Sources inform ''Globes'' that Israeli start-up MusicGenome Inc. has signed a five-year strategic cooperation agreement with South Korea’s CJ Group (KSX:5930) worth $10 million.
Under the agreement, MusicGenome artificial intelligence (AI) technology for predicting consumer entertainment tastes will be integrated with CJ’s services. MusicGenome’s technology is based on a patent that combines software and music to predict a user’s taste and offers suitable entertainment content with 80% accuracy.
South Korea has the world’s highest proportion of 3G cellular users, and the population is very open to digital sales. CJ Group, once a part of Samsung Co. Ltd. (KSX:00530), is one of the country’s chaebols.
MusicGenome’s technology works as follows: the user is asked to rate five songs on the basis of his or her taste. The company’s network of smart recommendations learns the user’s musical preferences, and draws conclusions about his or her preferences for movies, games and other products.
MusicGenome CEO Dr. Dan Gang, COO and VP music development Ron Gang and CSO Prof. Daniel Lehmann founded the company in 2000. The company also operates in Germany, Austria, Sweden and Poland. Investors include Eitan Wertheimer, Spark Enterprises Ltd. and Artemis Fund Managers Ltd.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on May 24, 2007
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