Nicolas Dessaigne studied computer science to doctorate level and worked at Arisem with Julien Lemoine. Both later worked at Exalead. At the end of 2012, aged 36 and 31, with children and loans, they agreed to start a company and gave it at least a year.
Algolia was founded on 8 October 2012. Its first product searched offline inside mobile apps and did not sell. Developers asked for an online version, and a beta in March 2013 got a strong response. About $1.5 million from angels and funds paid for the first two employees.
The first Y Combinator application failed in 2013. The pair applied again after a trip to the United States and joined the winter 2014 batch, then moved to the US and raised another $1.3 million. Paying customers rose from 17 at the end of 2013 to 400 a year later.
Accel led an $18.3 million Series A in 2015 and a $53 million Series B in 2017. A $150 million round in July 2021 valued Algolia at $2.25 billion. Dessaigne later became a general partner at Y Combinator.