Ramp has announced the official launch of its upgraded corporate cards for expense management. This new solution is designed to transform how businesses manage expenses, offering real-time visibility, tighter financial controls, and simplified reconciliation processes. With the launch of its corporate cards for expense management, Ramp is addressing the growing need for businesses to eliminate outdated manual expense workflows. The enhanced offering integrates with leading accounting platforms and equips finance teams with tools to reduce fraud risk, enforce spending policies, and enable accurate financial forecasting. Key features of the new corporate cards for expense management include customizable spending controls by employee or department, instant issuance of virtual and physical cards, and advanced fraud detection tools. Businesses can assign dedicated virtual cards for vendor subscriptions, improving vendor management and reducing the risk of unauthorized charges. As global teams and remote workforces expand, Ramp’s expense management solution ensures seamless financial oversight across geographies and departments. Audit trails are automatically maintained, providing businesses with ready access to clean, transparent transaction histories for compliance.
OpenAI enables retailers to build AI shopping agents that can search for products, add items to a cart, and generate checkout links without requiring authentication by connecting the store’s URL directly to the OpenAI Responses API
OpenAI unveiled a way for retailers to create artificial intelligence (AI) shopping assistants in Shopify. With a few clicks, developers can now connect the Storefront Managed Compute Platform (MCP) server directly to the OpenAI Responses API to build agents that can search for products, add items to a cart, and generate checkout links — all without requiring authentication. Go to the OpenAI Playground, under Tools, add MCP Server. Click on Shopify and add your store’s URL to create the AI shopping assistant. Now when users type, “I am looking for a lightweight men’s button up shirt for a vacation,” for example, the assistant will search for options from your inventory to show the shopper. If the shopper picks one of the options, the assistant can automatically move it to checkout. The move reflects OpenAI’s broader strategy to move deeper into offering shopping capabilities. Rival Perplexity already offers a shopping assistant within its AI chatbot. Shopify is one of the merchants whose products can be found through Perplexity. Google introduced Gemini Robotics On-Device, an AI model that runs directly on robots without the need for an internet connection. Amazon unveiled DeepFleet, an AI model that acts as a traffic controller for warehouse robots, improving travel efficiency by 10%.
Tailor’s platform enables enterprises to build their own ERP stack using its composable, headless architecture that decouples the data and logic layer from the UI, allowing for highly customizable workflows and easy integration with best-of-breed SaaS tools
Tailor, a headless ERP platform for modern retail businesses, announced an additional close of its Series A round, bringing the total raised to $22 million. The new investors include JIC Venture Growth Investments (JIC VGI), a Japanese government-backed investment fund, and New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Y Combinator, which participated in Tailor’s seed round, also increased its investment. This second close reflects growing global demand for flexible, API-first business systems that help enterprises move beyond the limitations of monolithic ERPs. “Tailor’s platform serves an increasingly complex supply chain landscape and we believe Tailor has the potential to rethink the ERP systems that power global commerce and operational agility,” said Andrew Schoen, Partner Technology Investing Team, at NEA. Tailor enables mid-market and enterprise companies to build and evolve their own ERP stack with speed and flexibility. Its composable, headless architecture decouples the data and logic layer from the user interface, allowing for highly customizable workflows and easy integration with best-of-breed SaaS tools. With Tailor, companies can: Orchestrate cross-system workflows with customizable modules for inventory, purchasing, fulfillment, finance, and more; Replace or integrate with legacy systems without re-architecting core infrastructure; Give developers and AI agents programmatic access to business logic and operational data; Deliver internal tools or customer-facing experiences with custom UIs
Fund managers like Vanguard and State Street looking to tap into higher-cost private markets to boost revenue by selling funds that charge higher fees, to offset the years-long trend of near-zero
