#226 – Walmart Raises Prices, Consumer Protections, & Temu Ships from China again

by Paul Drecksler | May 19, 2025 | Recent Newsletters

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And now onto another jam-packed edition.

In this week's edition I cover:

Walmart's major delivery milestone
Walmart's tariff-related price increases
Diminishing consumer protections in the US
Temu resumes direct-from-China sales
Apple's China problems
Wix's new AI design tool
Amazon rekindles with FedEx
Amazon's e-book advantage
Shopify's App Store review purge
The UK's private stock market
Roblox e-commerce advancements
Another Canada Post strike

All this and more in this week's 226th Edition of Shopifreaks. Thanks for subscribing and sharing!

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Stat of the Week

Walmart's number of deliveries made in less than three hours grew by 91% YoY. By the end of 2025, the company says it will be able to deliver to 95% of the population within this time frame. According to the company, roughly one-third of deliveries from more than 4,500 stores were expedited.

1. Walmart will raise prices due to tariffs, much to Trump's dismay

President Trump blasted Walmart on Saturday after the company warned that it will have to raise prices due to tariffs.

Trump wrote on Truth Social:

“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,' and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”

Trump's post was in response to Walmart's first fiscal-quarter report on Thursday, which warned that its prices are going up as products covered by new tariffs start hitting shelves. Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon noted that more than two-thirds of the goods it sells in US stores come from the US, but “given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.”

Food inflation is top of mind for the retailer, as bananas, avocados, coffee, beets, cabbage, melons, pineapples, and sweet potatoes are among some of the groceries that McMillon said come from Colombia, Costa Rica, and Peru. However he did not say specifically how much the prices would rise.

Walmart CFO John David Rainey later said during a CNBC interview:

“We have not seen price increases at this magnitude, in the speed in which they’re coming at us before, and so it makes for a challenging environment.”

Walmart says that it's currently focused on back-to-school shopping, and that since tariffs are paid as soon as a product enters the country through customs, the higher tariffs are already affecting shipments.

Aside from direct price increases on products, to help offset the increased cost of goods, Walmart is reintroducing an old basket fee on its Walmart Plus Assist program, which is designed for customers who rely on government assistance. The $6.99 fee applies to orders under $35, which is something regular Walmart Plus members are already accustomed to, but it had been waived for the past few years for Plus Assist customers.

I'd imagine this is not the only fee we'll see at the retailer in the coming months. It also wouldn't surprise me if Walmart's $35 minimum becomes $50 again, as it was in 2017 and prior.

2. Consumer protection in the US is dwindling

Last week I reported that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced it will no longer prioritize enforcement actions taken on BNPL transactions, in accordance with a Biden administration issued rule that classified BNPL providers as credit card issuers and subjected them to the Truth in Lending Act.

Since then, New York has stepped up by establishing a licensing and oversight framework for the BNPL industry with new legislation included in its 2026 budget that provides tougher state rules requiring BNPL providers to be licensed with the state, offer credit disclosures, create dispute resolution standards, offer data privacy protections, enable risk-based underwriting, and put in place limits on charges and fees.

However outside of New York, the situation for consumers across the country is becoming more dire…

1) Supplementary leverage ratios – US regulators are expected to put forward proposals this summer to slash capital rules for banks that were designed to prevent another 2008-style crash. The proposals aim to cut the supplementary leverage ratio that requires banks to hold high-quality capital against risky assets like loans and derivatives.

The changes don't come as a surprise, as Trump promised during his second term to slash 10 regulations for every new one added. Critics warn that it is the wrong time to slash protections, given economic uncertainty and market volatility. However bank lobbyists have long argued that the rules punish them for holding relatively low-risk assets like US treasures and hinders their ability to provide more loans.

2) Broadband deployment and access – FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington is proposing a DOGE-style overhaul of the agency's operations, including large cuts to the Universal Service Fund that subsidizes broadband deployment and access. Simington said the fund should reduce spending on fiber networks and give money to Elon Musk's Starlink. He also argued that the FCC is using too many staff hours on reviewing license applications and should instead use automated systems to approve more license requests. Let me guessing, using Elon Musk's AI?

