Digital traffic pipeline management startup Gravitee Topco has closed on a $60 million Series C funding round, bringing its total amount raised to date to more than $125 million. The company is the creator of an open-source API management platform that provides developers with the tools they need to easily manage both legacy and newer data streaming protocols. It also provides a wealth of API security tools with its platform. Gravitee’s core offering is split into two products, with the Gravitee API Management tool designed for API publishers, and the Gravitee Access Management offering aimed at the developers who need to use those APIs. Through the two platforms, it provides tools that span API design, access, management, deployment and security. Gravitee can therefore be thought of as a kind of control plane for APIs, which often come with a confusing array of protocols and tools that can quickly overwhelm developers, despite their intention of making life simpler. Companies can deploy Gravitee’s core, open-source offering in the cloud or on-premises, or they can access the premium platform through the startup’s software-as-a-service offering. Its core features include a tool for designing and deploying APIs, mock testing and a dashboard that provides an overview of team’s API deployments. What makes Gravitee different is that it supports both asynchronous and synchronous APIs, meaning APIs that deliver data at a later point in time, and those that deliver data immediately, in real time.
TD Bank to fund access to trauma-informed wellness support and promotes greater health outcomes among First Nations communities using indigenous knowledge and traditions
Kiikenomaga Kikenjigewen Employment and Training Services (KKETS) has launched its Mino-Ayaawin Maamawi program, aimed at increasing access to safe, trauma-informed wellness supports rooted in Indigenous knowledge and traditions. The two-year program, funded by $392,800 from TD Bank Group, includes holistic practices such as mindfulness practices, neuro-decolonization, positive affirmations, journaling, yoga, and healthy eating guidance. The funding supports a broader vision for wellness and education in First Nations communities. The program’s development and effectiveness have been supported by research led by Anita Vaillancourt, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at Lakehead University. A survey evaluating the first phase of the pilot program found that 98% of participants found the program beneficial, 72% felt more motivated to apply for jobs, 70% reported increased confidence in job applications, and 72% felt more prepared for the workforce. The Mino-Ayaawin Maamawi program marks an advancement in promoting wellness and employment readiness within First Nations communities.
Google to embed agentic Checkout, Virtual Try-on in Search; track prices and send notifications if the product reaches the target price
Google is introducing shopping features in search to compete with artificial intelligence chatbots for eCommerce transactions. At its annual I/O conference, Google announced that AI Mode will soon allow users to shop for products on behalf of them, allowing them to do virtual try-ons and add goods to their online shopping cart. The feature will also track prices and send notifications if the product reaches the target price. These new features will be powered by Google’s advanced AI model, Gemini 2.5. The decision comes as AI chatbot makers increasingly steal shopping traffic from Google Search. Google also plans to embed these AI features directly into Google Search for a seamless interaction, turning search into a big AI chatbot.
Cardlytics solution allows any merchant with digital channels and a loyalty program to become a publisher on its platform and roll out targeted card-linked offers targeted on purchase data from a third-party vendor
Cardlytics announced the general availability of Cardlytics Rewards Platform (CRP), a new solution that provides publishers the opportunity to enhance their customer loyalty programs with card-linked offers. With CRP, a merchant with digital channels and a loyalty program can now become a publisher on the Cardlytics network and offer more value to their customers. This opens up Cardlytics’ supply to new verticals beyond financial services – such as retail and restaurants – and provides advertisers increased exposure, reach and engagement with consumers where they are already transacting. Publishers can also boost engagement with their customers by incentivizing them to earn rewards on their purchases and improving the shopping experience, helping to create a flywheel for CRP partners. CRP is an extension of Cardlytics’ core platform for financial institution partners, with the same advertiser offers flowing seamlessly to new publisher channels. Offers on CRP are delivered within a publisher’s loyalty program and targeted based on purchase data from a third-party vendor. After opting in to receive offers and connecting their bank account information, customers can activate offers and earn rewards in the form of the publisher’s loyalty currency, such as points or loyalty cash, which can be used for future purchases. Amit Gupta, CEO of Cardlytics said “By enabling our advertisers to become publishers, we are unlocking new opportunities for growth and redefining what it means to be a partner in our ecosystem.”
