Livestream shopping platform Whatnot has acquired Shaped, a machine learning startup that specializes in AI-powered search and recommendation technology for fast-moving marketplaces.
The acquisition is part of Whatnot’s broader push to use AI to improve product discovery across its platform, where inventory changes constantly, live shows start and end throughout the day, and buyer preferences can shift in real time, TechCrunch reported.
By integrating Shaped’s technology into its existing systems, Whatnot said it aims to deliver recommendations that are faster, more accurate, and more personalized for users.
Benzinga contacted Whatnot for comment, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
Emmanuel Fuentes, Whatnot’s vice president of data and AI, told TechCrunch that the company has spent years reducing delays in its recommendation engine, cutting the time needed to update suggestions from roughly a day to just minutes.
