Former Spotify engineers secure $10 million to launch AI-driven e-commerce platform

After developing the behavioral intelligence that powers roughly 90 % of Spotify’s recommendations, Sidd Motwani, Ian Anderson and Shivaditya Sinha launched Malachyte to bring a similar AI model to e-commerce. Their two-headed Vector AI evaluates real-time signals such as clicks, scrolls and searches to infer a shopper’s current intent, allowing personalized product placement even for first-time visitors. The company secured $10 million in seed funding, co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Gradient, with additional backing from Harpoon Ventures.

Early testing began in 2024 across travel, grocery and retail sectors, and the platform debuted with Fun.com in fall 2025. Since June 2026 it has been generally available to Shopify merchants through a native integration, while larger retailers can connect via API. Motwani envisions unifying merchandising and marketing around a shared understanding of customer behavior.