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Thrive Newport Beach 2026: highlights and key takeaways. Explore key takeaways from Thrive Newport Beach 2026, including insights from industry leaders on stablecoins, agentic commerce, US payments, and more. September 29, 2026 "10 years ago Netflix took a chance on us. We were just a small company. We were processing 10 billion a year. Now we process 10 billion a week." That's what its Founder and CEO Guillaume Pousaz said on stage at Thrive Newport Beach, its flagship merchant conference which took place at the start of September. Guillaume spoke about being inspired by the energy, the pace, the positivity of the US - values that are completely anchored in its culture, that Checkout Ltd at Checkout.com live day-by-day. His words set the tone for a lively three days of discussions I had with merchants on payment performance, agentic commerce, stablecoins, and cross-border efficiency, to name just a few topics. I expect these conversations to continue throughout the remainder of the year as Checkout Ltd approach the business conference season and Money20/20. Thrive Newport Beach announcements. This year's Thrive event saw the celebration of many key milestones, partnerships, and product launches for the US market, building on the strength of existing commercial success in the region. * Its US business has grown over 120% year-to-date (volume in Q2 2026 vs 2025), driven by expanding merchant relationships and new enterprise customers choosing Checkout Ltd to power their payments globally. Checkout Ltd now process payments for some of the world's largest brands such as Uber, Spotify, Microsoft, eBay, Coinbase, Pinterest, and ASOS. * Checkout.com has partnered with Best Buy, powering their expanded Best Buy Marketplace across Bestbuy.com and the Best Buy App. Checkout Ltd will provide acquiring and PINless debit capabilities for Best Buy Marketplace, alongside dedicated enterprise support to help its team manage evolving payment flows. * Checkout Ltd is strengthening its infrastructure and expanding its capabilities to include Direct Acquiring with its MALPB license live, Payouts in Canada, Issuing, Platforms, and much more. Over the three days of its annual get-together, I had the pleasure of hearing countless inspiring conversations both on and off stage. Here are some of my highlights: Decoding the US: The world's largest payments opportunity. The US is one of the hardest payment markets to get right. Senior leaders in B2C retail debated ways to provide buyer convenience while controlling for fraud, with the aim of maximizing return on the cost of customer acquisition. Megan Berent, Director of Payments at REVOLVE drew out the important difference between a blocked fraudster and a lost sale - though 3DS authentication can seem to dampen conversion, it can be a meaningful method to determine customer intent. Technology upgrades are opening doors. Panelists were energized by the opportunities of brand-owned payment methods, and new ways to use AI to combine information from online and offline payments. This is particularly relevant in the evolution of customer behaviors and online payment methods: the pressure is on to decide instantly whether a card-not-present payment is fraudulent. Discussion also covered ways to understand payment fees, as well as routes for collaborating with card schemes on frontiers like agentic commerce. Stablecoins: Payment rails for the new economy. Panelists explored the operational potential of stablecoins, and the new opportunities within blockchain payment technology since the creation of new legislation like the GENIUS Act. Amelia Daly, Head of Partnerships at Solana Labs posited programming transaction conditions based on custom thresholds, permissions, geographies or balance types, as just a few examples. Yet these possibilities don't have to lead to overwhelming complexity. Blockchain payment service providers are managing technical pieces such as settlements, acquiring, and FX conversion, making sure merchants can provide a smooth experience to customers. While traditional institutions have historically constrained the geographical locations and times of the day during which funds can move, blockchain payments are supporting businesses to transact more widely. The benefit of faster settlement times has obvious appeal. Panelists also described how certain markets within Latin America and Africa are seeing high demand for stablecoin transactions, as most of their accounts payable are in US dollars. Some consumers in frontier markets are seeing stablecoins pegged to US dollars as a hedge against the volatility of their national currency. Fraud and KYC/AML compliance were tackled head-on: technologists promote risk management measures like sanction screening, onchain monitoring, and the Travel Rule are standard procedures for modern blockchain transactions. Performance in the era of AI. Daniel Linder, Senior Product Director of Payment Performance at Checkout.com led a wide-ranging discussion on the ways in which market-leading merchants are refining payment performance in their business. Looking at the balance between cost of revenue and wider business goals, panelists explained how payment strategy pivots according to the stage of growth. Justin Gregory, Head of Product at ASOS commented that over the past four years he has seen retailers prioritize enabling customers to pay with their preferred payment method and to avoid failed payments above reducing payment processing costs by any and all means. Later on, merchants weighed the merits of using certain payment methods for various types of payments - considering that recurring card payments often perform well, but it can be challenging to interpret declines from non-card payment methods and understand how to improve customer experience. Data collection and issuer authorization was another area of focus: leaders saw benefits from