#221 – Shopify demands AI use, BeReal ads, & Walmart’s big ask

by Shopifreaks | Apr 14, 2025 | Recent Newsletters

Hi Shopifreaks

I hope you've had a great week. My family and I are finishing up our second week in the Galapagos, currently on Santa Cruz island. On Saturday we went on nature hikes and got to visit the island's famous tortoises up close and personal, and tomorrow we're headed to a remote beach where hundreds of pink flamingos are rumored to be found!

However all that fun in the sun hasn't stopped me from bringing you yet another jam-packed edition of Shopifreaks. Let's dive right in…

In this week's edition I cover:

Shopify's demand for workers to use AI
WordPress launches an AI website builder
Wix unveils an AI assistant
Tariffs, no tariffs, more tariffs, & exemptions
BeReal launches ads in the US
Sarah Wynn-Williams testifies against Meta
Amazon Haul is basically Amazon again
Walmart demands a 25% increase in ad spend
Bonanza raises seller fees
Shop Pay Installments comes to Canada
TikTok is laying off US staff

All this and more in this week's 221st Edition of Shopifreaks. Thanks for subscribing and sharing!

PS: Love this newsletter? Write a review!

Stat of the Week

Amazon is expected to earn $0.20 in revenue for every $1.00 it spends on generative AI efforts. Historically AWS has earned $4.00 in incremental revenue for every $1 spent, according to John Blackledge, a tech analyst at TD Cowen.

1. Shopify fully expects employees to use AI in their day-to-day work

Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke told employees in a leaked memo that they’ll have to show jobs can’t be performed by AI before asking for more headcount and resources, and that there's a “fundamental expectation” that employees are using AI in their day-to-day work. The memo was initially leaked and then published in its entirety on X and LinkedIn by Tobi and Harley Finkelstein to demonstrate that they stand by Tobi's words and have nothing to hide in regards to the intentions of the memo.

Key points of the memo include:

Using AI effectively is now a fundamental expectation of everyone at Shopify. It's no longer feasible to opt out of learning the skill of applying AI in their craft.
AI must be part of every employee's GSD Prototype phase, as AI dramatically accelerates this process.
Shopify will add AI usage questions to their performance and peer review questionnaire. Learning to prompt and load context is an important skill, and getting feedback on it will be valuable.
Employees will be in charge of learning AI skills on their own, but the company will spearhead initiatives to help folks share what they learn with the rest of the class.
Teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI before asking for more headcount and resources — a question which Tobi says can “lead to really fun discussions and projects.”
The new rules apply to everyone, including Tobi himself and the rest of the executive team.

He ended the memo by saying:

“Our job is to figure out what entrepreneurship looks like in a world where AI is universally available. And I intend for us to do the best possible job of that, and to do that I need everyone’s help. I already laid out a lot of the AI projects in the themes this year- our roadmap is clear, and our product will better match our mission. What we need to succeed is our collective sum total skill and ambition at applying our craft, multiplied by AI, for the benefit of our merchants.”

Last week Fiverr's CEO Micha Kaufman also issued his own urgent call for employees to embrace AI or risk falling behind. Kaufman wrote:

“You must understand that what was once considered ‘easy tasks' will no longer exist; what was considered ‘hard tasks' will be the new easy, and what was considered ‘impossible tasks' will be the new hard. If you do not become an exceptional talent at what you do, a master, you will face the need for a career change in a matter of months. I am not trying to scare you. I am not talking about your job at Fiverr. I am talking about your ability to stay in your profession in the industry.”

2. BeReal launches an ad platform in the US

BeReal, a social media platform that encourages users to share unfiltered, spontaneous moments by prompting them once daily to capture and post photos within a two-minute window, is rolling out advertising in the US. The move comes almost a year after the app sold for €500M to French mobile publisher Voodoo.

Initial ad products include in-feed ads and full day brand takeovers — both designed to blend in with BeReal’s everyday user experience, where users are prompted to post a real-time, dual-camera snapshot once a day.

BeReal previously tested ads with companies like Levi's, Nike, Netflix, and Amazon, and is now launching a full advertising platform.

Ben Moore, BeReal's newly appointed US managing director and former TikTok executive, will be leading the initiative.

Moore explained in a press release:

“BeReal was built as a pressure-free space where people connect authentically — and that philosophy extends to how we introduce advertising. Our goal is to help brands show up in a way that feels real, respectful, and aligned with how our users already engage.”