Vanguard Group grew into a $10 trillion financial colossus by pioneering simple, ultralow-cost investing. Its wildly popular index funds proved that people don’t need expensive portfolio managers to pick their investments. These days, the company’s most exciting new product is a striking departure from that playbook—a foray into the world of private markets, where investors pay steep fees for access to complex deals that promise high returns. Wall Street is feverishly embracing private markets and Vanguard, like other giant money managers, wants a foothold in this booming business. A new fund it is developing with Blackstone and Wellington Management will offer a mix of public and private assets. State Street, another big fund manager, joined with Blackstone rival Apollo Global Management to create a 401(k) target-date fund with approximately 10% exposure to private markets. BlackRock is aiming to launch something similar next year. The companies say they want to democratize investing, letting people place bets in areas like private equity and private credit that have long been restricted to pensions, endowments and plugged-in elites. With fewer publicly traded companies to invest in, people need to put money in private markets, they say. The investment firms have something to gain for themselves in this shift. After years of driving down fees, retail fund managers are nearing a wall as what they charge approaches zero . The chance to sell more funds that can charge higher fees would boost revenues for the likes of Vanguard and State Street, which pioneered exchange traded funds. “They have been preaching low fees and competition, and now they’ve come around to the value of alternative investments in client portfolios,” said Morgan Stanley analyst Michael Cyprys . The companies that create and manage the private funds—Blackstone, Apollo, KKR and others—are hitting their own wall as their privateequity funds , which own unlisted companies, stall. They have focused on private credit , which involves issuing loans to those same sorts of companies, to generate growth. The trillions in savings held by retail fund managers looks like enticing fuel for their businesses. “Everyone’s looking at Vanguard and saying ‘wow, they have a tremendous pile of gold, I wonder if they’d let us have a small slice’,” said Bob Brinker , publisher of a mutual-fund newsletter.
Margarita Finance launches agentic stablecoin technology with 20% APY yield-bearing token, allowing users to access institutional DeFi investment strategies through a single token purchase
Margarita Finance launched its agentic stablecoin technology to an invite-only user base this week, introducing a DeFAI protocol that automates AI-based institutional investment management through yield-bearing stablecoins. The company’s new protocol autonomously builds and issues institutional investment products, wraps them into proprietary vaults with automated monitoring, and makes them investable through yield-bearing stablecoins. The first curated offering, SOL20, provides a 20% expected return (APY) to users powered by AI-based options trading. This way, DeFi users get access to institutional trading strategies usually reserved to Wall-Street hedge funds. The DeFAI protocol operates by creating custom investment strategies, packaging them into monitored vaults, and wrapping them into easily accessible stablecoins that are backed by the underlying yield-generating assets. This approach allows users to access institutional DeFi investment strategies through a single token purchase. Margarita Finance’s end-to-end value capture model now encompasses both consulted custom investment products and curated yield-bearing stablecoins, providing users with multiple entry points into AI-managed DeFi strategies.
Google’s ad network has begun showing advertising within the flow of conversations with chatbots operated by AI startups
Google’s ad network has begun showing advertising within the flow of conversations with chatbots — part of Alphabet Inc.’s efforts to keep its edge in digital advertising as generative artificial intelligence takes off. Earlier this year, Google’s AdSense for Search network, which traditionally shows ads within the search results of other websites, expanded to include conversations with chatbots operated by AI startups. Google made the move after conducting tests last year and earlier this year with a handful of startups, including AI search apps iAsk and Liner, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Showing ads alongside its own search results is the heart of Google’s business, bolstered by a business that serves up advertising across much of the web. That empire has come under threat as new entrants like OpenAI and Perplexity AI seek to siphon off the search giant’s audience with products aiming to help users find what they are looking for more quickly. Generative AI startups are increasingly exploring advertising-based business models to offset the high costs of answering users’ questions with artificial intelligence. For example, before inviting users to ask follow-up questions, iAsk shows ads below its AI-generated responses. In addition to Google, startups such as Koah Labs have begun allowing brands to serve ads to the chatbot audience. AI search startup Perplexity, one of the most prominent players using AI to reshape internet services, establishes relationships directly with brands that want to buy ads on the site, according to a person familiar with the matter. Perplexity allows brands to sponsor follow-up questions to users’ queries.
