PYMNTS

JANUARY 10, 2018

When Mastercard launched the Start Path accelerator program in 2014, the goal – according to VP and senior business leader, Amy Neale – was to make it easier for emerging companies to enter “our world” through a combination of operational support, commercial access and some strategic funding. “And when we talk about our world, we mean not just payments, but FinTech more broadly – and, even more broadly than that, commerce,” she said.

Construction 77

Construction Start-ups Retail 77

Katz,Sapper&Miller

JANUARY 9, 2018

Small businesses renting commercial property in downtown Manhattan are getting a break on their Commercial Rent Tax (CRT) under new legislation signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in late December. Effective for tax years after July 1, 2018, the law provides a new tax credit for businesses that have income of less than $10 million and rent of less than $550,000.

New York 40

New York Tax 40

PYMNTS

JANUARY 10, 2018

Old and new tech are both coming into play in B2B API. The ever-changing value of bitcoin has been making headlines, and delivering and dashing investors’ dreams along the way. And recently, B2B API players have been tuned in, paying close attention to the cryptocurrency’s rising and falling star. But, more than just watching the cryptocurrency’s value slide up and down, players in the space have increasingly been exploring its underlying blockchain technology — and what that tech could do for B

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B2B Gaming Technology Maine 74

PYMNTS

JANUARY 10, 2018

Stripe has announced an addition to its Stripe Atlas toolkit that will help founders file their corporate tax returns in minutes. This new tool can be especially important for resource-strapped startups, which often have difficulty with the tax process even with the help of an adviser. In fact, 54 percent of Atlas founders reported making a mistake when filing last year’s returns, including paying the incorrect amount, filing late or missing required filings entirely.

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tax return Tax Delaware corporation tax 67

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PYMNTS

JANUARY 12, 2018

No more signatures. Visa said today (Jan. 12) in a blog post that it is making the signature an option — and no longer a requirement — for EMV chip-enabled merchants across North America. That shift, for contact or contactless payments, goes into effect April 2018. At the same time, Visa said in its posting that it will continue to invest in initiatives tied to advanced analytics and biometrics.

Sales 61

Sales Technology 61

PYMNTS

JANUARY 9, 2018

Following in the footsteps of companies seeking to get in on the cryptocurrency craze, Eastman Kodak Co. is launching its own digital currency, Bloomberg reports. The cryptocurrency, which the company is calling Kodakcoin, will be “a photocentric cryptocurrency to empower photographers and agencies to take greater control in image rights management.”.

Technology 55

Technology 55

PYMNTS

JANUARY 9, 2018

It appears that 2017 was a good year for omnichannel shopping, particularly according to the eCommerce Foundation’s recently released “United States Ecommerce Country Report” that covered eCommerce data from the last year. That data strongly indicates 88 percent of consumer pre-research their buys online before making a purchase either online or in-store.

Sales 55

Sales Retail 55

PYMNTS

JANUARY 10, 2018

Enterprise blockchain company Money By Design is planning an initial coin offering (ICO) and hopes to secure more than $350 million through the deal. France-based ICO boutique Chaineum told PYMNTS on Tuesday (Jan. 9) that it will be managing the ICO. The private placement will launch on Feb. 15. Money By Design has launched a project called the Smart Tokenization Blockchain, which uses blockchain to produce and manage tokens.

Start-ups 54

Start-ups Finance B2B 54

PYMNTS

JANUARY 9, 2018

An expanded delivery platform from Assa Abloy ’s smart lock startup will now allow merchants to offer in-home deliveries to their customers, TechCrunch reports. Months after a test with Walmart, August Home is rolling out August Access with its courier partner, Deliv. Available to those with a smart lock from August, Emtek or Yale, the service will appear as another delivery option for merchants that participate in the program.

Retail 53

Retail 53

PYMNTS

JANUARY 12, 2018

The Feds are seeking to put nearly 4,000 bitcoins on the auction block — currently worth approximately $50 million — seized in criminal, civil and administrative cases, BGR reported. On Thursday, the U.S. Marshals Service said it will hold an auction in February to dispose of 3,813 bitcoins, which are valued at a sizable $52 million at today’s price.

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Gambling Government 53

Speaker: James Kahler, COO of Full Course

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PYMNTS

JANUARY 12, 2018

Colonel Sanders wants customers’ bitcoins. According to Fortune , Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has announced a Bitcoin Bucket, available only in Canada and only for a limited time, for the low, low price of $20 worth of bitcoin tokens. The bucket, which contains 10 original recipe tenders, waffle fries, a medium side, gravy and two dipping sauces, cannot be purchased with cash, credit, Apple Pay or any other payment method.

