SMARTTRADE EXPANDS PARTNERSHIP WITH LEADING JAPANESE FX COMPANY SBI LIQUIDITY MARKET

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 (Bernama) -- smartTrade Technologies, a pioneer in multi-asset electronic trading solutions, has announced an expanded partnership with SBI Liquidity Market, a Japanese leading FX infrastructure solution and liquidity provider.

According to a statement, smartTrade will provide support for SBI FXTRADE’s cryptocurrency derivative trading operations, which complement the existing FX business of SBI Liquidity Market.

As part of the agreement, SBI has also moved its trading facility into smartTrade’s Tokyo data centre to ensure its infrastructure is constantly monitored and refreshed as their business grows as well as to take advantage of smartTrade’s fully managed services, including enhanced security and redundancy capabilities.

The expansion comes as both retail and institutional interest in cryptocurrency trading continues to soar in the Japanese market.

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of smartTrade Technologies, David Vincent, said: “This unprecedented and volatile year demonstrated the need for high performance trading infrastructure capable of withstanding all circumstances.”

“We’re pleased that what we’ve been able to offer leading companies such as SBI, such resilience. Today’s announcement is a vote of confidence that we will continue to work together with our customers to deliver them the infrastructure they need to succeed.”

Meanwhile, Executive Director, SBI Liquidity Market, Itsushi Morimoto said: “We are pleased to grow this relationship as we increasingly work to meet our clients growing requirements and desire to trade in a wide variety of digital currencies. smartTrade has been the best kind of partner – one that adapts with the business, supporting our change and growth.”

SBI has been a smartTrade client since 2013, when the company chose LiquidityFX as its connectivity, aggregation and smart order routing partner to achieve best execution.

smartTrade provides agile end-to-end trading solutions supporting Foreign Exchange, Fixed Income, Equities, Derivatives (including Options), Cryptocurrencies and Money Markets.

More details at www.smart-trade.net.

-- BERNAMA

IRONNET CONCLUDES BUSINESS COMBINATION WITH LGL SYSTEMS ACQUISITION CORP

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 (Bernama) -- IronNet Inc (IronNet), an innovative leader transforming cybersecurity through Collective Defense, announced it has completed its previously announced business combination with LGL Systems Acquisition Corp (LGL).

According to a statement, the transaction was unanimously approved by LGL’s Board of Directors and approved at a special meeting of LGL stockholders on Aug 26. In connection with the closing, LGL changed its name to IronNet Inc (IronNet or the Company).

“We are excited to complete this business combination, which will position IronNet to truly transform and scale cyber defence for more organisations around the world,” said Founder and co-Chief Executive Officer of IronNet, GEN (Ret.) Keith Alexander.

“As a public company, we intend to apply our increased financial resources to accelerate product innovation for our customers and expand our portfolio of offerings.”

The transaction results in gross proceeds of approximately US$136.7 million to IronNet, which includes cash from LGL’s former trust account and proceeds from a private investment in public equity transaction funded concurrently with the closing of the business acquisition. (US$1 = RM4.176)

IronNet will use the proceeds to generally support continued global growth. All IronNet shareholders have rolled 100 per cent of their equity holdings into the new public company.

IronNet’s Board of Directors will comprise 11 members, nine of whom are ‘independent directors’ as defined in the NYSE listing standards and applicable US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules.

Founded in 2014, IronNet offers a radically different operational model for cybersecurity defence that enables companies to break away from having to defend in isolation.

IronNet has a proven ability to detect hidden intrusions that no other tools can see and a real-time threat sharing platform that brings speed and precision to security teams and, for the first time, enables companies to detect and collaborate in real time.

More details at www.ironnet.com.

-- BERNAMA

Bunshi Lab begins accepting pre-orders for ‘Bunshi Mask’ via ‘Indiegogo’ crowdfunding website

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 -- Bunshi Lab has raised approximately 180 million yen (about US$1.6 million) for the ‘Bunshi Mask’ through ‘Makuake’, a Japanese crowdfunding website. (US$1 = RM4.199)

According to a statement, Bunshi Lab is currently launching a much-awaited global sales campaign for the product.

The Bunshi Mask is a top-of-the-line face mask created from the spirit of Japan's omotenashi (hospitality) and craftsmanship.

