Groxis
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Technology, Software |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Founder | Jean-Michel Decombe, Paul Hawken, R.J. Pittman |
| Defunct | March 2009 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco , United States |
| Products | Grokker (web-based federated content retrieval system and visual search platform) |
Groxis was a technology firm located in San Francisco that created and distributed Grokker, a web-based federated content retrieval system and visual search platform.
History
Established in 2001 by Jean-Michel Decombe, Paul Hawken, and R.J. Pittman, Groxis discontinued its operations in March 2009.
Jean-Michel Decombe held the position of Chief Technology Officer until 2006, where he developed the foundational ideas for Grokker and obtained multiple patents related to the technology. Paul Hawken served as Executive Chairman until 2003, overseeing early angel funding rounds and forming a strategic advisory board. R.J. Pittman was the CEO until 2006, responsible for securing venture capital, acquiring significant clients and partnerships, and steering the product strategy that enabled Grokker.com to rank among the top 5000 most visited sites.
Groxis collaborated with prominent entities such as Sun Microsystems, Stanford University, Fast Search & Transfer, EBSCO, the Internet Public Library, Amgen, along with industry giants like Yahoo!, Google, and Amazon.
The company received notable industry honors including DEMOgod 2003, Always On Top 100, and Wired 100.
The term Grokker is inspired by Robert A. Heinlein's 1961 science fiction book Stranger in a Strange Land, where "Grok" signifies an in-depth understanding or complete assimilation of an idea from various viewpoints.