Taptu raises $3.5m to build new Tapform service

Planning to open its technology up for other app developers to create social news aggregators.

Mobile search company Taptu has raised a new $3.5 million funding round, which it plans to use to open up its technology for other app developers to use.

The funding round came from European investors DFJ Esprit and Sofinnova. Taptu has already pivoted from its original pure search focus into social news aggregation, with its app that helps people to browse news based on their specific interests.

Now it wants to launch something called Tapform, which will open up its innards for others to experiment with.

"With Tapform we are opening our technology, allowing other companies and media entities to incorporate features that make Taptu a hit," says CEO Mitch Lazar. The company is pitching the technology to newspapers, for example, to create streams of their own content within apps.

Taptu is also working on an HTML5 web app that will work across desktop and mobile browsers.