eBay snaps up recommendations service Hunch

eBay has acquired recommendations platform Hunch, according to a press release issued Monday morning. The company did not disclose terms of the deal.

Sources told former TechCrunch editor-in-chief and current CrunchFund investor Michael Arrington that the purchase price was around $80 million.

Hunch, founded by serial entrepreneurs Caterina Fake, Chris Dixon and Tom Pinckney, launched in 2009 as a question-and-answer decision engine. The startup later switched gears to focus on building a “taste graph” to connect web users around their affinities. The site uses this data to make predictions about its users and provide them with personalized content recommendations.

“Hunch’s technology talent and its deep expertise in areas like machine learning, data mining and predictive modeling are expected to help eBay expand and grow merchandising and relevance capabilities to further improve the shopping and selling experience for eBay customers,” eBay said in a statement. “Hunch will enable eBay to move beyond standard item-to-item recommendations and use a broader variety of members’ online tastes and interests to suggest new and interesting items for them to browse and buy on eBay.”

Hunch, a New York-based company, had raised more than $19 million dollars in funding before being acquired.

[Image via Flickr/Rob Blatt]