taking another look at outdated compliance decisions, and considering new ways to use information that's already available. For instance, some of the data that must be collected for KYC and taxation purposes can contribute positively to risk signals in payments, leading to higher rates of payment acceptance. There's also a growing trend of using AI assistance in fraud detection and case resolution. For instance, creating an agentic analyst workforce to analyze chargeback trends, and using AI to risk-score cases and prioritize which ones to investigate further. The agentic promise: what consumers want next. AI is already affecting the way customers find, feel about, and fund your brand - though this varies by user demographic and LLM product. And the nuances make a difference. Host Rory O'Neill, Chief Marketing Officer at Checkout.com, compered a breakdown of the ways agentic commerce is evolving for fintechs and other online merchants. Panelists agreed the best way to learn how it will affect operations and customer relationships is to participate, and draw conclusions from experience. Practically, this means upgrading your data analytics stack to include agentic channels, so you can see how your customers transition between different apps, web platforms, and LLM tools to interact with your brand. Another panelist emphasized the importance of strengthening your customer loyalty strategy, so that you'll stand out in a world where customers are finding brands through LLM-related search channels. Ultimately, merchants adapted to the ecommerce revolution by adopting the best third-party services available - platforms, website builders, API integrations, and, all-in-one providers where it made sense. Koen Köppen, CEO at Mollie argued it's reasonable to view agentic commerce through a similar lens: you don't need to build all new capabilities in-house, nor do you need to suddenly become experts in complex engineering questions to figure out the way forward for your business.

Deliveroo and frozen-food retailer Picard partner all across France. French frozen-food retailer Picard and Deliveroo have expanded their partnership to cover all of the country, allowing customers to have Picard products delivered in 30 minutes. By partnering with Deliveroo, Picard aims to accelerate its accessibility and express delivery strategy across France, the company stated. Available on the Deliveroo app and website, the Picard range is designed to meet a wide variety of needs, from everyday essentials and ready-to-eat meals to raw ingredients, healthy options, and desserts. Precise operational process. To ensure optimal product conditions and complete cold-chain continuity until the final delivery, the two companies have implemented a precise operational process, featuring specialised isothermal packaging, controlled delivery times, and strict quality checks at every stage. Emmanuelle Bach-Donnard - brand, digital, and customer experience director at Picard - said, "Checkout is very pleased to join Deliveroo and offer its users access to the Picard universe throughout France. "Thanks to the complementarity of our networks and expertise, we can offer a new express delivery solution while guaranteeing the high standards and quality that characterise the Picard experience." Picard network. Picard operates a network of more than 1,230 stores across France, offering a click & collect service alongside direct home delivery. Laurent Chhuon-Nougarede, director of new verticals at Deliveroo France, said, "Picard brings a truly distinctive offering and responds to a clear demand from its users to eat well, without compromising on time. "But Picard is also there for all occasions, from working lunches and healthy products to cook for the family, to festive meals and shared desserts - and that's the very essence of its app. "With Picard, Deliveroo establishes itself as the companion for all of life's moments, from everyday life to special occasions."

Google names Isabel Scavetta as Product Manager. Google has named Isabel Scavetta as a Product Manager on its Product team, where she will focus on AI search experience strategy across Google Search on Android. Scavetta shared that her new role will involve work on AI-led search experiences, with a focus on how users discover and interact with information through Google Search on Android. Her announcement also noted that the work spans a global Android ecosystem with more than 3 billion devices. The appointment comes as search continues to evolve from traditional keyword-based experiences toward interfaces that incorporate generative and conversational AI. Search platforms are increasingly integrating AI into how information is presented, interpreted, and surfaced to users, creating new product and user-experience considerations. For product teams, this shift involves more than adding AI capabilities to existing search interfaces. Factors such as relevance, user intent, interaction design, trust, transparency, and the quality of generated responses are becoming part of the broader search experience. Scavetta's role is focused specifically on AI search experience strategy for Android, placing her work within this changing product environment. Her announcement also referenced the goal of developing AI-led experiences that are intuitive, helpful, fair, and accessible to users. The move also reflects the growing overlap between product management, artificial intelligence, and search strategy. As AI becomes more deeply integrated into consumer technology, product managers are increasingly involved in defining how these systems are incorporated into everyday user journeys. Scavetta was previously a Product Manager at Checkout.com, according to a 2026 professional profile listing, before moving to Google. Her appointment adds product leadership focused on AI search experiences as Google continues to develop how users interact with search across its Android ecosystem.