BeReal boasts 40M monthly active users globally, of which 70% are between 18 and 27 years old. Over half of its users open the app six days a week, with the US, Japan, and France as its top markets.

3. Walmart asks brands to increase ad spend by 25% or else…

Walmart is pushing brands to increase their retail media spending by at least 25% YoY or risk losing key benefits in their supplier relationship with the company such as Walmart DSP data fee discounts, onsite sponsorship deals, and early access to reporting, according to three CPG brands and two agency media buyers who spoke to ADWEEK.

For one of those brands, Walmart asked for a 50% increase versus a year ago. Another brand cited an increase of 30%, which would equate to nearly $45M in retail media ad spend this year.

Walmart recently disclosed that advertising and membership together represented a little more than a quarter of the overall operating income for the company in Q4 2024, which creates immense pressure to keep growing the high-margin business.

As part of joint business plans, it's common for brands to pay retailers for selling their products, with some of the money going towards advertising. However advertisers are currently facing stagnant sales from retail media networks broadly, and from Walmart specifically, making these additional spend commitments a difficult ask, especially as an economic slowdown looms.

One CPG brand reported only moderate sales growth, while even seeing a decline in market share in some years, despite tripling its spend on Walmart over the past three years. Another CPG brand shared that despite increasing investment in retail media, there has been little to no growth in top-line sales or overall volume.

Ryan Mayward, SVP of Retail Media Sales at Walmart Connect told ADWEEK:

“Actual advertising spend, much like sales, is not guaranteed. Likewise, sales performance can be influenced by several factors beyond advertising investments—such as price, availability, and competitor behavior.”

4. “Careless People” author testifies against Meta before Congress

Sarah Wynn-Williams, the lawyer and former Director of Global Public Policy at Facebook who authored “Careless People,” a tell-all memoir that shares her account of working at Facebook for seven years, testified before Congress on Wednesday alleging Facebook’s close relationship with China poses serious risks to US national security.

Within a week of its publication last month, the book made it to the New York Times' bestseller list, prompting Meta to hit Wynn-Williams with a gag order banning her from promoting the book, alleging that it violated a nondisparagement contract she signed with the company more than a decade ago.

Despite the gag order, she agreed to testify before the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism last week.

Here's a recap of what she shared:

She had a first-row glimpse into Meta's relationship with the Chinese Communist Party and saw Meta work “hand in glove” with Chinese officials.
Part of that relationship included a secret mission to get Facebook into China.
Meta executives began briefing China on critical emerging technology in the US, including AI, as far back as 2015, with the goal to “help China outcompete American companies.”
Meta created censorship tools and deleted the account of a Chinese dissident living in America at the request of the CCP, before lying about it to Congress.
Zuckerberg was personally invested in Meta's business relationship with China, was committed to learning Mandarin, and had weekly Mandarin sessions with employees.
Meta executives lied about what they were doing with the CCP to employees, shareholders, Congress, and the American public.
Meta has an $18.3B business in China, despite what it says.
Facebook developed technology to identify when teenagers were feeling worthless or helpless and would share that information with advertisers so that they could pitch their products at this opportune time.
She has documents to prove all of the above.

Wynn-Williams said, “The greatest trick Mark Zuckerberg ever pulled was wrapping the American flag around himself and calling himself a patriot and saying he didn't offer services in China, while he spent the last decade building an $18 billion business there.”

You can read her full testimony here.

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who led the bipartisan hearing, sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg the next day requesting his testimony before the subcommittee, writing, “The American people deserve to know the truth about your company.”

Speaking of shady shit that Meta does… Meta added a former Trump advisor named Dina Powell McCormick, alongside Stripe CEO Patrick Collision, to its board of directors, effective April 15th. The appointments come right as Meta prepares to fight a landmark challenge from the FTC in an antitrust lawsuit over its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

5. Amazon Haul expands to become Amazon again

Amazon is expanding its Haul store to offer a wider variety of goods, including name-brand items that it ships from its own US warehouses.

Previously, Haul only offered unbranded products from outside sellers that shipped products directly from China with delivery times of more than a week, using the de minimis loophole to avoid paying tariffs on those imported items. However that provision is set to disappear on May 2nd, which means the whole direct-from-China retail model is about to change for everyone, including Haul, Temu, Shein, AliExpress, and others.

