Their new start-up, , lets shoppers click on an item they like, such as a shoe. Then, using patent-pending computer vision technology, the site pulls up a new page with similar shoes based on style and color.

Click on another shoe, and the algorithm does another iteration, further refining the search.

Modista searches through hundreds of thousands of items from sites such as Zappos.com, Endless.com, Nordstrom's and other online retailers. The website displays the results in a grid after each iteration.

"When you go to a mall you see a lot of stuff and the brain is very good processing images," co-founder AJ Shankar told The Industry Standard. "The intent of the site is to mimic that and enable them [shoppers] to discover products."

Shankar and his co-founder Arlo Faria are PhD students at U.C. Berkeley.