LendingClub announced the acquisition of intellectual property and select talent behind Cushion, an AI-powered spending intelligence platform, providing a natural complement to LendingClub’s suite of mobile financial products and experiences. Cushion’s AI-powered technology ingests users’ bank transactions and purchase information to help them track their bills, make on-time payments, manage subscriptions, build credit, and monitor BNPL loans. Scott Sanborn, CEO of LendingClub said, “Cushion’s technology complements our DebtIQ experience to provide our members with the tools and information they need to take control of their debt and spending. With credit card balances and interest rates at historic highs and consumers seeking ways to keep more of what they earn, the need for our solution has never been greater.” Adopting Cushion’s technology will eventually allow LendingClub to provide much-needed visibility into a consumer’s financial obligations beyond traditional credit monitoring. It builds on LendingClub’s acquisition of Tally in Q4 2024, which will simplify credit card management, help users optimize payments, reduce interest, and improve credit health.
PayPal’s reward offers on stablecoin balances could force super apps to offer interest-earning prepaid cards and wallets in a closed-loop, scalable ecosystem
PayPal and Circle, two U.S. firms that are trying to build what are called financial super apps, are making stablecoins a major piece of how users link to other functions. Both companies made recent deals to expand usage of their own stablecoins while easing access to other financial services. PayPal and Circle are both positioning themselves to capitalize on the increasing popularity of stablecoins as a means to power their super apps. PayPal recently expanded its partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase to power free conversions between PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin and traditional money. Coinbase will offer PYUSD to PayPal’s merchant network, making it easier for the stablecoin to be used at the point of sale. It also can drive PayPal’s super app strategy, a long-standing initiative to enable a mobile app to shop at millions of merchants, make payments, access a debit card, use installment credit, pay bills, invest, make P2P transfers, receive paychecks and dozens of other services. The addition of the Xoom remittance and Venmo transfer app, PayPal’s PYUSD and support for stablecoin and cryptocurrency investments at Venmo and PayPal add to that super-app potential.
Google makes it easier to share digital credentials on Android phone natively supporting OpenID4VP and OpenID4VCI for digital credential presentation and issuance
Google has announced that Android now natively supports OpenID4VP and OpenID4VCI for digital credential presentation and issuance. Digital Credentials are cryptographically verifiable documents, such as driver’s licenses, passports, or national IDs. Android apps can incorporate and submit more digital documents like education certifications, insurance policies, and permits in the near future. Currently, supported digital documents can be stored in “credential holders” apps like Google Wallet and Samsung Wallet. Users can store multiple credentials across apps using OpenID4VP requests from websites or the Android Credential Manager API. The process involves a verifier sending an OpenID4VP request to the Digital Credential API, prompting the user to select a credential. Android redirects the request to the app holding the credential, which can perform additional due diligence before releasing the credential. Google Wallet will soon allow users to use digital credentials to recover Amazon accounts, access online health services, and verify profiles or identity on platforms like Uber and Bumble.
Fifth Third Bank is surprising families with babies born at certain hospitals in Detroit on May 3 with a special voucher to open a college savings account
Fifth Third Bank announced that it is surprising families with babies born at certain hospitals in Detroit on May 3 with a special voucher to open a college savings account. Each year, Fifth Third celebrates May 3 (5/3) with community service and giving activities. According to the bank, this year, they are bringing the program to Detroit and partnering with the hospitals affiliated with Henry Ford Health, Detroit Medical Center and McLaren Health. The families that have babies born on May 3 will receive a $1,053 voucher for a 529 College Savings Plan, a DoorDash gift card and baby gifts, the bank says. Local labor and delivery nurses will also receive gifts. The bank will also do the giveaways at hospitals in Fort Myers and Naples, Florida.
OpenAI’s Shopify partnership to make online shopping a more personalized experience direct integration of product details, pricing and ‘Buy Now’ button into the UI
OpenAI’s integration with Shopify is expected to revolutionize online shopping, transforming the internet into a more personalized experience. The integration will allow digital personal shoppers to know customers’ size, style, and preferences, allowing them to make more informed decisions about their purchases. This could lead to a shift from traditional storefronts to full-service consultants and lifestyle experts. The adoption of Gen AI will result in lower return rates, reduced bounce rates, and a rise in’shopper loyalty’ as consumers build an affinity with stores that make their lives easier and feel special. To optimize the integration, brands should focus on user-generated content, build a real community, and train their assistants cleverly. The partnership between OpenAI and Shopify could mark an unprecedented step forward in using Gen AI as a shopping tool. By integrating product details, pricing, reviews, and even a ‘Buy Now’ button directly into the UI, the future of online shopping will be significantly changed. The winners will be those that think beyond the transaction and create experiences that feel truly personal.