It has sold a cumulative total of more than 200,000 pieces in only four months, as it has been loved by many people immediately after being put on sale in Japan. 

Keen to deliver the Bunshi Mask from Japan to the world, Bunshi Lab launches its global sales campaign through Indiegogo.

It can be delivered to nine countries namely the US, Britain, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Singapore.

Bunshi Mask is a next-generation face mask that strikes a balance between high performance and beautiful minimalist design.

It uses the latest nanofibre filter invented by Akihiko Tanioka, professor emeritus at Tokyo Institute of Technology, which blocks against more than 99 per cent of fine particles.

The Bunshi Mask can protect its users firmly and effectively as it uses finer mesh for its filter than that of the surgical N95 mask.

In addition, the Bunshi Mask allows users to breathe with ease as it uses the latest nanofibre, and it becomes an environment-friendly mask supporting a sustainable society as it is made out of materials from recycled PET or polyethylene terephthalate.

It uses a top-end knit cotton fabric treated by the so-called ‘silhouette’ processing, the quality of which is higher than gauze fabrics. It lends itself a premium feel as it is gentle on the skin and gives a dry wear feeling.

-- BERNAMA

TAI ER MAKES SPLASH WITH MAIDEN SAUERKRAUT FISH OUTLET IN SINGAPORE

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 (Bernama) -- Riding the recent wave of popular Chinese food and beverage brands entering Singapore, Tai Er Chinese Sauerkraut Fish has opened its first store at the Jewel Changi Airport recently.

On the day of the official opening, the restaurant was full, with guests queuing outside as they waited to dine.

The restaurant’s decor is centered around the simple black-and-white logo and motif popular in the company’s China restaurants.

Guests are able to see the kitchen through a transparent window, to check the hygiene conditions or simply marvel at the kitchen’s sights and smells – the swirling of hot oil around the pan, the crackle and pop of stir-fried chilis, and the scattering of chrysanthemum petals.

All the original elements of Tai Er, as well as the unique operation philosophy, can be found in the restaurant, according to a statement.

As a professional of traditional Sichuan cuisine, Tai Er’s Singapore store features a number of classical Sichuan dishes besides the signature Chinese sauerkraut fish.

A black envelope could be found on each of the seats in the restaurant. Inside each envelope was a letter written by a Chinese fan to their new ‘friends’ in Singapore, explaining how to get the most from their Tai Er experience.

In China, Tai Er’s features such as ‘tagline exchanges’ and ‘Bro Er’ are hugely popular among younger patrons.

With 300 restaurants across China and 12 million fans, business is booming at Tai Er, with some Chinese fans saying they would wait as long as three hours during holidays for a bite of that tasty sauerkraut fish.

In Tai Er’s dishes, the seasonings used - sauerkraut, chilis, Sichuan peppers – are imported direct from Sichuan Province. 

-- BERNAMA

RUBRYC, IBIO UNVEIL SERIES A2 PREFERRED EQUITY FINANCING, COLLABORATION, AND RTX-003 LICENSE

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 (Bernama) -- RubrYc Therapeutics Inc (RubrYc) and iBio Inc (iBio) have announced the closing of RubrYc’s Series A2 Preferred Financing, and concomitant License and Collaboration Agreements directed towards the research, development, and commercialisation of epitope-targeted antibody therapeutics.

With this transaction, iBio becomes an important strategic investor with its US$7.5 million investment in RubrYc’s Series A2 Preferred equity, joining Third Point Ventures, Paladin Capital Group, Vital Venture Capital, and Hayan Health Networks in the Company’s investor syndicate. (US$1 = RM4.195)

Additionally, iBio secures exclusive worldwide rights to advance RubrYc’s lead programme, RTX-003, a CD25 targeted monoclonal antibody for selective depletion of regulatory T cells in the solid tumor microenvironment, according to a statement.

“We are excited to collaborate with iBio, an ambitious partner whose strategic transformation is aligned with our vision to efficiently discover and develop epitope-targeted therapies that promise to outperform conventionally discovered precedent molecules,” said RubrYc’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Isaac Bright, MD.

The collaboration will allow the parties to combine RubrYc’s Discovery Engine and antibody discovery expertise with iBio’s capabilities as a developer of next-generation biopharmaceuticals and pioneer of the sustainable FastPharming Manufacturing System® to create novel therapies for patients in need.

