Aspora (formerly Vance) is trying to build a verticalized financial experience for the Indian diaspora by keeping convenience at the center. While a lot of financial products are in its future roadmap, the company currently focuses largely on remittances. Now it also allows customers to invest in mutual funds in India. The company has raised $50 million in Series B funding, co-led by Sequoia and Greylock, with Hummingbird, Quantum Light Ventures, and Y Combinator also contributing to the round. The startup said this round values the company at $500 million. The startup has raised over $99 million in funding to date. The startup is also set to launch in the U.S. Plus, it plans to open up shop in Canada, Singapore, and Australia by the fourth quarter of this year. In the next few months, the company is launching a few products to offer more services. This month, it plans to launch a bill payment platform to let users pay for services like rent and utilities. Next month, it plans to launch fixed deposit accounts for non-resident Indians that allow them to park money in foreign currency. By the end of the year, it plans to launch a full-stack banking account for NRIs that typically takes days for users to open. While these accounts can help the diaspora maintain their tax status in India, a lot of people use a family member’s account because of the cumbersome process, and Aspora wants to simplify this. Apart from banking, the company also plans to launch a product that would help NRIs take care of their parents back home by offering regular medical checkups, emergency care coverage, and concierge services for other assistance.
Car sharing startup Zevo’s EV-only fleet allows ‘contactless’ sharing between owners and renters without having to hand over keys and lets hosts earn back 35%-65% of the cost of their car in just a year
Peer to peer car sharing startup Zevo has raised $6 million in funding as it looks to expand across more major U.S. cities. Co-founder Hebron Sher says Zevo has “the secret sauce on how to make car sharing very lucrative for the host and very affordable for the renter. We very intentionally raised private capital. We rejected VC capital for that reason. I didn’t want to be on a 12-month to 18-month runway of ‘spend, spend, spend, spend,’ which is how corporate America likes to do things in this world.” Bootstrapping Zevo allowed Sher to gather good engineers, develop a strong go-to-market strategy, and cause “true disruption,” he said. By keeping things focused, Sher said Zevo is able to send more money to the vehicle owners than they’d get on platforms like Turo. Sher also talked up Zevo’s “contactless” process, which allows owners and renters to share a car without having to hand over keys or key cards. Zevo’s contactless nature is front-and-center because the service only uses EVs, which tend to be more technologically capable and therefore easier to integrate in a smartphone app. This connectivity also makes it easier to integrate other important pieces of the car-sharing equation, like commercial insurance. The result of all this is that, in the early going, Zevo is seeing a median rental of around 80 days. Hosts, meanwhile, can make back between 35% and 65% of the cost of their car in just a year, according to Sher. Since 90% of the vehicles on the platform are Teslas, that has Sher feeling pretty confident that he’s been able to find a different way to deliver on Musk’s promise from 2019.
Startup AuthZed ‘s open-source permissions system can scale to trillions of access control lists and millions of authorization checks per second to support RAG and agentic AI systems with real-time permissioning
Permissions management startup AuthZed announced new support for retrieval-augmented generation and agentic artificial intelligence systems, expanding its authorization infrastructure to address security challenges in enterprise AI. The expanded support is designed to give engineering teams the tools they need to ensure that AI systems respect permissions, prevent data leaks and maintain complete audit trails. AuthZed uses its open-source permissions system, SpiceDB, to support RAG and agentic AI. SpiceDB, based on Google’s internal permission system, Zanzibar, was built for scale and complexity and can scale to trillions of access control lists and millions of authorization checks per second. AuthZed says that supporting AI is a natural evolution for the system. AuthZed ensures that only authorized data is retrieved, embedded and displayed to users throughout the RAG process. Using AuthZed, teams can enforce access control by filtering documents before embedding them, post-filtering vector search results to exclude restricted content, and synchronizing permissions in real time with platforms such as Google Workspace and SharePoint. The controls allow organizations to build secure, high-performance RAG systems that minimize the risk of data leaks. On the agentic AI front, AuthZed’s Agentic AI Authorization Model is designed to manage what agents can do by aligning their capabilities with the permissions of the users they act on behalf of.
Cyolo’s platform lets organizations enforce access policies and gain real-time visibility over vendor-managed VPNs and direct connections without requiring changes to existing production infrastructure or vendor workflows
Remote privileged access management company Cyolo Ltd. announced a major update to its Cyolo PRO, or Privileged Remote Operations, platform, introducing new capabilities designed to improve visibility, security and operational agility in industrial and cyber-physical system environments. Leading the list of new features is Third-Party VPN Control, a capability that allows organizations to enforce access policies and gain real-time visibility over vendor-managed virtual private networks and direct connections without requiring changes to existing production infrastructure or vendor workflows. The new version of Cyolo PRO also introduces Instant Collaboration Link, a browser-based, onetime-use secure link that allows session owners to invite external participants, such as vendors, auditors and engineers, into live Remote Desktop Protocol, Secure Shell or Virtual Network Computing sessions. Another new feature, called Secure Remote Assistance, allows organizations to deliver secure technical support for both user-initiated and helpdesk-initiated sessions, all while maintaining operational governance and control. Cyolo Pro also now includes a new Asset Access Hub that presents a unified, contextual view of assets based on both business and technical attributes.
Survey finds kids are demonstrating great money skills around saving, earning and spending through regular goal setting with 54% of savings put into pots for specific goals, such as saving up to buy a computer game, or for an upcoming holiday
New findings from the 2025 Pocket Money Index, analysing data from over 350,000 Rooster Card users, show that kids are building their understanding and confidence around saving, earning and spending with regular goal setting and a variety of income streams. While overall income has fallen by 1% to £9.13 a week, parents are stepping up and rewarding more for chores and hard work. The findings show kids on average are spending more and saving less, as sticky inflation continues to rack up prices. Overall, kids managed to set aside £30.38 of their annual income on average over the year, which shows savings as a percentage of annual income have fallen by 33% since last year and almost half (48%) since 2022. Age factors into kids’ savings significantly, with older kids tending to spend more of their income, in turn, resulting in less being saved. Whereas their younger counterparts are more inclined to save, with six-year-olds still having on average 31.4% of their income stashed away at the end of the year. Although older kids save less than their younger counterparts, they’re continuing to demonstrate great money skills by setting goals and completing chores to work towards their wants and needs. Practicing these healthy money habits regularly all helps towards building their money confidence and gaining that extra independence. Yet despite facing a tricky economy, kids continue to demonstrate budgeting skills, making sure to put their money aside for the things they really want. 54% of savings through the year were put into pots for specific goals, such as saving up to buy a computer game, or for an upcoming holiday. Although kids’ overall income – which includes pocket money as well as payments for additional chores, and one-off rewards – has fallen since last year, parents are generously upping the price for chores, incentivising kids to work harder and earn more. The data also shows that tooth fairy visits are beating inflation as the price for a lost tooth has increased by 5.25% to £4.21.
Threat actors leverage DeepSeek-R1 popularity to attack users running Windows devices; targets users’ browsing infrastructure and establishes persistent network monitoring capabilities
Cybercriminals are exploiting the popularity of DeepSeek-R1, a popular artificial intelligence chatbot, to distribute a sophisticated new malware strain targeting Windows users. The malware, known as “BrowserVenom,” targets users’ browsing infrastructure and establishes persistent network monitoring capabilities. The campaign begins with a malvertising campaign that places fraudulent websites at the top of Google search results when users search for “deepseek r1”. The malware reconfigures all browser instances to route traffic through an attacker-controlled proxy server, allowing cybercriminals to intercept, monitor, and manipulate network communications. The infection process demonstrates sophistication through its multi-stage deployment and social engineering components.
Adflex’s straight-through processing tech to enable Coupa to fully automate the B2B spend management process by enabling virtual card numbers to be read automatically from within emails
Coupa has integrated Adflex’s straight-through processing service, Adflex STP, into its total spend management platform, saying this will fully automate the B2B payment process for Coupa customers and their suppliers. The Adflex STP service and virtual card reader technology enable virtual card numbers to be read automatically from within emails, allowing transactions to be processed without manual entry. This collaboration will simplify supplier acceptance and process integration, enabling suppliers to scale virtual card programs effectively, Bill Wardwell, senior vice president and general manager, Coupa Pay and Treasury, said. This new service is exclusively available through Coupa and Adflex partner Barclaycard Payments in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Adflex also offers its automated virtual card payments service to all card issuers and their corporate clients. “Adflex STP levels the playing field of digital B2B payments by delivering the benefits of prompt, secure and pain-free transactions to both buyer and supplier,” Andy Downman, commercial director at Adflex, said.