The FCC historically has operated independently from the White House, but Trump issued an executive order in February declaring that it is no longer an independent agency, along with other federal regulatory bodies.

3) Click-to-Cancel – The FTC voted to delay enforcement of the Negative Option Rule, which is commonly referred to as the “click-to-cancel” rule and requires companies to make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it was to sign up.

The rule would require businesses to offer customers the ability to cancel subscriptions through the same method they used to sign up. For example, if they signed up on a website by themselves, they need to be able to cancel via that same website by themselves, without having to call a phone number or message support.

The rule went into effect on January 19th (a day before Trump took office), but enforcement of some provisions was delayed until May 13th, and now the FTC is delaying enforcement by another 60 days, until July 14th. WP Engine must be celebrating with champagne right now!

4) Data Brokers – The CFPB said in December it planned to close a loophole under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the law that protects Americans' personal data collected by credit bureaus, which treats data brokers differently than other consumer reporting agencies. The new rules were designed to limit the ability of US data brokers to sell sensitive information about Americans, including financial data, credit history, and Social Security numbers.

However the new rules were withdrawn on Tuesday because the White House said they are “not aligned with the Bureau's current interpretation” of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Privacy advocates have long called for the government to use the Fair Credit Reporting Act to rein in data brokers, but the Financial Technology Association, an industry lobby group representing non-bank fintech companies, asked the administration to withdraw the CFPB's rule, claiming it would be “harmful to financial institutions' efforts to detect and prevent fraud.”

3. Temu resumes direct-from-China shipments for US customers

Two weeks ago I reported that Temu US began to show only “local” products (which fulfill from the US), blocking customers from viewing or purchasing any items that ship directly from China. The abrupt change, which was in response to Trump's high tariffs on Chinese imports, caused widespread confusion with both the company's suppliers and customers.

However now it seems that Temu may be shipping some goods directly from China again, with some non-local listings beginning to resurface. For example, Sourcing Journal spotted a listing for a set of baseball hats, which says it'll be delivered in 5 to 14 days and is linked to a seller that lists its location as China and does not have a “local warehouse” emblem on its seller page.

The reversal comes after President Trump announced that the US and China had reached a 90 day agreement to lower their respective tariffs by 115%, and that the US would drop a 120% duty on some parcels worth less than $800 to 54% or a $100 flat tax.

The items that appear to be shipping from China currentliy do not incur any import charges at checkout, but it remains unclear whether the consumer is expected to pay a duty upon the parcel's entry into the US.

Temu's site only promises “no import charges for all local warehouse items,” but doesn't mention what happens with items shipped from China.

4. Apple's facing trouble around the globe

Apple is having a tough week. Thoughts and prayers go out to the three trillion dollar company. Here's what's going on with Apple:

1) Apple + Alibaba – Apple's plan to partner with Alibaba to bring Apple Intelligence to its products in China is raising concern from both Congress and the White House who are worried that such a deal would help China become even more competitive against US AI companies.

Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois said that the “serious concerns” are that the partnership will help Alibaba collect data to refine its models and that the deal allows Apple to “turn a blind eye” to the fundamental rights of Chinese iPhone users. However Apple sees the deal as a crucial step to remaining competitive in China, which accounts for about 20% of its total sales.

2) Apple Sales in China – Meanwhile, Apple needs to do whatever it takes to maintain its market share in China, as sales in the country are slipping. Last week Chinese retailers began offering discounts of up to 2,530 yuan ($351) on Apple's iPhone 16 models in an effort to spur sales as first-quarter shipments fell further in the country. Apple's smartphone shipments in China dropped 9% for the first quarter, while domestic competitors Xiaomi and Huawei posted gains of 40% and 10% respectively.

However Apple says the discounts are simply part of its regular strategy of discounting phones ahead of China's annual “618” shopping festival on June 18th. Does Apple know that it's May?

3) India Manufacturing – President Trump asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to halt the company's manufacturing expansion in India and instead up their production in the United States. Trump said:

“I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. He is building all over India. They [India] have offered us a deal where basically they have agreed to charge us literally no tariffs. I said ‘Tim, we are treating you really good, we put up with all the plants you built in China for years. We are not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves'.”

In the fiscal year ending in March, Apple's iPhone production in India reached $22B, a 60% increase YoY, and Apple planned to move even more production to India by the end of the year.

Apple also said it plans to spend $500B over the next four years to expand facilities in the US, including a new factory for advanced server manufacturing in Texas that is scheduled to open later this year.

4) Apple vs Epic Games – Epic Games is escalating its efforts to pressure Apple to allow its Fortnite game into the App Store, with a new court filing asking the judge to require that Apple “accept any compliant version of Fortnite onto the US storefront.”

The two companies have been engaged in a years-long legal battle over Apple's App Store policies, particularly the commissions Apple charges for in-app purchases, and last month, Epic Games scored a major victory when Judge Rogers ruled that Apple was in “willful violation of an injunction on anti-competitive pricing,” which seemed to have paved the way for Fortnite to return to the App Store. However Apple said it will appeal the ruling and is continuing to block Fortnite in the US and EU.

Apple disputes the fact that it's blocking Fortnite outside the US and said that it simply asked Epic to “resubmit the app update without including the U.S. storefront of the App Store as to not impact Fortnite in other geographies.”

But why block Fortnite in the US at all? Epic argues in its filing that Apple is denying it “the ability to take advantage of the pro-competitive rules it helped usher in,” and punishing the company “by shutting it out of the very market it has fought so hard to open — while sending a clear message to other developers not to challenge Apple’s practices.”

5. Wix to compete with Adobe and Canva with its new design tool

Wix launched a new standalone AI-powered visual design platform called Wixel, which the company claims enables anyone to effortlessly bring their ideas to life and produce high-quality results with ease. The tool is partially powered by OpenAI’s new image generation model.

Wixel allows designers to:

Upload a photo and remove its background.
Place the cutout product image into an AI-generated setting.
Fine-tune contrast and saturation of the image.
Put the product into a professionally designed template.
Add text and customize the layout to produce a final image to use on social media or an online store.

Avishai Abrahami, Co-Founder and CEO of Wix, said:

“AI is the foundation of Wixel. Design is in our DNA, and simplifying complex experiences is what we do best. We’re now determined to revolutionize design by democratizing access to powerful and creative tools for everyone, regardless of their design expertise. This version is just the beginning, and I am excited to explore the limitless creative possibilities that Wixel will unlock as we continue to innovate and refine our platform.”

Wixel is a standalone product, so even designers who don’t use Wix's website builder will be able to sign up to use the design tool. It is currently available in English, providing free usage to all users with an optional upgrade to a Pro Plan for enhanced usage and access to premium templates and design elements.

Last week I reported that Figma also released a design tool called Figma Draw for vector editing and illustration, which offers features like text on a path, pattern fill, brushes, multi-vector edit, adding noise and texture, and a lasso selection tool. Adobe better watch out! Everyone seems to be coming for its market share lately.

6. Netflix and YouTube introduce new mid-video ads

Netflix announced that it created interactive mid-roll ads and pause ads that incorporate generative AI, which subscribers can expect to start seeing in 2026. The company initially started testing pause ads in July 2024.

Netflix launched its ad subscription tier in November 2022, which now has 94M subscribers, or roughly a third of its 300M total subscribers. The company also said that half of new subscribers are opting for the $8/month ad-supported tier rather than its ad-free subscriptions, which begin at $18/month.

The new ad formats follow Netflix's launch of its own in-house advertising platform in the US in April, which it had previously debuted in Canada and plans to expand globally by June. Netflix says its advertising business is in the early stages and that it expects to double its advertising revenue in 2025. Yay for subscribers!

Meanwhile, YouTube introduced a new ad format called “Peak Points,” which leverages Google's Gemini AI to analyze YouTube videos and identify moments it believes have the highest viewer engagement or are most emotionally impactful, and then suggests placing the ad right after it.

Peak Points aims to ~~piss off viewers~~ benefit advertisers by grabbing users' attention right when they're most invested in the content, similar to a strategy called emotional-based targeting, where advertisers place ads that align with the emotions evoked by the video.

YouTube also debuted a shoppable product feed where users can browser and purchase items during an ad.

Remember when streaming videos on the Internet used to be fun?

7. Amazon rekindles its relationship with FedEx

Amazon hired FedEx to handle some of its large package deliveries, according to an internal document obtained by Business Insider, following UPS' decision in January to reduce the amount of Amazon volume it delivers by more than 50% by the second half of 2026.

The multi-year agreement covers residential delivery of large packages for Amazon and gives the retailer “cost favorability” compared to its contract with UPS. However the document did not specify exact parameters of the deal or which Amazon packages would be handled by FedEx.

Amazon says that the agreement will not replace UPS, but rather, FedEx will join its third-party partners.

An Amazon spokesperson said:

“We've reached an agreement with FedEx to serve as one of several third-party partners to deliver packages to our customers. FedEx joins our other third-party partners like UPS and the USPS, that work alongside our own last mile delivery network to help us balance capacity to best serve customers.”

A FedEx spokesperson said:

“FedEx has the global network, capacity, and expertise to serve the shipping needs of thousands of retailers in the e-commerce space. We have reached a mutually beneficial, multi-year agreement to provide residential delivery of select large packages for Amazon.”

FedEx also said that the new deal will be “net positive” for FedEx's average system yields, which is an industry metric that measures the efficiency and profitability of a shipping network.

Amazon and FedEx cut residential delivery ties in 2019 as Amazon was building its own competing delivery network. The two companies have since been in a battle for market share during the last five years, often poaching whole or partial customer accounts from each other. The logistics consulting firm MWPVL estimates that FedEx handles no Amazon packages at this point in the US, not including third-party sellers.

8. Amazon's big edge in e-book sales

Google makes it easier to buy e-books from Amazon than from smaller booksellers by allowing for one-click purchases within the Android apps for Amazon's Kindle and Audible. Google and Apple don't typically allow seamless, one-click buying of digital items in smartphone apps unless they use their respective digital billing systems, of which Google and Apple take up to a 30% cut of the in-app purchase.

This is why many competing book apps like Bookshop, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble don't let you buy e-books and audiobooks from their apps, instead requiring you to buy from their websites. However Amazon doesn't seem to be paying Google a fee through its own one-click buy buttons, giving Amazon a rare privilege among digital booksellers.

The Kindle app for Android didn't let users buy e-books for several years, but appeared to restart sales around November 2024 with an announcement that read, “You can now buy Kindle books from the Android app.”

Andy Hunter, founder of independent online bookstore Bookshop.org, said his company wants its Android app purchasing for e-books to be “as seamless as the Amazon Kindle Android app, and we will be investigating how it is done and if we can potentially do the same thing.”

Google said Amazon doesn’t have a special deal, but both companies declined to offer specifics.

Meanwhile on iOS…

Last month, a federal judge ordered Apple to let iPhone apps sell their digital products, including e-books, audiobooks, and streaming video subscriptions, without going through Apple's digital payment system. Kindle, Audible, and Nook were among the first iPhone apps that quickly revamped their system to bypass Apple's in-app purchase fees.

9. Other e-commerce news of interest

Roblox will soon begin letting creators sell physical items from their games. The company has been testing tools to do so since last year with select brands, but now it's opening up its Commerce APIs to eligible Roblox creators, beginning with Shopify as their first integrated partner for the APIs. Roblox is also launching an Approved Merchandiser Program, where users will be able to buy physical goods in the real world that give them digital items in experiences.

Uber launched its first Uber One Member Days event, which runs from May 16th to May 23rd and offers deals across Uber's own product lineup as well as its retail and hospitality partners. Uber customers will have access to 20% Uber Black, 30% off Uber Reserve, and 40% off Uber Comfort, as well as promotions from Delta, Oura, Ticketmaster, Chipotle, Dunkin' Donuts, McDonald's, and more.