Under the terms of the agreement, RubrYc will be responsible for the discovery of epitope-targeted drug candidates using RubrYc’s proprietary Meso-scale Engineered Molecules to steer antibody discovery campaigns to particular epitopes on mutually agreeable disease targets.

Meanwhile, iBio will collaborate in discovery campaigns and will be responsible for conducting preclinical, clinical and commercialisation activities for the selected drug candidates from the collaboration.

More details at www.rubryc.com.

-- BERNAMA

Grafana Labs secures US$220 million, hastening open source visualisation, observability platform global adoption

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 -- Grafana Labs, the company behind the world’s most ubiquitous open and composable operational dashboards, has announced a US$220 million Series C investment round, co-led by new investors Sequoia Capital and Coatue, with participation from existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lead Edge Capital, and GIC. (US$1 = RM4.211)

As part of the funding, Carl Eschenbach, partner at Sequoia and former President and COO at VMware, and David Schneider, general partner at Coatue and former President at ServiceNow, will join the company’s board of directors.

The ‘actually useful’ free forever tier of Grafana Cloud provides the industry’s most generous no-cost observability stack, and with the funding round, Grafana Labs is adding 50GB of traces to the 50GB of logs, 10,000 series of Prometheus metrics, and 3 Grafana dashboard users that come with the free offering.

Both Grafana Cloud and the on-premises Grafana Enterprise Stack offering include access to free and commercial plugins, such as Elasticsearch, Jira, Datadog, Splunk, AppDynamics, Oracle, MongoDB, Snowflake, ServiceNow, and more.

“It’s been an incredible year at Grafana Labs, highlighted by the rapid adoption of Grafana Cloud, the growth of our Loki logs and Prometheus metrics offerings, the introduction of Tempo 1.0 for tracing, and the continued development of the Grafana frontend,” said Grafana Labs co-founder and CEO, Raj Dutt in a statement.

“This new investment of capital, as well as the addition of two highly experienced technology executives to our board, will focus us on accelerating product development to support our community’s and customers' success.”

Eschenbach said: “We’re eager to partner with Grafana Labs and look forward to working with Raj and team to continue building world-class observability products.”

Grafana Labs has doubled its headcount since the beginning of the year, with nearly 500 Grafanistas working remotely in more than 40 different countries. 

For more information, visit www.grafana.com.

-- BERNAMA

ETAN HON PRODUCT MANAGER OF TURBO AFTERMARKET SERVICES FOR NIKKISO CRYOGENIC SERVICES

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 (Bernama) -- Nikkiso Cryogenic Industries’ Clean Energy & Industrial Gases Group (Group), a subsidiary of Nikkiso Co Ltd (Japan), announced Etan Hon has been appointed Product Manager of Turbo Aftermarket Services (AMS) for the Nikkiso Cryogenic Services unit (NCS).

This addition to their management team supports the Group’s objectives to further grow their AMS for Turboexpanders. The Turbo All Brands line will also expand to support and service more brands, including ACD, Rotoflow, Atlas Copco, and Cryostar, among others.

“The NCS team is excited to have Etan in this new Turbo AMS Product Management role. His years of experience and focus on customer service has exceeded our expectations. I’m looking forward to his success continuing in this new role,” said NCS President, Jim Estes.

According to a statement, Hon received a degree in Aerospace engineering from the University of California, San Diego. He started his career by providing oilfield services to customers within the oil & gas industry in Texas working for Schlumberger and Baker Hughes.

In 2017, he joined ACD LLC as a Field Service Manager. After the acquisition by Nikkiso in 2019, he transitioned into the role of Service Manager of Turbo AMS for NCS and helped move the ACD Turbo AMS division into a new facility in Irvine, CA.

Nikkiso Cryogenic Services provides service and support globally, including locations in Malaysia, Germany, India, Australia, Taiwan and China as well as six locations in North America.

Cryogenic Industries Inc (now a member of Nikkiso Co Ltd) member companies manufacture engineered cryogenic gas processing equipment and small-scale process plants for the liquefied natural gas (LNG), well services and industrial gas industries.

