eBay Plans New AI Investments In 2026 Through Venture Capital Arm & Beyond

eBay is making new investments in AI for 2026 with funding from eBay Ventures for “e-commerce enablers” as well as direct business partnerships to improve 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 site Tise, which eBay subsequently acquired in September 2025.

This was followed by investments in UK-based luxury goods outlet Cudoni and digital fan experience platform Notable Live, both in January 2023.

Unfortunately, Cudoni’s investment did not bear fruit: just three months after raising £7.5 million ($9 million) in funding, the company announced that it would cease operations with immediate effect in April 2023.

eBay Ventures has joined Dick’s Sporting Goods to invest in used sporting goods and equipment marketplace SidelineSwap in May 2023.

Australian luxury fashion rental app The Volte also received funding from eBay Ventures in May 2023.

And in October 2023, eBay pushed further into payments, backing British Buy Now, Pay Later company Zilch.

With these early investments, eBay was clearly taking a more traditional route with businesses that had clear synergies within the categories and market segments that CEO Jamie Iannone was heavily focused on at the time.

this investment marks a continued expansion into AI and SaaS businesses, with the firm’s global head of investment arm, Henri Jaanimaegi, recently told Global Venture that he sees eBay Ventures as a way for the 30-year-old storied e-commerce company to move faster and make bolder decisions in its efforts to keep up with competitors like StockX, Whatnot, Vinted and more.

eBay Ventures has made other recent investments in AI, including Ecomtent, AI coding platform Poolside and AI search optimization company Azoma.

Funding these companies has obvious benefits for eBay, whose own AI efforts have often failed, 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 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 coming in early 2026.

Ina Steiner of EcommerceBytes noted that one of the investments cited, Varderais a reviews platform that uses AI – raising interesting questions about whether eBay data can be shared and used for training or other purposes.

One of the investments cited, Vardera, is an evaluation and valuation platform that uses AI (artificial intelligence).

The software adage “garbage in, garbage out” applies to AI, so we took note of Vardera’s statement, “Access the most comprehensive and diverse historical auction data available.” Vardera hasn’t disclosed the source of the data she uses (does that include eBay auctions, one wonders?).

This is a legitimate concern, especially given changes eBay made to its privacy policies earlier this year, including sections on using user data for AI training, which came under regulatory scrutiny in Europe.

eBay is also investing in AI outside of its venture capital arm in key areas, including through internal initiatives and external partnerships aimed at “improving the customer service experience.”

Recent job postings on eBay’s Careers page show that the company plans to continue moving full speed ahead to integrate AI into the support experience, despite the majority feeling among sellers that they need more. human-centered help, no less.

And they also recently announced a partnership with Artium.AI and OpenAI to “creating a next-generation AI customer service platform.”

Create 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 improve the experience of customers and customer service teams.

This initiative sets a new standard in customer service, where human expertise and AI agents work together to provide faster, more consistent and more personalized resolutions.

By offering both self-service and assisted service experiences, eBay aims to help customers get answers quickly. The effort also explores how agent 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 continues its vision of advancing the profession of software development for creators and visionaries.

Together, these organizations work to make technology better serve people.

Do you think these AI companies and initiatives represent the best places for eBay to invest in 2026 and if not, where would you prefer to see the money go? Let us know in the comments below!