Now Amazon has started listing more inventory on Haul, including some apparel that it buys in bulk from Adidas, Levi's, and the Gap, which ship from US warehouses. The move is designed to make Haul a destination for bargain hunting, as opposed to exclusively a direct-from-China marketplace.

So is “Haul” just “Amazon” now? Originally, the big differentiators with Haul were that all items were under $20 and in exchange for cheaper prices, they'd take longer to arrive, as they ship from China. Now that distinction has gone out the window, so what's the difference?

Mia Sato from The Verge wrote:

“The under $20 hook also seems irrelevant now: in a few seconds of browsing I found makeup pouches for $20.99, leggings for $27.20, and dresses for $34.82. Some of those products are the same price on Haul and they are on classic Amazon, which raises the question of why a shopper would buy it on Haul to begin with. Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.”

Haul feels like a silly experiment that will likely shut down soon, as there's never been a reason for it. If Amazon wanted to, they could've just made a category called “Bargains from China” on its traditional Amazon marketplace and simply indicated that the items take more than week to arrive (ie: non-Prime items). Technically, those types of items have existed and sold on Amazon for years, so Haul was nothing more than an exercise in branding to compete with Temu, which Trump cut short with his tariffs (for now).

6. The boy who cried “Tariffs”

Every week when I inevitably have to report on the what's happened with tariffs, I get frustrated and feel angry on behalf of all consumers and small business owners who have to deal with this ridiculousness. These tariffs are creating an economic stalemate, where no-one wants to do anything because the actions they take today to change their business in response to tariffs may be irrelevant tomorrow when Trump changes his mind.

Here's what you missed last week in tariff news:

President Trump announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs above 10% for all countries except China. Imports from China heightened to 125% due to a “lack of respect” from Beijing, then later they clarified that it would actually be 145%.
The administration later said that the exemptions were temporary and that new tariffs, particularly on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, would be introduced under national security considerations.
In response to US tariffs, China increased its tariffs on American imports from 84% to 125%, effective April 12.
China also suspended exports of critical minerals and rare earth elements essential for electronics and aerospace industries, escalating trade tensions.
On April 12th, the US government announced temporary exemptions for smartphones, laptops, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment from the imposed tariffs, providing relief to the tech sector.
Despite the exemptions, officials indicated that these products would soon undergo a national security review, suggesting potential future tariff reinstatements.
Yesterday, Trump stated that new tariffs on imported semiconductor chips would be announced later in the week, maintaining pressure on the tech industry.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that the company is still digesting the impact of the tariffs, but expects that its network of third-party sellers will “pass that cost on” to consumers.
Later it was revealed that Amazon canceled many of their orders from China, Vietnam, and Thailand to minimize their direct exposure to tariffs, including for beach chairs, scooters, air conditioners and other merchandise.
Industry experts are predicting that the US's considerable de minimis fee and tariff hike will “cripple the air cargo industry,” as regular e-commerce shipments become no longer economically viable.
Lenovo, Dell, HP, and other manufacturers suspended shipments to the US for two weeks to see what ends up happening with the tariffs.
An increasing number of Chinese manufacturers are offering to lie for sellers about the value of their goods as a means to pay less tariffs. This practice has been going on for years, but now it's happening on a wider scale and with greater differences between the actual and declared value of goods.

More tariff announcements are expected today (Monday) so stay tuned.

7. Automattic launches an AI website builder on WordPress.com

Automattic rolled out an early access version of its new AI Site Builder, a tool designed to help users create full websites in minutes by using a simple chatbot interface.

Here's how it works:

The user indicates whether they are creating a personal blog, a business site, or a portfolio, and then specifies their preferred colors, styles, header type, and other variables.
The AI builder then generates a complete website layout, content, and images.
From there, the chatbot can continue making edits via conversational requests, or the user can takeover and begin making edits themselves manually.
The tool only supports brand-new websites and doesn't yet work with existing WordPress installations.
The feature is currently limited to basic websites and blogs and cannot yet support e-commerce websites or more complex integrations, but it's in the works.

Users can try the new AI builder for free by signing up for a WordPress.com account, but publishing a site with it requires a paid hosting plan, which starts at $18/month.

The new offering is designed to compete with similar AI Site Builders by Wix and Squarespace.