Shopify deleted hundreds of thousands of reviews from its App Store, with some apps losing more than 10,000 reviews! The move was meant to increase trust by purging low-quality reviews, mostly from closed stores, and contentless ratings, and allow new apps to better compete against legacy apps that have thousands of reviews that may or may not be relevant anymore. It sucks for app developers that lost some legitimate reviews, but the App Store was / is in desperate need of an overhaul when it comes to reviews, ratings, and discoverability, so I support Shopify taking efforts to even the playing field for newer apps and increase the reliability of the app store.

The UK introduced legislation for a new private stock market platform called Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System Sandbox (PISCES), designed to let early investors and employees trade shares in private companies before they go public. The system, which is backed by tax perks and exemptions from Stamp Taxes on Shares, will support startups, help reward employees via share options, and act as a stepping stone to IPOs. Trading is expected to begin in the fall, with final FCA rules coming soon.

A Canada Post strike is set to begin as early as May 22nd, which is expected to upset Canadian retail during the lead-up to back-to-school season. Last year, more than 55,000 Canada Post workers went on strike for 32 days during the holiday season, ending only after the Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered a return to work on Dec 17th. The government extended the collective agreement to May 22, 2025 to allow for continued negotiations, which have since stalled.

OpenAI launched a new agentic coding tool called Codex, which can accomplish coding tasks by inputting a prompt and then clicking a button labeled “Code.” The tool can also read and edit computer files, run commands, probe a user's codebase, and answer questions by inputting a query and clicking a button labeled “Ask.” Task completion can take anywhere form 1 and 30 minutes, depending on the complexity of the request.

TikTok Shop is off to a slow start in the US this year, according to four staffers who spoke to Business Insider. The employees described declines in daily US sales from foreign sellers that contributed to an overall sales drop-ff beginning in late March and led to an almost 25% MoM drop by early May. The staffers attributed the drop-off to tariffs, which have created cost headaches for sellers, as well as broader challenges in onboarding new sellers.

Walmart is investigating how to make products appealing to AI agents that will one day shop on its website. Walmart US Chief Technology Officer, Hari Vasudev, said, “It will be different. Advertising will have to evolve.” The company is also building its own shopping agents that customers can access on its app and website, which will be able to execute basic repetitive tasks like re-ordering weekly groceries or filling a shopping cart in response to prompts like, “I want to plan a unicorn-themed party for my daughter.”

Square launched a portable point-of-sale device called Square Handheld, which enables sellers to manage everything from payments to back-of-house operations like inventory management. The device, which weighs 11 ounces, is less than an inch thick, and features a 16MP camera for capturing photos of newly stocked merchandise, is available for purchase at Square Shop, starting at $399. The device was launched in conjunction with Square Releases, the company's new biannual product launch that delivers the most important new features and tools (ie: their version of Shopify Editions).

VPNSecure customers who bought “lifetime” subscriptions are out of luck after the VPN's new owners, InfiniteQuant Ltd, abruptly canceled the subscriptions, claiming they were unaware thousands of such plans existed when they acquired the company. InfiniteQuant leadership wrote in an e-mail to affected customers that its 2023 acquisition included the technology, domain, and customer database, but not the liabilities, and that maintaining non-revenue-generating accounts strained its resources. As compensation, they've offered affected users discounted new plans, but the move has sparked outrage, especially considering that lifetime deals were offered as recently as 2022.

Kroger officially shut down its online marketplace, Kroger Ship, ceasing sales of third-party products as of March 2025. The marketplace originally launched in 2018 to offer ship-to-home grocery items and later expanded to include third-party goods like housewares, toys, and seasonal items in 2020, partnering with Bed Bath & Beyond in 2022. Kroger did not provide a public explanation for the closure but noted that shoppers can still place orders for groceries through its delivery and pickup channels.

Ticketmaster will now show customers how much they'll pay for tickets including fees and service charges (but excluding taxes) before checkout with its new “All In Prices” initiative. The move is part of the company's efforts to comply with the FTC's ban on junk fees, which went into effect on May 12th. Ticketmaster also shared that it made improvements to its queue, including real-time updates about ticket availability and when wait times are expected to last more than 30 minutes, as well as the ability for customers to see how many people are ahead of them in the queue.

