Ex-Spotify Employees Raise $10M to Bring Intent-Aware AI to E-Commerce

Sidd Motwani, Ian Anderson and Shivaditya Sinha, who previously built Spotify's behavioral intelligence infrastructure called Vector AI, have launched Malachyte, a startup that brings similar technology to e-commerce. The company raised $10 million in seed funding co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Gradient, with Harpoon Ventures participating. Malachyte's platform uses 'two-headed Vector AI' to predict what product a shopper wants next, learn their general taste, and refine in real time based on their actions. Unlike traditional personalization that relies on purchase history or customer profiles, Malachyte reads contextual signals like hovers, clicks, and search refinements to build a profile within a single session, even for first-time visitors. The technology has been in development since 2024 and tested with over 20 enterprise customers, going live with Fun.com in fall 2025 and generally available to Shopify merchants since June 2026 via native integration or API. CEO Motwani believes the next opportunity is unifying merchandising and marketing around the same customer behavior understanding.