Five At Five: Walmart’s Plans For Drones And Inventory

Welcome to Five at Five, your late look at payments and commerce news that you might have missed. Today we take a look at what Walmart wants to do about drones and inventory tracking, and how the job market looked this spring. Acorns has an update about its retirement app, PayPal has made an AI move and Daimler takes a stake in a ride-hailing startup.

Walmart’s Patent Filings Include Drones And Inventory Trackers

One patent is for a smart shopping cart that is connected to a sensing device. In another filing, Walmart describes a wearable device that could keep track of a user’s activities — a technology that could increase employee productivity.

ADP Reports 178,000 New Jobs Added From April To May

Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, said, “The hot job market has cooled slightly as the labor market continues to tighten. Healthcare and professional services remain a model of consistency, and continue to serve as the main drivers of growth in the services sector and the broader labor market as well.”

Acorns Has More Than 3.5M Customers, 100,000 For Retirement

Acorns’ Chief Executive Noah Kerner said that, though its client base isn’t investing huge amounts, the app is a way to get people to save and invest more.

PayPal Buys AI Prediction Platform

PayPal said Jetlore’s platform is used by some of the leading retailers around the globe. “With Jetlore’s talent and AI-powered technology, we will enhance and accelerate PayPal Marketing Solutions, adding new capabilities that continue to expand PayPal’s value proposition for merchants beyond the online checkout experience,” wrote PayPal in its blog post.

Daimler Takes Stake In Ride-Hailing Startup Taxify

Taxify, which is based in Estonia and has China’s Didi Chuxing among its investors, raised $175 million — with Daimler taking part in the round. The proceeds of the fundraising are expected to be used to expand the business beyond the 40 cities in Europe and Africa where it currently operates.