TikTok Shop is bringing its pre-owned shopping category to Europe following rollouts in the US and UK. The company is hiring a program manager to oversee strategy for second-hand products like trading cards to appliances across the EU, as well as focus on governance frameworks, policies, and support operations. TikTok Shop is currently available in six European countries including the UK, Spain, Ireland, Germany, France, and Italy.

eBay experienced a major image outage across the globe last Thursday, with some listings showing no images at all and others loading the main image but not the others. However, the company's system status page showed no outages or disruptions, despite its seller support forum being flooded with reports. The product team was able to resolve the issue within 24 hours.

Perplexity is teaming up with PayPal to enable Perplexity Pro subscribers in the US to buy products, book travel, and check out with PayPal or Venmo within a chat thread. The integration, which is launching this summer, will support payments, shipping, and tracking using PayPal’s tokenized wallet and passkey technology, enabling full transactional commerce directly from chat.

Spotify removed over 200 fake podcasts on its platform that were promoting opioid sales on websites imitating online pharmacies, following a Business Insider investigation. Most of the podcast episodes were under a minute long and were less about content and more about pushing product links in their descriptions. Spotify's auto-detection did not flag the fake podcasts for removal, and some of them remained up for months.

In logo changes this week… Google changed its “G” logo for the first time in 10 years with an updated design that blends the logo's red, yellow, green, and blue colors into a gradient, as opposed to separating the colors with sharp distinct lines. Big Cartel, the indie e-commerce platform that launched in 2005 for small artists and crafters to sell their goods, also redesigned their logo to fit its brand refresh, shifting away from its artist-only roots to appeal to rebellious entrepreneurs looking to sell outside the ‘glossy world of Shopify.'

Last week, Reuters ran a story with the headline, “Weeks after Amazon's Alexa+ AI launch, a mystery: where are the users?” — in which it detailed its difficult locating users of the service. Amazon responded the next day, saying that the idea that Alexa+ isn't available is “simply wrong” and that hundreds of thousands of customers have access to the service. On Friday, Engadget reported that a wave of e-mails had gone out inviting Amazon Alexa users to try out Alexa+.

Privacy watchdog Noyb sent a cease-and-desist letter to Meta, threatening to pursue a billion-dollar class action to block the company's AI training, which starts soon in the EU. According to Noyb, Meta is requiring users who already opted out of AI training in 2024 to opt out again or forever lose their opportunity to keep their data out of its AI models, as training data cannot be easily deleted, which Noyb says is a violation of GDPR. The watchdog also introduced doubts about whether Meta can technically implement a “clean and proper differentiation between users that performed an opt-out and users that did not.”

Valeria Márquez, a 23-year-old Mexican beauty influencer with over 100k followers on TikTok and Instagram, was tragically shot and killed while streaming on TikTok Live, with the video continuing after the shooting. Márquez was streaming from her salon in Jalisco State, Mexico, showing her followers a stuffed pig she had received as a present when a man entered, asked her name, and then opened fire on her. Prosecutors now believe that hired assassins were responsible for the killing, but a motive has not yet been discovered.

TikTok is working on a new feature that will allow users in the US to share photos over direct messages inside the app, according to The Information sources. The move is seen as a way to encourage more people to use TikTok's messaging feature, which hasn't taken off on the platform like it has on Instagram and Snapchat, but the plans have sparked debate internally, with some employees concerned that introducing photos could lead to a proliferation of sextortion scams and other abuses. The company is also working on a voice messaging feature, which Instagram also already has.

In other TikTok news… The European Commission issued a preliminary finding that TikTok is not meeting its requirements to protect consumers from scam advertisements, accusing the platform of failing to provide sufficient information about ad content, targeting, and sponsorship, in breach of its Digital Services Act. The EU's Digital Services Act, which came into force last year, requires very large online platforms to maintain a publicly searchable ad library to help detect scams and disinformation, which the Commission says TikTok failed to do. If confirmed, TikTok could be fined up to 6% of its global turnover.

In layoffs this week… Microsoft is letting go of 3% of employees, or around 6,000 people, across all levels and teams, marking its largest round of layoffs since the elimination of 10,000 roles in 2023. Amazon is laying off around 100 employees from its devices and services unit, which is responsible for its Alexa devices, Echo smart speakers, Ring doorbells, and Zoox autonomous vehicles. Since early 2022, Amazon has slashed more than 27,000 jobs.

