This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "E-Commerce Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. The acquisition is part of the e-commerce company's structured data push for sellers. Structured data is eBay's standard way of categorizing and displaying products for sale on its marketplace. Utilizing SalesPredict's data analysis and machine learning skills, eBay will be able to better refine its search functions in order to serve the right products to prospective shoppers.

Companies large and small are embracing machine learning in a bid to make better use of their data. Last week, eBay Inc. led the charge by acquiring SalesPredict Ltd., an Israeli startup that uses the technology help marketers gain a better understanding of their customers. Its cloud service can analyze a company's sales records to identify the most valuable type of leads and then single out the accounts that match the description in its CRM system. Moreover, SalesPredict says that the data produced by its technology also makes it easier to identify new high-value prospects and optimize advertising campaigns. No terms were disclosed for the acquisition, but eBay did divulge that the startup's team will join its Israeli engineering team to help with product development efforts.

Google acquired Kifi, an app for collecting links from across the Internet, which teams could then collaborate on. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. The Kifi service and data will not become part of Google. The service will remain fully functional for existing users for a few more weeks, before its shut down. The company is no longer accepting new registrations. The team at Kifi will be joining the Spaces team at Google.

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "E-Commerce Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here. The acquisition is part of the e-commerce company's structured data push for sellers. Structured data is eBay's standard way of categorizing and displaying products for sale on its marketplace. Utilizing SalesPredict's data analysis and machine learning skills, eBay will be able to better refine its search functions in order to serve the right products to prospective shoppers.

The acquisition will help boost eBay's structured data efforts. Ebay announced July 11 that it is acquiring SalesPredict, an Israel-based company that uses advanced analytics to predict customer buying behavior and sales conversions. The SalesPredict team will join eBay's structured data center and support eBay's artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science efforts. Ebay said that the acquisition of SalesPredict builds on a recently completed acquisition of Expertmaker, which offers predictive analytics and personalization powered by artificial intelligence. The addition of SalesPredict, however, will help eBay predict factors that can affect the price of a product and enable its sellers to increase customer sales conversions.

Although financial terms of the deal were not revealed, it's 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 specializes in helping businesses grow revenue through analytics that identify ideal potential prospects, thereby improving conversion to actual customers. It follows similar moves, including its pickup of AI startup ExpertMaker in May. In a statement, Zakai-Or explained that by being a part of eBay, "we will help arm eBay sellers with more information about the value of items, ultimately helping to increase customer sales conversions." The inclusion of SalesPredict seems to match the second part of this strategic effort.

With machine learning and AI being the hottest trend in tech, eBay is also bolstering its efforts with the acquisition of Israel-based advanced analytics startup SalesPredict. And its not just efforts-bolstering thats happening, this could well be eBay's attempt to become more like Amazon and automate processes within the company. SalesPredict is the second addition to the carousel of machine learning powered analytics startups acquired by eBay in the recent past. It follows in the footsteps of Expertmaker, another startup that specializes in providing intelligent solutions powered by artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data analytics. SalesPredict, in a similar manner, provides a software platform that monitors individuals' buying preferences and tries to predict consumer behavior for online shopping.

Today eBay announced it will acquire SalesPredict, an Israel-based company that leverages advanced analytics to predict customer buying behavior and sales conversion. SalesPredict is eBay's latest acquisition that will support its artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science efforts. It follows eBay's recent acquisition of Expertmaker, in order to further bolster our structured data efforts. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Upon the close of the transaction, a number of SalesPredict's employees will join eBay's structured data organization, working from eBay's Israeli Development Center in Netanya.

Machine learning is all the rage, and eBay is buying its way in via an acquisition of a startup named SalesPredict. 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. To that, eBay seems to be trying to compete with Amazon; look at a product on Amazon, and a carousel on the front page changes to show you that and similar items, as well as any complimentary purchases you may want to make. 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."

Today eBay announced it will acquire SalesPredict, an Israel-based company that leverages advanced analytics to predict customer buying behavior and sales conversion. SalesPredict is eBay's latest acquisition that will support its artificial intelligence, machine learning and data science efforts. It follows eBay's recent acquisition of Expertmaker, in order to further bolster our structured data efforts. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Upon the close of the transaction, a number of SalesPredict's employees will join eBay's structured data organization, working from eBay's Israeli Development Center in Netanya.