An online search engine scheduled to launch in late January would provide visitors with free limited access to articles normally sold by publishers, the site's co-founder said Tuesday.

Congoo.com, funded by five individuals, is the brainchild of chief executive Ash Nashed and Rafael Cosentino, vice president of business development. Nashed is co-founder of Choice Media, an online network of premium Web sites dedicated to consumer healthcare.

In offering access to premium content, Congoo.com is a marketing tool for publishers, giving them the ability to provide potential subscribers a limited number of articles each month to pique their interest. In addition, publishers can choose to market their service directly to visitors by email.

Congoo, on the other hand, plans to make money by selling advertising related to search results. Such sponsored links are common among search engines, such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.

"Everybody wins," Nashed said.

While not ready to name them, Nashed said he has more than 15 publishers signed up, and expects to launch the site with between 20 and 30. The goal is to have more than 100. Nashed, who hopes to launch the site Jan. 24, said the companies publish the nation's largest financial, trade and consumer magazines and newspapers.