Modern Treasury’s AI agent for enterprise payment operations only takes action when it’s approved to do so, doesn’t let third-party model providers train on company data, is auditable by design and delivers verifiable results
Modern Treasury, the payment operations platform for businesses, introduced Modern Treasury AI to deliver the first AI Platform purpose-built for the unique demands of enterprise payments. Built on the company’s Payment Ops infrastructure, Modern Treasury AI blends a context-aware agent with a powerful, real-time workspace. Together, they set a new standard in how businesses manage payment operations, transitioning from manual, reactive processes to proactive, intelligent workflows. The AI Agent is the first enterprise-grade Agent that understands payments, is auditable by design and delivers verifiable, rapid results built on existing connectivity and a deep understanding of how enterprise payment systems and workflows work. When combined with the Workspace, a canvas for payment teams and the AI Agent to operate in, they create a new model for how companies manage payment workflows, streamlining operations from insight to execution to issue resolution. Key features include: AI That Respects Rules and Roles: The AI Agent only takes action when it’s approved to do so and will never let third-party model providers train on your data. Purpose-Built Intelligence; and Seamless Execution.
CrowdStrike to combine network telemetry from ExtraHop with first- and third-party data from SIEM to offer SOC teams real-time visibility into unauthorized AI service usage across endpoints, networks, cloud and on-premises infrastructure
CrowdStrike and ExtraHop announced an expanded partnership to help enterprises detect and contain shadow AI risks. By ingesting network intelligence from ExtraHop into CrowdStrike Falcon Next-Gen SIEM, the new integration gives SOC teams real-time visibility into unauthorized AI service usage and the ability to automate response actions – protecting sensitive data without slowing innovation. CrowdStrike and ExtraHop are giving SOC teams unified visibility and control over AI service usage across endpoints, networks, cloud environments, and on-premises infrastructure. By integrating deep network telemetry from ExtraHop with first- and third-party data from Falcon Next-Gen SIEM and automated remediation from Falcon Fusion SOAR, security teams can identify unauthorized AI models and agents, visualize usage patterns and automate containment actions to reduce the risk of sensitive. “Shadow AI has quickly emerged as a major security blind spot, often going undetected by legacy tools and exposing sensitive data,” said Daniel Bernard, chief business officer, CrowdStrike. “Together with ExtraHop, we’re delivering AI-native security and real-time network intelligence that empowers security teams to detect, stop and control unauthorized AI. This integration helps organizations embrace AI innovation without losing visibility, control or protection of sensitive data.”
The OpenID Foundation is to demo a secure, privacy-preserving identity that supports cross-platform credential exchange, privacy-first architecture, and enterprise-grade security
The OpenID Foundation is bringing together governments, standards bodies, technology vendors, end-user organizations and technical experts for a demonstration that “proves” a secure, privacy-preserving identity is “ready for prime time.” OpenID believes the single biggest barrier to seamless user experiences is interoperability, but in its upcoming showcase three specifications – the OpenID Verifiable Presentation (OID4VP), the High Assurance Interoperability Protocol (HAIP) and the Digital Credentials API (DC API) – are unified. “It’s a real-world demonstration of cross-platform credential exchange, privacy-first architecture, and enterprise-grade security,” the foundation said. Groups participating in the demo will include the NIST NCCoE, Mattr, Spruce, Animo, and 1Password among 10 teams developing digital wallets and verification solutions. They will work with credentials based on the ISO mDoc format widely utilized by mobile driver’s licenses, and Selective Disclosure JWTs (SD-JWTs). NIST NCCoE’s mDL architecture for opening a bank account, which uses the OID4VP, DC API and HAIP specifications, will also be demonstrated during the event.
Edward Jones partners CAIS to enable HNWIs and advisors to manage alt investments in addition to mutual funds and ETFs through unified managed accounts
Edward Jones plans to provide a variety of private investment options through a deal with CAIS, which provides technology designed to unlock alternative investments for advisors and their clients. The service will be offered starting on May 5 through a business line called Edward Jones Generations, which is open to investors with $10 million or more in assets, but will eventually be extended to more of the firm’s clientele. Russ Tipper, principal and head of products at Edward Jones, said it’s too early to say what the criteria for investing in alternatives will eventually be set at. Rather than choosing a fixed investable asset threshold for all accounts, Edward Jones is more likely to look at every client’s portfolio individually and decide if alts have a place. “We’re going to make sure it’s an appropriate portion of a client’s portfolio, which could be as little as zero to as high as 20% depending on the objective they’re trying to solve for.” Edward Jones has roughly 9 million clients but doesn’t say how many have more than $10 million in investable assets.