API-based communications platform Vonage has expanded its scope by buying conversational commerce tech vendor Jumper.ai. The acquired firm lets retailers engage with consumers on chat and social channels. It’s a good illustration of how messaging and ecommerce are increasingly intertwined, if you were looking for one.
Cloud database Snowflake has launched the Media Data Cloud, a collection of advertising and customer data-related services that include first party identity resolution from Experian, data clean room from Habu, AI-based insights from DataRobot, privacy solutions from LTI, and Unified IS 2.0 and data activation from The Trade Desk. What’s special is these can all execute within Snowflake. Previously, users would have needed to export the data from Snowflake, process it, and re-import the results.
Online grocery service Instacart just bought cheerily-named Caper AI, which offers AI-powered in-store shopping cart and checkout technology. The system uses object recognition to understand what shoppers have placed in their carts, presumably without judging. It will help both Instacart workers and people buying for themselves – a group that apparently now needs a special label. I vote for “citizen shoppers”.
The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that could potentially ban TikTok in the U.S. if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not sell its holdings within a year. The bill now goes to the President Biden, who has said he will sign it. Court challenges are likely to follow.