-- BERNAMA

CONAGEN LAUNCHES FERMENTATION-MADE NATURAL PRESERVATIVE

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 (Bernama) -- As the ‘clean label’ trend thrives in many consumer product categories, Massachusetts-based biotech Conagen has announced the launch of a natural preservative, p-Coumaric Acid (PCA).

According to a statement, Conagen's PCA is made by fermentation and expands the natural preservatives offered by its commercialisation partner Blue California.

The natural preservation market is driven by consumer exploration of clean-label food, beverage, personal care, and cosmetic product which do not contain artificial ingredients while still possessing extended shelf life.

"Our PCA expands the toolbox for product developers looking for a scalable, low cost-in-use, natural solution for increasing the shelf life of food without interfering with the flavour of their products," said Conagen's Vice President of Innovation, Dr Casey Lippmeier.

Food and beverage manufacturers are moving away from artificial ingredients in their processing and packaging methods.

Therefore, new sources of natural preservatives, such as Conagen's natural, fermentation-derived PCA, are ideal for brands to make a seamless change from synthetic preservation ingredients to natural ones.

PCA is a natural antioxidant and antimicrobial compound found in all plants, primarily peanuts, tomatoes, carrots, basil, and garlic. It is a key constituent of vinegar and honey.

Conagen produces PCA by an innovative precision fermentation process. This technology enables the cultivation of micro-organisms programmed to create sustainable, natural ingredients with high purity at a price competitive with synthetic PCA. 

Last year, Blue California and Conagen jointly announced the commercialisation of a 98 per cent pure natural preservative, Rosavel™ rosmarinic acid, without the intensity of rosemary flavour and colour as with most synthetic ingredients.

More details at www.conagen.com.

-- BERNAMA

Uniphore survey reveals Singaporean consumer perspective on video conversation challenges, opportunities

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 -- Conversational Service Automation (CSA) leader, Uniphore, has released survey results revealing the Singaporean consumer perspective on challenges and opportunities for video conversations.

According to a statement, the survey identified a disconnect between the benefits of video conversations and the unintended challenges it creates.

The results also indicated a strong willingness amongst Singaporean consumers to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) to drive improvements in their experiences.

“Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve witnessed the widespread adoption of video conversations across personal and professional engagements. As the survey results revealed, there is still work to do to make virtual interactions as seamless and effective as in-person conversations, said Uniphore chief executive officer and co-founder, Umesh Sachdev.

When considering the rise of video calls throughout the past 18+ months, local consumers revealed a mix of both frustration and appreciation for what video conversations have to offer.

Respondents noted some clear benefits of having conversations on video including better engagement rates. When using video, a majority (72 per cent) of respondents indicated they felt the participants ranged from somewhat, very or extremely engaged with them.

Further, 69 per cent of participants said video calls provided them with a more meaningful connection with others. This is especially important for conversations that require empathy or trust.

Asked about factors they disliked about conducting a video call, respondents cited video calls to be more exhausting than audio calls (34 per cent). 

While video is being used today for many purposes, it’s clear that technology can make these video conversations more effective and enjoyable.

Of note, according to the survey results, an overwhelming majority (77 per cent) of Singaporean respondents said they would be open to using automation or AI tools to improve video conversations.

The survey methodology involves a survey of 1,000 US and 2100 consumers across Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, the UAE and Vietnam was completed in June 2021 by Researchscape International, a market research consultancy, and through an online survey platform – Zoho.

-- BERNAMA 

ZOLL, WALLABY MEDICAL INK AGREEMENT TO DISTRIBUTE TEMPERATURE MANAGEMENT PRODUCTS IN CHINA

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 (Bernama) -- ZOLL® Medical Corporation, an Asahi Kasei company that manufactures medical devices and related software solutions, and Wallaby Medical Technologies, have announced signing a distribution agreement whereby Wallaby will manage the sales and distribution of ZOLL’s temperature management products in China.

Wallaby Medical Technologies is a medical device company dedicated to treating stroke and cardiac arrest, according to a statement.

“ZOLL is excited to work with Wallaby to further expand the use of the Thermogard XP® in China, allowing more patients to benefit from high-quality targeted temperature management (TTM),” said President, ZOLL Circulation, Neil Johnston.

Meanwhile, Wallaby Medical Chief Executive Officer, Michael Alper said: “Wallaby Medical is dedicated to improving patient care in China through advanced technology, as we pursue our vision of becoming the medical technology company that helps save the most lives affected by stroke and cardiac arrest.”