Kentucky 52

Kentucky Sales Retail 52

PYMNTS

JANUARY 9, 2018

With big banks pulling back from small and medium-sized business (SMB) lending in the wake of the global financial crisis, the market was ripe for someone else to fill the credit gap. Enter: alternative lenders. While marketplace lending platforms and alternative finance players first surfaced to compete with traditional financial institutions (FIs), many large banks have now realized that collaborating with these companies is the way to better service SMBs — and without the added investment in

Non-Profits 52

Non-Profits Maine Florida Finance 52

PYMNTS

JANUARY 9, 2018

Digital payment company PayPal is not betting on bitcoin as of now. In an interview with TheStreet.com, PayPal chief executive officer Dan Schulman said that while PayPal is focused on innovating in the payment market, it’s not focused specifically on the digital currency. “I think right now, and we’re seeing this maybe more than ever, the volatility of the cryptocurrency makes it actually unsuitable to be a real currency that retailers can accept,” Schulman said in the interview.

Technology 52

Technology Retail Sales 52

PYMNTS

JANUARY 11, 2018

Visa is expanding its B2B payments footprint throughout Latin America. The payments technology company announced Wednesday (Jan. 10) that it has struck a partnership with FinTech NovoPayment. Together, the companies will provide B2B payments services across Latin America and the Caribbean, with a focus on business travel payments, accounts payable and accounts receivable solutions, and Visa bank clients.

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Speaker: Jamie Eagan

As organizations strive for agility and efficiency, it's imperative for finance leaders to embrace innovative technologies and redefine traditional processes. Join us as we explore the pivotal role of digitalization and automation in reshaping what is commonly referred to as the “last mile of reporting”. We’ll deep-dive into why digitalization is no longer a choice, but a necessity for finance departments to stay competitive in a fast-paced environment touching on: 2024 trends for the Office of

Technology

PYMNTS

JANUARY 10, 2018

A new blockchain accelerator, MState , has found some high-profile backing. News from Business Insider on Tuesday (Jan. 9) stated MState secured backing from IBM and Comcast Ventures. IBM will provide support services, while Comcast Ventures will provide funding, the publication said. MState itself plans to invest between $25,000 and $50,000 into six early-stage blockchain startups over the next six months.

B2B 51

B2B Finance Technology 51

PYMNTS

JANUARY 8, 2018

Jobs numbers were off to a rocky start for the year when new data from the U.S. Department of Labor revealed lower-than-expected jobs numbers for the month of December. But when it comes to small business (SMB) hiring, the numbers don’t always present a clear picture. In fact, the latest research on small business performance goes far beyond hiring stats.

Construction 51

Construction Finance B2B Start-ups 51

PYMNTS

JANUARY 11, 2018

Lenders in the U.S. overwhelmingly plan to expand financing activity this year. According to new research from Magilla Loans , which offers an anonymous search engine data for both home and business loans, a survey of mortgage and business lenders found plans to originate more than half a trillion dollars’ worth of loans in 2018. According to the report, 88 percent of lenders plan to lend more in 2018 than they did in 2017, and more than a third (36 percent) said they plan to lessen requir

Finance 50

Finance Maine Technology B2B 50

PYMNTS

JANUARY 8, 2018

The word “vending machine” elicits a few typical images: candy bars, chips and soft drinks — though if one spends enough time in an airport personal electronics might make the list. But vending machines are branching out in big ways and getting more high tech. According to the PYMNTS/USA Technology Unattended Retail tracker, there will be 3.6 million connected vending machines on the planet by 2020.

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New York Retail Technology Sales 50

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Technology

PYMNTS

JANUARY 9, 2018

In the crypto world, everyone knows you are a dog (meme). So it was with Dogecoin, originally created as a parody of crypto…and now as buoyant as some of the real deal. The alternative crypto inspired by a dog meme now has a $2 billion market cap, as noted by Business Insider and other sources. The currency features a dog, and even founder Jackson Palmer has said he worries about market froth.

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financial statements Finance Government 49

PYMNTS

JANUARY 10, 2018

Until recently, the QR code was one of the great contenders in the race to ignite mobile commerce. But according to new reserach from Juniper, the humble QR code may be facing a rich second life as a driver of mobile loyalty. New data released by the firm indicated that 1.3 billion mobile QR code coupons were estimated to have been redeemed last year, and the figure is set to grow by a lot — to 5.3 billion by 2022.