Meta is recruiting adults to participate in a new data collection initiative called Project Warhol, which involves recording facial expressions, hand gestures, and small talk to train its next generation of photorealistic virtual avatars. Participants will be paid $50/hour via the data firm Appen to help Meta develop lifelike digital avatars for use in virtual and augmented reality environments. 2025 is internally described as Meta's “most critical year” for its metaverse ambitions, and the company is betting that hyper realistic digital avatars can drive its next wave of VR and AR technologies.

Coinbase disclosed a major cyberattack that compromised sensitive data from some of its customers, which it believes was orchestrated through a network of overseas contractors and support employees who were bribed to hand over customer data. The crypto exchange refused to pay the $20M ransom demanded by the attackers and instead is working with law enforcement to offer a $20M reward fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

India's Central Consumer Protection Authority issued notices to several e-commerce companies including Amazon, Flipkart, Ubuy, and Etsy, directing them to remove merchandise featuring Pakistani flags from their platforms, following a conflict earlier this month between the two neighboring countries. Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said, “Such insensitivity will not be tolerated. E-commerce platforms are hereby directed to immediately remove all such content and adhere to National laws.” However the minister did not specify which laws were being violated by selling the merchandise

🏆 This week's most ridiculous story… A senior at Northeastern University filed a complaint and demanded an $8,000 refund of tuition for one of her classes after discovering that her professor was secretly using AI tools to generate notes. Ella Stapleton said in an interview with the New York Times, “He's telling us not to use it, and then he's using it himself.” Northeastern rejected her claim and said that the university “embraces the use of artificial intelligence to enhance all aspects of its teaching, research, and operations” via a statement that sounded like it was written with ChatGPT.

10. Seed rounds, IPOs, & acquisitions

Chime, a San Francisco-based fintech that offers mobile-first banking services, filed S-1 paperwork with the SEC for an IPO with intentions to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker “CHYM.” The company's revenue reached $1.67B in 2024, up from $1.28B in 2023, while its loss decreased from $203M to $25M during the same period. Chime currently has 8.6M active members, marking a 23% increase from this time last year, of which the company says 67% rely on it for their primary financial accounts.

Stord, a cloud supply chain company that provides end-to-end logistics services like warehousing, fulfillment, and freight through a unified platform, raised $200M in a mix of equity and debt in a Series E round led by Strike Capital at a $1.5B valuation. The company says it has achieved profitability and held onto it since its last round in 2022 at a $1.3B valuation, while growing revenue by 450%, although it declined to share it's actual revenue.

Ryft, a UK-based payments platform that enables businesses to accept and split payments between multiple parties, raised £5.7M in a Series A round led by EdenBase to help it compete with Stripe Connect and Adyen. Since its £1.2M seed round in 2022, Ryft has secured its FCA license, partnered with American Express and Visa, became a Mastercard Network Enablement Partner, and integrated with multiple acquirers to achieve payments orchestration. The company also became profitable just two and a half years after launch and has consistently tripled its GMV year over year.

Channable, a Netherlands-based e-commerce automation platform that helps online retailers manage product data feeds, PPC ads, and marketplace listings across multiple channels, acquired Producthero, a Google Shopping feed optimization and advertising platform, for an undisclosed amount. The solutions of both companies will be combined into one platform, making it easier for multichannel sellers to manage product feeds, marketplace listings, and shopping ads more efficiently in one environment.

Stackpack, an AI-powered vendor stack management startup founded by Etsy and Affirm alum Sara Wyman, raised $6.3M in a round led by Freestyle Capital. Stackpack is building a centralized platform that identifies contract owners, compliance gaps, shadow IT, and renewal dates, automating vendor oversight the way HR platforms manage people and is already used by over 50 companies managing $510M in spend across 10,500 vendors.

