Klarna has launched its initial public offering of 34,311,274 ordinary shares, of which 5,555,556 ordinary shares are offered by Klarna and 28,755,718 ordinary shares are offered by certain selling shareholders identified in the registration statement on Form F-1 (the “Registration Statement”) related to the proposed offering. In connection with the offering, the selling shareholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 5,146,691 ordinary shares to cover over-allotments. Klarna will not receive any proceeds from the sale of ordinary shares by the selling shareholders. The initial public offering price is currently expected to be between $35 and $37 per ordinary share. Klarna has been approved to list its ordinary shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “KLAR.” Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley are acting as joint book-running managers for the proposed offering; BofA Securities, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank Securities, Societe Generale and UBS Investment Bank are acting as bookrunners for the proposed offering; and BNP Paribas, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, A Stifel Company, Nordea, Rothschild & Co, Wedbush Securities and Wolfe | Nomura Alliance are acting as co-managers for the proposed offering. The proposed offering will be made only by means of a prospectus.
Recurly powers fashion rental Nuuly’s customer first model with real time UPS scan triggering next shipment plus integrated resale via thrift shop to boost retention and operational efficiency
In the competitive clothing rental and subscription market, success is tied to providing a seamless experience for customers, from purchase to returns. The maturing subscription market is leading to limited new subscriber growth, signaling a need to pivot from mass acquisition strategies to more targeted ones, including enhancing subscriber experience and cementing customer loyalty. Fashion subscription rental service Nuuly has expanded its partnership with Recurly to deliver this seamless experience. Nuuly first partnered with Recurly in 2019 to manage recurring billing and build a frictionless user experience. The platform handles everything from billing and payments to subscriber retention and real-time insight, allowing brands to focus on scaling their business and building lasting relationships with subscribers. Recurly allows brands to proactively analyze and monitor all aspects of the subscriber lifecycle, including churn management, revenue performance, product optimization, and more, to discover opportunities for proactively engaging users. Nuuly’s primary goals have been to transform from a subscription service into a lifestyle for customers looking for a sustainable, convenient way to shop pre-loved fashion. With Recurly’s technology, Nuuly has launched features like ‘check my return’ and ‘The Thrift Shop’, which eliminate delays in ordering new fashion as soon as returned items are in process. The return on the latest technology investments is strong, with Nuuly achieving over 50% year-over-year growth with the customer-first experience now in play. Customer loyalty and delivering a personalized experience are at the heart of what Nuuly does, describing these strategies as “absolutely essential” to creating real and meaningful value for customers.
Taco Bell drive-thru voice bots face customer friction and viral fails leading them to tune hybrid workflows and revisit deployment scope while analyzing over 2M AI handled orders.
Taco Bell’s chief digital officer says the company is having an “active conversation” about when to use and not use AI. The company has apparently rolled out voice AI-powered ordering at more than 500 drive-throughs, leading to unflattering viral moments like someone ordering 18,000 water cups in order to “bypass” the AI and get connected to a human server. Chief Digital and Technology Officer Dane Matthews told that even he has mixed experiences with the technology: “Sometimes it lets me down, but sometimes it really surprises me.” Overall, it sounds like Taco Bell is still deciding how broadly to deploy AI at the drive-through, with leeway for different franchisees to do things their own way. For example, rather than relying on AI exclusively, Matthews said it might make sense to have a human handle drive-through orders at busy restaurants with long lines. For our teams, we’ll help coach them: at your restaurant, at these times, we recommend you use voice AI or recommend that you actually really monitor voice AI and jump in as necessary,” he said.
Walmart CISO: Centralized AI platforms deliver velocity with governance by baking security into a single paved road enabling unified controls red teaming at scale and SOAR driven rapid incident response
Retailers are increasingly employing artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize their customers’ shopping experience. Walmart is using AI “super agents,” such as its “Marty” AI assistant, to save time for both consumers and employees. Walmart is also invested in physical and spatial AI, pointing to the company’s use of digital twins (a virtual copy of any physical object or space) in its stores. Using digital twin technology powered by spatial AI, Walmart can “detect, diagnose and remediate issues up to two weeks in advance,” Brandon Ballard, group director for real estate at Walmart US, said. Using this technology comes with big savings, according to Ballard. “Last year, we cut all of our emergency alerts by 30% and we reduced our maintenance spend in refrigeration by 19% across Walmart US,” he added. This is happening against the backdrop of a wider shift in retail, with Amazon seeing generative AI use skyrocket by 3,300% during this year’s Prime Day event. And Google Cloud AI, has teamed with body care retailer Lush to visually identify projects without packaging, thus cutting down on the expense of training new employees. “At its core, retail is a physical business,” said Alex de Vigan, CEO and founder of Nfinite, which provides large-scale visual data for training spatial and physical AI models. “We’ve seen retailers use digital twins to reduce setup time for new promotions, reallocate labor more efficiently, and improve robotic picking accuracy, small gains that add up quickly when margins are under stress,” he said. This is happening at a time when Walmart is reconfiguring its physical and digital assets to entice third-party sellers
Best Buy on Uber Eats enables nationwide same day delivery of laptops, headphones and small appliances with Uber One zero delivery fees
Uber announced a new partnership with Best Buy that brings consumer electronics from more than 800 stores to the Uber Eats platform. Starting today, Best Buy customers can tap to order a wide range of electronics, appliances, and tech essentials on Uber Eats for delivery right to their doorsteps. From headphones and chargers to laptops, gaming gear, and small appliances, Best Buy customers will now enjoy the convenience of on-demand delivery or scheduled drop-offs, all within the Uber Eats app. To celebrate the launch, Uber Eats is offering $20 off Best Buy orders of $60 or more using the code BESTBUY10†. Uber One members will continue to enjoy $0 delivery fees on eligible orders and other exclusive savings††.
Agentic commerce goes live as Kite enables on chain purchases with traceability and programmable permissions letting PayPal and Shopify merchants become discoverable to AI shopping agents.
Kite, a company building the foundational trust infrastructure for the agentic web, announced that it has raised $18 million in Series A funding, bringing total cumulative funding to $33 million. The round was led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst. Formerly known as Zettablock, Kite leverages years of experience in distributed infrastructure systems to bring forth a new architecture purpose-built for the agentic web. The company recently launched Kite Agent Identity Resolution, or “Kite AIR” – a pioneering solution that enables autonomous agents to authenticate, transact, and operate independently in real-world environments. The system delivers programmable identity, native stablecoin payment, and policy enforcement on a blockchain optimized for autonomous agents. Kite AIR includes two core components: Agent Passport, a verifiable identity with operational guardrails; and Agent App Store, where agents can discover and pay to access services such as APIs, data, and commerce tools. It is live now through open integrations with popular commerce platforms like Shopify and PayPal. Using publicly available APIs, any PayPal or Shopify merchant can opt in through the Kite Agent App Store and become discoverable to AI shopping agents. Purchases are settled on-chain with full traceability, using stablecoins and programmable permissions. Kite is also actively building additional integrations across commerce, finance, and data platforms. “Solutions like virtual cards provide only short-term workarounds. Latency, fees, and chargebacks further complicate things. Kite bridges this critical gap by providing stablecoin-based, millisecond-level settlement with low transaction fees and no chargeback fraud risks. This enables new economic models such as agent-to-agent metered billing, micro-subscription, and high frequency trading,” said Alan Du, Partner at PayPal Ventures.
Klarna extends hybrid debit‑BNPL card (powered by Visa Flexible Credential) to EU; consumers can choose to pay now or Pay in 3 or Pay Later or select longer-term financing for larger purchases
Klarna is expanding its debit-first card across the EU, following a successful US launch in July this year. The Klarna Card challenges traditional credit card providers by giving consumers the power to pay upfront or flexibly, and 685,000 Americans have already signed up for the card since July. The Klarna Card, powered by Visa Flexible Credential, is debit by default, letting users pay instantly with their own money, while also offering flexible options. Within the Klarna app, consumers can choose: Pay in 3, Pay Later, or longer-term financing for larger purchases, subject to approval. It enables consumers to cover everything from everyday essentials to bigger one-off purchases and is accepted at over 150 million Visa merchant locations worldwide, online and in-store. By combining upfront payments with flexible pay later options, the Klarna Card redefines what consumers expect from their everyday bank, putting control back in their hands. The Klarna Card builds on the company’s growing portfolio of card-based products, which already account for 10% of Klarna’s global payment volume. Klarna is currently rolling the card out to customers in: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden, with the plan to rollout across more markets, including Denmark, Germany, Norway, and Poland, soon.
