OfferUp has entered a long-term partnership with Swiss AI firm Albatross to deploy real-time adaptive discovery technology across its marketplace. The collaboration follows a pilot that increased engagement on the homepage feed by 84%, lifted listing views by 19%, and boosted purchase intentions by 15%. The partnership replaces legacy recommendation systems with perception models that learn and interpret user behaviour in real time. During the pilot, buyers discovered an additional 3 million unique listings, connecting with 131,000 additional sellers. Engagement with these listings increased by 15%. The technology surfaces relevant listings based on what buyers seek in the moment, regardless of seller status. OfferUp, one of the largest local commerce platforms in the US, plans to expand the deployment following the successful initial test.

OfferUp CEO Todd Dunlap. (OfferUp Photo)OfferUp, the Seattle-area company behind a popular used goods marketplace, is cutting 22% of its headcount in a bid to remain profitable as it looks to expand into new product lines.In a memo to staff, which you can read in full below, OfferUp CEO Todd Dunlap cited macroeconomic trends such as programmatic ad rates that affected some of the company’s revenue lines.“While we still have plenty of cash on our balance sheet, it’s important in these times to remain profitable,” he wrote.The company did not disclose the number of employees affected by the layoffs. OfferUp has nearly 500 employees, according to LinkedIn.Affected employees will receive severance and health benefits through the end of February. The company is providing career transition and job placement services.Founded in 2011, OfferUp competes against Craigslist, eBay, Facebook and other marketplaces where users buy and sell goods. The company says it facilitates 30 million transactions on its platform annually and is currently ranked No. 3 on the GeekWire 200, our index of Pacific Northwest startups