High-quality TTM relies on speed at induction to achieve a specific temperature and precisely sustain specified temperatures throughout cooling and normothermia phases, which includes a prolonged controlled rewarming phase.

Current cooling devices vary broadly in their ability to deliver speed and precision, but the latitude in dose selection requires high specificity. The goal of a high-quality TTM programme is to improve the potential for good neurological outcome at patient discharge.

Patients discharging neurologically intact often experience easier recoveries and return to a higher and longer-term quality of life, including return to their normal productivity and lives with their loved ones.

The Thermogard XP Intravascular Temperature Management System (IVTM™) offers healthcare providers the precision and speed as characterised in high-quality TTM, resulting in clinically demonstrated improvements in neurological outcomes among survivors of cardiac arrest.

More details at www.zoll.com.

-- BERNAMA

CYBERSECURITY FIRM VEHERE APPOINTS WAHAB YUSOFF AS ADVISOR TO THE BOARD

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 (Bernama) -- Cyber Situational Awareness firm Vehere announced that Wahab Yusoff has joined as an Advisor to the Board.

According to a statement, he will be based out of Singapore and assisting Vehere on building its presence in the ASEAN Region.

Yusoff has over three decades of rich experience in Cybersecurity and Information Technology, focusing on assisting organisations to scale operations in the Asia Pacific Region, with expertise in IT Security and proven track record of driving corporate growth and development in the APAC region.

Additionally, he also serves on the Boards of Changi Airport Group, Workforce Singapore, EZ-Link Pte Ltd and Rekanext VC.

Vehere Founder & CSO, Praveen Jaiswal said: “With his nuanced understanding of the industry and business, Wahab adds great value and dimension in furthering Vehere’s growth ambitions in the ASEAN Region.

“His years of experience in business development in the region make him highly suitable to open newer markets for our products and attest the company’s command and ascendancy.”

Meanwhile, Yusoff said he was pleased to join Vehere and be part of the company’s exciting journey, with the hope of a meaningful collaboration to bolster Vehere’s vision of enhanced presence and expansion in the region.

Holding a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the National University of Singapore and Post Graduate degree in Finance, Strategic Planning, Marketing and HR from Heriot-Watt University, he is the Vice President of the Asia Pacific and Japan region for Forescout Technologies.

For more information on Vehere, visit https://vehere.com/

-- BERNAMA

ENDACE CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY WITH US$20,000 DONATION TO THE GLAUCOMA FOUNDATION

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20 (Bernama) -- As part of its 20th anniversary celebration and its ‘year of giving back’, Endace is supporting The Glaucoma Foundation’s Art Challenge to Celebrate Vision with a corporate donation of US$20,000. (US$1 = RM4.236)

“It was important to us to mark this company milestone by making a difference. More than one million people per year are diagnosed with glaucoma. The Glaucoma Foundation’s mission to preserve and restore vision aligns strongly with our mission to provide visibility in networks,” said Endace Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Stuart Wilson.

“At Endace, we love to overcome difficult challenges, so helping The Glaucoma Foundation address the significant challenges of this debilitating condition feels like a very worthwhile project to support.”

According to a statement, artists (amateurs and professionals alike) enter The Glaucoma Foundation Art Challenge by submitting a digital image of their original work.

Every artist will be given a ‘challenge page’ where, at first, their work will appear blurry and pixelated. Your donation can bring their work into focus, and every gift made will be matched, dollar for dollar.

Endace encourages its friends, family, customers, and partners to support The Glaucoma Foundation’s efforts now through the end of the Art Challenge on Sept 15.

“Endace’s generous donation to the second annual TGF Art Challenge will provide patients with help for today and hope for the future,” said President and CEO of The Glaucoma Foundation, Elena Sturman.

The Glaucoma Foundation is leading the fight against the disease by promoting early diagnosis and funding vital research to identify and develop novel approaches to preserve visual function and reverse blindness caused by glaucoma.

Endace specialises in high-speed, scalable packet capture for cybersecurity, network and application performance. More details at www.endace.com.

