eBay Plans New AI Investments In 2026 Through Venture Capital Arm & Beyond
eBay is making new investments in AI for 2026 through eBay Ventures funding for "ecommerce enablers" as well as direct commercial partnerships to enhance AI-powered customer support solutions and more.
The company's venture capital arm, eBay Ventures, launched in 2022 with an initial investment in Norwegian second-hand shopping site Tise, which eBay went on to acquire in September 2025.
Liz Morton
That was followed by investments in UK-based luxury resale outlet Cudoni and digital fan experience platform Notable Live both in January 2023.
Liz Morton
Sadly, the Cudoni investment did not pay off - just 3 months after raising £7.5 million ($9 million) in funding, the company announced it was going out of business effective immediately in April 2023.
Liz Morton
eBay Ventures joined Dick's Sporting Goods in investing in pre-owned sporting goods and equipment marketplace SidelineSwap in May 2023.
Liz Morton
Australian luxury fashion rental app The Volte received funding from eBay Ventures in May 2023 as well.
Liz Morton
And in October 2023, eBay pushed further into payments, backing UK Buy Now, Pay Later company Zilch.
Liz Morton
With those early investments, eBay was clearly taking a more traditional route with companies that had clear synergies within categories and market segments CEO Jamie Iannone was heavily focused on at the time.
investment marks continued expansion into AI and SaaS companies, with Global Head of the company's investment arm, Henri Jaanimaegi, recently telling Global Venturing that he sees eBay Ventures as a way for the 30 year old legacy ecommerce incumbent to move faster and make more daring decisions in their efforts to keep up with competitors like StockX, Whatnot, Vinted and more.
Oishani Mitra
eBay Ventures has made other recent AI investments include Ecomtent, AI coding platform Poolside and AI search optimization company Azoma.
Liz Morton
Funding these companies has obvious benefits for eBay, whose own AI efforts have often faltered, lagged behind competitors, and failed to live up to the hype of press releases and earnings calls.
And as eBay heads into the new year, they've revealed more new investment plans, with a continued heavy focus on AI, according to EcommerceBytes.
A LinkedIn post from eBay Ventures touts additional investments this year in WunderGraph, Refiberd, A1 Media Group, SOJO, TrueLayer, and Vardera with notable exits or Tise, Yofi (a NoFraud Company) and more to come in early 2026.
Ina Steiner of EcommerceBytes noted that one of the investments cited, Vardera, is an appraisal and valuation platform that uses AI - raising interesting questions about whether eBay data may be being shared and used for training or other purposes.
One of the investments cited, Vardera, is an appraisal and valuation platform that uses AI (artificial intelligence).
The "garbage in, garbage out" adage from the software field applies to AI, so we took note of Vardera statement, "Access the most complete and diverse historical auction data available." Vardera did not disclose the source of the data it uses (does it include eBay auctions, we wonder?).
That's a valid concern, especially considering changes eBay made to their privacy policies earlier this year, including sections on utilizing user data for AI training, which have have received regulatory scrutiny in Europe.
Liz Morton
eBay is also making AI investments outside of their venture capital arm in key areas including with both internal initiatives and outside partnerships looking to "enhance the customer service experience."
Recent job ads on eBay's careers page show the company plans to continue moving full speed ahead to integrate AI into the support experience, despite overwhelming sentiment from sellers that they need more human-centered help, not less.
Liz Morton
And they've also recently announced a partnership with Artium.AI and OpenAI to "build a next-generation AI customer service platform."
Building a Next-Generation AI Customer Service Platform
eBay has collaborated with Artium and OpenAI to develop a next-generation AI customer service platform designed to enhance experiences for both customers and customer service teams.This initiative sets a new standard in customer care, where human expertise and AI agents work together to deliver faster, more consistent, and more personalized resolutions.
By enabling both self-service and assisted-service experiences, eBay aims to help customers get answers quickly. The effort also explores how agentic experiences can better serve eBay customers and support teams.
The collaboration reflects each company’s commitment to using technology for good:
- eBay continues its purpose of connecting people and creating opportunity for all.
- OpenAI advances its mission to ensure AI benefits humanity.
- Artium pursues its vision of advancing the craft of software development for creators and visionaries.
Together, these organizations are working to make technology serve people better.
Do you think these AI companies and initiatives represent the best places for eBay to invest in 2026 and if not, where would you rather see the money go? Let us know in the comments below!
