For the longest time that Google has been into acquisition of startups, interestingly this is the first time that it acquires a UK-based startup. Google just bought mobile visual search startup – Plink. The acquisition is of course part of Google’s aim of acquiring at least one company monthly.
Plink, a mobile visual search engine was founded by PhD students Mark Cummins and James Philbin. It’s first product was called PlinkArt, a visual recognition tool that analyzes pictures of well-known art works and paintings and then identifies them. The photos can then be shared with friends and users can purchase by clicking through the information given by Plinkart.
According to the developers, Plinkart has been downloaded for more than 50,000 times during the six weeks following its launch.
Before you start thinking how Google will integrate Plink to its products and services, well actually it seems like Google will not. The purpose of the acquisition is more of a manpower move, that is Google wants Cummins and Philbin to work on Google Goggles, that cool visual search project introduced by Google previously.
Apparently, the Google folks were so impressed by Plink during the Android Develop Challenge when the two developers won $100,000. That prize has been Plink’s source of funding since then.
