Dailypay has partnered with APS, a provider of superior HCM technology and support, to offer a popular financial wellness benefit through “DailyPay Built-In.” In addition to payroll and time & attendance, APS now offers DailyPay’s On-Demand Pay solution as a fully embedded feature in the APS app, giving workers the choice and control over their earned pay. With this partnership, APS customers can offer their employees access to On-Demand Pay with no effort, implementation time, or change to payroll processes. APS designs all-in-one workforce management technology to make payroll and HR easier for mid-sized businesses. “DailyPay Built-In” empowers HCM providers to offer DailyPay’s On-Demand Pay solution as a fully integrated addition to existing features at no cost, providing immediate value to employers and their employees. Carly Brush, SVP, HCM, DailyPay. “‘DailyPay Built-In’ expands APS’s service offering with seamless integration and no extra cost. This partnership demonstrates our shared dedication to empowering employers to support the financial wellness of their daily workers.”
Pixability’s agentic solution uses proprietary data and Super Signal Aggregation (SSA) tech to curate more contextually precise YouTube channels, driving 8.6X the relevant reach of a standard inclusion list
Pixability, a leader in AI-driven contextual targeting, brand suitability, and performance advertising on YouTube, has launched pixie™, the first and only agentic solution for curating and optimizing YouTube channels for advertising and creator campaigns. Pixie uses Pixability’s proprietary data and Super Signal Aggregation (SSA) technology to curate more contextually precise channels, driving 8.6X the relevant reach of a standard inclusion list. David George, CEO of Pixability, believes that agentic technology will soon be the only way to deliver media with both control and scale. Pixie delivers curated content lists that are more relevant, scalable, and higher performing, allowing campaigns to be launched in minutes, freeing teams to focus on other strategic tasks. Pixie leverages deep proprietary insights to fuel the following activities: Provide instant audience-viewing insights to strengthen new-business pitches and creative strategy; Enable planning teams to scope campaigns in minutes and share curated channel lists with clients; Create campaigns up to 60x faster and optimize channel mixes in response to key cultural moments, outpacing native platforms; Drive up to 70% better performance by combining greater scale with increased precision.
Koah embeds native, context-aware ads directly inside AI chat flows and personalizes them based on historical conversation data and surfacing at the exact moment of user inquiry
Koah, the monetization platform for Gen AI chat apps, has announced its public launch after operating in stealth since January 2025, with $5+ million in seed funding. Koah is the first advertising platform designed specifically for conversational AI, offering GenAI businesses a powerful way to earn revenue by embedding contextual ads directly inside AI chat conversations. Powered by Forerunner, South Park Commons, and AppLovin cofounder Andrew Karam, Koah solves the gap by embedding native, context-aware ads directly inside AI chat flows. Personalized based on historical conversation data and LLMs, brands can surface their offerings at the exact moment of user inquiry. Koah provides a lightweight SDK that integrates in under a day, allowing developers to access an instant, scalable revenue stream without disrupting user experience. Early Gen AI chat app partners earned an average of $10,000 in their first 30 days with Koah. After six months in the market, Koah reached an audience of over 80 million through the company’s range of consumer AI publishers.
Agentic commerce platform firmly.ai’s partnership with affiliate marketing provider CJ to offer publishers and merchants access to scalable native checkout solution that lets them convert consumers at “the moment of inspiration” with no technical implementation required
Agentic commerce company firmly.ai has launched a partnership with affiliate marketing provider CJ. The collaboration will offer CJ’s network of publishers and merchants turnkey access to “seamless shopping experiences” for consumers and thus open “new revenue streams, real‑time attribution, and frictionless checkout across every emerging channel,” the companies said. As publisher referral traffic continues to decline and consumers increasingly transact within new channels, publishers, affiliates and merchants face the same challenges of engaging and converting consumers. The companies said their integration solves this via a native checkout solution for CJ’s merchant partners that lets them convert consumers at “the moment of inspiration” with no technical implementation required. That means publishers now have access to a “scalable native checkout solution” that keeps the consumer on their platforms to increase engagement and better understand what their audience is buying at a customer level. “Affiliate marketing is no longer just about the click—it’s becoming the backbone of a new era in commerce media,” said Santi Pierini, CEO of CJ. “Our partnership with firmly.ai helps to accelerate CJ’s transformation from a leading affiliate network into a true commerce media network, enabling publishers and advertisers to monetize and transact wherever their audiences are—inside editorial content, on social platforms, through AI chatbots, in email, digital ads and even shoppable CTV experiences.”
