Mobile image recognition and Augmented Reality platform Blippar has secured seed funding from Qualcomm, acting through its venture investment arm, Qualcomm Ventures.

In its first seven months, Blippar has run campaigns for brands including Tesco, Diageo, Waitrose, Unilever, Pepsico, Nestle, Cadbury, Samsung, Xbox and Heinz, with more in the pipeline. The company says it is now projecting rapid, international expansion with a view towards becoming the world’s default ‘lens’ on all smartphones for brand and media-to-consumer mobile engagement.

Blippar says this seed round is being viewed as the springboard to the company’s planned series-A funding early in 2012, which will be invested in an increased headcount to expand internationally; further development of the technical platform; and expansion of the product into additional mobile OS platforms.

“We are very excited by this early stage support from Qualcomm Ventures,” says Blippar CEO and co-founder, Ambarish Mitra. “We welcome it not only for our imminent growth strategy, but as a vote of confidence in our technology strengths to date, our team, and perhaps most importantly, our global potential within this, an exciting new ‘medium’ for content delivery and interaction.”