France-based search engine IBOU announced a significant rebranding and strategic shift on October 26, 2026, introducing a new visual identity and domain name as it prepares for the release of its conversational search engine.
The move from ibou.io to ibou.com signals IBOU’s intention to target the general public, emphasizing a transition from a development project to an French search engine focused on user understanding.
The new visual identity features a bespectacled owl mascot and a color palette of pink, green and beige; the company stated pink represents search functions while green signifies discovery, aiming to highlight source publisher names and publication dates.
Two existing applications, ibou Découverte for web exploration and ibou Actualités for news aggregation and editorial comparison, already incorporate the updated branding, according to IBOU.
The conversational search engine, a key component of IBOU’s future offerings, has been announced but does not yet have a specific release date.
IBOU’s infrastructure, including its crawler, index, core technology and ranking system, is fully developed and hosted within France; the company claims its crawler is among the most active globally, with knowledge of more than 2 trillion documents.
The updated logo replaces a magnifying glass with a pair of glasses, symbolizing a shift in focus from merely finding information to comprehending it, IBOU representatives said.
Xavier Niel, a prominent French entrepreneur, invested in IBOU in March for an undisclosed sum, further supporting the search engine’s expansion plans.
Key figures involved in IBOU include Grégory Pairin, Ariane Moder, Aksel Oz, Sylvain Peyronnet and Guillaume Pitel; the company operates independently of other search entities like Babbar, Netim or Qwant.
Source: Abondance
