US' Pinterest to acquire AI-powered shopping platform The Yes

Pinterest believes that The Yes’ leadership, innovative technology, and talented team, combining shopping expertise with fashion industry credibility, will help accelerate Pinterest’s vision for it to be the home of taste-driven shopping, Pinterest said in a press release.

The Yes was founded in 2018 by CEO Julie Bornstein, an e-commerce and fashion industry veteran and CTO, Amit Aggarwal, a tech industry veteran. Over the past several years, The Yes has scaled to provide a personalised daily shopping feed that learns a user’s style as they shop with hundreds of merchants, including global brands and discovery brands across the fashion spectrum.

Upon the closing of the transaction, Bornstein will report to Pinterest’s co-founder and CEO, Ben Silbermann, and will lead shopping vision and strategy across Pinterest, creating a new and strategic organisation dedicated to Pinterest’s taste-driven shopping efforts that will help steer the evolution of features for Pinners and merchants on Pinterest.

In the months following the closing of the transaction, Pinterest plans to sunset the The Yes app and website to allow the merged teams to focus on technology integration and evolving our shopping vision. Subject to the satisfaction customary closing conditions, the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022, according to Pinterest.

“The Yes team are experts in building an end-to-end shopping experience. They share our vision of making it simple to find the right products that are personalised for you based on your taste and style. We’re very excited about The Yes’ talented team and technology as we build dedicated shopping experiences on Pinterest,” Ben Silbermann, co-founder and CEO of Pinterest, said in a statement.

“I’ve spent my career at the intersection of shopping, fashion and technology and have seen first-hand the valuable impact of building technology that enables brands to join a platform with ease while enabling customers to share their preferences. Joining forces with Pinterest to broaden our reach utilising such an inspirational platform is an exciting and ideal next step for our team and technology,” Bornstein said.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)