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Flux Power Appoints Stuart “Stu” Jacover as Vice President of Sales, Material Handling

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Industry Veteran Brings More Than 30 Years of Dealer Network, OEM, and National Account Leadership Experience to Accelerate Growth Across North America

Flux Powera developer of advanced lithium-ion energy storage solutions and intelligent fleet management software for material handling and airport ground support equipment, announced the appointment of Stu Jacover as Vice President of Sales, Material Handling.

Jacover brings more than 30 years of sales leadership, dealer network development, and strategic business growth experience across the material handling industry. Throughout his career, he has led multi-million-dollar sales organizations, expanded OEM partnerships, and driven market share growth across North America.

In his new role, Jacover will lead Flux Power’s material handling sales strategy, dealer engagement, national account growth, and customer expansion initiatives as the company continues accelerating adoption of lithium-ion energy solutions throughout the industry.

“Stuart’s deep understanding of the material handling landscape, combined with his proven track record in dealer development and enterprise sales leadership, makes him an exceptional addition to the Flux Power team,” said Krishna Vanka, Chief Executive Officer of Flux Power. “His experience working with leading OEMs and national accounts will help strengthen our market position and support the next phase of our growth.”

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Prior to joining Flux Power, Jacover served as General Manager, National Accounts at Mitsubishi Logisnext Americas, where he managed a multi-million dollar national sales portfolio and led strategic account operations across North America. He also held senior leadership roles at Toyota Material Handling North America, Hoist Lift Truck Manufacturing, Hyster Company, and Exide Technologies.

“I’m excited to join Flux Power at such an important time in the company’s growth,” said Jacover. “Flux Power’s commitment to innovation, customer partnership, and operational excellence aligns perfectly with where the material handling industry is headed. I look forward to working with the team to help customers transition to smarter, more efficient lithium-ion solutions.”

Jacover’s background includes extensive experience in dealer channel strategy, national account development, and commercial operations. His accomplishments include negotiating major distribution agreements, expanding regional market share, and building high-performing sales organizations across the industrial and material handling sectors.

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Forrester Study Finds Zip’s AI Platform Delivers 386% ROI for the World’s Largest Enterprises

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Study of enterprises with up to $45B in revenue and 150K employees finds Zip drives 3.3% savings on all spend flowing through the platform, delivers 386% ROI, and enables enterprises to recoup their full investment in just under 6 months

Zip, the AI platform for enterprise procurement trusted by OpenAI, T-Mobile, and Discover, announced the results of a commissioned Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study conducted by Forrester Consulting. The study found that Zip delivers 386% ROI for large enterprises, paying for itself in under 6 months, and validating that Zip delivers more value than any other platform in the category.

“Within the first five weeks, we already had around 300 requests in Zip, more than we processed in the entire prior year.” – Senior Global Director of Digital Procurement, top ten consumer goods company

Forrester interviewed decision-makers at four global enterprises spanning retail, consumer goods, and financial services – organizations with revenues ranging from $10 billion to $45 billion and workforces of up to 150,000 employees. Based on these interviews, Forrester constructed a composite organization to model the financial impact across this range of enterprises.

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Forrester’s study found that Zip delivers significant, measurable value across three core areas:

  • Cost savings and spend optimization from improved spend governance and renewal discipline: Increased spend under management and centralized orchestration enable more consistent compliance and earlier visibility, strengthening overall control of spend and delivering an average savings of 3.3% of all spend flowing through Zip.
  • Improved Cycle Time And Efficiency Through Intake And Procurement Orchestration: Simpler intake, automated routing, fewer handoffs, and audit-ready workflows driving an average 70% reduction of time spent submitting and approving requests for employees making purchase requests, reviewers, and procurement teams.
  • Reduced system administration and IT effort: No-code workflow maintenance, fewer IT change requests, and consolidation into a single orchestration layer reduce ongoing overhead. One Chief Procurement Officer in the study said, “The engineering time required to manage [our previous solution] versus Zip was probably 4 to 5X of what it is today for Zip.”

Beyond quantified benefits, the study also identified faster cycle times, improved compliance, reduced third-party risk, enhanced audit readiness, and greater process flexibility as additional advantages enterprises experienced with Zip.

“We have far and away exceeded our savings expectations,” said a VP of Strategic Sourcing and Procurement at a large retail enterprise interviewed for the study. “From an ROI perspective, the business has enjoyed a 10X return on our investment.” The Senior Global Director of Digital Procurement at a top ten consumer goods company described how within the first five weeks, they already had around 300 requests in Zip’s system, more than they had processed in the entire prior year, representing $3.9 billion, or roughly 15%, of the $25 billion spend in scope. “Next year … I’ll be stunned if we don’t hit $10 billion.”

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The Forrester study caps a breakthrough year for Zip. The company was recently named a Visionary in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Source-to-Pay Suites – the youngest company ever recognized – and has delivered over $6 billion in total customer savings. Snowflake has saved $305 million with Zip, Discover eliminated 3,000 manual approvals annually, and Canva cut procurement cycle times by 70%. With wall-to-wall deployments at hundreds of global enterprises including OpenAI, T-Mobile, Gap, Shell, and Anthropic, Zip continues to define what modern enterprise procurement looks like.

“We built procurement orchestration because legacy enterprise software left massive gaps in adoption and value realization. This study proves that thesis,” said Rujul Zaparde, Co-founder and CEO of Zip. “These are organizations that have invested in procurement technology for decades, yet were still leaving millions on the table. Now we are compounding our ability to deliver value with AI. Zip is positioned to deliver more value in the next two years than legacy procurement software has in twenty.”

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French Fashion Retailer Taps Algolia AI to Power Smarter Search and Conversational Discovery, Driving 2.3x Conversion Growth and One-Third of Digital Revenue

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Algolia, the AI Search and Retrieval platform powering more than 1.75 trillion queries each year for over 18,000 businesses worldwide, announced its partnership with Gémo, the French fashion retailer serving families online and in more than 400 stores. By implementing Algolia’s AI Search platform, including its AI Ranking that intelligently boosts popular search results based on real-time user behavior, Gémo has elevated search into a powerful, measurable driver of growth achieving a 2.3x increase in conversions and an exceptional 160x return on investment. Today, Algolia-powered search drives one-third of Gémo’s digital revenue.

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Gémo also harnesses Algolia’s Merchandising Studio and AI-based Rules functionality to give category managers control over the search experience, enabling them to independently fine-tune and optimize results, boost products, and tailor campaigns in line with seasonality, emerging trends, and evolving business priorities. Complementing this, AI Synonyms helps minimize zero-result queries, ensuring shoppers can quickly find what they’re looking for, regardless of how they phrase their search.

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Elsa Souillart, Category Manager, Gémo, said: “As we deepen our investment in ecommerce and omnichannel growth, Algolia has become core to our digital strategy, establishing a strong groundwork for next generation, AI-powered experiences and conversational discovery experiences. Beyond delivering exceptional returns, it has helped us build a more intuitive, seamless search journey for our customers, whilst equipping our teams with the tools to continuously optimize relevance and drive conversions. This was something that was once exceptionally challenging to achieve given the scale of our catalog.”

Nate Barad, Vice President of Product and Technical Marketing, said: “Guided by its ‘tailored for family life’ ethos, Gémo is focused on making everyday life for families easier. Fast, seamless AI-powered search plays a critical role in that mission, by helping busy parents find the right apparel quickly and at the right price. We’re thrilled that Algolia has helped elevate their mission, turning search into a meaningful driver of growth.”

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v4c.ai Announces Investment from Databricks Ventures

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Investment deepens alignment between Databricks and v4c as the company joins an exclusive portfolio of ecosystem leaders following breakout momentum

v4c.ai, a strategic boutique pure-play Databricks services partner, announced a Series A investment by Databricks Ventures and Tquila. The investment marks a defining milestone for v4c as the company officially joins the Databricks Ventures portfolio, reinforcing a shared commitment to the continued growth of the Databricks ecosystem.

“v4c is the type of partner that is helping shape the future of the Databricks ecosystem—deeply technical, highly aligned, and focused on customer outcomes,” said Kori O’Brien, Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships at Databricks.

Building on a breakout year, v4c has experienced exceptional growth as a Databricks services partner. The company recently surpassed 600+ Databricks certifications, supports more than 150 joint customers, and has grown to a global team of more than 400 data and AI professionals.

The investment signals the next chapter for v4c and Databricks, underscoring the company’s growing role across the broader Databricks community and a shared vision for the future of enterprise data and AI.

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“Building a world-class data and AI ecosystem takes partners who are ready to invest deeply in people, innovation, and customer success,” said Ron Gabrisko, CRO at Databricks. “v4c has become a rising star in the Databricks community. Their technical depth, customer focus, and investment in the Databricks platform are delivering huge outcomes for our joint customers. We’re excited to see the momentum build.”

“v4c is the type of partner that is helping shape the future of the Databricks ecosystem—deeply technical, highly aligned, and focused on customer outcomes,” said Kori O’Brien, Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships at Databricks. “Their continued commitment to the platform, the field, and our joint customer success has reinforced v4c’s position as a trusted and highly capable partner across the Databricks community, and we’re excited to welcome them to the Databricks Ventures portfolio.”

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For v4c, the investment reflects the continued alignment between the company and the Databricks ecosystem that has shaped v4c’s vision and trajectory since its inception.

“We built v4c around a deep belief in the Databricks vision and the future of the Lakehouse ecosystem,” said Vijay Rao, Founder at v4c. “Becoming a Databricks Ventures portfolio company is an incredibly meaningful milestone for our team and a powerful validation of the impact we’ve built alongside Databricks. For us, this represents far more than an investment; it’s a strong signal that Databricks believes in our vision, our mission, and the future we’re building together.”

Since establishing its relationship with Databricks, v4c has seen an 800% organic increase in its customer acquisition and 900% year-over-year revenue growth. Anticipated figures show the organization surpassing 700 employees by the end of Q4 2026, alongside projected 7x year-over-year revenue growth—further signaling the company’s rapid ascent as a trusted Databricks partner.

“We evaluate a significant number of companies across the data and AI landscape, and it’s rare to see a team enter an ecosystem and generate this level of velocity, traction, and execution so quickly,” said Jonathan Stypula, Partner at Tquila, which led the investment round. “v4c has entered the Databricks ecosystem with a level of focus and execution that clearly sets them apart. They’re not just participating in the market—they’re helping define it. That’s exactly the type of company we look to back.”

As enterprises continue accelerating investments in data and AI, v4c and Databricks will continue working closely together to help organizations modernize their data platforms and unlock greater value from the Databricks platform.

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Streamex Corp. Appoints Former Microsoft and PayPal Lead Product Designer Kori Handy as Vice President of Product and Design

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Streamex Corp. (“Streamex” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: STEX), a technology company building the tokenization ecosystem for all real-world assets beginning with commodities, today announced the appointment of Kori Handy as Vice President of Product and Design. Kori brings 18 years of experience scaling fintech and SaaS platforms from zero to $2B+ in assets under management and more than 200 million users, and joins Streamex at a pivotal moment in the Company’s growth trajectory.

Highlights

  • Kori brings nearly two decades of product, design, and startup leadership experience building fintech and SaaS platforms used by more than 200 million people globally and helping scale businesses beyond $2B+ in assets under management. His work sits at the intersection of product vision, behavioral psychology, growth, and world-class design execution.
  • Known for turning highly complex financial systems into intuitive, high-conviction user experiences, Kori has led transformative product redesigns and growth initiatives across some of the most recognized companies in fintech and technology, including Groundfloor, PayPal, DraftKings, Expedia, Agora, and Microsoft.
  • Kori’s work has consistently translated into measurable business outcomes. At Groundfloor ($2.5B+ AUM), he led a complete redesign of the investing platform across web and mobile that drove a 32% increase in activation rates, a 27% increase in cash deposits, and record monthly AUM growth. At High Circle Banking, his product and design leadership helped drive double-digit millions in AUM within the first 12 months. Earlier in his career, he helped scale products reaching more than 1 million downloads and millions in ARR through design-led product strategy and execution.
  • As Vice President of Product and Design, Kori will lead the evolution of the GLDY user experience and the broader Streamex ecosystem, overseeing product strategy, customer experience, visual systems, and the launch of next-generation financial products designed to redefine how investors interact with tokenized real-world assets.

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Kori joins Streamex with a reputation for building ambitious, design-first financial products that blend simplicity, trust, and performance at scale. Over the course of his career, he has led product and design initiatives across fintech, banking, investing, enterprise software, and consumer technology, helping companies accelerate growth, improve conversion, increase assets under management, and create category-defining user experiences. He is joining Streamex at a pivotal moment as the Company transitions from infrastructure buildout into platform scale and mass-market product expansion. With GLDY, Streamex’s gold-backed, yield-bearing tokenized security, continuing to expand into institutional and broader investor markets, the Company is now focused on building an experience that makes sophisticated financial infrastructure feel effortless, intuitive, and globally accessible.

