WEX has added a feature that enables fleets with electric vehicles (EVs) to use the WEX Fleet Card at private chargers. With the addition of this feature, WEX EV Depot, WEX now offers an EV charging and payment solution that encompasses depot, public and at-home charging locations. “As fleet managers shift from internal combustion engines to EVs, they face the challenge of consolidating data across different types of chargers and fueling stations for operational efficiency,” Carlos Carriedo, chief operating officer, Americas Payments & Mobility at WEX, said. “With WEX EV Depot, we are helping customers navigate the complexity of infrastructure rollout and giving them the tools to operate efficiently at scale with a 360-degree solution.” WEX EV Depot is part of an integrated reporting system that allows fleets to use their WEX fleet credit line to manage EV charges from any charging source, reducing the number of cards they need. The feature also allows fleets to direct EV drivers to their preferred depot or private charging locations and schedule charging overnight. For drivers, WEX EV Depot enables EV charging payments at private chargers and the WEX public network, provides a payment option via smartphones and reduces the number of cards needed to access chargers.
Fashion and outdoor gear retailers are installing VR hologram models that can move and turn 360 degrees to show outfits to shoppers; digital signages with integrated AV experiences creating real base camp-like 3D experience
1) Outdoor apparel and gear retailer The North Face has a flagship store in London designed to function like a real base camp. For the hub of the store, North Face has recreated a campfire setting with base camp duffel bag seating as a community area, under an immersive 3D experience tent where projections of mountain summits change between night and day featuring different weather conditions, as life is outdoors. To help consumer navigation, North Face has split the consumer journey, zoning areas with wide lightboxes from its athletes’ expeditions and featuring active 3D-printed mannequins which are 100% recycled and recyclable, created to inspire adventure. The space is highly phygital with wide screens at the entrance for brand and product storytelling to help customers understand product benefits and compare products. All details connect with mountains and outdoors, mimicked in the footwear wall and the welcoming wall built with aluminum grid and rocks. A space is also dedicated to sustainability, offering a range of services to extend the life of products from customization, to repair, to returns. 2) Korean fashion retailer Matin Kim has installed highly realistic virtual reality hologram technology at five of its Matin Kim and Hago Haus stores. The hologram models from Los Angeles-based Proto Hologram can move and turn 360 degrees to show outfits to shoppers and have built-in cameras, microphones, speakers and touchscreens, as well as AI capabilities. The hologram avatars can also be activated to answer questions for shoppers about products, in any language, using Proto AI tools. In the future, Matin Kim intends to be able to beam hologram versions of live special guests into its stores with the ability to see, hear and interact with shoppers in real time. 3) Employee-owned sporting goods retailer Scheels has created immersive in-store digital environments with LED display walls. Known for its mega-sized stores filled with all sorts of fun attractions, Scheels has completed an $11 million digital signage initiative with experiential media company Mood Media. The digital signage project involved the installation of approximately 460 LED screens throughout five strategic zones in each store, including men’s and women’s shoe sections, store corners, structural columns and above the grand staircases. Scheels can synchronize the display network for store-wide takeover campaigns by brand partners such as Nike, Adidas and Lego; or segment promotional content for localized zone delivery. The initiative consolidates 32 individual store systems into a single unified application through Mood Media’s Harmony platform, which provides centralized management of audio and visual experiences.
DSW shoe retailer adds value at checkout, installs kiosks that automate shoe protection services for additional cost of $8.99
DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse has teamed up with Imbox Protection, an in-store shoe protection solution, to place Imbox kiosks in nearly 500 U.S. locations. Using a water-based spray, the enclosed Imbox machine shields shoes from water, stains, dirt, mud and fading without the use of harsh chemicals, offering customers a fast, eco-conscious protection that extends the life of their footwear in only 60 seconds, noted DSW. The touch-free, in-store service costs $8.99 and provides up to eight weeks of invisible protection (or longer with light wear). Customers place their new shoes into the enclosed unit, and within a minute, leave the store with fully protected footwear. The Imbox Protection unit is approved by Underwriters Laboratories and its spray is AllergyCertified, making it safe for indoor use and aligned with growing consumer demand for environmentally-responsible solutions. Imbox also holds global patents for its technology. Laura Davis, president of DSW said, “This partnership elevates the in-store experience by offering an easy, effective way to protect the shoes our customers love. It’s innovation that meets them where they are – right at checkout.”
