ICE is rewriting the playbook on how lenders engage with customers across the homeownership journey. Matt Dowd, VP of Product Management at ICE, says the company’s strategy unifies its origination and servicing solutions, allowing lenders to more easily identify, engage and convert opportunities within their existing portfolios to drive business growth. This integrated approach creates a consistent borrower experience and allows lenders to maximize every interaction, from initial acquisition to long-term retention. “We have expanded our capabilities to provide a multi-channel toolset that loan officers can use to help identify, attract and convert new loan opportunities into closed loans. We’ve been laser-focused in this area for quite some time now — helping clients leverage both property and market data with technology to acquire NEW customers. Now we’re expanding our efforts to help lenders RETAIN customers and nurture those relationships using their servicing portfolio data. With flexible configuration options, lenders can tailor borrower-facing solutions to meet evolving customer expectations. Our platform allows customization of the experience — from flow and design to look and feel — ensuring that every interaction aligns with the lender’s brand and the borrower’s needs. One key use case is allowing loans to seamlessly transition from the Encompass origination system to the MSP servicing system. This integration is critical to our product strategy, which aims to create the most efficient network — giving lenders the ability to better manage volumes at scale and cost-effectively. In addition, we’ve streamlined several back-office processes, like loan boarding and lien release. Our ongoing focus is to bridge the gap between origination and servicing and unifying these two industry-leading platforms to deliver a more cohesive and efficient experience. Let’s take recapture as a use case: Mobile-enabled sales toolkit: Our sales toolkit allows loan officers to manage leads and pipelines efficiently. It’s integrated with the Encompass platform and the borrower point of sale and includes a native CRM to drive connectivity and boost conversion. Data and intelligence: We offer the industry’s broadest set of property and market data, valuation models, indices and business intelligence — helping lenders identify trends and act on market opportunities faster. Consumer-facing tools: Our servicing digital portal supports over 18 million consumers, giving borrowers direct access to their loan information and self-service capabilities. Machine learning at point of sale: We’re exploring ways to embed our current ML capabilities into our point of sale to streamline processes and improve the borrower experience. This includes immediately recognizing and validating any uploaded documents from the borrower and extracting relevant data from Encompass to pre-populate forms for review and correction. We anticipate that borrowers will continue to demand more transparency, control and self-service options. The more information you can provide up front — not just regarding their loan, but regarding the steps they can take to accelerate the process — the better their experience.
Flyhomes’ platform enables homebuyers to use equity from their current home toward a down payment by securing a backup offer on their current home before it’s sold, which removes their existing mortgage payments from debt-to-income calculations
Seattle-based real estate FinTech firm Flyhomes has raised $15m in funding to transition from a direct-to-consumer platform to a wholesale financial product provider. The Series D funding round was backed by investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Norwest Venture Partners, Canvas Ventures, Camber Creek, Al Goldstein, and Mark Vadon. Flyhomes, founded in 2016, offers innovative lending solutions that enable homebuyers to purchase their next property before selling their current one. The firm’s core product, “Buy Before You Sell,” is central to its wholesale strategy, which now focuses on partnerships with loan officers and real estate agents. Flyhomes currently holds lending licenses in 40 US states and plans to expand to more.
Amazon beefing up agentic AI infrastructure to be the place where enterprise agents live, not merely where they train; designing products for “non‑human” patrons that “will hit ‘buy’ without a person in the loop”
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company now designs products for “non‑human” patrons that “will hit ‘buy’ without a person in the loop.” That shift dominated a call that otherwise could have been a standard victory lap: solid retail trends, a sturdy ad business and double‑digit cloud growth. Following up on a hint dropped during the Q1 earnings concerns about agentic AI architecture, Jassy confirmed that he wants Amazon to be the leader in agentic AI development and infrastructure. And not only can agentic AI plan a trip, reconcile invoices or write code, it also burns through computing power. In May, it open‑sourced “Strands,” a toolkit for creating agents. Last week it rolled out “AgentCore,” a server‑less runtime Jassy called “the industry’s first secure, scalable way to give agents memory, identity and observability.” The clear subtext: AWS aims to be the place where enterprise agents live, not merely where they train. Amazon’s own consumer‑facing device is Alexa+, a Gen AI upgrade now in early access to millions of U.S. households. Jassy called it “much more intelligent than her prior self,” capable of stringing together multi‑step requests like dimming lights, queuing dinner music and adjusting the thermostat. Engagement, he said, is “meaningfully higher,” and over time could unlock new subscription or advertising revenue streams.