At Streamex, Kori will lead a comprehensive product transformation across the GLDY ecosystem and future product suite. His responsibilities will include product strategy, customer experience, design systems, brand direction, onboarding optimization, and the development of new investor-facing financial products.

Henry McPhie, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Streamex, said:
“Kori brings a rare combination of product vision, startup intensity, and elite design execution. He understands how to take highly complex financial infrastructure and turn it into experiences that feel simple, premium, and deeply intuitive. His work has consistently driven measurable business growth, from activation and retention to AUM expansion and customer trust. As we scale GLDY and introduce the next generation of tokenized financial products, Kori will play a major role in shaping how the world experiences modern digital assets.”

Kori Handy, Vice President of Product and Design, said:
“Streamex is building one of the most exciting financial products I’ve seen in years, a regulated, yield-bearing commodity product backed by real infrastructure, real liquidity, and real utility. What excites me most is the opportunity to humanize that complexity and create an experience that feels world-class, trustworthy, and incredibly easy to use.

I’ve always believed the future belongs to companies that can take powerful technology and make it feel simple, emotional, and accessible to everyday people. That’s what we’re building here. We’re not just designing another fintech product, we’re designing the future experience of owning and interacting with real-world assets on-chain.”

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Background
Kori most recently served as Product Design Leader at Groundfloor, the award-winning real estate investing platform with more than $2.5B in AUM and over 280,000 investors. There, he led a full redesign across web and mobile platforms, modernizing the customer experience and driving significant gains in onboarding, deposits, retention, and overall investor engagement.

Prior to Groundfloor, he served as Head of Product Design at High Circle Banking, where he helped conceptualize and launch a premium banking and investing platform tailored to high-net-worth individuals. The platform scaled to double-digit millions in AUM within its first year.

Kori is also a repeat founder and operator. He founded Kepler Savings, a retirement fintech platform focused on helping hourly and contract workers build long-term wealth through payroll-linked investing experiences. The company gained early traction with enterprise brands including Taco Bell, KFC, and Wendy’s, scaled rapidly in ARR growth, and attracted backing from investors and executives associated with Salesforce, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.

Earlier in his career, Kori founded Design First Apps, a product studio later acquired by a private equity firm after launching multiple globally featured applications that generated more than 2 million downloads and received over 40 Apple editorial features.

Throughout his career, Kori has become known for combining deep systems thinking with high-end product craftsmanship, helping companies bridge the gap between sophisticated financial infrastructure and human-centered user experiences.

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SalesCloser Secures Second U.S. Patent for AI-Driven Call Automation Technology

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Second Patent Strengthens Growing IP Portfolio Protecting Real-World Execution Infrastructure for Autonomous Sales Agents

SalesCloser Technologies Ltd. (“SalesCloser” or the “Company”) (TSXV: SCAI) (FSE: MJ5), a pioneer in autonomous AI sales technology, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (the “USPTO“) has granted the Company U.S. Patent No US12574461B1 for its “Adaptive Voicemail and IVR Detection for AI-Driven Call Automation” technology. The patent protects core capabilities that enable SalesCloser’s AI sales agents to efficiently navigate the realities of outbound calling — distinguishing in real time between voicemail systems, live human contacts, and interactive voice response (“IVR“) menus, and responding appropriately to each.

This patent is SalesCloser’s second granted U.S. patent and reinforces the Company’s strategy of protecting the execution infrastructure that allows autonomous AI sales agents to operate reliably at scale in production environments. The granted patent covers technology that analyzes audio signals during calls in real time to determine whether the call has reached a live person, a voicemail system, or an automated phone menu. Based on that determination, the system can leave a tailored voicemail message, terminate the call, or select the correct keypad inputs to progress through IVR menus and route the call toward the intended decision-maker. Voicemail detection is already live in the SalesCloser platform, with IVR navigation capabilities under active development.

