Etsy buys machine learning and A.I. startup Blackbird to beef up search

Today Etsy announced it's buying Blackbird Technologies, a startup that developed search and recommendation tech for ecommerce companies using machine learning and artificial intelligence. Reached by VentureBeat, an Etsy spokesperson declined to share how much the company paid for Blackbird. This Blackbird Technologies is not related to a surveillance company of the same name, which U.S. defense contractor Raytheon acquired in 2014. In a press release, Etsy said Blackbird's team will join the company to "accelerate our efforts to further optimize the search experience," adding that "there may be opportunities to deploy Blackbird's Artificial Intelligence technology in areas beyond search that will help strengthen our markets and seller services platform." Blackbird will shut down in the coming months following the deal, a person familiar with the matter told VentureBeat.