Riya

Spotlight: Like.com Invigorates Crowded Online Shopping Sector with Visual Search

Authored by Scott Goldberg on November 28, 2006 - 5:59am.

It takes guts to willingly join a market as crowded as the online shopping space, which Riya's offspring Like.com did at the beginning of November. Online shopping has exploded in 2006. According to Patti Freeman Evans, an analyst with JupiterResearch, online sales will reach $100 billion dollars this year for the first time, and will constitute 6% of total merchandise sales this holiday season. Riya co-founder and CEO Munjal Shah said he loves crowded spaces. "That's where the money is. That's why they're crowded."

Riya Readying Public Beta Test of Photo Search Engine

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 6, 2006 - 5:04am.

Phoenix, Ariz. - Riya, a developer of photo search engine technology, announced on Monday that it plans to launch a public beta test of its service in the first quarter of 2005.
The company said the search engine uses proprietary face recognition technology, text recognition technology and other elements to scan a library of photographs and automatically generate tags based on their contents. Riya also lets users search a public collection of photos, and share photo collections with friends. Based in Redwood Shores, Calif., Riya has so far raised $19.5 million in venture capital from a group led by Bay Partners.