Walmart targeting to cover 95% of Americans with a 3-hour delivery window offer, enables through increased investments in AI, automated storage and retrieval systems in distribution and fulfillment
Walmart plans to be able to deliver to 95% of Americans within three hours by the end of the year, President and CEO Doug McMillon wrote in his annual letter to shareholders, in conjunction with the retailer’s annual report. This delivery capability will be enabled by Walmart’s investments in technologies throughout its supply chain, which are supporting both its stores and its eCommerce business, according to the letter. “We are more tech-powered than we’ve ever been,” McMillon said in the letter. “We’re building and deploying today’s technologies, including AI, in its various forms, and automated storage and retrieval systems in our distribution and fulfillment centers.” This supply chain automation helps Walmart eliminate or replace mundane tasks, better flow inventory and personalize experiences, per the letter. These investments are part of the retailer’s continuous effort to improve its abilities to “serve people how they want to be served” by offering them the choice of deliveries of eCommerce orders, curbside pickup or visits to a brick-and-mortar store.
Walmart’s sponsored search ads to leverage first-party retail data and industry-leading, test-and-control methodologies to enable advertisers to measure incremental sales both online and in-store
Walmart Inc. is providing sponsored search advertisers a deeper view into the sales they generate. The discounter is introducing incremental sales measurement to sponsored search ads offered by its Walmart Connect retail media network. Leveraging Walmart’s first-party retail data and industry-leading, test-and-control methodologies, advertisers will be able to gain insights the retailer says will enable them to make sharper data-driven decisions about their channel investments. Walmart advertisers will be able to evaluate how current sponsored search strategies are driving incremental sales both online and in-store, identify top-performing brands within their portfolio, and reallocate budgets to meet demand, including during key moments like seasonal campaigns. Advertisers will then be able to report the incremental impact of their Walmart sponsored search investments back to their organization.
Veza’s platform can automatically scan a company’s applications to determine which user has access to what resources and visualize this information in a graph to aid administrators spot misconfigured access permissions
Veza Inc., a startup that helps enterprises regulate employee access to business applications, has raised $108 million from investors to enhance its technology. It provides a platform that can automatically scan a company’s applications to determine which user has access to what resources. Veza visualizes this information in a graph that helps administrators spot misconfigured access permissions. Using Veza, administrators could find accounts that have permission to change database settings but don’t belong to cybersecurity staff. The platform includes a search bar that makes it possible to browse user accounts with natural language prompts. In a large organization, access permissions are regularly added and removed. Administrators can configure Veza to generate an alert if an account receives access to a system in breach of internal rules. The platform likewise spots accounts that have correct access permissions, but aren’t actively used and therefore represent an unnecessary cybersecurity risk. Companies create accounts for not only employees but also applications. A revenue forecasting tool, for example, might require an account in a sales database to access the transaction logs it holds. Administrators can use Veza to find such accounts in the corporate network and remove them when they’re no longer needed.
Reducto’s ingestion platform turns unstructured data that’s locked in complex documents into accurate LLM-ready inputs for AI pipelines
Reducto, the most accurate ingestion platform for unlocking unstructured data for AI pipelines, has raised a $24.5M series A round of funding led by Benchmark, alongside existing investors First Round Capital, BoxGroup and Y Combinator. “Reducto’s unique technology enables companies of all sizes to leverage LLMs across a variety of unstructured data, regardless of scale or complexity,” said Chetan Puttagunta, General Partner at Benchmark. “The team’s incredibly fast execution on product development further underscores their commitment to delivering state-of-the-art software to customers.” Reducto turns complex documents into accurate LLM-ready inputs, allowing AI teams to reliably use the vast data that’s locked in PDFs and spreadsheets. Ingestion is a core bottleneck for AI teams today because traditional approaches fail to extract and chunk unstructured data accurately. These input errors lead to inaccurate and hallucinated outputs, making LLM applications unreliable for many real-world use cases such as processing medical records and financial statements. In benchmark studies, Reducto has been proven to be significantly more accurate than legacy providers like AWS, Google and Microsoft – in some cases by a margin of 20+ percent, alongside significant processing speed improvements. This is critical for high-stakes, production AI use cases.