Google enables launching AI Mode with one-tap search on Android and iOS that does away with the homepage; adds slick animation with color glows to encompass entire screen for iOS
Besides the widget shortcut, Google is making AI Mode faster to access with one-tap search on Android and iOS. Previously, launching AI Mode from the shortcut beneath the Search bar in the Google app or widget would bring you to an introductory homepage. You’d then have to touch the “Ask AI Mode” field before you could start typing. Opening AI Mode now immediately takes you to the input box with the keyboard open. The header just shows the ‘G’ logo (and close button), while the suggested queries carousel disappears after you enter text for a minimalist look. With the previous homepage no longer available, you cannot quickly access conversation history. Google tells us to soon expect direct access from the text field. One-tap AI Mode access is live on both Google for Android and iOS. On the latter platform, Google has introduced a very slick animation. Tapping the AI Mode button will expand the usual Search field to encompass your entire screen as the keyboard pops up. As this occurs, there’s a four-color glow around the expanding perimeter that looks very nice. It fades out just as everything settles, while closing AI Mode also results in a visual effect. There’s no equivalent animation on Android right now, but there are other colorful touches.
VC Lightspeed changes its regulatory status to a RIA, to enable investing more capital into assets beyond direct startup equity including public and secondary shares, as well as cryptocurrencies
Lightspeed Venture Partners, has changed its regulatory status to broaden its range of investments — following similar moves by Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst as they shift away from the traditional VC playbook. Lightspeed has completed the process of becoming a registered investment advisor (RIA), according to a US SEC filing. The move is the culmination of a lengthy regulatory process and gives the firm freedom to invest more capital into assets beyond direct startup equity. It’s also a signal that most of the country’s biggest VCs now have ambitions to expand beyond only investing in startups. Lightspeed is one of the last major venture firms to change its regulatory status, as VCs seek to invest in a wider array of assets, including public and secondary shares, as well as cryptocurrencies. Without the RIA designation, VC firms may only allocate up to 20% of their capital to holdings outside traditional startup equity. Lightspeed, which manages $31 billion in assets, is expected to launch new funds totaling $7 billion and has been expanding its investments in areas such as secondary deals and artificial intelligence.
Vanguard’s new GenAI client-ready article summaries produce customizable synopses of its top-read market perspectives tailored by financial acumen, investing life stage, and tone
Vanguard launched its first client-facing GenAI capability that equips financial advisors with efficient and personalized content for client communications. Vanguard’s Client-Ready Article Summaries produce customizable synopses of its top-read market perspectives tailored by financial acumen, investing life stage, and tone. It also generates the necessary disclosures to accompany the article summaries, creating an efficient and seamless information sharing experience for advisors. Sid Ratna, Head of Digital and Analytics for Vanguard Financial Advisor Services said “The best advisors can get even better with AI in their client toolkit, and Vanguard’s Client-Ready Article Summaries help advisors drive personalized and actionable conversations that enhance client relationships over the long-term.” Vanguard Financial Advisor Services provides investment services, portfolio analytics and consulting, and research to over 50,000 advisory firms comprising 150,000 advisors.1 Supporting advisors so they can best service their clients is integral to Vanguard’s mission of giving investors the best chance for investment success. In addition to rolling out the Client-Ready Article Summaries, Vanguard continues to experiment with advanced technologies, including spatial and quantum computing and blockchain, to improve investment outcomes, expand investor access, and deliver personalized experiences.
Agree.com’s AI-powered e-signature platform is different from competitors because it includes invoicing generation and payment processing
Agree.com says its AI-powered e-signature platform is different from competitors because it includes invoicing and payment processing. That’s why the company might have a shot at tackling the industry Goliath, Docusign. Because the startup makes its money from transaction fees for any money movement facilitated by its platform, Agree.com has made e-signatures free to all users. Agree.com uses AI on top of optimal character recognition (OCR) software so that it can auto-detect and label all of a contract’s input fields and signature blocks. Its technology can also identify and extract “any and all” payment terms to dynamically generate invoices. Because of its multitasking approach, Agree.com can potentially replace traditional e-signature software and invoicing and accounts receivable tools such as Bill.com. Agree extracts every character, indentation, semicolon, and hyphen to not only understand the type of contract being signed, but make it fully editable and collaborative with commenting, redlining, and version control. Agree’s “business model is truly unique: free software, monetized through invoicing and payments.”
Pinterest now lets shoppers use a “more expansive visual vocabulary” to ‘describe’ their style ideas.- generating the words they can use to figure out what they like about the image, and then further explore and shop
Pinterest is introducing new features to let users find ideas that match their personal tastes. The new visual search tools will first be available for women’s fashion content in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., eventually moving to more categories. The new tools let users find what they’re searching for without using words, by breaking down and decoding images so users can quickly search and shop for the details of an outfit they like. “Whether it’s an overall aesthetic, a color palette, a specific fit, or product category, when users view a Pin, we’ll now generate the words they can use to figure out what they like about the image, and then further explore and shop,” the company said. To help users identify and select the objects that they want more easily, the company says it has added a new animated glow. Also new is a “refinement bar” to help users narrow down their search results and find things that match their style. The company said the new search options are powered by visual language models (VLMs), a form of generative artificial intelligence (AI), to offer users a “more expansive visual ‘vocabulary’ to ‘describe’ their style ideas.” “Our visual search technology represents a shift in how users interact with and discover inspiration,” Dana Cho, Pinterest vice president of design, said. “We’re not simply delivering search results — we’re curating a personalized journey of discovery that empowers individuals to find their unique style, and shop it too.”