Google expands its e-commerce business with Rangespan acquisition

Google has bought London startup Rangespan, which developed technology that can help retailers identify which products and services will be most in demand in the future. Rangespan confirmed the acquisition on its website today. “We will continue to work on services for shoppers and retailers at Google, and we’re super excited about the opportunities to come,” the company wrote in a short note about the news.

Google has made another move to build out its e-commerce business, and specifically its retail portal Google Shopping. It has acquired Rangespan, a London-based provider of back office services for online retailers, using data science to help them expand their product selection based on real-time sales dynamics. The company is based out of London, making this the third acquisition for Google out of the UK this year after AI-specialist DeepMind and anti-malware startup Spider.io. The service is getting shut down and integrated into Google, founder Ryan Regan tells me. The company, he says, is not disclosing the terms of the deal.