LLM Scout pioneers brand inclusion monitoring in AI‑generated answers, revealing when, where and how companies are cited, and prescribing steps to boost mentions, citations and authority across leading LLMs
LLM Scout is a first-of-its-kind platform that helps businesses monitor and improve how their brand appears inside AI-generated answers from tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. As generative AI rapidly reshapes how people search for information, brand visibility is no longer just about Google rankings. Instead, companies are either included or invisible in AI-generated answers — with no second page of results. LLM Scout gives marketing teams, agencies and founders the insights they need to stay visible in this new discovery channel. Unlike traditional web or SEO trackers, LLM Scout shows brands when, where and how they are mentioned across multiple AI models, with full transparency into prompts, responses and sources. The platform also benchmarks visibility against competitors and provides clear, actionable steps to increase mentions, improve citations, and strengthen brand authority in AI search. Key features include weekly updates with trend analysis, competitive benchmarking, source transparency, and customizable prompts.
Frizerly debuts an AI “marketing manager” that learns the site, publishes weekly SEO blogs, and embeds products, integrating with Shopify, WordPress, Webflow, etc.
Frizerly, has launched its AI-powered SEO blogging solution. Designed for businesses of all sizes, Frizerly acts as an AI marketing manager, creating and automatically publishing AI SEO blogs that help companies improve search engine visibility, attract new customers, and increase sales—without requiring additional time or effort from business owner. The platform integrates directly with popular website builders and even custom-built websites, making AI-driven SEO effortless and accessible. For entrepreneurs and small businesses without a marketing team, Frizerly acts as a plug-and-play AI marketing manager that handles strategy, writing, and publishing. For larger organizations, it functions as a powerful content engine, accelerating output while freeing up in-house teams to focus on creative campaigns. Frizerly acts like a full-time AI marketing manager for your website: Learns Your Business: The AI connects to your site, understands your products, services, and audience, and adapts its writing style accordingly. Publishes Weekly Blogs: Fresh, keyword-optimized AI SEO blogs are published automatically every week, ensuring consistency without extra effort. Boosts Discoverability: Blogs are written on topics your customers are already searching for, helping new leads find your business faster on Google. Increases Conversions: Frizerly can embed your products, services, and images directly into blogs, turning readers into paying customers. Re-engages Customers: Published blogs can be shared across social media channels to spark engagement and bring back repeat buyers. Frizerly also features an AI-assisted editor, enabling business owners and marketing teams to create custom blogs 10x faster than traditional writing. Within weeks of adoption, users have seen: Faster keyword ranking on Google; Increased organic traffic without additional ad spend; Higher customer engagement through blog shares on social media; Improved conversion rates thanks to product-integrated content.
Macy’s posts best sales in 12 quarters with CX, staffing and visual storytelling fueling momentum; it reimagines 125 stores, and boosts digital with richer, trend‑led storytelling experiences
Macy’s Inc. saw its strongest comparable sales growth in 12 quarters during the second quarter, with gains across its three department store nameplates, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury. Chairman and CEO Tony Spring attributed the growth to “substantive enterprise-wide improvements” the company has made while pursuing its A Bold New Chapter strategy. During the second quarter, the company’s Macy’s nameplate, like Macy’s Inc., recorded its best comparable sales growth in 12 quarters. Macy’s saw year-over-year growth in comparable sales of 1.2% at all its stores and 1.5% at its go-forward stores. Go-forward stores are those that the company does not plan to close. Spring said that the company’s strategy of closing underperforming locations and investing where there are opportunities will create “a more focused and profitable store base.” “I believe we are positioned to deliver long-term growth in our Macy’s go-forward business, inclusive of digital,” Spring said. “This is driven by exceptional customer omnichannel experiences, improved selling, enhanced colleague development and inspired merchandising, including more variety with reduced redundancies.” Asked by an analyst about opportunities to continue to grow comparable sales, Spring highlighted the company’s investments in in-store service and online storytelling. “We’re obviously doing that also in our digital experience,” Spring said. “I invite you to look at macys.com versus just three months ago. We’re providing a richer product-driven, trend-driven storytelling experience.” Among Macy’s Inc.’s luxury nameplates, Bloomingdale’s reported its fourth consecutive quarter of growth with comparable sales up 5.7%, while Bluemercury reported its 18th consecutive quarter of gains with comparable sales up 1.2%. Looking ahead, Macy’s Inc. raised its 2025 guidance for comparable sales to a range of down 1.5% to down 0.5%. In May, the company’s guidance was a range of down 2% to down 0.5%.