Aligning itself with another search-based company, AltaVista Tuesday made an equity investment in online video and image search company Virage Inc..
In addition to its nearly 10 percent investment, AltaVista will integrate Virage’s VideoLogger and Video Search Tools (VST) into the AltaVista site. With the software, Internet and intranet users can search for and find segments of video or images they are interested in, then extract specific information in real time.
No financial specifics were disclosed. Other investors taking part in
Virage’s financing include Adobe Ventures (a partnership with Hambrecht &
Quist), Media Technology
Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, Trinity Ventures and TTC Ventures.
“This investment combines the powerful search and e-commerce leadership of
AltaVista with the advanced image and video search technology from
Virage to enrich the consumer experience on AltaVista,” said Kurt
Losert, general manager of AltaVista.