As part of a broader app update, Airbnb introduced a new feature that allows travelers to book services and experiences, like getting a massage, haircut, or chef-prepared meal, or taking part in some activity. These new offerings can be added to your stay, but they can also be booked independently, Airbnb says. The move is meant to capitalize on the traffic Airbnb’s site already receives. Initially, Airbnb will allow users to book services across 10 categories and services will be offered in 100 cities worldwide across eight countries. While users can take advantage of services where they’re staying, they will typically have to travel to a venue for the experiences. Initially, experiences will include cultural and museum tours; outdoor, watersport, and wildlife experiences; food tours and cooking classes; art workshops and shopping experiences; and workout, wellness, and beauty experiences. The company is launching experiences in 19 categories across 1,000 cities in the world. Airbnb is also launching exclusive experiences on its platform called Airbnb Originals, which involve celebrity partnerships. Judson Coplan, VP of Product Marketing at Airbnb believes that Airbnb Experiences may inspire people to travel and take a trip they might not have thought about. Plus, he thinks the new offerings can lead to people discovering new things to do in their own town. Airbnb will take a 15% cut from services and a 20% cut from experiences. However, users will just see one price when searching for or booking either category. The company says hosts in these categories will go through verification and quality checks that include their experience, online presence, education, and required licenses. In turn, Airbnb hopes this could lead people to want to travel more and use its platform to do so.
Moderne and Diffblue partner to support app modernization by combining automated and deterministic code refactoring across entire codebases, autonomous agentic AI testing to catch potential bugs before they happen
Automated code refactoring company Moderne and AI-powered unit test writing agent developer Diffblue announced a partnership to deliver an integrated solution for enterprise application modernization. By joining forces, the two companies aim to help large organizations will be able to upgrade and modernize applications based on extremely large codebases with greater speed with less worry. The collaboration combines Moderne’s code transformation capabilities with Diffblue’s autonomous agentic AI testing capabilities to catch potential bugs before they happen. Moderne is built on the OpenRewrite open-source project, which provides automated, safe and scalable transformation across entire codebases. It’s deterministic, which means that it’s predictable for any task, including cloud migration, framework upgrades, security fixes and language updates. That’s important because the larger the codebase, the greater the chance that any update could introduce an issue — updating from an older version of Java, for example, version 8 to a more modern version such as 17. Through the integration, Diffblue’s testing capabilities will be built directly into Moderne’s OpenRewrite recipes so they can run at large scale during application transformation. They will also be activated within Moderne’s multi-repository AI agent, Moddy, to provide test coverage for mass-scale changes.
Survey reveals growing preference for seamless and invisible payments: in-app purchasing ability is most desired for food & beverage; millennials and Gen Zers prefer recurring payments
Among parents with children under 25 living at home, 72% say they would prefer to pay for everything through an app if they could, compared to 53% of consumers overall, according to a new survey from embedded payments infrastructure company NMI. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of Gen Z and millennials say they’ll take their business elsewhere if in-app payments aren’t an option. Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed want to use in-app payments for food and beverage purchases, like restaurants, coffee shops, bars and delivery services. Retail lands in the number two spot, with 53% of consumers opting for in-app payments in this sector. On average, 37% of consumers are interested in using apps to pay for everyday services like car washes and dry cleaning, and 30% for home services such as landscaping and plumbing. Among parents, the interest in these sectors rises significantly to 49% and 42%, respectively. The subscription model is especially popular among millennials (69%) and Gen Zers (66%), who prefer recurring payments for frequently used goods and services. There is also a rising preference for invisible transactions, as 64% of respondents embrace biometric authentication like Face ID or fingerprints, and 59% say the best transactions are the ones that feel like they never happened. Four-in-10 (43%) baby boomers are uncomfortable using biometric authentication, while 40% embrace it for its speed, security and convenience. In-app payments are set to play an even bigger role in business choice throughout 2025. Nearly six-in-10 (59%) consumers say it’s important that merchants offer app-based payments, and half (50%) would choose a business that does over one that doesn’t. Already, half of respondents use in-app payments weekly or more, and 55% expect to increase their usage this year.
