BANGALORE: Pixazza, an online advertising startup that converts photos on Web sites into interactive advertisements, is grabbing headlines for its innovation.

James Everingham, the man behind Pixazza is elated that even Google Inc has evinced interest in the company, says the Associated Press. The online advertising and search major, through its new venture-capital fund, is among those that have recently invested a combined $5.8 million in the company, it says.

Everingham is said to have stumbled upon the idea after he saw his wife keenly watching the shoes worn by Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker in a photograph. The idea of a company struck him when he found his wife looking for a similar, cheaper version of the $1000 Christian Diors.

The order was placed after a long research and when the shoes arrived in the mail, the two logged on to a variety of blogs and spotted comments from consumers who wanted to know where they could get celebrities' looks.

This is when Everingham saw a fortune awaiting his business mindset online. He then realised that ads work best when they don't resemble ads but rather a feature that helps shoppers find items online.

In August last Pixazza came into being and has ever since added a number of web site publishers, merchant advertisers and investors to its fold, said the news agency.

Everingham turned around the company by helping web sites can earn money from the images they would have displayed anyhow. And while it introduces another type of advertising, Pixazza sported a totally different flavour.

Pixazza currently works with about 10 sites and users who run across an item of interest simply hover over it and click on the link to buy the product at the merchant's site.

Though Pixazza currently concentrates on fashion related images, it has lined up measures to introduce new categories such as travel, sports and home design later this year.