Walmart Marketplace takes on eBay to offer collectors access to graded singles, sealed boxes, sports memorabilia, coins, comics, and other items and let them search and discover collectibles by team, event, card number, autograph and edition
The Walmart Marketplace third-party e-commerce platform is zeroing in on collectors of cards and other memorabilia. Walmart Marketplace is offering increased access to graded singles, sealed boxes, sports memorabilia, coins, comics, and other items. Coming soon, collectors will see grades from companies like PS), CGS and NGC, displayed for select categories on Walmart Marketplace. The online collector shop is having new features released, including: New filters that let customers search and discover collectibles by team, event, card number, autograph and edition. The shop is spotlighting essential collector-grade information, such as condition, grade, and detailed seller information, right on the product page. New grade and condition badges, now displayed across search, browse, and product pages, provide at-a-glance credibility. Walmart is also rolling out a more efficient and consistent onboarding experience for collectible sellers that provides step-by-step guidance, and collectible sellers will be able to leverage a range of new attributes and condition options for item descriptions, such as specifying grading companies and exact grades as well as identifying the specific sport franchise, athlete, or artist. In addition, Walmart has changed item return settings to give sellers more control and flexibility and is teaming up with collectible livestreamer WeTheHobby to launch a recurring livestream series on the Walmart Live platform this fall during the NFL season. Other new services Walmart is offering collectors include a partnership with Mascot, a platform that helps collectibles sellers manage their listings across major channels. Walmart’s growing presence in the collectibles vertical represents a challenge to eBay’s efforts to serve as the premier online platform for buying and selling collectible items.
Scalenut’s AI-powered SEO platform tracks how often and where a brand is cited in AI-generated answers across AI platforms and provides visibility into citation trends, topic coverage, and competitor benchmarking
Scalenut, an AI-powered SEO and content marketing platform, announced the launch of two powerful new tools: GEO Watchtower and Social Upreach, to help marketers stay visible, relevant, and cited across AI-driven search ecosystems. Scalenut’s latest release tackles three urgent challenges for marketing teams in the age of AI search. First, it helps brands track how and where they show up in AI-generated content. Second, it supports authority-building by making it easier to earn citations that matter to both Google and generative engines. Third, it improves engagement by tapping into high-signal conversations on platforms like Reddit — a key source of data for large language models. Instead of juggling multiple tools, teams can now manage AI visibility, content strategy, and user-generated content from a single platform.The new tools are designed specifically for AI-first search environments: GEO Watchtower: Tracks how often and where a brand is cited in AI-generated answers across AI platforms with GEO Watchtower. It provides visibility into citation trends, topic coverage, and competitor benchmarking. These are insights that traditional SEO dashboards don’t offer. Social Upreach: Reddit and other open platforms feed directly into large language model training data. Social Upreach helps brands identify high-signal conversations and engage in them strategically, improving their presence in both social spaces and AI-generated outputs. These tools work together to give marketers the visibility, control, and strategic direction they need in a fast-changing AI search landscape. They help bridge the gap between traditional SEO and the new era of generative discovery.
Retailers are turning to Snapchat as CX engagement tool to target Gen Z, 77% of who use it for brand discovery and shopping, building authentic conversations using its communication-friendly design, and tapping its AR-based location-sharing feature for promoting products and stores
Here are a few specific reasons so many retailers are turning to Snapchat as a consumer engagement platform, starting with favorable user demographics: 1) One big reason an increasing number of retailers are reaching out to customers via Snapchat is that highly coveted Gen Z and even Gen Alpha (the generation following Gen Z of consumers 15 and under) shoppers are spending their time, and money, there. Data backs up the fact that young consumers frequent Snapchat and see it as a branding and shopping platform. According to a recent survey of U.S. and U.K. Gen Z consumers from identity verification technology provider SheerID, 77% of respondents reported learning about a new brand through platforms such as Instagram, Tiktok and Snapchat. Gen Alpha has an estimated $28 billion in direct purchasing power. While 14% Gen Alpha consumers rank Snapchat as their favorite social network, 84% check it at least once a day. If your brand appeals to young shoppers, or you want it to, Snapchat is a vital engagement tool. 2) Snapchat is heavily focused on direct communication among peers, including features for texting, video chatting and exchanging photos. Its communication-friendly design is perfect for both one-to-one and one-to-many conversations, adding an air of authenticity and “real life” interaction which ironically would not be achievable without digital assistance. 3) This sense of digitally enhanced reality extends to Snapchat’s augmented reality capabilities, which retailers are leveraging to get their brand and products in front of consumers in new ways. American Eagle is something of a retail Snapchat pioneer, and another interesting promotion it is currently running on the platform involves including more than 800 retail stores across the U.S. as Promoted Places on the Snap Map location-sharing feature.
