VC firm Sequoia Capital is heavily backing a new search engine dubbed Searchme, to the tune of $25 million, reports Kara at AllThingsD. The site has been incubating at Sequoia for about three years, although there are other investors as well (unidentified in the report.) Searchme will offer a way to scan search queries visually—so instead of getting a list of links, users will see various screenshots in a manner that closely resembles the way album covers are displayed on the iPhone. The company is helmed by entrepreneur Randy Adams, who was previously CEO of AuctionDrop, as well as a number of other companies, with Sequoia’s Mark Kvamme as chairman. The site is still in private beta.

ATD: “We are no Google (NSDQ: GOOG), of course, but we are trying something different to provide a new experience for searchusers,” said Adams. “Most of all, we are trying to innovate in search, which is still largely a text and list experience.” Adams has a point about the lack of innovation in search over the last several years by leader Google, which continues to grow its market share anyway.