By chatnewstv.com
PayPal has agreed to acquire Cymbio, a Tel Aviv-based commerce technology company that helps brands distribute product catalogs across a growing range of AI-driven shopping interfaces, the companies said Thursday.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions.
Founded in 2015, Cymbio builds software that allows merchants to synchronize product data, inventory and orders across multiple digital channels, including AI platforms such as Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity. The company has raised more than $35 million to date, including investments from PayPal Ventures and Vertex Ventures.
The acquisition underscores PayPal’s strategy to expand beyond payments and position itself as a core infrastructure provider in what it calls “agentic commerce,” a model in which consumers increasingly discover and buy products through AI systems rather than traditional e-commerce websites.
“As shopping becomes more conversational and agent-driven, merchants need a seamless way to show up where consumers are discovering products,” PayPal said in a statement. “Cymbio’s technology helps make that possible at scale.”
PayPal and Cymbio were already partners prior to the deal, and PayPal Ventures took a stake in the company in 2022. By bringing Cymbio in-house, PayPal gains control of technology that operates upstream from payments, at the point where products are discovered, surfaced and ordered by AI systems acting on behalf of consumers.
Cymbio was founded by Roy Avidor, Mor Lavi and Gilad Zirkel. Its platform enables brands to retain control over pricing, inventory and fulfillment while expanding distribution across multiple digital touchpoints.
“Joining PayPal allows us to accelerate our vision of making commerce truly connected across every emerging channel,” Avidor, Cymbio’s chief executive, said. “Together, we can help brands meet consumers wherever discovery happens, including inside AI-driven experiences.”
A key focus of the acquisition is PayPal’s Store Sync service, which Cymbio’s technology has previously supported. Store Sync allows merchants to surface their product catalogs inside AI-powered shopping environments while routing orders back into their existing commerce and fulfillment systems. Under the model, merchants remain the merchant of record and retain control over customer relationships and branding.
PayPal said several major retailers, including Abercrombie & Fitch, Fabletics, Ashley Furniture, Newegg and Adorama, are already live on Store Sync within Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity. Integrations with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini app are expected to follow.
The deal reflects intensifying competition among payments and technology companies to shape the infrastructure behind AI-driven retail, as conversational agents and search tools increasingly influence how consumers shop online.