-- BERNAMA

P97 NETWORKS SELECTED BY UNIOIL TO ENHANCE DIGITAL EXPERIENCE

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- P97 Networks, a leader in digital commerce innovation has been selected by Unioil Petroleum Philippines to enhance the Unioil Mobile App with point of sale to fuel pump integration, loyalty card integration, mobile payment integration, offers, rewards, station locator and fuel price comparison functionality.

“The new Unioil mobile app on the P97 Digital Commerce Platform will help continue to provide better digital experiences for Unioil’s customers. P97 are thrilled to be a part of Unioil’s retail expansion and improving their frictionless customer experience at the pump,” said Managing Director of APAC, from P97 Networks, Brad Jones.

Meanwhile, Unioil VP of Retail, Ed Pasion said: “Adding the P97 Digital Commerce Platform will truly enhance our consumer offering and provide more value for our customers.”

Unioil offers a complete line of Euro-5 standard fuels — from gasoline variants to its diesel -- all of which significantly decrease emissions up to 77 per cent, making Unioil’s specially formulated fuels the country’s cleanest range since 2017.

According to a statement, Filipino drivers will soon have a safe, contactless and rewarding fuelling experience by 2021 with Unioil Mobile App.

COVID-19 accelerated the use of payments with mobile apps, as it provides a contactless payment solution versus the use of banknotes, providing a safer experience for consumers. It is estimated that nearly 76 per cent of purchases in 2021 will be made within a mobile app.

P97’s pioneering Digital Commerce Platform is built on Industry Standards that enable fuel retailers to connect and communicate with their consumers, and has more than 40,000 stations connected today.

P97 is proud to enable an enhanced mobile app experience at all Unioil locations, to purchase fuel products and earn rewards - all with the Unioil mobile app.

More details at www.p97.com.

-- BERNAMA

SMARTTRADE BAGS BEST FX AGGREGATOR AT FX MARKETS ASIA AWARDS 2021

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- smartTrade Technologies, a leading provider of multi-asset electronic trading solutions, has won Best FX Aggregator for its LiquidityFX platform at the FX Markets Asia Awards 2021.

Chief Executive Officer of smartTrade Technologies, David Vincent, said: “We are proud to receive the Award for Best FX Aggregator once again. The expansion of our local presence underlines our commitment to the Asia-Pacific region – particularly important in crisis situations such as we experienced last year.”

According to a statement, smartTrade Liquidity FX provides sophisticated cross-asset aggregation for banks and brokers operating in regional FX markets.

The product supports a combination of currencies, order types and price tiering, with venue co-location in London, New York and Tokyo delivering low latency to market.

A truly multi-asset-class product, LiquidityFX supports a range of instruments including FX Spot, Forwards, Swaps, NDFS, Cryptocurrencies and Options.

The FX Markets Asia Awards recognise the best banks, dealers, brokers and currency managers in the Asia-Pacific region, focusing this year on firms which developed unique and innovative ways to respond to industry needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

smartTrade was lauded for its unique value proposition of being the only FX aggregator developed in Asia, as well as for its focus on technology that offers optimum performance in terms of system capacity and latency.

More details at www.smart-trade.net.

-- BERNAMA

GRAB TO PARTICIPATE AT UPCOMING INVESTOR CONFERENCES

SINGAPORE, Aug 9 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Grab Holdings Inc. (“Grab”), Southeast Asia’s leading superapp, announced that its management team is scheduled to present at the following virtual investor conferences. Attendance is by invitation only for clients of each respective firm. Interested investors should contact their respective sales representative to register and schedule one-on-one meetings.

· Monday, August 9 (U.S.), Grab Chief Financial Officer Peter Oey will be presenting at the Cowen Internet & Media Bus Tour.
· Wednesday, August 11 (Asia), Peter Oey will be presenting at a Tellimer hosted forum, titled “Grab: The rise of the ASEAN Superapp”.
· Wednesday, August 25 (Asia), Grab Head of Asia Investor Relations Ken Lek will host a group presentation at the Macquarie ASEAN Virtual Conference 2021.
· Thursday, August 26 to Friday, August 27 (Asia), Peter Oey will host several group and one-on-one meetings at the JP Morgan ASEAN TMT & Fintech 1x1 Forum.
· Wednesday, September 1 to Friday, September 3 (Asia), Grab President Ming Maa will present at the Morgan Stanley Virtual Asia TMT Conference.
· Monday, September 6 (Asia), Peter Oey will present at the 22nd Credit Suisse Asian Technology Conference.
· Monday, September 6 (Asia), Peter Oey will be participating in a panel discussion at Moody’s Emerging Markets Summit - Asia.
· Wednesday September 8 (U.S.), Peter Oey will present at the Wolfe Research TMT Conference.
· Monday, September 27 (U.S.), a recorded interview between the President of Principal Asia, Thomas Cheong and Grab CEO Anthony Tan will be played at the Principal Global Investment forum.
· Thursday, October 28 (Asia), Ming Maa will present at The Barclays Asia Virtual Forum.
 