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“AI-driven calling systems need to distinguish between live recipients, voicemail systems, and IVR menus in order to select the appropriate next action,” said Ali Tajskandar, CEO of SalesCloser Technologies. “Detecting voicemail, navigating IVR menus, and using every dialed minute efficiently are execution-layer problems that don’t make headlines, but they decide whether autonomous sales technology works in the real world. This patent protects the engineering work that turns a conversational AI model into a sales agent capable of delivering measurable connect rates and improved conversion for our customers.”

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With this grant, SalesCloser now holds two granted U.S. patents within its growing intellectual property portfolio, which includes additional U.S. patent applications covering fundamental challenges in conversational AI – from real-time conversational state management and autonomous human escalation to self-testing systems and advanced telephony features. Consistent with the Company’s IP strategy, each application addresses a specific technical problem that SalesCloser’s engineering team solved while building a platform capable of handling thousands of simultaneous customer conversations across voice, video, and digital channels. By deliberately protecting execution infrastructure rather than abstract concepts, the Company aims to build practical barriers to entry around the systems required to make autonomous AI sales agents work reliably in production environments.

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Xcelerate and Right Restoration Partners Announce Strategic Technology Partnership to Accelerate Growth Across National Restoration Platform

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Partnership Positions Xcelerate as the Preferred Job Management Platform for Right Restoration Partners’ Growing Portfolio of Restoration Companies, Equipping Operators with the Tools to Drive KPI-Led Performance at Scale

Xcelerate, the job management and analytics platform built exclusively for the restoration industry, and Right Restoration Partners (“RRP”), a national disaster restoration platform, today announced a strategic technology partnership. Under the agreement, Xcelerate will serve as the preferred platform across RRP’s expanding portfolio of restoration companies — delivering enterprise-grade visibility into operational performance, job-level economics, and the key performance indicators that drive profitable growth.

The partnership reflects a shared conviction that the next generation of market-leading restoration businesses will be built on data. By deploying Xcelerate across its portfolio, RRP is equipping each of its partner companies with real-time dashboards, benchmarking tools, and operational intelligence to compete at the highest level — while preserving the local brands, cultures, and leadership teams that made them great.

A Platform Built for How Restoration Companies Actually Operate

RRP evaluated multiple technology solutions before selecting Xcelerate as its preferred partner. The decision came down to Xcelerate’s deep domain expertise in the restoration vertical —purpose-built workflows, industry-specific KPI frameworks, and a platform designed by operators who have lived the challenges that restoration business owners face every day.

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“We looked at the full landscape of technology providers in the restoration space, and Xcelerate stood apart. Their platform was built by people who have actually run restoration businesses—they understand customer needs, cycle time, job costing and crew productivity at a level that generic software providers simply don’t. As we scale RRP, having a single source of truth for operational performance is foundational to how we integrate and grow each business.”
— Rob Comstock, Chief Executive Officer, Right Restoration Partners

Empowering the Industry’s Most Ambitious Growth Platform

For Xcelerate, the partnership with RRP represents a landmark alignment with one of the restoration industry’s fastest-growing and most operationally sophisticated platforms. RRP’s commitment to deploying Xcelerate across its entire portfolio—from day one of integration—validates the platform’s ability to serve multi-location, multi-brand restoration organizations at enterprise scale.

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“Right Restoration Partners is building something special in this industry—a national platform that combines the operational discipline of a world-class management team with the local expertise and customer relationships that independent restorers bring to the table. We’re proud to be the technology backbone that connects those pieces. When every branch, every project manager, and every crew is running on the same data, the results speak for themselves.”
— Melissa Petty, General Manager, Xcelerate

A Partnership Designed to Scale

RRP was founded with a clear thesis: the U.S. disaster restoration industry remains highly fragmented, and the best independent operators deserve a partner that can help them reach their full potential without losing what makes them great. RRP is executing an ambitious acquisition strategy with a focus on high-performing companies in major metropolitan markets across the country.

From day one as an RRP partner, every company gains immediate access to the operational intelligence that the industry’s best operators use to run their businesses — real-time visibility into cycle time, job margins, close rates, and revenue per lead. Rather than building that capability alone over years, RRP partner companies hit the ground running with tools, benchmarks, and a network of peers who’ve solved the same problems. The result: owners spend less time guessing and more time growing — with the full picture of their business always in front of them.

The companies have already collaborated on industry-facing initiatives, including a joint event at the 2026 Restoration Industry Association (RIA) Convention featuring a panel discussion titled “The KPI Gap: Why the Best Restoration Companies Run on Data—Not Gut Feel,” with plans for additional collaboration in the future.