PayPal and Venmo to enable instant in-chat checkout, supporting agentic commerce within Perplexity’s AI answer engine; account linking, tokenized wallet and passkey checkout flows would eliminate the need for passwords
Perplexity has partnered with PayPal to power agentic commerce across its Perplexity Pro platform. Starting this summer in the U.S., consumers can check out instantly with PayPal or Venmo when they ask Perplexity to find products, book travel, or buy tickets. ”This partnership unlocks new possibilities, where conversations now drive commerce,” said Alex Chriss, President and CEO of PayPal. ”We’re making it easy and secure to shop right in the chat when inspiration strikes. It’s a powerful step in making conversational commerce a reality.” The entire process, including payment, shipping, tracking, and invoicing will be handled behind the scenes with PayPal’s account linking, secure tokenized wallet and emerging passkey checkout flows, which could eliminate the need for passwords and streamline the experience to a single user query or click. Key features include: Agentic Commerce: Integration of PayPal’s commerce solutions, enabling users to buy products or services directly in Perplexity’s chat interface. Global Reach: Expanding Perplexity’s commerce tools to PayPal’s 430+ million active accounts across approximately 200 markets. Secure Transactions: Leveraging PayPal’s robust fraud detection and data security protocols.
Twilio’s new ConversationRelay, allows developers to build voice agents using their choice of LLMs; plans to make RCS messaging and WhatsApp Business Calling generally available
Communication tool provider Twilio announced updates including a next-generation customer engagement platform built for an artificial intelligence and data-driven future, along with a new strategic partnership with Microsoft Corp. to advance conversational AI. Leading the list of announcements was a next-generation platform designed to unify communications, data and AI into a single, flexible infrastructure for customer engagement. The platform integrates omnichannel communication tools, including voice, SMS, email, video and over-the top, with contextual data from Twilio’s Segment Customer Data Platform and a growing portfolio of native AI capabilities. The enhancements unveiled by Twilio span three core areas — conversational AI, compliance and personalization. The updates are designed to help businesses deliver more intelligent, compliant and tailored customer engagement at scale. ConversationRelay, a tool that allows developers to build voice agents using their choice of large language models. The service includes features such as real-time streaming, advanced speech recognition, interruption handling and human-like voice rendering. Conversational Intelligence is now generally available for voice and entered private beta for messaging, allowing companies to turn conversations into structured insights. Twilio introduced a new Compliance Toolkit, now in public beta, to help businesses manage requirements such as the U.S. Telephone Consumer Protection Act more easily. The company also announced plans to make RCS messaging and WhatsApp Business Calling generally available later this year. For personalization and insights, Twilio updated its Segment Customer Data Platform with a redesigned Journeys architecture that now supports event-triggered workflows and richer contextual payloads. The improvements are complemented with new integrations for SMS and SendGrid, as well as new partnerships with Amplitude Inc. and Attribution App. Twilio is also expanding data residency options in the EU for email and SMS, further strengthening its global compliance capabilities. Along with product updates, Twilio announced a new strategic partnership with Microsoft to jointly develop and deploy conversational AI experiences at scale. Under the partnership, Twilio will integrate its engagement platform with Microsoft’s Azure AI Foundry to power AI-driven communications, including multi-channel AI agents, advanced contact center assistants via Twilio Agent Copilot and multi-modal customer interaction tools.
Study: U.S. shoppers pull back from Temu, Shein; shift spending to Old Navy, Ulta Beauty, Nordstrom Rack and others known for affordability
New data from Consumer Edge showed a sharp deceleration in U.S. consumer spending growth in April on ultra-discount Chinese retailers Temu and Shein. In the three weeks leading up to April 27, American brands including Old Navy, Ulta Beauty, Nordstrom Rack and Savers Value Village picked up a significant amount of redirected consumer dollars from former Temu and Shein shoppers. According to the data, Temu’s U.S. year-over-year spend growth slowed sharply in April 2025, decelerating from nearly 50% growth at the start of the month to almost zero growth by the end. Shein experienced a similar deceleration, with year-over-year spend growth declining from approximately 30% to around 20% during the same period. “This dramatic slowdown coincides with rising U.S.-China trade tensions, the elimination of the duty-free de minimis treatment for low-value imports and a reduction in advertising spend that had previously fueled both platforms’ rapid growth,” noted Consumer Edge. To identify where consumers spent their money, Consumer Edge analyzed shoppers who made at least two purchases at Temu or Shein in January or February 2025 but no purchases in March or April. Key findings include: Old Navy regains market share: Long known for its affordability, Old Navy is reclaiming cost-conscious shoppers and capturing spending from those moving away from ultra-discount platforms. Its broad assortment of clothing for all age groups and genders continues to resonate. Legacy department stores reclaim value shoppers: Bloomingdale’s, Kohl’s and Nordstrom Rack are pulling in significant dollars from ex-Temu and Shein shoppers, benefiting from their wide selections across categories. Resale gains ground: Savers Value Village is also seeing momentum as resale becomes the new value frontier. Beauty shoppers shift: Retailer Ulta Beauty and brand SpoiledChild are benefiting from consumers looking to make personal care swaps.
Uber Eats “Savings Slider,” lets shoppers compare prices for items on their grocery list within stores, or even get recommendations for nearby stores offering better deals
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.