Real-time search engine OneRiot rakes in $7 million

Real-time search engine OneRiot has raked in another $7 million in funding from existing investors Appian Ventures, Commonwealth Capital Ventures, and Spark Capital.

That brings the Boulder, Colorado-based company’s total financing to $27 million.

“It made sense for all of us to do this right now,” said Tobias Peggs, the company’s general manager, in an interview. “There’s an increasing and significant demand for real-time search results. This is a vote of confidence from our existing investors.”

Real-time search is a fast-growing area that digs up results based on what people are saying or publishing right now. Companies like OneRiot, Topsy and Scoopler scour through sources like Twitter, Digg and Flickr to find out what users are sharing at the moment. Potential revenue models include ads alongside search results and brand management.

OneRiot has been more aggressive than its competitors in rolling out an application programming interface to encourage other companies to make use of its search results. The startup also snagged a distribution deal with Microsoft that incorporated its search results into Internet Explorer and released RiotFeeds, which are real-time news feeds centered around topics like technology or sports.