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Interrupt Agents Announces Partnership with Glean to Help Growth Teams Operationalize AI Faster

Interrupt Agents, a technology solutions firm that builds AI-native growth infrastructure for growth teams, today announced a partnership with Work AI leader Glean to help organizations implement AI platforms, deploy AI-native packaged apps, and build custom agents grounded in enterprise context.

Interrupt Agents, a technology solutions firm that builds AI-native growth infrastructure for growth teams, today announced a partnership with Work AI leader Glean to help organizations implement AI platforms, deploy AI-native packaged apps, and build custom agents grounded in enterprise context. The partnership brings together Interrupt Agents’ expertise in designing, building, and operating AI-native platforms, AI-native packaged apps, and custom agents with Glean’s horizontal Work AI platform to help joint customers move faster, make better decisions, and generate more revenue with less manual work.

As organizations evaluate AI for growth teams, many still face fragmented go-to-market data, assets, and workflows across systems, making it harder than ever for growth teams to hit their goals. Those teams are also being asked to do more with limited budget and bandwidth, which makes it even harder to turn AI into repeatable operational value.

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Through this partnership, Interrupt Agents and Glean are helping organizations establish a unified knowledge layer for growth team workflows, then extend it with implementation support, AI-native packaged apps and custom agents for specific growth team workflows. Glean provides the platform foundation that connects and understands an organization’s enterprise knowledge, applications, and workflows, while preserving permissions and grounding AI experiences in trusted context.

Key benefits for customers

  • Faster time to value through AI-native packaged apps and implementation support that can accelerate deployment without starting from scratch.
  • A stronger operational foundation for AI by pairing Glean’s platform with Interrupt Agents’ implementation, extension, and agent development capabilities.
  • More practical, KPI-oriented use cases for growth teams, including campaign execution, sales prioritization, coaching, and other agents for specific growth team workflows.

“We are incredibly excited to partner with Glean because growth teams need a better way to deal with scattered data, disconnected workflows, and constant pressure to do more with limited budget and bandwidth,” said Ben Lack, CEO of Interrupt Agents. “Glean gives us a strong Work AI foundation to help clients solve those challenges in a practical way. Together, we can help organizations move faster with AI-native packaged apps and agents built for the growth team workflows that actually drive measurable growth outcomes.”

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“The next phase of AI adoption is not about adding more standalone tools – it’s about bringing AI into the workflows where teams already operate, grounded in the context of the business,” said Zubin Irani, VP of Partnerships at Glean. “Interrupt Agents brings deep expertise in growth team execution, and together we can help customers apply Glean’s platform to high-impact workflows with the context, permissions, and governance enterprises need.”

The announcement supports a broader launch for Interrupt Agents and aligns with upcoming joint market education efforts, including a June 4 webinar with Glean and MarketingProfs focused on practical AI agents for go-to-market and growth teams. The session will highlight what AI-native agents look like in real GTM workflows and how organizations can pair Glean’s Work AI platform with Interrupt Agents’ applications and services to drive measurable growth.

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Klarna launches AI-powered Shopping Search app in ChatGPT

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Klarna, the global digital bank and flexible payments provider, launched the Klarna Shopping Search app in ChatGPT, bringing real-time product discovery directly into the conversation.

The launch comes as AI-powered product search reshapes online retail: during the 2025 holiday season, traffic from AI platforms to retail sites grew nearly 700%, with those shoppers converting at 31% higher rates.

Until now, consumers asking AI models for shopping help have had to open new browser tabs, navigate competing sites, and reconcile outdated prices. With the Klarna Shopping Search app in ChatGPT, they simply describe what they’re looking for and instantly see visual results with up-to-date prices, availability, and offers from multiple merchants, all within the same conversation. The Klarna Shopping Search app then seamlessly redirects users to the merchant’s site to complete their purchase.

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Powering the experience is Klarna’s Product Search MCP server, which connects ChatGPT to Klarna’s live commerce data of more than 100 million products and 400 million merchant listings across 13 markets, delivered directly inside ChatGPT so shoppers can find what they need before getting redirected to the merchant to buy. For merchants, Klarna Shopping Search opens a new high-intent discovery channel at the moment of decision. Retailers appear in organic results based on relevance, with options for clearly labeled sponsored placements to boost visibility.

