Ask Jeeves and TransCosmos Inc, which invests in closely held technology companies and works with US firms that want to expand to Japan, will own equal stakes in the venture, Ask Jeeves Japan, the company said. Other terms weren't disclosed.
Emeryville, California-based Ask Jeeves, which gets revenue by selling advertisements on its Internet sites and sells its service to other businesses for their Web sites, said the venture will target Japan's more than 28 million Internet users. It also plans to sell the service to Japanese businesses.
Ask Jeeves's service lets people type questions such as "What's the weather in Tokyo?" on Web sites, and uses natural-language software to interpret the question. The site then suggests Web pages that might answer the query.
US-based companies such as Ford Motor Co, the world's second-largest automaker, have agreed to use Ask Jeeves's service.
Ask Jeeves last month said it formed a partnership with Univision Communications Inc to create a Spanish-language search service. It also has a service in Britain.
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