Google has announced its first ever UK acquisition, buying the Oxford-based mobile visual search start-up Plink.
Plink, a visual search engine thatÔÇÖs only four months old, allows users to identify works of art by photographing them with their mobile phone via its application PlinkArt, available on GoogleÔÇÖs mobile platform, Android.
Mark Cummins and James Philbin, Plink's founders and only employees, thought of the idea while they were graduate students at Oxford University's Department of Engineering Science.
Plink won a $100,000 prize from Google last year following a public vote for the best reference app on AndroidÔÇöthe companyÔÇÖs sole funding to date.
PlinkArt attracted over 50,000 users in its first four weeks. Plink said it had also held discussions with galleries including the Tate, based in London, over potential partnerships.
After joining Google, PlinkÔÇÖs founders will be working on improving Google Goggles, an Android feature that works on a similar basis to PlinkArt, performing searches based on mobile photos of objects and logos.
PlinkArt will remain available on Android Marketplace after the acquisition, however.
Both engineers will move to the Google Gears project base in Santa Monica, California, to perform their new roles.
The founders said in a statement: ÔÇ£We started Plink to bring the power of visual search to everyone, and weÔÇÖre delighted to be taking a big step towards that goal today.
ÔÇ£Google has already shown that itÔÇÖs serious about investing in this space with Google Goggles, and for the Plink team the opportunity to take our algorithms to Google-scale was just too exciting to pass up.
ÔÇ£The visual search engines of today can do some pretty cool things, but they still have a long long way to go,ÔÇØ the statement continued. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre looking forward to helping the Goggles team build a visual search engine that works not just for paintings or book covers, but for everything you see around you.ÔÇØ
Google resumed making small acquisitions last year after holding off during the recession, with chief executive Eric Schmidt saying last month that the company is now aiming to acquire at least one company each month, as well as recruit more staff.
