Fast Search buys "recommendation" technology company, AgentArts

July 6, 2007 | Matt Marshall

Norway’s Fast Search & Transfer said it has acquired San Francisco “personalization and recommendation” technology company AgentArts for an undisclosed amount.

Here’s a brief story about the deal.

AgentArts is just one of many companies offering such technology.

“Recommendation” technologies are used by companies to offer up to their readers or users information that is relevant to them based on their previous choices. If a person tends to like the same songs as another member in the network, then a recommendation engine will continue to recommend songs to them that the other member discovers and likes.

Founded in 1999, AgentArts received financing from Innovent, a unit of Nokia Ventures, Tinshed, Amtabity, Amphion Capital and Aegis Partners (we don’t know the total, but it is more than $1.25 million, which was the size of its initial round in 2000).

Other such engines include those offered by Amazon.com, Aggregate Knowledge and in music, Last.fm.

The company said its clients include Infospace Mobile and Telstra Big Pond.

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About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.