Acoru’s gen AI platform tracks account changes and detects mule accounts by leveraging pre-fraud indicators and continuously monitoring and classifying account types over time, to prevent omnichannel authorized fraud
Acoru, a cybersecurity firm, has launched its operations after securing €4 million seed funding in 2023. The company aims to revolutionize fraud prevention in the financial sector by developing a NextGen platform equipped with generative AI, enhanced analytics, and a configurable intelligence network. The platform excels at tracking account changes and detecting mule accounts by leveraging pre-fraud indicators and continuously monitoring and classifying account types over time. Acoru’s platform leverages advanced technology to process both structured and unstructured data, delivering insights through an intuitive, user-friendly interface. The platform’s intuitive interface, easy customization, and effectiveness in identifying pre-fraud signals have driven rapid adoption. Acoru’s founders, Pablo de la Riva Ferrezuelo and David Morán, bring over 20 years of expertise in cybersecurity and fraud prevention. The company plans to use the funding to continue its international expansion.
Harness’s platform provides web application protection, API security, bot mitigation, and DDoS defense in a single, unified interface and analyzes real-time behavior across users, APIs, and sessions for enhanced traffic visibility
Harness has launched Traceable Cloud Web Application and API Protection (WAAP), a new offering to help developers secure their cloud-native applications and APIs. The product offers web application protection, API security, bot mitigation, and DDoS defense, aiming to provide a unified experience, eliminating the need for multiple tools. Key capabilities of Traceable Cloud WAAP include: API discovery from traffic, encrypted flows, and code repositories; Sensitive data flow mapping and API risk scoring; Real-time runtime protection with attacker fingerprinting, user and session attribution, and anomaly detection; Shift-left API testing integrated into CI/CD pipelines.
“SuperCard X” mobile malware campaign uses a multi-stage approach comprising of social engineering via smishing and phone calls, PIN elicitation, malicious app installation and real-time NFC data interception to steal payment card data through POS systems
A sophisticated mobile malware campaign using a new NFC-relay technique to steal payment card data has been uncovered by security researchers. Named “SuperCard X,” the Android malware operates under a Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) model and enables fraudsters to carry out unauthorized transactions through Point-of-Sale (POS) systems and ATMs. According to the Cleafy Threat Intelligence team who discovered the threat, victims are deceived through smishing campaigns and phone calls into installing a malicious app disguised as a security tool. Once installed, the malware silently captures NFC data when a card is tapped on the compromised device. What makes this campaign particularly dangerous is its multi-stage approach, comprising: Social engineering via smishing and phone calls, PIN elicitation and card limit removal, Malicious app installation, Real-time NFC data interception, Instant fraudulent cash-outs. The SuperCard X malware remains largely undetected by antivirus software, partly due to its minimal permission requests and focused design. Once a victim’s card data is captured, it’s transmitted in real-time to a second device controlled by the attacker, which then emulates the card for immediate withdrawals or purchases. This bypasses traditional fraud detection systems that rely on transaction delays. The malware architecture includes two applications: “Reader,” which collects NFC data from victims; “Tapper,” used by fraudsters to emulate the stolen card. Communication between the two is secured via mutual TLS, ensuring encrypted and authenticated relay of stolen data. “While this type of attack relies on relatively simple social engineering techniques, it proves to be highly effective – both in terms of success rate and cashout efficiency,” Cleafy warned.