{
  "id": 220191,
  "title": "Ex-Spotify employees raise $10M to bring the AI behind its recommendations to e-commerce",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/06/ex-spotify-employees-raise-10m-to-bring-the-ai-behind-its",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-08-06T13:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechCrunch",
    "slug": "techcrunch",
    "url": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/06/ex-spotify-employees-raise-10m-to-bring-the-ai-behind-its-recommendations-to-e-commerce/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Sidd Motwani, Ian Anderson, and Shivaditya Sinha, former Spotify employees, have raised $10 million to bring their AI technology, originally used for the streaming platform's recommendations, to the e-commerce sector. Their startup, Malachyte, plans to create real-time, intent-aware shopping experiences for online retailers. Malachyte's \"two-headed Vector AI\" system predicts what product a shopper desires next, learns their taste preferences, and refines recommendations based on their actions during a session. The technology, which requires no account or prior history, can dynamically adjust product displays based on a user's behavior. The company's CEO, Motwani, emphasizes the untapped potential of real-time customer intelligence in retail. Malachyte began development in 2024 and has already integrated with platforms like Shopify, with plans to further enhance merchandising and marketing strategies around shared customer behavior insights. The $10 million seed funding round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Gradient, with additional support from Harpoon Ventures.",
  "summary": "The startup's platform predicts what product a shopper wants next, learn their general taste, and fine-tune continuously based on what they do in real time.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}