eBay acquires image processing expert Corrigon

In a bid to bring better image recognition into its online marketplace, eBay has announced the acquisition of Israel-based startup Corrigon that excels in image processing and computer vision.

“As we continue to evolve the eBay shopping experience, Corrigon’s technology and expertise will help buyers find the best results when shopping on eBay through experiences that were not possible a year ago, before our investments in structured data,” said Amit Menipaz, eBay’s vice president and general manager for structured data.

Corrigon that was founded in 2008 by Avinoam Omer and Einav Itamar focuses on brand monitoring, visual search, and copyright management.

"Corrigon's state-of-the-art visual search technology enables fine-grained product detection within images. We look forward to applying our expertise and technology to eBay's platform, which has more than a billion product images," said Avinoam Omer, co-founder, and CEO of Corrigon.

"Working in partnership with eBay’s structured data team, we will help eBay sellers list more efficiently and eBay buyers find what they are looking for faster in order to increase customer sales conversions,” he added.

Terms of the deal have not been disclosed but the Corrigon team will be joining eBay’s structured data organization once the transactions complete and will be based in eBay’s Israeli Development Center in Netanya.

Corrigon acquisition is the latest in eBay’s efforts to build better search functionality with machine learning and big data capabilities. They include the acquisition of big data startup Expertmaker and SalesPredict, an AI company, both in May of this year.