Retail 48

Retail Technology 48

PYMNTS

JANUARY 9, 2018

Cryptocurrencies led by real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system Ripple’s XRP fell in trading Monday (Jan. 8) as investors bet its stock surge was a bubble. . According to a report in CNBC, Ripple was down 10 percent while bitcoin fell 7.6 percent, and lifecoin dropped 6.4 percent. Ethereum bucked the declining trend Monday trading up 4.7 percent, however.

New York 48

New York Technology 48

PYMNTS

JANUARY 9, 2018

UnionPay International is expanding its support for cross-border B2B payments through an integration with wholesale eCommerce market Yiwu Market, based in China. According to a press release issued on Monday (Jan. 8), UnionPay’s Cross-Border B2B Payment Service Platform is now linked into the official Yiwu Market website, enabling corporate buyers outside China to pay for goods on Yiwu using UnionPay cards issued overseas.

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PYMNTS

JANUARY 12, 2018

Invisible payments are convenient…until they’re not. From paying for groceries through Apple Pay to paying for a ride on Lyft, many popular services today require nothing but a phone – no need to pull out a credit card or sign a receipt. It’s almost like not spending money at all. Yet just because these payments can’t be seen doesn’t mean they aren’t at risk.

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Entertainment Hospitality Gaming Technology 47

PYMNTS

JANUARY 9, 2018

It’s every Uber rider’s worst nightmare: A ride that costs hundreds of more dollars than expected. In October, an Illinois woman hopped out of an Uber after a 100-mile ride to discover she had been charged nearly a thousand dollars. The ride — from a Chicago suburb to O’Hare International Airport and back — would normally cost $120. But, due to the ridesharing giant’s “surge pricing” strategy, the ride cost nearly eight times higher.

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Illinois New York Retail 47

PYMNTS

JANUARY 9, 2018

Seeing a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse is a unique cinematic experience — which is saying something, given that movies are a fairly stereotyped affair. Customers go to the theater, purchase their tickets, buy popcorn and retreat to a large, dark room to watch a film on a massive screen with amped up surround sound. There have been changes to the model on the margin.

North Carolina 46

North Carolina Entertainment Start-ups Retail 46

PYMNTS

JANUARY 12, 2018

Turns out “mall” is a passé, a name, a nomer that hearkens back to the musty days of the 80s. The Wall Street Journal reports that the “four-letter” word has been getting the boot from … mall operators. Call them something else, then, it seems. In numerous examples cited by the financial publication, rebranding is afoot. Consider Parmatown Mall, in Parma, Ohio, which has been refashioned as The Shoppes at Parma.

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New Jersey Ohio Entertainment Retail 46

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Finance

PYMNTS

JANUARY 11, 2018

Blocking the U.K.’s exit from the European Union could spark the next global financial crisis, according to warnings issued by two U.K. policymakers. Reports in Bloomberg Politics on Wednesday (Jan. 10) said Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond and Brexit Secretary David Davis issued a joint letter to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung warning of the consequences should the EU vote to block Brexit from happening.

B2B 46

B2B 46

PYMNTS

JANUARY 8, 2018

As checkout processes become more automated and the point of sale moves to a mobile-first approach, the role of the retail clerk is also changing. Ringing up goods is giving way to customer service specialization and service offerings that digital retailers can’t match, according to a U.S. News and World Report. Best Buy employees are leaving stores and arriving on customers’ doorsteps to help them pick the right products for their homes.

Retail 46

Retail Sales E-commerce 46

PYMNTS

JANUARY 8, 2018

Small but mighty, German discount grocer Lidl — a brand known for not only its low prices, but also its innovative store layouts and private labels, including clothing — has already gobbled up 3 percent of local market share since the chain came to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in June 2017. Lidl opened a total of 10 stores in North and South Carolina and Virginia on June 15 (one day before Amazon announced its $13.7 billion acquisition of organic grocer Whole Foods).

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South Carolina North Carolina Virginia New Jersey 45

PYMNTS

JANUARY 10, 2018

Ride-hailing app company Uber reached a settlement with more than 2,000 New York drivers, agreeing to pay $3 million. Reuters, citing a court filing in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, reported that Uber agreed to pay the $3 million to settle what was a proposed class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of 2,421 drivers who contend the company took too many fees out of their fares.

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North Carolina New York Start-ups Government 44

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"Offer payroll and do it yourself,” they said. “It’ll be fun!” Spoiler alert: It was not fun. Most CPA firms know that they need to offer payroll services to their clients or risk losing them to another firm that will. However, many don’t really want to. It is often time-consuming and complex due to changing tax laws and regulations, and with the growing staffing shortages, most just don’t have the resources.

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