Blippar - the company bidding to build something 'bigger than the internet itself' - just appointed a top British diplomat as its COO

Blippar, the company that plans to create "a visual catalog of every object in the world, using image recognition technology and machine learning," announced in a press release on Thursday that senior British diplomat Danny Lopez would join its executive team as chief operating officer.

Lopez is currently British consul general to New York and director general for UK trade and investment in the US.

At 37, Lopez became the youngest ever British diplomat to take the prestigious New York post in 2011. During his five years in the role, Lopez drove trade and investment between British and American companies.

Lopez will take up the new role at Blippar on August 15, according to the release.

"I've enjoyed a front-row seat over the years watching Blippar grow from an upstart company in the UK to a major presence in New York and across the globe," Lopez said in the release.

"Having seen the company develop industry-leading technologies, I'm bullish on Blippar's vision to transform the phone and head-mounted wearables into a virtual browser for the physical world, while establishing itself as a first-class media company," Lopez added.

Blippar CEO Ambarish Mitra praised Lopez's experience in international business and economic development and his "operational prowess" and "strong leadership" in the release.

In March, Blippar raised $54 million in Series D funding, to help it build a "visual browser." This took the company's total funding to $99 million.

Mitra told Business Insider in 2015 that "what I'm trying to build is bigger than the internet itself."

The yet-to-be-released-concept is a smartphone app that can recognize real-world objects, even as they go through subtle changes. On top of innumerable other potential uses, Mitra hopes Blippar's ability to recognize physical objects could help empower the illiterate.