Google is transforming the Gemini app into a universal AI assistant that can make plans and imagine new experiences by understanding and simulating aspects of the world, and take action on your behalf across any device
Google has been working on building the foundations for the modern AI era, from pioneering the Transformer architecture to developing agent systems that can learn and plan. They are now working to extend their best multimodal foundation model, Gemini 2.5 Pro, to become a “world model” that can make plans and imagine new experiences by understanding and simulating aspects of the world, just as the brain does. This is a critical step in developing a universal AI assistant that is intelligent, understands the context you are in, and can plan and take action on your behalf across any device. The ultimate vision is to transform the Gemini app into a universal AI assistant that will perform everyday tasks, take care of mundane admin, and surface delightful new recommendations, making us more productive and enriching our lives. This includes capabilities like video understanding, screen sharing, and memory. Over the past year, they have integrated these capabilities into Gemini Live, and are gathering feedback from trusted testers to bring them to Gemini Live, new experiences in Search, the Live API for developers, and new form factors like glasses. Safety and responsibility are central to their work, and they recently conducted a large research project exploring the ethical issues surrounding advanced AI assistants. Project Mariner, a research prototype that explores the future of human-agent interaction, includes a system of agents that can complete up to ten different tasks at a time. It is available to Google AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S. and will be brought into the Gemini API and Google products throughout the year.
Catena Labs aims to be the first fully regulated AI-native financial institution enabling AI agents to transact with regulated stablecoins offering near-instant settlement, minimal transaction costs, and easy integration with AI workflows
Catena Labs announced its plan to establish the first fully regulated AI-native financial institution (FI) designed to serve the unique needs of the emerging AI economy. The company released a new open-source project defining protocols and patterns for agentic commerce. The company also confirmed an $18 million financing round led by a16z crypto, with participation from Breyer Capital, Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures and others. The company aims to address the shortcomings in legacy financial systems that make them poorly suited to the needs of AI agents and agentic commerce. “AI agents will soon conduct most economic transactions, but today’s financial systems are unprepared and resistant to interactions with automated intelligence,” said Sean Neville, CEO and co-founder of Catena Labs. “That’s why we’re building an AI-native financial institution that will give AI agents, and the businesses and consumers they serve, the ability to transact safely and efficiently.” The company is building upon protocols, patterns, emerging standards, and open source components to address new requirements AI agents create for identity and payments. Today, the company released the open source Agent Commerce Kit (ACK), which defines several of these open source building blocks. The company is building on ACK and other emerging standards to offer a broad suite of licensed financial services addressing new risk, security, and compliance challenges that arise from AI systems working as independent economic actors.
NLWeb from Microsoft combines semi-structured data, RSS and LLMs to turn any website into an AI app powered by natural language, that lets visitors query the contents using their voice
Microsoft has launched NLWeb, an open-source project that aims to transform any existing website into an artificial intelligence-powered application by integrating natural language capabilities. The project, which was announced at Microsoft Build 2025, aims to provide developers with the fastest and easiest way to turn any website into an AI app powered by the large language model of their choice. Once integrated, people can query the contents of any website using their voice, just as they do with AI assistants such as ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot. NLWeb uses semistructured data from websites like Schema.org and RSS information, combining these with Language Learning Models (LLMs) to create a natural language interface accessible to both humans and AI agents. The project is technology-agnostic, supporting major operating systems besides Windows, such as Android, iOS, and Linux. Microsoft aims to bring the benefits of generative AI search directly to every website and is building NLWeb with an eye toward future AI agents.
