eBay confirms buying Hunch for recommendations
updated 12:00 pm EST, Mon November 21, 2011
Hunch to bring recommendations to eBay auctions
eBay has purchased Hunch, a data analysis firm, in an attempt to improve recommendations for its web-based store. Hunch founders Chris Dixon, Tom Pinckney, and Matt Gattis will stay at eBay in New York, said a Thursday report. Financial details weren't revealed.
Hunch, which takes and analyzes data from Facebook, other social networks and questionnaires, will use this to make personal recommendations for eBay shoppers. Unlike competitors such as Amazon, eBay doesn't have a recommendation engine for related products. Hunch was already working on a similar problem regarding unstructured data, said Mark Carges, CTO at eBay.
eBay has recently made other acquisitions as it tries to improve its appeal, such as buying Zong for $240 million to enable mobile payments.
Hunch also originally included Caterina Fake, a key creator behind Flickr.
