I picked up on Hunch in August last year when working on eBay Inc’s Shopping.com so it’s great to see my former employer has bought Hunch today. Apparently former-Flickr founder Caterina Fake left last summer to start a new company, but remains an advisor. Also worth reading are the some of the comments on the ‘Uncrunched’ report. Specifically (..& from my limited experience, which I passed on through an ‘EVP’ session..) I agree eBay may need to consider how to hang on to entrepreneurial talent but I’m sure they have it in hand.

Indeed on a general point about nurturing creativity within the enterprise take a look at the recent research on how creativity can be nurtured using a combination of training and financial incentives.

Photo by Rain Rabbit

EBay is buying recommendations engine Hunch for $80 million, Michael Arrington at Uncrunched reports.

Hunch is led by Chris Dixon, the prominent New York angel investor.

Hunch had raised $20 million in funding. About a year ago Hunch turned down an offer from Google for $60 million.

EBay will use the technology for its own e-commerce recommendations, says Arrington. He also reports Dixon will lead a recommendations team of 50 people for eBay in New York. That team will grow to 200 over time.