I think it was Lycos that started the internet search business in a big way, but there might have been precursors. (Gopher, for example.)
"Lycos, Inc., is a web search engine and web portal established in 1994, spun out of Carnegie Mellon University." ~ Wikipedia
"Lycos, Inc., is a web search engine and web portal established in 1994, spun out of Carnegie Mellon University." ~ Wikipedia