Today In Payments: Slice Notches $40 Million; Facebook Tests Dating Again With Sparked

In today’s top news, Slice raises $40 million for its digital pizza-ordering platform, and Facebook is testing a new video dating app. Plus, Grab is going public via SPAC, signaling the rise of a super app.

Digital Pizza Ordering Startup Slice Notches $40 Million

Digital ordering platform Slice raised $40 million in a funding round led by Cross Creek. Headquartered in New York, the startup was founded in 2009 by Ilir Sela and helps local pizzerias take advantage of online ordering and payments.

Facebook Tests Dating Again With Video App Called Sparked

Facebook is testing out a new video speed dating app called Sparked, which will reportedly cycle people through four-minute video dates. If both people “have a great time,” then a second 10-minute date will be scheduled.

Grab’s Super-Sized IPO Underscores The Rise Of The Super App

Grab is going public, via SPAC, and at a reported $40 billion valuation. Here’s why Wall Street’s embrace — and Grab’s financials — offer just the latest evidence that the rise of the super app is an inexorable trend.

Hawley Goes After Big Tech With Aggressive Antitrust Bill

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri has introduced the Trust-Busting for the Twenty-First Century Act, which a press release said would take back control from big businesses and “return it to the American people” through cracking down on mergers and mega-acquisitions.

New Report: Behavioral Analytics, Machine Learning Keep FIs On Cutting Edge Of Fraud Prevention

Traditional data breach tactics have been replaced by schemes leveraging artificial intelligence, malicious bots and synthetic identities to snag valuable financial data. Financial institutions (FIs) require similarly high-tech countermeasures to meet these new threats — or risk falling prey to fraud. In the Financial Prevention Playbook, PYMNTS examines how FIs can use behavioral analytics and machine learning to tackle fraud in the digital age.

NEW REPORT: Hotels, Airlines Tap Payments Orchestration To Meet Consumers’ New Digital Expectations

The travel industry is poised for a comeback as economies slowly reopen, but the hotel chains and airlines of the world are still determining how best to satisfy consumers’ new digital expectations. In the Payments Innovation Readiness Playbook, PYMNTS provides a top-level overview of how travel and hospitality firms are tapping payments orchestration to boost conversion — and what other industry players can learn from their example.

JPMorgan: Consumer Spend, Debit Usage Hint At Return To Pre-Pandemic Recovery

JPMorgan’s latest quarterly results show spending is moving to pre-pandemic levels — at least in debit, though it’ll be a while before we see re-leveraging. The great digital shift continues, of course, and mobile rosters grew by the high single-digit percentages.