Mastercard, NCR Atleos and ITCARD partner to offer contactless cash withdrawal at ATMs that involves verifying a cardholder’s identity using a mobile device without the need for physical wallet, plastic card or PIN
Thanks to Mastercard in collaboration with NCR Atleos and ITCARD, cash can be securely withdrawn – and other services accessed – using your phone—no PIN required. Multiple countries in Europe including Poland, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Austria have already deployed contactless ATMs. However, when using their mobile phone, the cardholder is asked to enter their PIN in addition to authenticating themselves via mobile wallet using biometrics. This creates unnecessary friction. The Consumer Device Cardholder Verification Method (CDCVM) streamlines this process, verifying a cardholder’s identity using a mobile device for contactless payments. The consumer authenticates themselves on their phone before tapping the ATM to start their transaction thereby streamlining interactions at the ATM—no physical wallet, plastic card or PIN required. CDCVM aligns the user experience across devices, reducing the need for verification of both CDCVM and online PIN on a single ATM transaction for a truly digital-first experience. Contactless ATM transactions using CDCVM are on average over 20% faster than those requiring PIN, according to initial testing by Mastercard. Johan Gerber, EVP, Head of Security Solutions at Mastercard said “By enabling biometric mobile authentication at ATMs, we are redefining the consumer experience, simplifying it without sacrificing security.
Amex and UPS offer SMBs tiered shipping savings via Business Savings Suite across air, ground and international; timed for the holiday peak season
UPS and American Express are rolling out new and exclusive offers to support SMBs. UPS Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer Matt Guffey. “UPS is making strategic investments in areas important to SMBs like industry-leading service, flexible returns and seamless integration with our end-to-end smart logistics network. We know what it takes to help small businesses be unstoppable, and our collaboration with American Express is the perfect extension.” Ahead of the busy holiday season, merchants can access exclusive savings from UPS via American Express’ Business Savings Suite. Savings span UPS air, ground and international shipping options and allow SMBs to save more as they ship more with UPS. Colleen Taylor, President of U.S. Merchant Services at American Express. “During the critical holiday season, when every transaction counts, small businesses often rely on credit cards to manage cash flow, stock inventory, and meet surging demand – all while looking for the best way to get their shipments where they need to go. That’s why Amex and UPS are teaming up to support small businesses during this make-or-break time of year.”
Griffin Funding debuts an AI driven automated underwriting system for non‑qualified mortgages that condenses 200‑page guidelines into tailored answers and flags risks for loan officers
Griffin Funding has launched an internal artificial intelligence-driven platform designed to help loan officers navigate the complex world of non-QM lending. The tool, known internally as “LIA,” pulls hundreds of pages of program guidelines into a single system and uses AI to deliver tailored answers to loan qualification questions, according to Chloe Shubin, vice president of strategy for Griffin Funding. The company partnered with AI engineering firm Cadre to build out the automated underwriting system (AUS. “Instead of flipping through 200 pages of guidelines or relying on tribal knowledge, LIA gives our staff a starting point with qualified answers and flags potential issues upfront,” she added. The platform includes four chat modes: find a product, test a product, chat with a PDF (most likely a credit report, Shubin explained) and 3.4 MISMO upload. Each mode allows users to search loan products, upload credit reports or integrate loan application files to test program eligibility. It also connects with lenders to do pricing checks and is being expanded to pull property profile data directly. As for quality control and compliance, Shubin said that Griffin LOs who use the platform need to perform due diligence as they navigate a loan. For now, LIA is being used internally as part of Griffin Funding University, the firm’s training program for new hires. But the company hasn’t ruled out eventually offering the product more broadly once it has been fully “hardened” against errors. A key feature set to debut later this month is source citations, which will link LIA’s answers directly to the relevant section of investor guidelines. That, Shubin said, should give loan officers and underwriters added confidence in the system’s recommendations.
