Visualeads

Personalized, colorful QR codes are popular in China. Visualead

Earlier today Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. announced it has invested in QR codes technology company Visualead Ltd. company, in its first ever investment in an Israel based start-up.

What is a QR code?

A Quick Response code is a square shaped, two-dimensional barcode originally intended to track parts in the automotive industry. Coupled with built-in cameras and Internet-connected mobile phones, many QR codes today link directly to a specific web address.

What does Visualead do?

Founded in 2012, Visualead developed technology that enables graphics, and even animation, to be integrated into QR codes, making the integration of QR Codes into ads, commercials and products much easier.

How did Visualead come to Alibaba’s attention?

QR codes are widely useed in China and Japan, and Visualead focused its efforts on the Chinese market. After winning a start-up competition in the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Shanghai in May 2013, Visualead was tapped by Renren Inc. a Chinese social networking service popular with college students. Renren used the technology to enable its users to link animated QR codes to their profiles and integrate the graphic avatars they use into the barcode. According to Oded Israeli, vice president of marketing at Visualead, given the prevalence of Chinese names shared by many people, the use of QR codes linking to social networks accounts in China is common. Last May Visualead’s CEO Nevo Alva and the company’s chief product officer Uriel Peled relocated from Israel to Shanghai, an uncommon move for Israeli entrepreneurs.

What next for Alibaba and Visualead?

Alibaba currently offers the use of Visualead’s visual QRs to sellers on its e-commerce websites Tmall and Taobao through Mashang Tao, a QR creation platform it launched last June. The company also plans to use the technology to battle the sale of fake goods on its e-commerce websites. The company is expected to offer brands the ability to integrate visual QR codes that can’t easily be duplicated into their products, hopefully making fakes easier to identify.

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