I tried out WordPress's AI Site Builder, and it's okay. However to be fair to Automattic, I'm not impressed with any AI site builders. Effectively the quality of their websites are the equivalent of simply choosing a premade template or free WordPress theme. From there you still have to add your own images and write your own text, as the copy that the AI builder produces is extremely lackluster.

For the moment, all these AI website builders feel more like a gimmick to get first-time users onto the platform, as opposed to a genuinely valuable design tool. However maybe they'll improve in time.

8. Wix unveils a new AI assistant named Astro

Wix released a new chat-based AI assistant named Astro designed to simplify site operations and business tasks and give users faster access to tools and insights for their website. ie: Wix's answer to Shopify's Sidekick.

Here's what Astro can do:

Track site performance, analyze visitor behavior, monitor SEO and sales trends, and generate reports to guide growth strategies.
Generate articles, newsletters, and promotional content.
Set up and organize online programs for training or learning.
Add products and explore Wix's various services like integrated POD or drop shipping.
Control users' plans, billing, and permissions, such as inviting collaborators.
Offers personalized suggestions to fine-tune customer websites.

Astro is for Wix and Wix Studio users and currently only available in English, with plans to gradually roll out in other languages.

Since the beginning of the year, Wix has rolled out a steady stream of new product launches including Functions, Automations, print-on-demand, Business Launcher, and an AI customer support chatbot.

9. Other e-commerce news of interest

eBay launched a simplified selling tool that features its “Magical Listing AI Technology,” allowing sellers to take a picture using their mobile device and then the “magic” takes over to fill in the details of the listing. The company also announced a new Seller Hub homepage that offers easier access to its tools and a streamlined way to create new listings.

Bonanza is raising commission fees from 3.5% to 11% and imposing new fees on larger-volume shops called Booths. Currently the marketplace charges a 25-cent transaction fee for sellers who don't have an active membership subscription, plus a commission fee of 3.5% on the transaction. Now it'll charge a 25-cent transaction for non-members, plus a commission fee of 11% on transactions. It also plans to charge a listing fee of 3 cents per item / month, with no charge for the first 50 active listings. Lastly, Bonanza announced a new ad technology that lets it advertise specific booths instead of the entire marketplace.

UPS is expanding its ground portfolio with two new options designed to bridge the gap between parcels and freight. The company introduced UPS Ground Saver, a low-cost alternative to standard UPS Ground designed for non-urgent shipments, and UPS Ground with Freight Pricing, which targets loads more than 150 pounds that typically fall into the less-than-truckload category. Honestly there are too many UPS shipping options already as it is. Clean the offering up! Don't add more.

Teen Instagram users under the age of 16 will not be allowed to livestream without parental permission moving forward, as the company battles to shed criticisms about how it handles young users on its platforms. Additionally, the company is expanding teen accounts to Facebook and Messenger. Meta says around 54M people under the age of 18 use its Instagram teen accounts, but that over 90% of its 13-to-15 year old audience make no changes to the default restrictions.

Shopify merchants in Canada with early access can now offer Shop Pay Installments powered by Affirm to their customers, marking the product's first availability outside the US. Using the payment option, eligible customers can split purchases ranging from $35 to $30,000 into bi-weekly and monthly payments. Shop Pay Installments will become available to all merchants in Canada and UK this summer, with cross-border commerce capabilities between the US, Canada, and UK to follow, and plans to expand to Australia, France, Germany, and the Netherlands on the horizon.

TikTok launched an invite-only “Specialized Rewards Program,” which will provide additional monetization opportunities for selected creators in the app on top of its regular Creator Rewards Program earnings. The company says that “specialized” content includes the platform's most valued content areas including Film and TV, Auto, Learning, and Sports.

Walmart expects sales to grow 3% to 4% this year and are unconcerned about tariffs. The company says that more than two-thirds of what it sells in the US is made, grown, or assembled domestically, and the last third “comes from all over the world, but China and Mexico are the most significant.” CFO John David Rainey says tariffs actually present an opportunity for the company to accelerate share gains and maintain flexibility to invest in price as tariffs are applied to incoming goods.

