eBay buys Israeli startup SalesPredict to boost its machine learning

eBay is buying predictive analytics startup SalesPredict in a move designed to improve its “artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science efforts.”

The financial terms of the deal have not been revealed but it’s being said that an undisclosed number of SalesPredict employees will be joining eBay’s team, working out of the Israeli development center in Netanya, including SalesPredict chief executive Yaron Zakai-Or, who will be director of product management for technology, and chief technology officer Kira Radinsky, who’s been named director of data science and the chief scientist for eBay in Israel.

Founded in 2012, SalesPredict is a learning engine that uses your order history to suggest new items you might want to buy. It’s also well suited for marketing, helping businesses target only those who are most likely to buy a product or service.

eBay is pushing forward with its structured data initiatives, which it reminds us to involve collecting data, processing, and enriching it, and creating product experiences. The inclusion of SalesPredict seems to match the second part of this strategic effort.

In a statement, Vice President and General Manager of Structured Data at eBay Amit Menipaz said “SalesPredict’s deep expertise in predictive analytics and machine learning will contribute to eBay’s structured data efforts. For our buyers, it will help us better understand the price differentiating attributes of our products, and, for our sellers, it will help us build out the predictive models that can define the probability of selling a given product, at a given price over time.”

The acquisition should help eBay become more contextual, which is necessary to stay relevant. SalesPredict Co-Founder and CEO Yaron Zakai-Or said: “In partnership with eBay’s broader structured data team, we will help arm eBay sellers with more information about the value of items, ultimately helping to increase customer sales conversions.”