AmEx targets Gen Z with card refresh noting the cohort’s spending growing at a swift clip and their tendency to revolve balances less often
American Express is announcing major updates coming to its U.S. Consumer and Business Platinum Cards® later this year. With these updates, the company is making its largest investment ever in a Card refresh. More information will be released this fall. “Platinum Card benefits and services resonate across generations, particularly with Millennial and Gen Z who accounted for 35% of total U.S. consumer spending last quarter,” Howard Grosfield, group president for U.S. consumer services at American Express (Amex), said. “We’re going to take these cards to a new level, not only in what they offer in travel, dining and lifestyle benefits, but also in how they look and feel, to meet the evolving needs of our customers,” Grosfield added. “Our millennial and Gen Zs are performing significantly better both from a FICO perspective and from a delinquency perspective than the industry,” American Express Chairman and CEO Stephen Squeri said. While these younger consumers tend to spend about 20% less overall than older generations, their spending is growing at a swift clip, especially in international markets, with the company reporting a 22% year-over-year jump in overseas spending. Amex also noted that younger consumers tend to revolve balances less often, though that trend does not appear to be hurting revenue.
U.S. Bank expands suite of embedded payments solutions offering a for-benefit-of (FBO) account structure that supports unlimited virtual accounts for tracking funds
U.S. Bank has launched an expanded suite of Embedded Payment Solutions, enabling businesses to integrate secure, real-time payment capabilities into their websites, apps, and enterprise systems. The offering includes a for-benefit-of (FBO) account structure that supports unlimited virtual accounts for tracking funds, along with streamlined customer onboarding, verification, and support across various payment types, including instant payments. “Today’s finance leaders are under increasing pressure to optimize liquidity, reduce friction in payments, move quickly and enhance the customer experience,” said Kristy Carstensen, head of U.S. Bank Treasury and Payment Solutions. “Our expanded embedded payments suite empowers organizations to embed secure, real-time payment capabilities directly into their platforms—streamlining operations and strengthening financial control.” Through its subsidiary Elavon, U.S. Bank combines merchant processing and treasury management to serve sectors like fintech, insurance, healthcare, and auto retail. “We are leveraging our comprehensive range of services – from merchant processing to treasury management – to deliver integrated, embedded solutions that provide efficient and secure transactions tailored to the dynamic needs of businesses,” said Elavon CEO Jamie Walker. Basefund CEO Robert White noted, “Our customers value how easy it is to use our platform to make their transactions secure. With U.S. Bank Embedded Payment Solutions, we can now process those transactions in the application while also providing the risk, security and compliance expertise of one of the nation’s leading banks.” Rain COO Fred Choquette added, “U.S. Bank has been an exceptional partner, providing a robust payments and banking platform that enables Rain to deliver real-time earned wage access to millions of employees each month. We look forward to deepening this collaboration, driving innovation together, and setting a new standard for how earned wage access is delivered across the market.”
JPMorgan hikes Sapphire Reserve fee to $795 in card overhaul; offers eight points per dollar on Chase Travel, integrates acquisitions like cxLoyalty, The Infatuation, Figg, and Frosch, along with new Chase airport lounges to create an end-to-end travel experience
JPMorgan Chase is raising the annual fee for its popular Sapphire Reserve credit card from $550 to $795 and will launch a similarly priced business version, marking a major revamp aimed at premium travelers. The changes include new annual credits—$500 toward JPMorgan’s “The Edit” hotel collection and $300 for exclusive OpenTable reservations, in addition to the existing $300 travel credit. “It’s the culmination of five years of investment that we’ve made across Chase in completely uplifting and repositioning what we mean for premium travelers in the premium-card space,” said Allison Beer, JPMorgan’s head of card and connected commerce. Cardholders will now earn eight points per dollar on Chase Travel, four points on direct flight and hotel bookings, and three points on dining. The overhaul integrates acquisitions like cxLoyalty, The Infatuation, Figg, and Frosch, along with new Chase airport lounges. “This is about having the best-in-class travel assets and an end-to-end travel experience,” Beer added. At JPMorgan’s 2022 investor day, consumer banking chief Marianne Lake said, “Travel is at the center of our card business.” She reaffirmed in 2024 that travel volume had more than doubled since 2021 and remains “a massive opportunity.” Beer noted the card plays a key role in broader customer engagement: “Customers eventually deepen with the rest of the ecosystem, so they start with the Sapphire Reserve card and then they open a self-directed account, or they open a Chase wealth-management account, and they continue to deepen.”