Plus: This Startup Can't Replace The National Weather Service. But It Might Have To |
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Fintech company Imprint is taking on big credit card players by offering customers micro-targeted rewards. Imprint’s technology allows it to be granular with its rewards—like a travel card coming out this year where cardholders can get 4% cash back while on vacation, which can be verified through consumers’ travel reservations. The startup is working with brands like Texas’ largest grocery chain H-E-B, Turkish Airlines, Brooks Brothers and Eddie Bauer. More than 400,000 consumers have signed up for the cards that Imprint issues, and it manages $450 million in outstanding loans. The firm, which debuted on the 2025 Forbes Fintech 50 list, is part of a wave of fintechs trying their hand at consumer lending.
Let’s get into the headlines, |
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| Ukraine has agreed to an immediate, 30-day ceasefire brokered by the United States, but Russia has yet to accept the deal. The U.S. will resume intelligence sharing and security assistance for Ukraine, and the two countries also expect to resolve a minerals deal that was stalled last month after an Oval Office argument between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The House passed a bill Tuesday in the hopes of averting a shutdown ahead of a Friday deadline at midnight, which would largely keep current fiscal year 2024 funding levels in place until the end of September. Trump has urged Republicans to unify behind the bill, but seven Democrats must vote for the resolution in the Senate to break the 60-vote filibuster threshold. |
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| | | This Startup Can't Replace The National Weather Service. But It Might Have To |
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Replacing the National Weather Service was never part of the roadmap for Shimon Elkabetz’s AI firm Tomorrow.io, which provides customized weather forecasts for business customers, utilizing not only publicly available weather data but its own constellation of satellites in orbit. “I don’t want anyone reading this article to think that companies like Tomorrow.io are here to take business from NOAA,” Elkabetz told Forbes. But if DOGE’s cuts prevent the NWS from providing reliable weather data, there may be no other choice. There simply isn’t any private company that can provide weather data at the scale of NWS. Nearly all commercial weather companies, from Tomorrow to the weather app on your phone, rely on its data to power their forecasting models, even those that have their sensors or satellites. When Elkabetz founded Tomorrow (then called ClimaCell) in 2016, his company was focused on the simple idea: As the climate crisis worsens, damages to businesses from increasingly extreme weather events are going to grow in frequency and intensity. Businesses needed a timely, reliable way to get weather information crucial to mitigating its potential negative effects. Tomorrow’s solution was to create software that can not only provide forecasts but also concrete suggestions for the steps a specific business should take to mitigate weather impacts. For example, it provides its airline customers like United and JetBlue with recommendations for grounding or re-routing flights during major storms. And for the Chicago Cubs, it provides information about weather conditions at Wrigley Field impacting player performance.
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“The National Weather Service has long been the gold standard for weather forecasting around the world, but experts in the field say that the Trump Administration’s proposed cuts could seriously degrade service,” says Forbes senior editor Alex Knapp. “That creates some opportunity for private companies like Tomorrow, but it’s important to understand that they’re built to serve their customers, not the public interest. That said, Tomorrow’s forecasts and its satellite technology are absolutely state of the art, and companies like it play an important role in helping businesses mitigate weather-related risks, especially in a changing climate.”
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The U.S.-Canada trade war escalated again Tuesday, as President Donald Trump said he would double his tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum products in response to Ontario’s 25% charge on electricity imports. That led Ontario to hold off on the electricity surcharge, and Trump to back down on the 50% tariffs, but his 25% levies on all steel and aluminum imports took effect today. In response, the European Union announced economic countermeasures targeting around $28 billion worth of U.S. goods. The latest tariff back-and-forth continued to batter stocks Tuesday, and the benchmark S&P 500 is nearing a correction, falling 9.3% from its all-time high in late February. Still, corrections don’t usually become bear markets without one of three things, writes Morgan Stanley Wealth Management strategist Daniel Skelly: an economic recession, an earnings recession or a Fed hiking cycle. |
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President Donald Trump got behind the wheel of a Tesla outside of the White House on Tuesday, in a show of support for the automaker’s billionaire CEO Elon Musk, and Trump said he would buy one for his staff to use. Tesla has struggled since Musk took on the role of Trump’s cost-cutting czar.
MORE: Musk is fresh off a rough 24-hour stretch that started Monday, as X users reported widespread outages and Tesla’s stock took a beating, bringing his net worth down by 11-figures. In an interview with Fox Business, he said he’s juggling his role at DOGE with his roles at his companies “with great difficulty.”
The Department of Education said it will cut nearly half of its workforce, a move impacting almost 2,000 employees, as Trump has sought to close the agency. But legally shutting down the department would require congressional approval, and it’s unclear if Trump has the support he needs to do so. |
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Startup Cognixion’s brain-computer interface can help paralyzed patients communicate, and the company launched its first clinical trial today to study the technology with 10 people who have ALS, or “Lou Gehrig’s disease.” The firm, which has raised $25 million, has developed a helmet that can read brain waves and track eye movements, part of a brain-computer interface market that could grow to $80 billion by 2035, according to Morgan Stanley. |
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Southwest Airlines is reversing course on its longstanding policy allowing two free checked bags, once core to the airline’s identity. The announcement follows the end of its open seating policy, and its CEO Bob Jordan said the changes will allow the airline to “return to the levels of profitability that both we and our Shareholders expect.” Four major U.S. airlines cut their forecasts for this year due to softer demand for domestic air travel and lower consumer confidence, the latest industry to warn of economic uncertainty. One unexpected reason that was cited for the more pessimistic outlook: less government travel, which reportedly makes up roughly 2% of United Airlines’ business, for instance. |
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The National Transportation Safety Board found a pattern of near misses between commercial jets and helicopters at Reagan National Airport, following January’s midair collision that killed 67 people. NTSB chairperson Jennifer Homendy said helicopter activities around the airport “pose an intolerable risk to aviation safety,” and the agency called for a permanent ban on helicopters near Reagan National when particular runways are in use. |
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3
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The number of years taxpayers typically have to file and claim their tax refunds
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Over 1 million
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The number of taxpayers who may have missed out on the Recovery Rebate Cred | | |