Accenture, Dell and NVIDIA partner to offer a full-stack solution for rapidly scaling AI in private, on-prem environments through one-click deployment, modular, reusable frameworks, automated workflows, and dynamic cloud-to-edge orchestration
Accenture in collaboration with Dell Technologies and NVIDIA, is providing an AI solution built on Dell Technologies infrastructure with NVIDIA AI Enterprise software. This helps organizations – particularly those within regulated industries or those with substantial investments in on-premises infrastructure – capitalize on the burgeoning opportunities of agentic AI. This collaboration extends the reach of the Accenture AI Refinery™ platform, bringing agentic AI capabilities with a one-click deployment to Dell’s high-performance, NVIDIA-accelerated infrastructure, helping companies realize value more quickly and reduce total cost of ownership. Accenture will further facilitate AI deployment with NVIDIA Enterprise AI Factory validated design, a guide for organizations to build on-premise AI factories leveraging NVIDIA Blackwell and a broad ecosystem of AI partners. The solution helps organizations rapidly scale AI in private, on-prem environments. It provides support for key requirements, including data sovereignty and compliance to help meet regulatory and data residency mandates; resiliency and high availability to meet business continuity requirements, security and privacy controls needed for air-gapped environments or restricted network zones; ultra-low latency for real-time uses cases like manufacturing or healthcare imagining; and edge or offline use cases critical for remote, disconnected environments where reliable internet access is limited or unavailable. Preconfigured packages integrate Accenture’s AI Refinery and the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, which includes NVIDIA Enterprise AI software, streamlining data transfer and indexing to empower data-driven agentic insights. This unified, full-stack solution helps to accelerate enterprise AI transformation by enabling rapid service prototyping with modular, reusable frameworks, automated workflows, and dynamic cloud-to-edge orchestration.
Klarna’s first-quarter consumer credit losses rose 17% compared to the January-March period of last year, suggesting growing stress in BNPL market
More Klarna customers are having trouble repaying their “buy now, pay later” loans, the short-term lender said. The disclosure corresponded with reports by lending platforms Bankrate and LendingTree, which cited an increasing share of all “BNPL” users saying they had fallen behind on payments. The late or missed installments are a sign of faltering financial health among a segment of the US population, some analysts say. This concern is consistent with previous research that has shown consumers spend more when BNPL is offered when checking out and that BNPL use leads to an increase in overdraft fees and credit card interest payments and fees. Industry watchers point to consumers taking out loans they can’t afford to pay back as a top risk of BNPL use. Without credit bureaus keeping track of the new form of credit, there are fewer safeguards and less oversight. Justine Farrell, chair of the marketing department at the University of San Diego’s Knauss School of Business, said that when consumers aren’t able to make loan payments on time, it worsens the economic stress they’re already experiencing. “Consumers’ financial positions feel more spread thin than they have in a long time,” said Farrell, who studies consumer behavior and BNPL services. The Consumer Federation of America and other watchdog organizations have expressed concern about the rollback of BNPL regulation as the use of the loans continues to rise. “By taking a head-in-the-sand approach to the new universe of fintech loans, the new CFPB is once again favoring Big Tech at the expense of everyday people,” said Adam Rust, director of financial services at the Consumer Federation of America.
Accenture, Dell and NVIDIA partner to offer a full-stack solution for rapidly scaling AI in private, on-prem environments through one-click deployment, modular, reusable frameworks, automated workflows, and dynamic cloud-to-edge orchestration
Accenture in collaboration with Dell Technologies and NVIDIA, is providing an AI solution built on Dell Technologies infrastructure with NVIDIA AI Enterprise software. This helps organizations – particularly those within regulated industries or those with substantial investments in on-premises infrastructure – capitalize on the burgeoning opportunities of agentic AI. This collaboration extends the reach of the Accenture AI Refinery™ platform, bringing agentic AI capabilities with a one-click deployment to Dell’s high-performance, NVIDIA-accelerated infrastructure, helping companies realize value more quickly and reduce total cost of ownership. Accenture will further facilitate AI deployment with NVIDIA Enterprise AI Factory validated design, a guide for organizations to build on-premise AI factories leveraging NVIDIA Blackwell and a broad ecosystem of AI partners. The solution helps organizations rapidly scale AI in private, on-prem environments. It provides support for key requirements, including data sovereignty and compliance to help meet regulatory and data residency mandates; resiliency and high availability to meet business continuity requirements, security and privacy controls needed for air-gapped environments or restricted network zones; ultra-low latency for real-time uses cases like manufacturing or healthcare imagining; and edge or offline use cases critical for remote, disconnected environments where reliable internet access is limited or unavailable. Preconfigured packages integrate Accenture’s AI Refinery and the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, which includes NVIDIA Enterprise AI software, streamlining data transfer and indexing to empower data-driven agentic insights. This unified, full-stack solution helps to accelerate enterprise AI transformation by enabling rapid service prototyping with modular, reusable frameworks, automated workflows, and dynamic cloud-to-edge orchestration.