Uber has rolled out a series of products designed to help customers save money. Among the new offerings is Route Share, which offers pickups every 20 minutes along busy corridors during weekday commute hours with up to two co-riders, with fares up to 50% cheaper than the cost of an UberX. There are also Ride Passes, which let riders pay $2.99 per month to lock in a price for a set route and save up to $50 a month, or pay upfront for five, 10, 15 or 20 rides on regular routes to access even larger discounts. Meanwhile, the company is also introducing a product for Uber Eats called “Savings Slider,” which lets shoppers compare prices for items on their grocery list within stores, or even get recommendations for nearby stores offering better deals. The new offering comes amid signs that Americans are feeling increasing financial pressures. “We’re hearing it more and more these days — life just feels like a lot. Too complicated. Too uncertain. And above all, too expensive,” the tech giant said in announcement. “That’s why at Uber we’re building practical products to make life a little more affordable — and a lot easier.”
Expedia adds APIs to B2B platform to help build travel packages- Car API, Activities API, Insurance API, and Air APIs
xpedia Group enhanced its B2B segment, Private Label Solutions, by adding APIs that help its partners build travel packages. The new offerings will provide access to rental cars, bookable experiences, trip protection insurance and air travel. Car API will offer access to cars from 110 brands in 190 countries and territories, Activities API will provide 170,000 bookable experiences worldwide, Insurance API will allow partners to offer trip protection during booking, and Air API will integrate air travel with lodging and car rentals to enable an all-in-one booking experience. “We’ve built the largest connected B2B travel network in the world, and it’s the strength of those connections that drive real results,” Alfonso Paredes, president of Private Label Solutions at Expedia Group, said. “Our newly announced APIs take that even further, making it easier for partners to access more supply and leverage our intelligence.” Expedia Group also announced that it added a new Reservation Management API that helps hoteliers with their bookings, management, data recovery, payments and traveler experience. The company also unveiled Expedia Trip Matching, which will launch in early June on Instagram and enable travelers to share a travel-related Reel with Expedia and receive customized itineraries, destination ideas and travel tips based on that Reel. In addition, Expedia Group Advertising introduced tools that help travel advertisers co-create shoppable travel content and use the company’s first-party data to target high-intent audiences.
Soopra AI adapts AI-driven personas of celebrities and experts to engage in scheduling meetings between multiple parties, answering complex questions and supporting sales outreach
Soopra AI, a company that provides on-demand AI personas from experts for education and insights, raised $1 million in pre-seed funding to launch a platform for AI agents that can perform advanced functions. With this funding, the company said it is launching Soopra 2.0, also known as ASK, a social network for AI agents. Soopra said with the launch of ASK, a broader range of AI-driven personas of celebrities and experts could engage in more advanced functions such as scheduling meetings between multiple parties, answering complex questions and supporting sales outreach. Soopra’s platform allows educators to build personalized coursework based on their lecture series, which will enable them to provide 24/7 teaching assistance for students. Since the chatbot is interactive and uses their writing and guidance, it can come fairly close to what they’d say in real life. Although it’s not a perfect and just a facsimile, it can still provide a semblance of guidance when the professor is not available. “Soopra.ai says what I would say 95% of the time and does it instantly,” said Dr. Ronjon Nag, adjunct professor at Stanford University and founder of the venture capital firm R42 Group. “It’s been a powerful way to scale my presence, answer student questions, and share my expertise more broadly.”
