Stripe stories

Nium strengthens global payments push with new chiefs for risk, technology and marketing as AI, stablecoins and regulation reshape the sector.

Deel launches The Pitch, a global contest offering up to USD $15m in SAFE funding to seed start-ups, with APAC entries closing 21 April.

Beast Industries acquires fintech app Step, betting on financial literacy tools to turn his vast creator audience into customers.

As analogue-era banking creaks under digital demand, DeFi is quietly rewiring the rails of global finance, not blowing them up.

BigCommerce merchants worldwide gain Stripe’s Optimised Checkout, adding Link, BNPL, local payment methods and AI fraud tools to boost sales.

GitHub Copilot tops 4.7m paid users as GitHub pitches Agent HQ as the central hub for multi-vendor coding agents across its platform.

AI platform Emergent raises USD $70m Series B from Khosla Ventures and SoftBank to speed global software creation for non-coders.

AI app builder Emergent raises USD $70m Series B to deepen European push, add London offices and hiring as revenue soars to USD $50m ARR.

Xero unveils its 2025 Power Lists, spotlighting the most‑connected apps across accounting, payments, retail, trades and professional services.

Google has launched an open Universal Commerce Protocol to standardise AI shopping flows across search, apps, merchants and payments.

Insight deepens its Stripe alliance to modernise enterprise payments and power AI-driven checkout and in-chat commerce experiences.

Akeneo launches an AI‑driven Winter Release to power “agentic commerce”, speeding product data from enrichment to activation for AI buyers.

Google launches a Universal Commerce Protocol and Business Agent tools as it bets on AI agents to drive the next era of online shopping.

Google launches Universal Commerce Protocol to link AI shopping agents, retailers and payments in a new ‘agentic commerce’ push.

Marqeta has hired veteran payments executive Patti Kangwankij as CFO, completing a leadership reshuffle under chief executive Mike Milotich.

Rithum links its commerce platform to Stripe’s Agentic Commerce Suite, enabling AI agents to handle product discovery and payments end-to-end.

Freshworks rolls out new AI tools for Freshdesk to unify channels, cut agent drudgery and boost resolution speeds for service teams.

Zepz will launch stablecoin-linked Visa cards with Stripe’s Bridge, enabling global daily spending of digital dollars from early 2026 in markets including Australia and the US.

Salesforce launches Agentforce Commerce, a platform enabling retailers to sell via AI-driven channels like ChatGPT, boosting engagement and orders globally.

Bluwhale launches AI-powered Stablecoin Agent to manage digital dollars as stablecoin market tops $300bn, aiming to boost individual investor returns.