Blinkx Set to Go Public -- Video Search is Hot Sector

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Blinkx, the start-up that has created a video search technology using a variety of techniques notably "listening" to audio track of video, is going public on the London Stock Exchange in May.

Blinkx was spun off from Autonomy, a company that does a good deal of government work. In fact much of Blinkx technology was developed under government security contracts to search audio for terrorist threats and other law enforcement and national security matters.

Similarly, Podzinger a video search company was spun off of BBN, a big national security contractor. Autonomy was an investor and maintained the option to take control of the company. My colleague Rafat Ali explains some of the financial issues.

I reached founder Suranga Chandratillake by e-mail for further comment, but he declined due to SEC regulations during a pre-IPO "quiet period."

Above is my interview with Suranga from last fall where he explains the imperative of search and the strategy of his company. Here is the press release from Autonomy.

-- Andy Plesser

Blinkx, Podzinger, Rafat Ali, Suranga Chandratillake, Online Video