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“ChatGPT is where millions of people already turn when they’re figuring out what they want,” said David Sykes, Chief Commercial Officer at Klarna. “We’re plugging our merchant network directly into that moment. A consumer who last week would have spent twenty minutes comparing tabs now gets a real answer in one conversation, creating a more seamless experience from idea to purchase.”

The Klarna Shopping Search app is available now in ChatGPT.

Editor’s note: To access the Klarna Shopping Search app in ChatGPT, click “Apps” in the sidebar and search for “Klarna Shopping Search.” If you haven’t used the app before, select “Connect” and follow the prompts to connect to the app. If you’ve already connected, select “Start chat,” then describe what you’re looking for to browse real-time product results directly within the conversation.

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Specific AI at Silicon Valley’s Startup Grind Unveils Global B2B AI Infrastructure Vision

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Specific AI appeared at Startup Grind Conference in Redwood City, California, one of Silicon Valley’s most influential startup gatherings. The event brought together leading founders, investors, operators, and ecosystem builders from around the world.

As a global platform known for convening the people shaping the next generation of great companies, Startup Grind has long served as a meeting ground for innovation, entrepreneurship, and industry collaboration.

Against this backdrop, Specific AI showcased its AI workforce platform for global business expansion, drawing attention from investors, enterprise buyers, and ecosystem partners interested in how AI agents can transform cross-border B2B operations.

A Strong Silicon Valley Debut

The Specific AI team presented its platform to a packed room of investors and operators, generating strong follow-up conversations with venture firms and enterprise prospects. The response underscored growing global demand for AI solutions designed specifically for the realities of cross-border business: fragmented data, language barriers, unfamiliar regulations, and limited local resources.

For Specific AI, these challenges point to a deeper structural problem: when companies expand into foreign markets, they are often forced to make high-stakes decisions with incomplete visibility. Most teams rely on what Specific AI calls “comfort zone data” – information from familiar, domestic, and easily accessible sources – while the most critical signals remain scattered across the “uncomfortable zone”: overseas tenders, foreign-language regulatory filings, international trade signals, and cross-border risk events. Specific AI’s platform is built to close that gap by turning fragmented global intelligence into actionable business decisions.

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From Product to Infrastructure

What set Specific AI apart at Startup Grind Conference was not just what the product does today – but where it is going.

While the company currently offers three specialized AI teammates – an AI Bid Specialist, an AI Sales Assistant, and an AI Risk Specialist – the founding team’s ambition extends far beyond individual agent products. Specific AI is building toward becoming the foundational infrastructure layer for global B2B operations: a platform where every business function a company needs to operate internationally has a corresponding AI agent available on demand.

In the vision articulated by co-founder and CEO Jinguang Yang, the platform will eventually cover the full spectrum of cross-border business activity – from financial compliance and legal monitoring to logistics intelligence, trade platform integration, and real-time regulatory tracking – all unified under a single agent framework powered by Specific AI’s proprietary 100M-node commercial knowledge graph.

“We are not building a product,” said Jinguang Yang, co founder of Specific Al. “We are building the infrastructure layer for cross-border B2B growth and intend to be the system for global business – the place where every company, regardless of size, can deploy the right AI teammate for every stage and function of their international operations.”

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Proven Traction Across Industries and Geographies

The company’s Startup Grind presentation is grounded in real commercial results. Specific AI has validated product-market fit across a broad range of client profiles: from a Projector & LED Display manufacturer in early-stage global expansion, to a Construction Materials company bidding on European public procurement contracts.

In that flagship enterprise deployment, Specific AI’s AI Risk Specialist has supported enterprise teams in monitoring cross-border commercial, financial, and legal risks across large counterparty networks.

The Intelligence Foundation Behind the Agents Agent

What makes Specific AI’s approach distinct is not merely its ability to surface information – it is its ability to understand the connections within that information and act on them. The platform combines a proprietary global data foundation with deep, industry-specific commercial intelligence, then deploys specialized AI agents that do not merely report findings, but identify patterns and relationships across fragmented data sources before executing downstream work: drafting bid proposals, qualifying and outreaching to leads, generating risk alerts, and producing multilingual market reports.

For companies expanding globally, Specific AI brings intelligence and action together on a single platform. Every business function that cross-border growth demands has a corresponding AI teammate ready to take it on.

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