Getty Images acquires PicScout for $20m

The image copyright solutions developer raised just $1 million from Lenny Recanati and Mirabilis co-founder Yair Goldfinger.

This is a successful exit for PicScout, which raised just $1 million from Yair Goldfinger, a co-founder of Mirabilis, and Lenny Recanati. The company's annual turnover is estimated at $5 million, and it is believed to be profitable.

PicScount filed a prospectus with the Israel Securities Authority to raise $5-10 million at a company value of $20-30 million in an IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) in September 2010, but withdrew the plan.

PicScout will continue to operate independently following the acquisition, and no major personnel changes are expected. The Herzliya-based company has 60 employees.

PicScout CEO Offir Gutelzon and chairman Eyal Gura founded the company in 2002. Gura has also invested in another start-up, The Gifts Project, co-founded by his brother, Ron Gura.Last month, he marked up another exit with the sale of PicApp Ltd., which he founded in 2008, and sold to Indian digital marketing company Ybrant Digital Ltd.

PicScout's technology identifies the digital fingerprint of images appearing online, even if they have been blurred or edited. The company has two products: ImageTracker, which locates the use of images online and reports it to the copyright owner; and ImageExchange, an add-on to Firefox and Explorer browsers, which can identify in real time copyrighted images and offer the users an option to buy them.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 27, 2011

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