JCPenney promotes brand offerings with ‘Real Big Deals’ integrated with the new NFL pro football season; deals will immediately go live online and extend to stores from Friday through Sunday
JCPenney is launching the third installment of a seasonal campaign called “Real Big Deals” that is integrated with the new NFL pro football season. Each Thursday night through Christmas, a new “Really Big Deal” will be revealed during Amazon’s Prime Video football coverage. JCPenney will showcase the deal again in the postgame broadcast. The deals will immediately go live online and extend to stores from Friday through Sunday. NBA basketball Hall of Fame legend Shaquille O’Neal, who hosted the first iteration of Really Big Deals during Prime Video’s fall 2024 Thursday night NFL football broadcasts, is returning to host the campaign again this fall. “Football allowed us to reach a live audience, which is very impactful. In addition, football there is now a lot of age and gender diversity in the football viewing audience, so it’s a vehicle to reach the most viewers, both existing customers and potential new customers. The goal is to remind consumers of our brand, and to re-engage or validate their love for JCPenney. Part of it is about acquiring new customers, along with validating with our existing customers that JCPenney is the place for great quality and value.”
Instacart extends display ads beyond the grocery vertical, to convenience stores with Vroom Delivery
Instacart is expanding access to its display advertising platform beyond the grocery vertical. The grocery technology company is partnering with convenience store e-commerce platform Vroom Delivery to bring its Carrot Ads platform to Vroom Delivery’s network of 3,500 convenience stores nationwide. As a result, Vroom Delivery’s convenience retailers across the U.S. will have access to Instacart advertising technology. This includes Carrot Ads, which brings Instacart advertising technology and capabilities to retailers’ owned and operated e-commerce sites, with monetization options including revenue share models. Alice Luong, senior director of e-commerce and retail media at Instacart said “We’re building Carrot Ads to be the most advanced retail media solution in the industry – designed to help e-comm partners move quickly and unlock the full potential of retail media.” Vroom Delivery retailers will also have access to Instacart’s suite of display ads and sponsored product ads designed to complement brand pages that appear throughout the shopping journey on Instacart. Through this partnership, Vroom Delivery’s convenience store partners will join the Instacart Ads ecosystem and more than 7,500 participating brand advertisers will soon be able to extend their Instacart campaigns to Vroom Delivery’s network of convenience store retailers.
Walmart expands customer insights available to suppliers adding 15 new metrics leveraging anonymized, aggregated insights from Walmart’s e-commerce site and apps
Walmart introduced the Scintilla platform, which provides a unified picture of category performance and consumer trends at scale, under the name Luminate in 2021 and then updated it to Scintilla earlier in 2025. Now, the discount giant is adding 15 new metrics to the Scintilla Digital Landscapes offering, which leverages anonymized, aggregated insights from Walmart’s e-commerce site and app to help users better understand the customer journey. New metrics include: Traffic data showing where Walmart shoppers begin their journey, such as external sites, Walmart.com, Walmart mobile app, or search and non-search browsing. Conversion data demonstrating the percentage of visitors making a purchase and how effectively marketing drives action. This capability can show why a product may be underperforming, whether it could use imagery improvement or is missing information. Digital basket data shows what products customers add to their carts and which ones they abandon. Search data reveals what keywords customers use to find products to help suppliers evaluate keyword trends, gauge keyword share, and gain clearer insights into shopper pre-purchase behavior patterns.