New England Patriots Owner Invests in Preferences Recommendation Engine

The Kraft Group, best known for its investments in projects like Gillette Stadium and the New England Patriots, is sinking $10 million into an Internet start-up that will map people's tastes, making it easier to discover content they like online. Matchmine, which goes live next week, tries to turn what can seem ineffable and arbitrary - people's preferences - into a usable set of data. People create a "MatchKey" by rating the movies, music, online videos, and blogs they like. The site tries to map the basic elements of each choice to make accurate recommendations, so that even people with eclectic tastes can easily find new content they like. The key is portable, meaning users can automatically plug in their preferences to any site that partners with Matchmine, so that even if it's their first visit, they aren't inundated with a home page filled with hip-hop if they only enjoy baroque music, for example. Kraft Group President & COO JONATHAN KRAFT said the Patriots were the "first pro sports team to have their own Web page; tech is just something the group has always been involved in".
http://www.boston.com/business/markets/articles/2007/09/21/kraft_group_investing_10m_in_a_net_start_up_matchmine/?p1=email_to_a_friend