Albatross And Offerup Partner On Long-Term Engagement After Real-Time AI Discovery Feed Pilot Lifts Engagement 84%

Zurich, Switzerland and Bellevue, WA, Sept. 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OfferUp, the mobile marketplace that helps millions buy, sell, and connect locally across the United States, has agreed to a long-term partnership with Swiss AI firm Albatross to deploy real-time adaptive discovery technology across its marketplace. The partnership brings adaptive, in-session AI discovery to one of the largest local commerce platforms in the United States and follows Albatross's rollout with Wallapop, one of Europe's largest consumer-to-consumer marketplaces, across Spain, Italy and Portugal.

The partnership replaces legacy recommendations, built on what is popular or recently uploaded, with perception models that learn and interpret user behavior as it happens. Every decision reshapes a user's OfferUp homepage feed in real time, so the marketplace responds to what each user is trying to do right now. On marketplaces where every listing is one-of-a-kind and thousands of new listings turn over by the hour, traditional recommendation systems can struggle to keep pace. Popularity or recency-based systems reward sellers who are already visible and active. Perception models surface relevant listings based on what a buyer is looking for in that moment, whether they come from a power seller with hundreds of reviews or from a neighbor posting their first item.

An initial pilot with an A/B test showed significant gains across the marketplace. Engagement on the homepage feed increased by 84%, listing views across the entire platform rose 19%, and total purchase intentions, meaning qualified buyers reaching out to sellers, climbed 15%, with homepage feed engagements up 61%. Each of these metrics increased week over week throughout the test as the perception models learned from new interactions.

The effect reached sellers across the marketplace. Over the pilot, the subset of OfferUp buyers whose experience was powered by Albatross discovered an additional 3 million unique listings and with the result that engagements increased by 15%. These are listings and sellers a traditional recommendation system would have left unseen, whereas Albatross was able to match them to buyers based on item relevance, not because the seller was already established.

Nathan Garnett, Chief Business Officer of OfferUp, stated: “People come to OfferUp to find great value close to home. Albatross is helping us connect buyers with far more relevant items and sellers, while making the OfferUp experience more dynamic and personalized. The results from the first weeks of the pilot were exceptional, and we're excited to expand the partnership from here.”

Scott Greenberg, VP of Advertising and Partnerships at OfferUp, added: “What stood out was both the speed and the impact. We went from kickoff to a live experiment in weeks and quickly saw meaningful gains for buyers and sellers. More listings were discovered, more sellers were reached, and more conversations started, exactly the kind of marketplace outcomes we want to drive.”

Albatross cofounder and CEO, Dr. Kevin Kahn explained: “Marketplaces are fundamentally a discovery problem: understanding what someone wants right now and matching them with the right item among millions of unique listings. In just three weeks, Albatross helped OfferUp buyers discover three million additional unique listings and connect with 131,000 additional sellers. That is the promise of perception models: LLMs understand words; perception models understand behavior.”

About OfferUp
OfferUp is dedicated to creating the simplest and most trusted way for people to buy, sell, and connect in their local communities. One of the top local marketplace apps for local buyers and sellers in the U.S., OfferUp makes it easy for people to discover more of what they need — from great deals and second-hand goods to jobs, services, home rentals, and more — right in their own communities. Available on iOS and Android, OfferUp has consistently ranked among the top shopping apps. Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Bellevue, WA, OfferUp serves local markets nationwide and was used by more than 1 in 6 adults in the U.S. in 2024.

About Albatross
Albatross builds perception models for real-time product discovery on marketplaces, adapting to user intent in-session and creating inspiring shopping experiences by surfacing new and relevant products and sellers. Today, Albatross powers the online experience of 50+ million shoppers monthly and processes 3+ billion user interactions per month across 150+ million products. Winner of the Tech for Retail 2025 Award, Albatross is based in Switzerland and backed by Redalpine, MMC Ventures, and Daphni.

CONTACT: For further information please contact the Albatross press office on media@usealbatross.ai