About Grab

Grab is Southeast Asia’s leading superapp based on GMV in 2020 in the food deliveries, mobility and the e-wallets segment of financial services, according to Euromonitor. Grab operates across the deliveries, mobility and digital financial services sectors in over 400 cities in eight countries in the Southeast Asia region. Grab enables millions of people each day to access its driver- and merchant-partners to order food or groceries, send packages, hail a ride or taxi, pay for online purchases or access services such as lending, insurance, wealth management and telemedicine, all through a single “everyday everything” app. Grab was founded in 2012 with the mission to drive Southeast Asia forward by creating economic empowerment for everyone, and since then, the Grab app has been downloaded onto millions of mobile devices. Grab strives to serve a double bottom line: to simultaneously deliver financial performance for its shareholders and a positive social impact in Southeast Asia.

On April 13, Grab announced that it intends to go public in the U.S. via a merger with Altimeter Growth Corp. (Nasdaq: “AGC”). Upon closing of the merger, the combined company expects its securities to be traded on NASDAQ under the symbol “GRAB”.
 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210806005114/en/ 

Contact 

Media
In Asia: press@grab.com
In the United States: Suzanne Byowitz, Grab-SVC@sardverb.com 

Investors
Grab: investor.relations@grab.com
Blueshirt Group: GrabIR@blueshirtgroup.com 

Source : Grab Holdings Inc. 

--BERNAMA

ASIA PACIFIC EDUCATION LEADERS CONVENE FOR BLACKBOARD TEACHING AND LEARNING CONFERENCE

SINGAPORE, Aug. 18, 2021 /Medianet International-AsiaNet/ --

Educators from India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and around the Asia Pacific region are convening virtually today and tomorrow for the Blackboard Teaching and Learning Conference Asia Pacific (TLC) 2021.

The two-day free event, created and hosted by global education technology leader Blackboard, went virtual for the first time last year. It is intended to bring the education community across the region together to share and learn from one another.

Delegates to the event will discuss issues including educator empowerment, change management, assessment practices, academic integrity, driving learner success and optimising the student experience.

"It has been a challenging 18 months for learners, educators and everyone in the education industry globally. Now, more than ever, it's important for us to come together as a community," said Yves Dehouck, Vice President Asia Pacific at Blackboard.

"The silver lining of hosting TLC virtually again this year is that we have been able to broaden the reach of the event, making the lessons learned during the pandemic more accessible to more people across the Asia Pacific region," he said.

TLC Asia Pacific 2021 will also offer more than 40 sessions, feature speakers from Australia, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines and Singapore and include client-led sessions featuring case studies and showcasing their innovations based on Blackboard solutions.

For more information visit: https://bbtlcapac.com or follow @BlackboardAPAC on Twitter and #TLCAPAC for updates.

SOURCE: Blackboard Inc


http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=40785

KAUSTUBH MEDHE CHOSEN CYBLE RESEARCH AND INTELLIGENCE HEAD

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 (Bernama) -- Cyble, an AI-powered, Y Combinator-backed, cyber threat intelligence company empowering organisations with darkweb & cybercrime monitoring and mitigation services, has announced the appointment of Kaustubh Medhe as Head of Research and Intelligence.

In his new role, Kaustubh will drive the research initiatives of Cyble and oversee and operationalise the development of the company's security research and client delivery initiatives, while playing a pivotal role in leading Cyble's threat intelligence capabilities to foster the production of strategic and actionable threat research and accelerate the integration of Cyble's services worldwide.

