Dear founders and friends,

Hola from the marketers’ universe! Hope everyone's got their sunscreen on, it's 30 degrees in London and somehow we still haven't accepted it's not a sign of weakness to install air conditioning in apartments (melting over here...).

Nonetheless, it's been a SUPER BUSY month for us at Igloo, launching more wonderful directors into brands with our assistant program and really pushing our design limits. Shoutout to our Amazon team and partners at Data Dive as well this month (Hitesh you're the man), who have on-boarded some new Amazon partnerships. Funny, we used to hate Amazon, back when Alex and I's job was competing against them, until we've realised to-Amazon is in fact truly powerful for almost all niches and gives a lot of brand a necessary and controllable foundation for revenue (at least more so than Meta).

Stay tuned, and let's have a quick look at what's happening....

June news roundup: e-commerce implications

AI’s getting smarter, Shein’s getting scolded, and TikTok’s e-comm dreams are hitting the tariff wall. June came in hot with platform drama, policy slaps, and a few headline plot twists you didn’t see coming. Let’s unpack the juicy stuff shaking up your checkout page.

🧠 Shopify Surges on AI & Trade Momentum: Shopify stock jumped nearly 4% after unveiling new AI tools—including a voice-powered shopping assistant and store builder—while also benefiting from easing U.S.–China trade tensions. The brand’s doubling down on intelligent automation and international growth. Can AI + Global Trade Supercharge Shopify? →

🚫 EU Flags Shein for Misleading Discounts: European regulators have called out Shein for deceptive pricing tactics, including fake discounts and unclear product claims. Shein has until June to clean up its act or face enforcement under the EU’s consumer protection laws. Will This Force A Fashion Rethink? →

📉 TikTok Shop Stumbles Amid Tariff Turmoil: TikTok Shop’s U.S. sales dropped up to 25% after tariff uncertainty shook up supply chains and foreign seller operations. With regulatory scrutiny and shifting strategies in play, TikTok’s e-comm bet is hitting speed bumps. Here’s Why This Bet’s Not Paying Off—Yet. →

Venture capital spotlight: June 2025

Money talks—and this month, it’s pitching AI, payments, and brand dashboards.
From Zuck assembling his own Avengers to payment rails that smooth your cart glide, June’s VC world wasn’t shy about where the future’s heading (hint: it involves a lot of acronyms and probably fewer humans). Here’s where the smart money went.

📊 Tracksuit Raises $25M to Supercharge Brand Tracking
Brand monitoring platform Tracksuit has secured a $25 million Series B led by VMG Partners, bringing its total to 1,000+ clients and over 240% Y/Y U.S. growth. Expect AI-powered dashboards that help brands read consumer sentiment in real time.
Will ‘always-on’ brand health become standard? →

🌍 Payrails Nabs $32M to Streamline Global Payments
Berlin-based fintech Payrails closed a $32 million Series A (led by HV Capital) to expand its payment orchestration platform across 30+ EMEA markets. This makes cross-border e‑commerce checkouts smoother and more efficient for enterprise clients.
Can unified payments power the next wave of global carts? →

🧑‍🔬 Zuckerberg Assembles ‘Superintelligence’ Dream Team
Amid these negotiations, Mark Zuckerberg is personally recruiting elite AI engineers (nicknamed the “Fantastic 50”) to build Meta’s superintelligence division—offering mega salaries and high-stakes projects to close the gap with OpenAI and Anthropic.
Is Zuck’s new AI squad the real game changer? →

Tariff update: Fresh deals, lingering questions

In the last month, U.S. and China agreed to a renewed framework outlining a flat 55% tariff on Chinese imports (combining old and new levies), while China pledged to reduce its tariffs on U.S. goods to 10%—with rare-earth material access now added to the mix

Despite the clarity, key questions remain—Tariff boss Bessent hasn’t confirmed whether the current suspension deadline in mid-August still holds. And while U.S. importers are rushing summer merchandise to avoid uncertainty, retailers warn prices may still creep higher as costs filter down. How deep does this tariff truce really go? →

Tools that rule: Upspring.ai - Creative strategy & more…

Meet Upspring.ai — The future of Ads workflow
Upspring.ai is built from the ground up as an AI-first platform, designed to help modern marketers and creative teams unlock what actually works in their ads. Every creative is automatically analyzed and tagged by AI — no manual effort needed. Want to dig deeper? Use Super Segments to slice and segment your creative data using free text — type anything you can think of and instantly filter across your entire creative library, no setup required.

Go beyond surface metrics: Upspring.ai delivers both per-creative and account-level strategic insights that reveal what’s driving performance — from hooks and visuals to pacing and structure. It’s not just about what worked — we help you understand why.

Stay ahead of the competition with our powerful, AI-powered research tool. Just type anything — a trend, feeling, product, moment, or even a wild idea — and instantly explore how brands are using it in their ads. And with Creative Spin, you can apply that ad concept to your next creative — all in one click. Start making ads with insight, not instinct.

Try Upspring.ai with an extended free trial and a dedicated success manager — exclusively for users from this email! Click here to explore the tool everyone’s about to be talking about →

Hear it from our Igloo brands

Baking Steel reinvented the home kitchen with chef-loved steel cookware that delivers brick-oven results in your regular old oven. From their iconic ¼" Original Baking Steel to griddles and pans, the brand blends innovation with sustainability—every product is made from recycled steel and built to last. Igloo helped amplify that story through performance-driven creative and a media strategy that seared results just as evenly as their products do.

Check out the steel that launched thousands of crispy crusts →

“I’ve been working with Igloo for the past 2 years and absolutely love the service, professionalism and the education. The Igloo team is going to help take us to the next level.” - Andris Lagsdin, Baking Steel

Visit more case studies

Listen of the week

Simon Sakhai - JUNG+ Longevity Founders talks on the future of longevity.

• The Ecommerce Playbook: Get behind-the-scenes with Common Thread Collective’s leaders as they break down real brand case studies, conversion tactics, and scaling strategies. It's packed with actionable insights for anyone running a DTC operation.

• Your Week In Money: Caleb Hammer dives into recent financial headlines—sometimes with tough love and lots of sass (a lot of sass). Perfect for catching up on news that could impact ad budgets, shipping costs, and overall e-commerce strategy.

• Hacking Longevity and Reversing Aging: Simon Sakhai, one of the world’s foremost longevity experts, shares his expertise on the 12 hallmarks of aging, what the latest research is saying about sugars and longevity, his recommendations for a Vipassana and Transcendental Meditation practice and why he believes if you’re taking Resveratrol, you should stop right now.

The death of ROAS in e-commerce

Does ROAS still matter in 2025, or is your ad dashboard collecting digital tombstones? 

Why “The Death of ROAS” might mean rethinking your ad metrics—and the smarter alternatives you should be tracking instead. Read More Here →

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