Basis Theory has raised $33 million in a Series B funding round to enhance its independent payments infrastructure aimed at empowering merchants with better control over their payment data and facilitating agentic commerce. The company plans to expand its platform, which allows businesses to securely manage payment data, enabling AI-driven transactions and partnerships without being locked into rigid systems.

Perplexity is enhancing its chat-powered shopping experience by partnering with PayPal, allowing U.S. users to make purchases directly within the chat interface. This collaboration aims to streamline transactions through PayPal's payment processing, as the company seeks to differentiate itself in the competitive generative AI market. The move comes amid a broader trend of integrating AI into e-commerce, with significant advancements from other payment providers as well.