A hacker who uses the alias “Satanic” claims to have WooCommerce data on over 4.4M users, including records tied to major organizations like NVIDIA. The announcement suggests that the data wasn't pulled from WooCommerce's core infrastructure directly, but from systems closely tied to websites using the platform, likely CRM or automation tools connected through integrations. The hacker is currently accepting offers for the database via Telegram. Automattic says the incident is not a result of a direct breach of WooCommerce, but isn't sure how the data was obtained. Matt Mullenweg probably blames WPEngine for the hack.

TikTok is laying off US staff on its e-commerce team, according to five employees at the company who spoke to Business Insider. The cuts are hitting its governance and experience team, which handles Shop marketplace safety for users, sellers, and creators, managing tasks like seller compliance, monitoring product listings, and protecting IP. Business Insider wasn't able to learn the scale of the job cuts.

Google laid off hundreds of employees in its platforms and devices unit, according to The Information sources. The cuts in the division, which houses the Android platform, Pixel phones, and the Chrome browser, follow Google's January buyout offer to employees. Google says that since combining the platforms and devices teams last year, the department has become more nimble and some jobs have become redundant.

Instagram is developing a long-awaited version of its app for iPads, according to one of its employees. Currently iPad users can download a version of the app designed for iPhones, but it's not a great experience. The move is part of Meta's efforts to capitalize on the potential TikTok ban and woo more users to its platform. Wow nice job guys. It only took you 15 years!

TikTok is making a move into the collectible sneaker space in the US, now enabling the sale of authenticated pre-owned footwear on TikTok Shop. The platform implemented strict verification protocols, allowing only a carefully vetted group of sellers to list sneakers and requiring all sellers to upload a certificate of authenticity from one of three recognized third-party authenticators.

Block was ordered to pay $40M in civil fines to New York's financial services regulator over compliance failures after the department claimed that the company failed to police and stop money laundering on its mobile payment service Cash App. Regulators noted that Block was not fully compliant with key requirements such as customer due diligence and high-risk account management, which could lead to its services being used for money laundering, financing terrorism, and other illegal activities. Block agreed in January to pay a $80M civil fine to settle similar charges by 48 US state financial regulators. Wow, and New York got $40M all for itself.

Match Group, which owns dating sites like Tinder, Hinge, and OkCupid, appointed Zulily co-founder Darrell Cavens as its board director to strengthen its expertise in digital commerce, consumer engagement, and tech-driven innovation. Anson Funds has been pushing Match for over a year to revive is sagging business by rethinking capital allocation, cutting costs, and considering a strategic review of its MG Asia business after the company's valuation shrunk from $40B during COVID to $7.2B currently, however, appointing the former CEO of a company that went bankrupt wasn't exactly what they had in mind.

Alibaba announced a new initiative called “Bravo 102” to enhance its AI capabilities with a program aimed at recruiting and developing AI talent globally. The company revealed that over 80% of its campus recruitment positions for 2026 will focus on AI roles including LLM engineering, product management, and data operations.

Google is advertising its search services on Meta. Kiren Tanna, founder of Una Brands, shared a screenshot of a Meta ad that read “Search for solar panel installation,” which appeared in his Facebook feed after recently using non-Google AI tools to search for information on the topic. Tanna asks, “The king of search engines now needs ads to push people to search. Is this smart? Or is it fear?” Meaghan Butler commented on the post that she found 50+ versions of the same ad for everything from car insurance to dance classes, all which were just launched this month.

Flipkart revealed that it plans to grow its Flipkart Minutes quick commerce brand from 300 stores to 800 by the end of 2025. The company's CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy noted at the 2025 Walmart Investment Community Meeting that the demand for faster delivery services in India is being driven by affluent consumers in the country's top 40 cities, and that Flipkart's user base now exceeds 500M consumers.

🏆 This week's most ridiculous story… The DOJ indicted Albert Saniger, the former CEO of Nate, for defrauding investors with misleading statements about the company, which claimed to use AI to shop and complete transactions for consumers, but was actually hiring human workers in the Philippines and Romania to perform the tasks. The indictment comes after a 2022 report in The Information that correctly claimed the company used human labor instead of AI. Sangier raised more than $50M from investors for the app and now faces one count of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud, each which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Poor Albert! He should've argued that “AI” stood for “Actually Individuals!”

10. Seed rounds, IPOs, & acquisitions

Safe Superintelligence, an AI startup by OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever, who left the company last year after a failed coup against Sam Altman, raised $2B in a round led by Greenoaks, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Andreessen Horowitz, at a $32B valuation, despite having no product yet. The startup is seeking to create AI models that are more powerful and more intelligent than current LLMs from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google by improving their ability to provide considered answers and perform chains of tasks. So now AI companies are raising BILLIONS with a B in early stage rounds with no products and no revenue?

