Ecommerce company Etsy today disclosed in a filing that it spent $32.5 million to acquire Blackbird Technologies, a startup that had developed artificial intelligence (AI) software that could be used for various search applications in the context of shopping. "The Company completed this acquisition to improve the quality and relevance of search on Etsy.com," says the SEC filing. Total consideration for the acquisition was approximately $15.0 million, consisting of $8.1 million in cash and 513,304 shares of the Company's common stock with a fair value of $6.9 million on the acquisition date. Additionally, the Company issued 184,230 shares of common stock or restricted stock units ("RSUs") on the acquisition date with a fair value of $2.5 million which are tied to continuous service with the Company as an employee and are being accounted for as post-acquisition stock-based compensation expense over a three-year vesting period. The Company will pay up to an additional $8.8 million in cash and issue up to an additional 460,575 shares of RSUs post-close with a fair value of $6.2 million, both of which are also tied to continuous service with the Company as an employee and are being accounted for as post-acquisition stock-based and other compensation expense over a three-year vesting period.

On Sept. 19, Etsy (NASDAQ:ETSY) announced it had acquired private analytics and AI company Blackbird Technologies to enhance its search capabilities. Since Etsy is an online retailer of rare products and handmade crafts, though, some might question the prudence of its purchase. Etsy bought Blackbird Technologies for an undisclosed sum of money. What we do know is what the company gets in the exchange: Blackbird's analytics engine that analyzes shoppers' behavior to predict and suggest personalized search results, image recognition and cataloguing to enhance user searches, and spelling correction and predictive type to speed up the search process. In addition to the technology, the techie team at Blackbird will also be joining Etsy, including the two company co-founders.

A recent release out of the company reports, "Etsy, Inc., which operates marketplaces where people around the world connect, both online and offline, to make, sell and buy unique goods, today announced that it has acquired Blackbird Technologies, Inc. Privately-held, Blackbird has developed proprietary machine learning technology that delivers superior search relevance and recommendations. Blackbird's novel technology combines images and text using advanced Deep Learning Artificial Intelligence techniques to power a range of search capabilities, including personalized search, ranking, spelling correction and predictive typeahead, to deliver a personalized shopping experience."

It's not just gigantic search engines that are looking to acquire tech and talent around emerging areas like speech recognition. Even design and craft marketplaces can use a little machine learning and artificial intelligence to make their wheels turn a little better. Today, the popular handmade-goods site Etsy announced it has acquired a startup called Blackbird Technologies, which developed algorithms for natural language processing, image recognition and analytics -- similar to those used by Amazon and Google for product and other searches -- and then "democratized" them to be used by any company of any size. At Etsy, the tech will be used to improve its own search features. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but we're asking and will update if we learn more.

It's not just gigantic search engines that are looking to acquire tech and talent around emerging areas like speech recognition. Even design and craft marketplaces can use a little machine learning and artificial intelligence to make their wheels turn a little better. Today, the popular handmade-goods site Etsy announced it has acquired a startup called Blackbird Technologies, which has developed algorithms that can help Etsy develop better and more advanced search with features like natural language processing, image recognition and analytics. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but we're asking and will update if we learn more. The company's employees -- it appears there were around 10 -- will all be joining Etsy.

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.

It's not just gigantic search engines that are looking to acquire tech and talent around emerging areas like speech recognition. Even design and craft marketplaces can use a little machine learning and artificial intelligence to make their wheels turn a little better. Today, the popular handmade-goods site Etsy announced it has acquired a startup called Blackbird Technologies, which has developed algorithms that can help Etsy develop better and more advanced search with features like natural language processing, image recognition and analytics. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but we're asking and will update if we learn more. The company's employees -- it appears there were around 10 -- will all be joining Etsy.

It's not just gigantic search engines that are looking to acquire tech and talent around emerging areas like speech recognition. Even design and craft marketplaces can use a little machine learning and artificial intelligence to make their wheels turn a little better. Today, the popular handmade goods site Etsy announced that it has acquired a startup called Blackbird Technologies, which has developed algorithms that can help Etsy develop better and more advanced search with features like natural language processing, image recognition and analytics. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but we're asking and will update if we learn more. The company's employees -- it appears there were around 10 -- will all be joining Etsy.