VERSUS IO, the natural language-styled comparison engine backed by Dave McClure (amongst others), has closed a $2.8 million Series A round led by Earlybird Venture Capital. McClure’s 500 Startups also participated, as did Hightech-Gruenderfonds, Lars Dittrich, and Dario Suter.
This brings the Berlin-based startup’s total funding to $3.8 million, having already received seed backing from Hightech-Gruenderfonds and JMES Investments, followed by 500 Startups putting in $100k last December — McClure’s first investment in the Berlin startup scene.
Launched in July as a way to compare smartphones, VERSUS IO has since expanded to let consumers also compare tablets, cameras, and mobile apps, in addition to city comparisons, its first non-product vertical.
In fact, the startup claims its engine is able to compare just about anything using natural language processing, frequently talking its plans to expand to 640 verticals and the potential to even add people to that list, which is an ever so slightly creepy (but fun) thought.
VERSUS IO says there are now 25 million comparisons available via its site, which for a European startup gunning to be global has rather smartly been localised in 18 languages. Furthermore, it’s seeing 2 million unique visitors each month, claiming to have grown 35% month-on-month on average since launch in July 2011.