Prada Group, an Italian luxury fashion conglomerate known for its high-end clothing brands like Prada, Miu Miu, and Church's, acquired Versace, another Italian luxury brand, for $1.25B from Capri Holdings, a US-based luxury conglomerate that owns Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo. Prada says that the brand will continue to operate on its own and that the acquisition is not about reshaping Versace, but nurturing its identity and expanding its reach through Prada's industrial capabilities and retail expertise.

Gierd Inc, a tech startup that helps brands scale e-commerce sales across marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, raised $8M in a Series A round led by Nyca Partners. The company has bootstrapped itself up to this point and is poised to make $20M in annual recurring revenue this year, with $1B in GMV. The new funds will be used to hire more software engineers to speed up development of its upcoming integrations with Temu and Best Buy.

ShopUp, the largest B2B commerce company in Bangladesh, and Sary, a leading B2B marketplace in Saudi Arabia, have merged to create SILQ Group, forming what is now the largest B2B commerce platform across the Gulf and South Asia. The merger is backed by $110M in funding from Sanabil Investments, Valar Ventures, and others. SILQ's combined network supports over 600,000 businesses, $5B in transactions, and 100M shipments.

Starday, an AI-powered food innovation company that identifies unmet consumer needs and rapidly develops shelf-stable products, raised $11M in a Series A round led by Slow Ventures and Equal Ventures, bringing its total amount raised to $20M. The company will use the funds to accelerate retail expansion and develop new partnerships with retailers and CPG brands to create bespoke products in months instead of years.

Acadia, a digital marketing agency specializing in retail media and marketplace services, acquired Crush, an Amazon marketing agency, for an undisclosed amount. Acadia says that the deal will help bolster its retail media and commerce capabilities, particularly brands that want to leverage Amazon, while Crush clients will have access to its tech capabilities including analytics, social, paid media, and SEO tools.

Yotpo, a retention-based marketing and analytics company that offers solutions for reviews, loyalty programs, SMS, e-mail marketing, and subscriptions, acquired Coho AI, a customer data platform specializing in AI-powered customer journey optimization, for an undisclosed amount. Coho's data will help Yotpo connect online audiences to e-commerce companies' loyalty programs and communication tools to do things like effectively remarket to customers who left a five-star review but haven't purchased again for many months.

Fiserv, a Wisconsin-based fintech that provides solutions for banking and payment processing, acquired Pinch Payments, an Australian payment facilitator, for an undisclosed amount. Fiserv plans to bring Pinch into its ecosystem to offer more flexible options for its enterprise clients, while enhancing its reach to a greater number of merchants.

Validity, a Boston-based data quality and marketing analytics company that helps businesses improve campaign performance with verification and data cleansing tools, acquired Litmus, a Cambridge-based provider of e-mail optimization and testing solutions, for an undisclosed amount. Adding Litmus to its platform will provide Validity's merchants with a seamless, end-to-end experience from contact data validation and enrichment to personalization, deliverability optimization, and campaign monitoring.

ZOZO, a Japanese fashion technology company that operates the country's largest online fashion retailer and develops fashion personalization tools, acquired Lyst, a shopping app that aggregates products from over 17,000 stores and offers a personalized shopping experience to 200M users annually, for $154M. The deal advances ZOZO's strategy to grow globally, using Lyst's presence in the US, UK, and Europe, while ZOZO's sizing and fit technology will improve Lyst's tools for shoppers.

Zalando, a European fashion retailer that serves more than 50M customers across 25 countries, acquired DeepAR, a London-based AR tech company that provides an SDK and creator tools for developers to integrate features like face filters, background removals, and virtual try-ons into their websites and apps, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will help boost Zalando's 3D roadmap by enabling the company to produce 3D assets at scale and incorporating 3D experiences throughout its platform.

Ryft, a UK fintech that provides a payment platform enabling marketplaces and digital platforms to automate complex payment flows like split payments, delayed payouts, and subscription billing, raised £5.7M in a Series A round led by EdenBase, bringing its total amount raised to £7.4M. The company plans to use the funds to support its international expansion and grow its team.