This week in Santa Cruz County business: Paystand branches into AI agents; court hearing for former Scotts Valley executive; Barilla snaps up Goodles

Quick Take

In this week's survey of local business, Jessica M. Pasko reports on the rollout of a new AI tool for Santa Cruz-based fintech company Paystand, notes a court date for a former executive of Scotts Valley's Ambient Photonics and runs down other numbers, names and dates to know.

Each week, we’re taking a closer look at the movers and shakers, the growth of industries and what’s really driving the Santa Cruz County economy. I’ll be spotlighting some of the biggest areas for opportunity, updates on local development and all things underpinning the regional business scene each Wednesday.

Got ideas? Send them my way to news@lookoutlocal.com with “Business News” in the subject line.

Santa Cruz-based Paystand is growing its artificial intelligence-enabled software portfolio with a new set of tools that bring what are known as AI agents to financial processes including accounts receivable, spend management and reporting. 

Paystand, founded in 2014 with a goal of becoming like the Venmo of business payments, enables companies to do things like pay vendors directly without having to mail them a paper check or automate payments for recurring bills. This helps speed up payments as neither payee nor recipient has to wait for a bank to process it, which can often add additional time and/or fees.