OpenAI hires 100+ ex-bankers to train AI on financial modeling (4 minute read)
OpenAI is running a secret project, Mercury, with more than 100 former bankers from JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley training its AI to build financial models for IPOs, restructurings, and more. Contractors earn $150/hour and submit one Excel model per week, helping the AI learn industry norms like formatting and structure. The initiative highlights OpenAI's push to make its tech useful for professional services as it chases profitability at a $500B valuation. |
Wayfair expands Affirm partnership (2 minute read)
This brings Affirm directly to checkout, just in time for Wayfair's Way Day sales event running from October 26-29 and the peak holiday shopping season. Whether buying a new dining table or holiday decor, eligible shoppers can now choose Affirm when checking out online or in-store across the entire Wayfair family of brands — Wayfair, Joss & Main, AllModern, Birch Lane, and Perigold. |
Amazon resolves major AWS outage that disrupted banks and global websites (4 minute read)
Amazon Web Services restored operations late Monday after a widespread outage took down more than 1,000 apps and websites, including banks like Lloyds and Halifax, as well as Snapchat, Reddit, and Fortnite. The failure—linked to DNS issues in AWS's US-EAST-1 region—caused cascading disruptions and more than 11 million user reports. Experts warned that the outage highlights how much critical infrastructure depends on a few dominant cloud providers, with calls growing to diversify away from Amazon, Microsoft, and Google to improve resilience. |
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Amex downplays shutdown impact as premium customers keep spending (4 minute read)
American Express executives said the company remains insulated from the economic effects of inflation and the government shutdown, citing continued strong spending from its affluent customer base. CEO Steve Squeri called the economy "bifurcated," noting that Amex cardholders are spending more on travel and dining—front cabin airfare up 14% and restaurant spending up 9% year-over-year. The company reported $18.43 billion in revenue and $2.9 billion in net income for Q3, up 11% and 16% respectively, with overall card member spending rising 9%. |
Hidden AI: How startups can "eat" their AI to dominate markets (5 minute read)
Equal Ventures partner Rick Zullo outlines the concept of "Hidden AI," where startups embed AI deeply into operations rather than selling it as a product. Using portfolio companies Stand Insurance and Equal Parts, Zullo explains how targeting the most expensive parts of an industry's cost structure—loss ratios for carriers and OpEx for brokers—can create monopolistic advantages. Rather than chasing lower CAC or higher WTP like first-wave insurtechs, these firms use AI to transform underwriting and operations from within, building compounding moats invisible to customers but decisive in market share. |
Deep Dive: The Role of Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol in Agentic Commerce (8 minute read)
Visa's Trusted Agent Protocol is basically a bouncer at the digital store's door, checking IDs for AI agents. It establishes a "foundational framework for agentic commerce" – which is industry-speak for letting AI shop on behalf of humans in a secure, trusted way. Developed with cloud security firm Cloudflare (and input from players like Shopify, Microsoft, and Stripe), the protocol lets merchants cryptographically verify that an incoming bot is an approved AI shopping assistant and not a random scam bot scraping prices or testing stolen cards. |
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Stripe adds SAFE fundraising tools to Atlas platform (3 minute read)
Stripe announced that founders can now send, sign, and track SAFEs directly through the Atlas dashboard, expanding its suite of startup financial tools. Product lead Jeff Weinstein said the feature complements Stripe's existing products—Payments for revenue and Capital for loans—by supporting equity fundraising. Weinstein added that Stripe plans to make fundraising "easier, faster, and more fun" for founders worldwide and invited feedback on new features. |
Plumery launches cashback management capability to help banks deliver personalised rewards (5 minute read)
Cashback is one of the most universally recognised loyalty mechanisms, yet many banks still struggle to deliver it due to outdated core systems. Plumery's new Cashback Management capability helps bridge that gap, allowing banks to design and deploy personalised cashback programs in weeks without re-platforming. With AI-driven reward personalisation, pre-built APIs, and full compliance control, Plumery gives banks the tools to boost engagement, retention, and revenue through modern, merchant-funded loyalty experiences. |
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Bill Holdings to cut 6% of workforce amid activist investor pressure (4 minute read)
Bill Holdings will lay off about 140 employees, or 6% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring aimed at improving profitability and focus. The move follows an agreement with activist fund Starboard Value, which holds an 8.5% stake and will add two directors to Bill's expanded 13-member board. Another activist, Elliott Management, also recently took a 5% position. CEO René Lacerte said the cuts will improve efficiency and free capital for growth, including new AI investments and embedded payment partnerships with Oracle NetSuite and Paychex. |
Banks chase AI-fueled efficiencies (6 minute read)
Major US banks are betting on AI to streamline operations and cut costs, with Citi, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs embedding automation and generative tools into everything from code reviews to customer support. Citi, leading the charge, says nearly 180,000 employees now use its in-house AI tools, with over a million automated code reviews freeing 100,000 developer hours weekly. While Citi and JPMorgan tout tangible productivity gains, Wells Fargo's CFO admits its "efficiency agenda" is still a work in progress. |
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