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The news: PayPal and Venmo users can receive early access to Perplexity鈥檚 new browser, Comet, with a free 12-month trial of Perplexity Pro. Our take: Big Tech is betting that agentic commerce is the future of shopping, but consumers aren鈥檛 on board yet: Nearly 70% of US adults are not interested in AI-powered shopping assistants, per a September 2024 蘑菇AV and CivicScience survey. While jostling for future positioning in the market, PayPal, Venmo, and Perplexity need to convince consumers that agentic commerce is a desirable payment option, lest they repeat a metaverse investment flop.

The news: PayPal users can get 20% cash back on their Taco Bell orders if they check out with PayPal or Venmo in-app or online, per a press release. Our take: For Taco Bell enthusiasts, 20% cash back every week may be too good of an offer to refuse.

The news: PayPal posted net revenue growth of 5% YoY at $8.3 billion due to strong performances of Venmo, its debit card, and Braintree, per its earnings report. Our take: PayPal is leaning into its branded experience and tech innovations to power its way through 2025.

The news: Mastercard has awarded WPP Media its $180 million media account after ending its relationship with Dentsu-owned Carat. Our take: WPP Media鈥檚 previous with PayPal may give insight into the type of media it might produce for Mastercard. As the creative firm behind the 鈥淰别苍尘辞 Everything鈥� campaign and the Will Ferrell-fronted PayPal Pay Later campaign, Mastercard鈥檚 new promos likely will feature zeitgeisty and generationally buzzy celebrities to target younger demographics.

The news: PayPal partnered with the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences to enable payments for participating student-athletes. Our take: Capitalizing on young, emerging student consumers is a strong opportunity to secure long-time and loyal PayPal and Venmo users.

Along with expanded access to Pay with Venmo and a buzzy ad campaign, Venmo is trying to reach key demographics.

The news: PayPal is launching storefront-style ads that allow users to buy products directly within display ads on publisher sites, using PayPal or Venmo without leaving the page. Debuting in the US with partners like Business Insider and Vox Media, the units will later expand to include carousels and listings. This move strengthens PayPal鈥檚 financial media network footprint after its 2023 Ads launch. Our take: As FMN spend is set to reach $1.78B by 2027, PayPal is embedding commerce where consumers already are. These shoppable ads address friction, drive impulse purchases, and position PayPal as a safeguard against rising AI-driven agentic commerce.

The expanded partnership boosts merchant acceptance for both Fastlane and Pay with Venmo

PayPal is the most popular mobile payment app that US adults typically use, with over twice as many users as the next most popular choice, Venmo, according to November 2024 data from YouGov.

Gen Z is the first mobile payments-native generation. By 2028, 67.8% of US adults will be mobile wallet users, per our forecast. Gen Zers are already way ahead: 85.1% made an in-store or online payment using their phone in 2023, according to Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

PayPal World鈥檚 partners include Argentina鈥檚 Mercado Pago, India鈥檚 Unified Payments Interface (UPI), China鈥檚 Tenpay Global, PayPal, and Venmo. The first phase of PayPal World finally unites the PayPal-Venmo ecosystems鈥攕o users of both can send money back and forth to either platform. (Previously, this was only possible using the PYUSD stablecoin.).

The system is live globally for PayPal and in the US for Venmo. Tiered protection: PayPal recognized that frequent, identical push alerts for possible scams makes users less likely to act on the warning. That鈥檚 why it created three warning tiers based on the level of detected threat with escalating actions involved:. The lowest level of threat alert identifies potential red flags.

Venmo started letting Big 12 alumni pick cards with their school鈥檚 emblem on the card for its Venmo Debit Mastercard. Personalization is especially compelling to Gen Z cardholders, who expect custom products that reflect their values or personal aesthetic.

Extension of PayPal Everywhere: PayPal is in the middle of a major marketing campaign to remind users that PayPal and Venmo are for all kinds of transactions. This partnership underscores the scope of PayPal鈥檚 payment platform and widens users' ability to pay with its services.

Drawing from the example of banks鈥� response to the introduction of Venmo, Moynihan envisioned a Zelle-like consortium-driven institutional stablecoin as well as bank-specific applications. Our take: Bank of America鈥檚 tight underwriting standards鈥攊ts average credit cardholder FICO score is 777鈥攈ave created a strong stable of superprime cardholders to drive volume through tempting rewards offerings.

PayPal offers the PayPal debit card, Venmo debit card, and Paypal prepaid Mastercard. Its debit offerings鈥� TPV shot up 64% YoY in Q1 2025. PayPal also noted 80% growth among its Venmo and PayPal debit cardholders, signaling consumer eagerness for the product. PayPal also already offers a cash-back credit card.

Shoppers can ask Perplexity to find products for them and then use PayPal or Venmo to check out. The entire purchase process鈥攊ncluding payment, shipping, and invoicing鈥攃an be managed without needing to enter a password or any other manual inputs. Key stat: 47% of shoppers worldwide are interested in having AI agents make purchases on their behalf, per Salesforce.

The integration is a win for PayPal after Amazon stopped accepting Venmo on its ecommerce site

In October, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its final open banking rule, which requires FIs, credit card issuers, and payment apps like Venmo and Apple Pay to transfer a consumer鈥檚 financial data to other providers upon that person鈥檚 request.