Walmart US eCommerce sales jump 21% but tariffs are identified as an “immediate challenge” creating “unprecedented” cost pressure that Walmart cannot fully absorb
Walmart’s strong performance in eCommerce, including a 21% jump in U.S. sales and the achievement of U.S. eCommerce profitability for the first time, is seen as a key factor that can help offset cost pressures from tariffs and supply chain issues. Tariffs are identified as an “immediate challenge” creating “unprecedented” cost pressure that Walmart cannot fully absorb due to narrow retail margins, particularly those on China. This dynamic backdrop makes forecasting future earnings “difficult” and the near term “exceedingly difficult to forecast.” Although first-quarter revenue growth at 2.5% was slower than projected, the company saw strong underlying metrics including 4.5% growth in U.S. comparable store sales driven by increased transactions and average ticket size, with customers prioritizing value and speed across all income cohorts. Sam’s Club U.S. comp sales, excluding fuel, increased nearly 7% with strong growth in transactions. CFO John David Rainey said eCommerce sales in the segment grew by 27%, “led by triple digit growth in Club-fulfilled delivery and double digit growth in pickup.” In further evidence of digital shifts in omnichannel commerce, he noted that “Scan and Go” shopping was up with penetration growing 6% year over year. As for the margins tied to digital sales, said the CFO, “We achieved eCommerce profitability both in the U.S. as well as for the global enterprise in Q1 for the first time. In The U.S., eCommerce net delivery costs have declined as we’ve continued to densify our last mile deliveries and as customers pay fees for faster delivery.” Membership related income was 3.8% higher, with double-digit growth in Walmart+ fees.
Albertsons is rolling out the TreviPay Pay by Invoice solution to enable business buyers to receive a dedicated 30-day line of credit
Albertsons is rolling out the TreviPay Pay by Invoice solution to enable business buyers, including small offices, K-12 schools, local government and community organizations and residential programs, to receive a dedicated line of credit for online grocery purchases with 30-day net terms. The Albertsons pay by invoice program includes a self-serve portal to assign spending limits to approved purchasers and real-time tracking of invoices, payments and credit lines. TreviPay’s invoicing program offers the control to customize purchasing hierarchies and the convenience of paying using credit lines, which we know are important to this buyer segment. Through the partnership, stores across Albertsons Cos. banners can automate their acounts receivable processes for business purchases with real-time credit decisioning, electronic invoice generation and payment tracking, with the goals of reducing billing errors and eliminating back-office resources. TreviPay settles funds right away and owns any buyer credit risk. Enabling Albertsons Cos.’ business customers to pay by invoice allows their corporate buyers to make large, repeat orders using their preferred payment method, while retailers eliminate the complexities of accounts receivables and fuel growth.
HomeLight’s new ‘Buy Before You Sell’ creative financing taps into high levels of home equity to allow home buyers take the money out of their existing house and apply it for a down payment on their new home through a 0% interest loan
Rising mortgage rates have created a bottleneck in deal flow, with 47% of surveyed loan officers citing high interest rates as the biggest obstacle to closing transactions. Many buyers — particularly those who already own a home — find themselves trapped by high debt-to-income ratios and immobile equity. “It’s very unlikely that you can afford both mortgage payments at once,” Nick Friedman, president of homes at HomeLight said. “And so, with [HomeLight’s] Buy Before You Sell, we allow you to remove that existing mortgage payment… [and] offer a 0% interest loan where we basically allow [clients] to take the money out of their existing house and go use it for a down payment on their new home.” HomeLight’s Buy Before You Sell offering is one product in the marketplace designed for unlocking liquidity and eliminating friction in a process that has traditionally been rigid and risk-averse. At its core, the tool helps clients sidestep the chicken-and-egg problem of needing to sell their home before they can afford their next one. It’s particularly relevant now, as home equity remains at all-time highs even while transaction volume has stalled. Beyond HomeLight’s proprietary products, Friedman pointed to broader trends in creative financing that are helping to prop up demand in a cooling market.
Equifax’s new cloud SMB data platform to enable B2B marketers to query more than 67 million U.S.-based business records online with user-friendly filtering and list-building features
Equifax has launched its B2bConnect SMB data on the Equifax Cloud, making commercial marketing data available in minutes to help B2B marketers be more efficient and increase campaign success. The platform unifies differentiated data to create more effective commercial sales and marketing insights that enable Equifax customers to target the right small businesses quickly and achieve their goals. Using B2bConnect, B2B marketers can query more than 67 million U.S.-based business records online to help identify, segment and target top prospects. The platform enables user-friendly filtering and list-building features so that B2B marketers can reach target customers. B2bConnect offers everything marketing teams need within the platform, including demographics, business contacts, firmographics, marketability and industry codes, to give SMB marketers confidence that they are identifying and targeting the right business prospects. Equifax customers can also sort and filter companies and contacts based on the wide array of data points, quickly select the fields for export, and save templates for later use. This allows other team members to customize the file so that the data can be ingested into an existing CRM or marketing automation platform. From there, customers receive a flat file with their data that can come in Excel, CSV, Pipe Delimited or Tab Delimited formats.