Tot Squad’s certified ‘registry consultants’ to support Target’s Baby Concierge program by guiding customers online through registry creation and product recommendations, answering all of their questions about baby gear essentials and services
Tot Squad has acquired Gugu Guru’s concierge training program, “Gugu Concierge,” giving the platform access to proprietary training content and tools designed to certify “registry consultants” and elevate the in-store and online experience for families nationwide. Tot Squad said the acquisition will support its growing partnership with Target as the two brands roll out a “first-of-its-kind” Baby Concierge program. As of August 1st, Tot Squad’s trained experts will guide Target customers online through registry creation and product recommendations, answering all of their questions about baby gear essentials and services. Also, in mid-September, 15 Target stores across Los Angeles and Minneapolis will roll out out the “Target Baby Concierge Program,” according to Tot Squad. Jen Saxton, CEO of Tot Squad said “By bringing the pioneering Gugu Concierge training into our fold, we’re able to offer a robust certification program for registry consultants, ensuring that parents get trusted advice and a stress-free registry experience.”
SOLO’s platform ingests, standardizes, and routes borrower information across products, systems, and departments in real-time enabling one-time data entry with multi-product underwriting and seamless cross-system decisioning without replacing LOS
Many banks mistakenly believe that replacing their LOS will solve deeper operational inefficiencies. Poor data quality, fragmented workflows, and lack of team alignment often undermine new systems. Sustainable transformation requires rethinking infrastructure, not just swapping platforms. SOLO, a next-gen platform is designed not to replace existing LOS systems but to complement them. SOLO is what happens when you focus on solving data infrastructure challenges rather than just product features. It serves as a real-time data adapter; ingesting, standardizing, and routing borrower information across products, systems, and departments. By decoupling borrower data from individual LOS tools, SOLO enables: One-time data entry with multi-product underwriting; Seamless cross-system decisioning; Faster credit visibility and eligibility scoring; Enhanced data portability for compliance and reporting. SOLO has become particularly appealing to banks seeking modernization without the heavy lifting involved in a complete system replacement. An ideal picture of success may look like an ecosystem where a borrower can apply once and receive pre-qualified offers across multiple credit products (or even multiple banks) regardless of channel. It’s a frontline team that can access a 360-degree view of the borrow and act on real-time insights. It’s compliance teams that are able to spend more time analyzing trends, especially in an increasingly growing ‘gig economy’. To truly future-proof lending, banks need to think beyond interfaces and focus on what lies beneath.
Kontext’s platform creates contextually relevant advertisements dynamically using LLMs tailored to individual user sessions within AI chatbots by analyzing user queries and conversation context and serves them as branded links beneath chatbot responses
Kontext, a startup that develops artificial intelligence-powered advertising infrastructure for generative AI applications, has raised $10 million in seed funding to expand its contextual advertising platform. The company specializes in creating advertisements dynamically using large language models tailored to individual user sessions within AI chatbots and conversational interfaces. Kontext processes tens of millions of daily ad impressions and serves major consumer brands including Amazon, Uber, and Canva. The platform operates by analyzing user queries and conversation context through the same large language models powering the host application. This analysis enables the system to generate contextually relevant advertising content that appears as branded links beneath chatbot responses. Current publisher partners include DeepAI, Media Search, Pixel Chat, and Spicy Chat. The company reports average revenue per user improvements from $0.24 to $0.40 among GenAI applications implementing its advertising layer, representing a 66% increase through ad-supported monetization. Kontext faces competition from startups and established advertising technology companies, with smaller companies with limited funding and traction. Large technology companies like Google, Meta, Microsoft, and TheTradeDesk represent potential competitors, though Kontext argues these companies lack real-time ad product capabilities for third-party advertisements. The company’s team consists entirely of individuals who previously co-founded startups, with technical expertise spans artificial intelligence research, infrastructure development, and advertising technology. The company projects significant market expansion as AI-powered consumer applications achieve mainstream adoption, with major platforms including ChatGPT, Character.ai, and Perplexity representing opportunities for advertising infrastructure similar to previous platform transitions.
Shopify’s B2B gross merchandise volume (GMV) in fiscal Q2 jumps 101% driven by expansion of B2B capabilities such as customer-specific catalogs, and ERP integrations and investments in agentic AI signalling its push as a unified platform for both retail and wholesale commerce
Shopify, an ecommerce software provider, has seen a significant growth in its business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce segment, with the company more than doubled its B2B gross merchandise volume in Q2. The company has pushed deeper into wholesale ecommerce and signed new clients across both retail and industrial sectors. Shopify has been investing in B2B capabilities, including support for purchase orders, tiered pricing, customer-specific catalogs, and integration with ERP systems. The company is positioning itself as a single platform for both retail and wholesale operations, which is particularly attractive to large brands with hybrid models. Shopify is also investing heavily in artificial intelligence tools and infrastructure, such as a new product catalog API, Universal Cart, and Checkout Kit. The company’s total gross merchandise volume for Q2 was $88 billion, up 31% from a year ago, and revenue also grew 31% to $2.7 billion. Shopify’s enterprise segment continues to expand, attracting larger manufacturers, consumer packaged goods firms, and non-retail businesses.