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Amazon isn’t just a marketplace anymore. With its new “Buy for me” button, Amazon is becoming an AI Purchasing Agent, owning product discovery and checkout across both its own inventory and third-party sites. Amazon has collapsed the entire shopping journey into a single click.

"Digital wallet" has become a buzzword in fintech, but what makes a platform a digital wallet? In a breakdown from "The Brainstorm," Nick Grous explains how Robinhood, Coinbase, and Square started with unique strengths and are now evolving into full-fledged financial ecosystems.

Marketplaces evolve by reducing friction for consumers. Each wave of innovation makes purchasing goods easier. With AI, things are only getting faster and easier. In this newsletter, we unpack how Amazon is evolving from a marketplace to an AI purchasing agent by enabling the

this could drastically improve the in-chat shopping experience

the gig economy isn't just a side hustle anymore - it's going mainstream.

Amazon’s latest AI-driven feature, ‘Buy For Me’, could change e-commerce. Watch Sam Korus, Nick Grous, and Varshika Prasanna on "The Brainstorm" as they discuss how AI is reducing barriers to purchase and redefining service in the online marketplace. ark-invest.com/podcast/the-br…

Robinhood Gold hit a 12.4% attach rate in 1Q25, and up to 33% for newer cohorts. Gold is not just a subscription - it's the core of Robinhood’s financial services stack. Accelerating Gold adoption could cement its position as the go-to consumer finance app. All for just $5/month.

We’re shipping fast at Robinhood, and we’re seeing the results in our business. Some recent highlights: ▪️4.5M Futures contracts traded in April alone ▪️>1B prediction markets contracts traded in the last six months ▪️Improvements to Robinhood Legend - more speed, more

In contrast, users spend ~48 minutes per day on Instagram and ~108 minutes per day on TikTok. The live auctions and flash deals make livestream commerce uniquely addictive.

Marketplaces have always shaped how we acquire goods. Currency eliminated barter. Dept. stores brought price transparency. Supply chains scaled inventory. The web removed geography. Mobile made instant delivery the norm. Tech innovation has drastically reduced friction of

I'm very excited to see what impact Meta's new API may have on open-weight model usage and customization, especially given their inference offerings from Cerebras and Groq Inc. More on what these collaborations mean in this week's newsletter from Varshika Prasanna and me:

Sea Ltd's content driven orders from livestreams and short videos made up ~20% of all physical goods sold in Southeast Asia in Q1, up from ~15% in Q4. Livestream commerce is gaining traction by changing the way people shop, and it's here to stay.

Now you can Airbnb more than an Airbnb

In the age of AI, marketplace moats are shifting. It's no longer just about network effects or brand. The real edge? Lowest price Fastest delivery Deepest inventory AI is compressing time, cost, and choice into pure convenience. Those who automate it best will dominate.