Payments cards company CompoSecure Holdings is working with neobank Oxygen to offer a four-tier debit card rewards program called Oxygen Elements, according to a Tuesday (Dec. 14) press release.
Oxygen Elements comes “at a pivotal turning point for the economy,” where a “robust labor market” and increased savings is expected to bolster a rise in spending, the release stated.
The cards will use CompoSecure’s metal dual-interface construction, which allows for tap-to-pay purchases. Oxygen said in the release that it selected CompoSecure because of its “manufacturing capabilities and capacity, which expedites the time to market.”
“Elements sets the standard for the rewarding experience consumers will have now as travel, restaurants and shopping reopen,” said Oxygen CEO Hussein Ahmed in the release. “CompoSecure’s premium metal cards differentiate our products and services, so they stand out in the consumer’s wallet.”
The rewards program features four tiers — Earth, Water, Air and Fire — offering cardholders a choice of perks like increased cash back levels, escalating sets of annual percentage yields and savings on subscription services like Netflix, according to the release.
“Programs like Oxygen Elements empower users to earn rewards, manage their purchases and increase savings,” said CompoSecure CEO Jon Wilk in the release.
This is the second partnership CompoSecure has announced in less than a week. On Thursday (Dec. 9), the company said it is working with rental rewards startup Bilt on a rental rewards Mastercard, which can help renters build up points to use for down payments on homes.
Read more: CompoSecure Teams With Bilt to Drive Homeownership With Rental Rewards
The card is the first to be given regulatory approval to help people get a chance to earn points toward mortgage down payments. The card also lets renters pay their rent through the Bilt app, even at properties where landlords don’t accept credit cards.
Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered search engine Perplexity AI is planning on launching its own web browser.
The company said in a post on X on Monday (Feb. 24) that the browser, dubbed Comet, was “coming soon,” and invited people to sign up on a waitlist in a reply.
“Just like Perplexity reinvented search, we’re also reinventing the browser,” a Perplexity spokesperson told TechCrunch via email, the publication reported on Monday. “Stay tuned for updates.”
The company said in October that its search engine served over 100 million queries per week.
“Perplexity now serves over 100M queries every week,” Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas wrote in a post on X at the time. “Next stop: 100M+ queries every day.”
In December, Perplexity reportedly closed a $500 million funding round, tripling the startup’s valuation to $9 billion, according to a PYMNTS rerpot. The company’s backers included SoftBank, Nvidia and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, according to the report. Perplexity had a valuation of $520 million early in 2024. During that summer, it was valued at $3 billion.
In November, the company introduced an AI-powered shopping assistant for U.S. consumers.
Through Buy With Pro, shoppers can research and purchase products, Perplexity said in a Nov. 18 blog post.
“It marks a big leap forward in how we serve our users — empowering seamless native actions right from an answer,” the company said in the post. “Shopping online just got 10x more easy and fun.”
The feature is only available to Perplexity Pro users in the U.S. It lets users check out on the company’s website or app for select products from select merchants, according to the post. Consumers who save their shipping and billing information on the portal can use a one-click checkout option.
Additionally, Perplexity unveiled a visual search tool called Snap to Shop, which helps consumers find an item by uploading a photo. Snap to Shop will display relevant products based on the photo, with no need for a product description or name, according to the post.
In other search engine news, a recent Bank of America Global Research report found that global daily visits to Google search are “stable” despite the surge in the number of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude.
In January, the global average daily visits to Google were up 1% to 2.7 billion from December and down just 1% year over year, according to the report. The daily visits include desktop and mobile searches.
Google’s continued search engine dominance comes as AI chatbots continue to grow in popularity. Last month, visits to ChatGPT were up 4% month over month and 148% year over year to 128 million globally.