Human-based search engine ChaCha seeks $30M, raises $11M

[Update: ChaCha has confirmed since I first posted that it has successfully raised the full $30 million. Thanks to Robin Wauters at TechCrunch.]

Human-powered search engine ChaCha just brought in $11 million of an expected $30 million third round of funding, according to peHUB. It’s assumed, based on the filing, that the round came from existing investors, potentially including private investor Morton Meyerson, Bezos Expeditions, Compaq Computer cofounder Rod Canion and Maven Ventures partner Jack Gill. At least those are the names that kicked in a previous $14 million in venture backing, not including a $2 million grant from 21st Century Technology Fund.

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The idea behind ChaCha is basically that any mobile user can text a query (ranging from local restaurant recommendations to random trivia) to the service and get a quick SMS response from someone else out there in the ether who might know the answer. Right now, it’s the major player in the mobile Q&A space, with fledgling competitors recently launched by Mohalo and Answerly, reports Tech Crunch.

VentureBeat reviewed the company here (scroll down) and the company’s initial round of $6 million in capital here.