Imagini comes of age

Alex Willcock's Imagini has always fallen in the 'intriguing' category.
The idea of consumers having a 'visual DNA' is the big idea.
What to do with this concept and the 12m profiles which Imagini has collected has always been the issue.
Imagini have created some compelling applications which have proven the hypothesis that profiling by visual preference enhances response significantly and is an engaging and entertaining mechanism. Hotels.com's 'Hotel Visualiser' created by Imagini is a superb example of Visual DNA in action. http://hotels.visualdna.com/statement/module/HotelsModule/Hotels_Module.

Others who have used the Imagini approach include: MyDeco, The Army, Nectar, Pepsico and MSN http://visualdna.com/advertisers/

Imagini has just announced a second round funding of $13.5m The additional investment comes from Horizons Ventures, NorthZone Ventures and Atomico. See Techcrunch.

In addition, Imagini has appointed Dermot Halpin, former President of Expedia Europe, as non-executive Chairman and Board Director.

Prior to joining Imagini, Dermot was President of Expedia Inc. Europe.

Imagini has developed unique technology that offers advertisers, publishers and agencies extremely detailed profiling information about their online target audiences. By offering a series of picture-based quizzes to website users, Imagini’s VisualDNA product creates the opportunity for brands to connect with their customers in a completely new way. The bespoke quizzes can either run on a company’s website, or be embedded into flash, making them easy to distribute through online ad and affiliate networks.

Now Imagini is developing a VisualDNA Plug-In that will allow any website publisher to create their own free online quiz, in order to enhance their site.

Imagini also operates a consumer site called youniverse.com which has a reach of nearly 1m unique users per month, and was recently nominated by BBC Click as 'one of the best sites on the web'.
For more information about Imagini and its brands, visit www.visualdna.com or www.youniverse.com .
Many readers of this blog may not be familiar with Horizons Ventures.
"Horizons Ventures is a Hong-Kong based investment company focused on early-stage companies in the field of telecommunications, media & technology. With extensive business experience and reach in Asia, Horizons partners and invests in innovative companies that bring about transformational changes to their focus areas. Successful investments and current portfolio companies include Skype, Facebook, UMPay, NBA China, Joost, Lemonade, doubleTwist and Rfinity."

TAG invested in Imagini in April 2007.