexibility and independence within the UK merchant banking sector. Noble Grossart has offices in Edinburgh and London.

About hakia

hakia has developed the Web’s new meaning-based search engine, utilizing a radically new infrastructure designed to deliver the most relevant search results. Founded in 2004, the company is privately held and based in New York City. Go to http://www.hakia.com.