MySize, an Israeli tech company that develops AI-driven measurement solutions for e-commerce retailers, acquired Percentil, a European second-hand fashion marketplace that filed bankruptcy in February, for an undisclosed amount. Through the acquisition, MySize will reposition the platform as a premium marketplace focusing on higher-value items and an elevated re-commerce experience, expecting the business to generate $1.5M in revenue during the second half of 2025. MySize also plans to launch a B2B resale solution that enables brands to monetize overstock and returns by integrating with Percentil's platform.

DHL is acquiring a significant minority stake in Evri, a UK-based parcel delivery company formerly known as Hermes UK that offers courier and logistics services to businesses and consumers, and will merge its e-commerce division with the company. The deal combines Evri's specialty courier capabilities with the scale of DHL eCommerce's UK and international networks, and brings Evri into the business letter market for the first time. The integrated operations are expected to deliver more than 1B parcels and over 1B business letters annually.

ePackageSupply.com, a supplier of food-grade containers and packaging, raised an undisclosed amount from Michael Wittmeyer, former CEO and co-founder of JM Bullion, an online precious metals retailer. Wittmeyer will also join the company as Managing Director to support its efforts to expand its digital capabilities and expand nationwide. The company recently opened a new distribution facility and now serves more than 6,000 businesses nationwide, shipping over 3M containers monthly.

Flam, an Indian startup that creates immersive 3D social experiences like AR messaging and interactive 3D photos, raised $14M in a Series A round led by RTP Global, bringing its total amount raised to $22M. The company will use the funds to scale its AI infrastructure, which is used by over 100 global brands and has powered campaigns that have reached more than 380M users worldwide.

Dick's Sporting Goods, a US retailer with over 800 stores, acquired Foot Locker, a shoe and apparel retailer with 2,400 stores across 20 countries, for $2.4B, marking a 90% premium over its current share price. The two retailers will continue to operate separately and Dick's has no immediate plans to open Dick's stores internationally. Last year, Dick's reported $13B in revenue, a 3.5% YoY increase, while Foot Locker reported $8B in revenue, a 1.9% decline.

Coupa, a California-based cloud spend management platform that helps businesses manage procurement, invoicing, expenses, and supply chain decisions, acquired Cirtuo, an AI-powered strategic procurement software platform that helps enterprises automate and enhance their category management, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition aims to strengthen Coupa's position in enterprise e-procurement by expanding its tools for strategic sourcing and suppler planning.

Blank Beauty, a Knoxville-based tech company providing on-demand beauty customization using AI and robotics, raised $6M in a Series A round led by Evolution VC Partners, Kirker Enterprises, and EPSON. The company plans to use the funds to scale quickly, build sustainable and modular supply chains, and explore co-branded licensing partnership with major global cosmetics brands.

Cart.com, a Houston-based e-commerce platform, raised an additional $50M from BlackRock, Neuberger Berman, and eGateway Capital, at a $1.6B valuation, bringing its total amount raised to $475M. The company plans to use the funds to further its global expansion through strategic investments in infrastructure, technology, and M&A. In December, I reported that Cart.com acquired OceanX, a direct marketing company that specializes in health and beauty products to increase its fulfillment warehouse network and expand into new market segments.

Parloa, a German AI company that builds voice and chat automation platforms for customer service, raised $120M in a Series C round led by Durable Capital Partners, Altimeter Capital, and General Catalyst, at a $1B valuation. Just a year ago, the company raised $66M in its Series B round and released its AI Agent Management Platform, the industry's first Agentic AI platform built for enterprise contract centers, since which it has quadrupled its revenue.

Perion Network, an Israeli ad tech company that provides digital advertising solutions across search, social, display, and video, acquired Greenbids, an AI platform that creates custom algorithms for campaign-level optimization across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and DSPs like Google DV360 and The Trade Desk, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition strengthens Perion's ability to deliver custom, performance-based advertising at scale and unlocks new revenue opportunities, increasing its ability to gain market share.

Front Row, a New York City based e-commerce growth agency that offers marketplace management, digital marketing, and retail media services, acquired Build in Amsterdam, a Shopify design and development agency that builds stores for luxury fashion and lifestyle brands. Does that make it “Build in New York” now? The deal enhances Front Row's creative and Shopify capabilities, while also expanding its global presence in markets across North America and Europe.