[Techtaffy Newsdesk]

Ness Computing, a California-based startup, has completed a $15 million round of Series B funding led by SingTel Innov8, and including participation from American Express Ventures. The investment supports Ness’ continued development of its search technology, a “Likeness Engine”  that curates personalized recommendations based on people’s tastes and preferences.

Ness’ technology learns an individual’s taste preferences and combines this with signals from  their social networks — including Facebook, Foursquare and Instagram — to deliver personalized recommendations. Launched in August 2011 with $5 million in funding, Ness users have already  generated over 3 million ratings, says the company, and the app includes more than 5 million Instagram images for  restaurants.

Corey Reese  (Co-Founder and CEO, Ness): We want to help people experience more of what they love by understanding why they love the things they do.

In July 2011, Ness received a $5 million Series A round of financing led by Vinod Khosla and Ramy Adeeb of Khosla Ventures with participation from Alsop Louie Partners (the original seed investor in the company), TomorrowVentures, Bullpen Capital, a co-founder of Palantir Technologies, and several angel investors. An affiliate of the LeFrak Organization also participated in the most recent round.

[Image Courtesy: Ness]