Marketing

PayPal and Venmo users will get early access to a new artificial intelligence-based tool that could herald the payment company’s next steps with agentic commerce. Perplexity.AI’s Perplexity Pro, typically a $200 annual subscription, is now available to PayPal and Venmo users in a 12-month free trial. It is part of …

Money-transfer platform Thunes is working with blockchain-based payments provider Ripple Labs Inc. to offer broader reach for payouts and increased streamlining for money transfer globally, the parties said. Visa Inc. said it will work with Ample Earth, a fintech focused on climate issues, to incorporate sustainability information in digital banking apps and loyalty …

Zelle, the peer-to-peer payments service from Early Warning Services LLC, is preparing to launch a marketing campaign aimed at highlighting its utility in everyday life. Dubbed “When It Counts,” the campaign is intended to show how woven into consumers’ daily lives Zelle has become, with such features as splitting a …

Delivery provider Instacart has been on a tear to enroll grocers, such as the four that adopted it as their e-commerce platform in November, and is now looking to independent grocers for expansion. Instacart Thursday said it will work with wholesale grocery Merchants Distributors LLC to reach these grocers. Instacart, …

Ensuring healthy merchants are added to a portfolio, and taking care of them once they’re admitted, are two major priorities for acquirers. LegitScript, which provides merchant and product certification and onboarding services, helps organizations vet new merchants and has released updates for its onboarding product. Meanwhile, processor Elavon, a subsidiary …

In the fiercely competitive restaurant market, point-of-sale systems makers can’t afford to slack off when it comes to features for restaurant operators. That’s why companies frequently develop new features. Qu POS Inc. and Square, separately, are the most recent examples. First up is Qu, an Arlington, Va.-based POS system maker with …

Credit card users are almost as satisfied using a buy now, pay later option as they are a credit card, finds new research from YouGov. Meanwhile, American Express Co. is adding new perks to entice its cardholders. The YouGov report, which is based on rolling survey data collected from U.S. …

The percentage of consumers purchasing gift cards has gone up and is expected to increase yet more this year, finds a new report Bank of America Corp. commissioned from TSG, a payments advisory firm. The report found that 38% of respondents purchased a digital gift card in 2024, up from …

Shift4 Payments Inc. said it is working with Blue Origin, a space technology company, to enable customers to pay for space flights with cryptocurrency and stablecoins. Payments technology provider Thunes announced a deal with Ontop, a payroll and financial platform, to enable freelancers and remote workers real-time access to their earnings. Payments technology …

Toast Inc. has agreed to work with American Express Co. to leverage the online reservation capabilities of the Resy and Tock platforms, which are owned by AmEx, as well as Toast’s Digital Chits technology. That technology allows restaurant staff to view customer information on Toast devices. Both companies will also …