Wearables
XReal Raises $100 Million and Unveils Latest Smart Glasses
January 08, 2026

Smart glasses maker XReal reportedly raised $100 million and is now valued at over $1 billion. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required. yesSubscribe to our daily...

Google
Google Claims Apple’s Spot on Most-Valuable-Companies List
January 08, 2026

Google has supplanted Apple as the second-most valuable company by market capitalization. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required. yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS Today. By...

Retail
Walmart’s Retail Media Scores Wins While Amazon’s AI Goes Ambient
January 08, 2026

The holiday shopping spree has come to a close. And while returns are no doubt occupying a fair amount of time at the world’s two biggest retailers, a relatively quiet (but consumer retail-focused) week at Amazon stood in contrast to some interesting developments around AI...

Technology
Senate Bill Would Extend National Quantum Initiative and Expand Its Activities
January 08, 2026

A bipartisan group of United States senators introduced a bill Thursday (Jan. 8) that would extend the National Quantum Initiative (NQI) by five years and expand its activities. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to...

artificial intelligence
Cyera Raises $400 Million for AI Data Security Platform
January 08, 2026

AI/data security provider Cyera is a $9 billion business following a new funding round. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required. yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS...

Partnerships
Bilt and Verifone Team to Combine Loyalty and Identity
January 08, 2026

Rent-based rewards program Bilt launched a partnership with payments technology provider Verifone. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required. yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS Today. By...

artificial intelligence
Neurosymbolic AI Aims to Make AI Safe for the C-Suite
January 08, 2026

Limitations of large language models have become harder to ignore as their adoption spreads into regulated and safety-critical environments. Hallucinations, weak causal reasoning and opaque decision paths have made many enterprises cautious about deploying generative artificial intelligence (AI) in areas such as healthcare, finance and...

Fintech Investments
Swap Raises $100 Million to Expand Global Commerce Solutions Platform
January 08, 2026

Swap raised $100 million in a Series C funding round to continue expanding the capabilities and reach of its global commerce solutions platform. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no...

Retail
Toast Cooks Up New AI Capabilities for Retailers
January 08, 2026

Hospitality platform Toast is introducing “retail specific” capabilities for its Toast IQ artificial intelligence (AI) assistant. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required. yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS...