Новости за 04.01.2024

Specialized graphics processing unit cloud provider CoreWeave will invest in social artificial intelligence platform Chai. This will bring the total capital invested in Chai to over $10 million and will place the company at a $450 million valuation, Chai said in a Thursday (Jan. 4) press release. The new capital will be devoted to Chai’s […]

Autonomous vehicle firm Nuro has teamed with Foretellix, a provider of safety-driven verification and validation driving solutions. The collaboration is designed to speed the large-scale deployment of autonomous vehicles for last-mile delivery, Foretellix said in a Thursday (Jan. 4) news release.  The partnership will see the companies use Foretellix’s verification and validation (V&V) platform to come up with a […]

Early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Exponent Founders Capital has launched and disclosed that it has raised $125 million to date. That total includes a new $75 million Fund II vehicle that will be used to invest in inception and early-stage companies in the fields of enterprise software; FinTech and payments; infrastructure; applied artificial intelligence (AI); […]

Mobile wallets have gained significant popularity in recent years, providing consumers with a convenient and fast way to make purchases without the need for cash or physical cards. The recent rise of this payment method has driven consumer acceptance of contactless payments. Around 60% of U.S. consumers used mobile wallets to pay bills in the […]

Online sales reached a new record in 2023, thanks in part to buy now, pay later options. New data from Adobe, released Thursday (Jan. 4) showed that American consumers spent $222.1 billion between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 last year, a 4.9% increase over 2022. More than half of that spending happened in November, thanks in part to […]

Walmart launched an “immersive commerce” partnership with 3D technology firm Unity. The collaboration lets Unity developers integrate Walmart’s commerce application programming interfaces (APIs) directly into their games and apps, which in turn lets creators sell physical items in real-time 3D (RT3D) across more than 20 platforms, according to a Thursday (Jan. 4) press release. The partnership unlocks new ways […]

An online presence is a must for any business today, and online sales require a platform that allows consumers to have an easy, quick and reliable shopping experience. But building your own platform is expensive and takes time, making it impossible for many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). That’s why SMBs quickly understood the role […]

Fresh2 Group, a B2B eCommerce and supply chain management company serving the restaurant and food industry, has acquired Youfood Group, a business-to-customer cross-border eCommerce platform.  The company has done so through its subsidiary, Fresh2 Technology, which signed a definitive stock purchase agreement (SPA) for the acquisition, Fresh2Group said in a Thursday (Jan. 4) press release.  The […]

PYMNTS asked industry executives across the payments and digital commerce landscape to give us their take on the pivotal shifts, technological advancements and strategies that have shaped business in 2023. Alice Katwan, president of revenue at Sovos, predicts that this year, businesses will start to embrace a holistic strategy through a platform approach to global […]

Identity verification company Intellicheck has rolled out enhancements for digital users of its identity platform. “Clients integrating the new Capture process can be up and running with no more than two simple web hooks,” the company said in a Thursday (Jan. 4) news release. “The new digital authentication experience does not require any significant development or programming time and […]

Payment processing solution provider Talus Pay acquired two companies to add FinTech software and integrated B2B capabilities. The two companies acquired by the firm are Jobox.ai, a FinTech company servicing the home services industry, and Clarus Merchant Services, a provider of integrated B2B payment solutions, Talus Pay said in a Thursday (Jan. 4) press release. […]

Taking the friction out of cross-border payments is fundamental to spurring global growth.  For businesses that increasingly expect a B2B payment experience mirroring the convenience available in consumer transactions, unmet behavioral expectations around streamlined cross-border payments are beginning to track those already met around the ease of settlement within domestic markets.  But while the technology […]

Bumper, a FinTech that lets customers fund car repairs in installments, raised $48 million. The London-based company announced the Series B round in a Thursday (Jan. 4) press release, saying it would use the funding to expand throughout Europe, targeting car dealers and repair shops in the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland. […]

Peloton and TikTok partnered to offer Peloton’s workout content to TikTok users in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. The partnership will create a new fitness hub on the short-form mobile video platform called #TikTokFitness on which Peloton will have a dedicated, co-branded hub housing its content, the companies said in a Thursday […]

Can tiny artificial intelligence (AI) startup Perplexity take on Google in the search space? Jeff Bezos apparently thinks so. The Amazon founder is among the backers of the company that is not yet two year old, recently investing $74 million with a group of venture capitalists, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Thursday (Jan. 4). The report notes that this […]

PYMNTS asked industry executives across the payments and digital commerce landscape to give us their take on the pivotal shifts, technological advancements and strategies that have shaped business in 2023. Their responses show critical trendlines to watch in the new year. Mark Smith, head of global payments market development at AWS, sees cloud-based transformation for […]

The calendar has barely turned to a new year — and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has already had a fair share of criticism. The most recent volley against the Bureau came Wednesday (Jan. 3), as the American Bankers Association, in tandem with the Independent Community Bankers of America and America’s Credit Unions — […]

With pure-play eCommerce food sellers gaining share from brick-and-mortar grocers, and with many grocers struggling to manage the costs of in-house fulfillment, 2024 may be the year that third-party aggregators take over the grocery industry. Many grocers are struggling with the economics of in-house delivery. Last year, for instance, Ahold Delhaize’s U.S. arm sold off […]

The number of initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 202,000 during the week ended Saturday (Dec. 30). That total was 18,000 less than the previous week’s revised level of 220,000, the Department of Labor (DOL) said in a Thursday (Jan. 4) press release. The four-week moving average was 207,750, down 4,750 from the previous […]

Visa has introduced a rewards program designed to connect with consumers in virtual spaces. The company’s Web3 Loyalty Engagement Solution is designed to help brands reach customers via programs such as “gamified giveaways” and “augmented reality treasure hunts,” along with new ways to earn loyalty points, per a Thursday (Jan. 4) news release. “Consumers are looking to […]

Many (79% of shoppers under 30 to be exact) find returns to be a cumbersome undertaking. Consequently, brands and retailers are implementing seamless return procedures to create a pleasant customer experience. This approach is crucial as the holiday return season is underway.  Recent data from the National Retail Federation reveals that last year, shoppers returned […]

PYMNTS asked industry executives across the payments and digital commerce landscape to give us their take on the pivotal shifts, technological advancements and strategies that have shaped business in 2023. Their responses show critical trendlines to watch in the new year. Rob Cameron, global head of acceptance solutions at Visa, sees adaptable infrastructure as key to […]

Microsoft is putting its artificial intelligence Copilot tool at users’ fingertips. The tech giant said in a Thursday (Jan. 4) blog post it is adding a button to the Windows keyboard that will activate Copilot, a move that marks Microsoft’s first keyboard layout change in nearly 30 years. The change is also part of Microsoft’s […]

David’s Bridal, a big player in wedding attire since 1950, has faced challenges over the years. In 2018, it filed for bankruptcy to handle debts and adapt to industry shifts. After overcoming that, the company faced more problems when the pandemic delayed weddings and changed consumer demand. In April, the company filed for bankruptcy again. […]

TikTok reportedly hopes to expand its U.S. eCommerce business to $17.5 billion this year. That ten-fold increase, the subject of a Wednesday (Jan. 3) Bloomberg News report, sets the stage for the company to become a larger threat to rivals such as Amazon, Shein and Temu. The report, citing sources familiar with the matter, said the […]