MOSCOW, May 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
Mail.Ru Group, one of the largest
Internet companies in the fast-growing Russian-speaking markets,
invests in Israeli-based Cortica Ltd. Cortica is the pioneer of a
new approach to computer-driven understanding of images and videos
through its unique and proprietary Image2Text™ technology.
Mail.Ru Group is investing $1.5
million in Cortica in order to support and access its
Image2Text™ technology. This investment is a part of the larger
round lead by other high profile investors.
Image2Text™ technology automatically extracts core
concepts from images and video and maps these concepts to keywords
and textual taxonomies. Once a core concept is identified, Cortica
enables host environments to offer relevant content, search and
advertising. For instance, when exposed to a picture of the Eiffel
Tower, Image2Text will recognize it and automatically offer
background information on the tower, ads for cheap tickets to
Paris and even a video featuring
panoramic views of the city. Going beyond the real-time analysis,
Image2Text can also assist in building user profiles by using
information about how users interact with pictures and videos to
offer them richer, more relevant content.
"Cortica's breakthrough technology provides a degree of
recognition and understanding accuracy that is comparable with that
of the human brain," says Mor
Yegerman, Head of International M&A at
Mail.ru Group. "And we are happy to support Cortica in this
exciting development."
"We are really excited to work with Mail.Ru
Group," says Igal Raichelgauz, Co-Founder and CEO of
Cortica. "Mail.ru shares our vision for
leveraging Image2Text technology for visual search and contextual
advertising and taking users' web surfing
experience to a whole new level. Mail.ru has the depth and breadth
of market penetration to expose much larger audiences to
Cortica's technology."
Mail.Ru Group (LSE:MAIL, listed since November 5, 2010) is a leading Internet company
in the high-growth Russian-speaking Internet markets. Mail.Ru
Group's sites reach approximately 86% of Russian-speaking Internet
users on a monthly basis, and the Company is one of the five
largest Internet sites, based on the number of total pages viewed
(comScore, March 2013).
The Company operates two of the three largest Russian language
online social networking sites (Odnoklassniki and My World), two largest Instant Messaging
networks in Russia (Mail.Ru Agent
and ICQ), Russia's leading e-mail
service and largest Internet portal Mail.ru, as well as
Russia's largest online games
platform.
Cortica was founded in 2007 with a vision to
fundamentally revolutionize computers' approach to understanding
images and video. Cortica's technology simulates the human cortex
in order to understand and recognize images with the highest degree
of accuracy. The company was founded by Igal Raichelgauz, Karina
Odinaev and Yehoshua (Josh) Y.
Zeevi, some of the best minds in neuroscience and big data.
The core technology is protected by over 50 patents. Cortica's
headquarters are based in New York
City and its R&D center is in Israel. Cortica is funded by Horizons Ventures
(the investment arm of Mr. Li Ka
Shing) and high profile individuals, including Ynon Kreiz
who serves as Cortica's chairman.
SOURCE Mail.Ru Group