Two Men Bring Visible Change to Search

For example, if you are searching for a martini, you start your search by typing "martini." A screen of images then appears. From this point forward, all refinement can be made through visual cues. If you want only drinks in a blue hue, you don't have to type the word "blue" -- you can simply drag a color-picker to the hue and intensity of blue you desire. If some glasses have a lime wedge on them and you wish to refine your search to only include drinks with lime wedges, you can "trace" simple lines over the salient objects in the image you wish to keep. This is where CogniSign's spatial recognition and other patented technology shines.

Calkins says CogniSign is in the process of acquiring a Series A round of financing, and he does not wish to disclose sales or investment figures. However, Calkins did say that the company, now with 12 employees, has experienced quarter-to-quarter growth in excess of 25% and he said he expects CogniSign to be profitable by the end of 2009.

Xcavator.net is currently a gateway to six stock photo companies indexing 7 million images, and Calkins expects the portal to exceed 10 million images with an additional three stock photo companies in the first quarter of 2009. Serving stock photos, however, is just the beginning. What makes CogniSign's technology so powerful is its scalability and flexibility. While its search methods may be different from Google's, CogniSign's revenue model is very similar.

Calkins hopes that by mid-2009, his company will begin implementing its technology for search-based ad targeting. Its technology will be able to place more precise ads with images that don't have keywords or accurate descriptions. The company also plans to launch its own video-search tool, which is already receiving industry praise, by the end of 2009.