ShopBack to launch in the US- the only cashback platform where users can earn real cashback on Amazon purchases whether on the ShopBack browser extension and/or mobile app
ShopBack, Asia-Pacific’s shopping and rewards platform with over 50 million users across 13 markets, announced its official launch in the United States with a slate of features and offers exclusive to the U.S., from over 2,000 merchants: Exclusive Cashback on Amazon — ShopBack is the only cashback platform where users can earn real cashback on Amazon purchases whether on the ShopBack browser extension and/or mobile app. ShopBack Play — ShopBack offers a gamified experience where shoppers can earn cashback by completing milestones and playing games within the app including Monopoly Go, Township, Block Blast and more. Shipping rebates on participating stores — In addition to earned cashback, ShopBack enables shoppers to receive money back on shipping fees, an added perk available only to U.S. users. Quests — ShopBack introduces an engaging way for users to earn additional cashback bonuses when they complete shopping quests, whilst allowing brands to connect directly with high-intent shoppers through customized rewards campaigns. Auto-applied coupons — ShopBack’s browser extension automatically finds and applies the best available promo codes at checkout — no manual searching required from users. Josephine Chow, head of expansion at ShopBack said “By combining cashback, deals, and gamified experiences, we’ve built a platform designed for today’s digitally-savvy consumer. In fact, new users who engage with Shopback’s ‘Quests’ globally each month go on to spend 80% more than average users – proof that saving money can be fun and rewarding for both users and partners.”
Virtuo to launch its AI-powered homeownership concierge platform that offers range of services from contract to move-in, including utility setup, address changes and home maintenance in Texas by partnering with builders
Virtuo, a company that offers an AI-powered homeownership concierge platform, is launching operations in Texas. The move marks Virtuo’s formal entry into the U.S. market, although the company has already assisted homebuyers in four states through partnerships with Canadian homebuilders. Virtuo will partner directly with builders in Dallas, Austin and Houston to provide technology and support services aimed at simplifying the homebuying process. The platform coordinates a range of services from contract to move-in, including utility setup, address changes and home maintenance. The expansion comes amid rapid population growth and new residential construction in Texas, where homebuilders are seeking digital tools to improve customer experience and stand out in a competitive market, company leaders said. “With Shane Homes opening our first showhome in the Dallas area this summer, the timing of Virtuo’s launch in Texas couldn’t be better,” said Melanie Gowans, vice president of sales, marketing and interior design at Shane Homes Group of Companies. Virtuo’s platform combines software with human assistance to help buyers manage their transition into homeownership. Its features include HomieAI, a generative AI tool available around the clock that provides personalized support from the time a home goes under contract to long after the move-in date. For builders, HomieAI also serves to reduce demand on customer care staff by offering consistent, automated assistance.
RegEd’s AI Advertising Review solution achieves >90% accuracy in identifying problematic content in advertising and marketing materials through continuous refinement driven by real-world uses across leading financial services firms and uses a closed-loop system to offer complete client data privacy
RegEd announced the release of Version 3.0 of the proprietary AI model that powers its Advertising Review solution. This marks a significant milestone in the evolution of RegEd’s Submission Intelligence suite of capabilities and underscores the company’s leadership in enterprise-grade, AI-enabled compliance technology. The AI 3.0 release achieves more than 90% accuracy in identifying problematic content in advertising and marketing materials, with continuous refinement driven by real-world use across dozens of leading financial services firms. Developed within a closed-loop system, RegEd’s AI ensures complete client data privacy. The model is governed, trained, and deployed exclusively within RegEd’s secure infrastructure, avoiding the security and privacy risks associated with third-party models, or those that are externally trained or managed. Key Enhancements in Version 3.0: Improved Accuracy, Client-Calibrated Tuning, Consistency Across Review Teams. In addition to the enhancements in Version 3.0, RegEd will introduce AI-assisted pre-review later this year. This next-phase capability will enable firms to screen materials for compliance issues before human review, further accelerating review cycles and improving speed to market.