---
title: "Powerset: AI company profile, people and coverage"
description: "Powerset was an American company based in San Francisco, California, that, in 2006, was developing a natural language search engine for the Internet. On July 1, 2008, Powerset was acquired by Microsoft for an estimated $100 million."
canonical: https://monitor.paciva.ai/company-powerset
type: Organization
wikidata: Q224599
wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerset_(company)
website: http://www.powerset.com
source: AI News Monitor
publisher: Paciva
license: CC BY 4.0 for this page's own layer; facts from Wikidata (CC0 1.0)
---

# Powerset

> Powerset was an American company based in San Francisco, California, that, in 2006, was developing a natural language search engine for the Internet. On July 1, 2008, Powerset was acquired by Microsoft for an estimated $100 million.

Read on the web: https://monitor.paciva.ai/company-powerset

## Facts

- Category: Artificial intelligence
- Country: United States
- Founded: 2005-01-01
- Headquarters: San Francisco
- Status: subsidiary
- Website: http://www.powerset.com

## Key people

- Barney Pell, founder (American computer scientist)
- Tom Preston-Werner (American businessman)

## Investors

- Peter Thiel
- Luke Nosek

## Ownership

Parent: [Microsoft](https://monitor.paciva.ai/company-microsoft.md)

## Coverage on the Monitor

Every article, podcast, video and market the Monitor holds on Powerset, dated and linked to its publisher: https://monitor.paciva.ai/company-powerset#connections

## Sources

- Facts: Wikidata (CC0 1.0), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q224599, read 2026-11-11
- Summary: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerset_(company)
- Filings: SEC EDGAR, https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001366466

Part of [AI Companies](https://monitor.paciva.ai/companies.md), the Monitor's directory of every AI company on file.