When a nuclear startup funding round hits the billion dollar mark, it tends to grab headlines for the size of the check, not for what it means to a corner shop or a delivery fleet. Valar Atomics just closed $1 billion at a $6 billion valuation, led by Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire, following a development deal […]
Walmart has teamed up with Wing to bring a new drone delivery service to the Orlando area, expanding a partnership that has been growing steadily over the past few years. The rollout will initially cover five Walmart stores in the region, giving local shoppers a chance to receive small orders dropped off by air instead […]
Two seemingly unrelated stories from this week’s retail news cycle are actually pointing to the same thing: retail marketplace trends are shifting faster than many operators expected. Macy’s took down its long-standing Herald Square billboard, a sign that had marked the flagship for years. Around the same time, apparel brand Reformation priced its initial public […]
A new academic study is putting a spotlight on VC-backed startup fraud, and the findings should matter to anyone running a small business that depends on outside capital. Researchers from Imperial College London and France’s Emlyon Business School dug into how Silicon Valley founders cross ethical lines, and more importantly, what role investors themselves play […]
Best Buy has added a solar field to one of its California distribution centers, marking another step in the retailer’s push to reduce supply chain emissions. The move toward a solar-powered distribution center reflects a broader trend among large retailers rethinking how their warehouses and fulfillment hubs consume energy. As e-commerce volumes grow, so does […]
Kohl’s has rolled out a new AI shopping assistant designed to help customers find products faster and with less friction. The tool grew out of a simple Mother’s Day Gift Finder feature, and it has since expanded into a broader digital assistant built for everyday product discovery. For a retailer competing against nimble online marketplaces, […]
The private credit industry has grown into a massive corner of finance, yet many of the firms managing that capital still rely on spreadsheets and manual processes. That gap is exactly what Ellis AI is targeting. The company recently emerged from stealth with $10 million in seed funding to build AI for private credit managers, […]
Amazon carbon emissions climbed 16% year-over-year in 2025, according to a recent report, marking one of the steepest increases the company has reported in recent memory. The jump was driven largely by scope 3 emissions, the indirect output tied to suppliers, purchased goods, and infrastructure that a company does not directly control. As Amazon races […]
Amazon’s latest earnings offered a familiar storyline with a twist. Online store net sales grew 15% in the second quarter, yet the company has quietly scaled back how much it shares publicly about Amazon Prime Day sales performance. Instead, the spotlight shifted almost entirely to AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing arm, which continues to be the […]
Voice AI for small business just got a major vote of confidence. Smallest.ai, a startup building ultra-fast voice models designed to make AI phone calls sound genuinely human, has raised $13 million to push its technology closer to passing the Turing test. For owners who have long relied on scripts, hold music, and overworked front […]
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