Alibaba Invests in a Search Engine for Apps

The Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group wears a number of hats, with commerce sites, a payment system and a search engine.

It is also a tech investor.

Quixey, a search engine for apps, announced on Thursday that it had raised a $50 million financing round led by Alibaba. The deal shows the Chinese company expanding its influence in Silicon Valley, many miles away from its home market.

The Alibaba name lends some prominence to Quixey. Alibaba is also getting a seat on the board, according to Tomer Kagan, Quixey’s chief executive and co-founder.

“They’ve been more founder-friendly than almost any V.C. I’ve ever met,” Mr. Kagan said in an interview, using a shorthand for venture capitalist. “They really believe in the founders having a strong say on the board and a strong say in the company.”

In addition to Alibaba, GGV Capital invested in the latest financing round, joined by several existing investors like Innovation Endeavors and US Venture Partners. Quixey has raised $74.2 million to date, the company said.

A partner at GGV, Jeff Richards, introduced Quixey to Alibaba, Mr. Kagan said, adding that he soon discovered that the philosophies of Quixey and Alibaba were aligned.

“All the world’s functionality, all the world’s software, should be at everyone’s disposal easily and equally,” Mr. Kagan said.

To distinguish itself from other search engines, Quixey lets people search for phrases that describe a particular task, like “book a flight.” It then shows mobile and desktop apps available for download that might help carry out that task.

Quixey recently started a program to let a company pay to have its app sponsored, giving it prominent placement in searches.

“Innovation is at the heart of Alibaba’s culture, so backing entrepreneurs who are developing forward-thinking technology is what we love to do,” Joe Tsai, the executive vice chairman of Alibaba, said in a statement. “Quixey has a great vision for the future and a fantastic team to see it through.”

The chatter surrounding Alibaba has lately centered on the company’s plans to hold its initial public offering in New York. The I.P.O. could value Alibaba at more than $75 billion.