US media company Red Herring selects image search company Pixsta as one of the most innovative technology companies in Europe.

The American magazine Red Herring has awarded Pixsta (www.pixsta.com) the much-coveted “Red Herring 100 Europe” award. With this prestigious prize the well-known magazine for technology and business celebrates each year the top 100 technology firms in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Pixsta made it into the final list after a tough selection procedure involving 700 other companies. “This year’s impressive list of winners demonstrates Europe’s emergence as a major player in the global technology sector” comments Joel Dreyfuss, Red Herring’s Editor-in-Chief. Companies like Google, eBay and Skype were spotted in their early days by Red Herring editors as those that would change the way we live and work.

Pixsta has received the award for its revolutionary image search software. Instead of entering keywords, users browse for relevant images based on their visual similarity. “This can help online shops to present their products in a more appealing way” explains Pixsta co-founder and CEO Alexander Straub. “This prize vindicates our business model and is a recognition of the technical breakthroughs that Pixsta has achieved in image search.” Pixsta’s patented technology is based on complex algorithms that analyse images according to their similarity at the pixel level and connect images into hyperlinked networks that users can browse interactively.

One application can be seen on the website www.chezimelda.com. Named after the shoe-obsessed Imelda Marcos, the site allows users to browse 120,000 images of shoes. Clicking on an image brings up thirty similar shoes which can again be selected. Each shoe also links to the site of the retailer where the shoe can be ordered. At present there are 26 internet stores participating in the network. Net-A-Porter, Great Britain’s leading online shop for fashion and accessories, is using Pixsta’s technology to make searching their 5,000 products more intuitive. Comparing all white trousers from different designers, for examples, suddenly becomes very easy. “Red Herring has realised that visual image search is the next billion dollar market. In this we have positioned ourselves optimally and early.” explains serial entrepreneur Alexander Straub, who is also co-founder of Truphone, a company that puts the world of mobile telecommunications upside down by offering free WLAN communication for mobile phones worldwide.

Red Herring, Inc, founded in 1993, is a media company whose mission is to cover innovation, technology, financing and entrepreneurial activity. Its staff of award-winning journalists tell readers what's first, what matters and most importantly, why. Its rankings are the result of thorough analysis and serve to link innovative technology companies with interested investors. The winners of this year’s “Red Herring 100 Europe” will be awarded their price during the event “Venture Market Europe 2007” to take place in Cannes at the end of March. During the event, each winner will be given the opportunity to present the achievements of their company to an interested audience. This year’s conference will take place under the motto “The pursuit of disruption”.

Pixsta is a London-based image search company that develops software for finding digital images on the basis of their visual content, rather than associated text. Pictures and graphics are analysed on a pixel level and even very large image collections can be browsed instantly. Pixsta has a strong team of experts in image analysis, software development, IT-infrastructure, finance and marketing. It is currently financed by the early stage venture capital fond Straub Ventures (www.straubventures.com).