On his appointment, he said: "Having led cyber defence operations from the trenches of FORTUNE® 500 companies and one of India's largest conglomerates with diversified businesses into the Oil and Gas, Telecom, E-commerce, and Manufacturing sectors, I am convinced it is no longer sufficient to rely only on traditional preventive and detective controls to secure an organisation.

“Cyber defenders need to incorporate cyber intelligence as part of their cyber defence strategy to proactively discover and preempt impending cyberattacks before they can cause damage.”

A cybersecurity and risk management professional with diverse experience in consulting, practice management, and cybersecurity operations, Kaustubh brings over 20 years of rich experience.

"The addition of Kaustubh to the team at Cyble is strategic in terms of extending the company's sustained growth in a constantly evolving threat landscape. He brings a wealth of experience and an impeccable track record in delivering strategic research to key clients.

“We are confident that with Kaustubh on board, Cyble will strengthen its client base across the world," said Cyble CEO and Co-founder, Beenu Arora in a statement.

Headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, Cyble has been recognised by Forbes as one of the top 20 Best Cybersecurity Start-ups To Watch In 2020 and has offices in Australia, Singapore, and India.

For more information, visit www.cyble.com.

-- BERNAMA

GTJAI led LiDAR manufacturer Innovusion series B+ financing

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 -- Guotai Junan International Holdings Limited (GTJAI, the Company or Group) has announced the Group successfully led series B+ financing of the global leading LiDAR manufacturer Innovusion recently.

Meanwhile, Shunwei Capital was the co-investor of the financing, while its existing investors, including NIO Capital and Temasek, also contributed to the financing.

According to a statement, the proceeds will support the mass production and delivery of NIO ET7 LiDAR and self-developed technology innovation project which has been constantly focused and invested by Innovusion.

GTJAI Executive Director and Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Qi Haiying said: “LiDAR plays an important role in the development of new energy vehicle and its auto driving technology.

“With private equity’s deep understanding of upstream and downstream of new energy vehicle industry, we will fully utilise our advantage in resource and synergy between various business sectors to provide comprehensive support to the client in capital market and jointly boost Chinese smart vehicle and auto driving to the forefront of the world.”

GTJAI has been paying attention to the development of responsible investment and sustainable finance.

Its private equity team has placed several investment projects in new energy industry, including AiHuiShou, Weineng and Plus.ai, and provided comprehensive financial services to corporate clients via synergy with investment banking business.

Last year, GTJAI’s private equity team participated in the Series E financing of AiHuiShou (ATRenew), which made its debut on NYSE with assistance from the Company’s equity capital market team in June this year.

More details at http://www.gtjai.com.

-- BERNAMA

INDIASPORA'S 2021 PHILANTHROPY LEADERS LIST MAKES DIFFERENCE THROUGH GIVING

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 (Bernama) -- Indiaspora, a nonprofit community of global Indian leaders from diverse backgrounds and professions, has released its list recognising 100 Indian and diaspora leaders who are making a difference through their giving.

“It is incredibly inspiring to see so many philanthropists from our community who have translated their success into social impact. These leaders serve as an example of the importance of generosity and remind us of the many issues that need our attention,” said Indiaspora Founder MR Rangaswami.

With guidance from nine jurors and drawing from multiple sources, including reputed studies, earlier verified lists, and publicly shared documents, Indiaspora’s 2021 Philanthropy Leaders List recognises Indian and diaspora leaders globally for their philanthropic contributions and engagement.

According to a statement, Indiaspora’s 2021 Philanthropy Leaders List includes philanthropists from India and from geographies with significant diaspora migration, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and Australia.

“Indiaspora’s Philanthropy Leaders List serves as a reminder to the diaspora to continue the important work of giving even once the crisis abates so our communities can meet future challenges,” said Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fairfax Financial Holdings and one of the honorees on the List, Prem Watsa.

The List includes names from various industries including technology, entertainment, finance, and the law, who are using their philanthropy to address issues such as access to healthcare, quality education, water and sanitation, arts and culture, food insecurity, and employability.

Indiaspora’s 2021 Philanthropy Leaders List is one of several of the organisation’s philanthropy-focused initiatives. Other initiatives include the Philanthropy Summit, an annual event that brings together nonprofits, foundations, philanthropists, and others in the social impact space to share learnings regarding Indian and diaspora philanthropy.

More details at www.indiaspora.org.

-- BERNAMA

HILLSTONE NETWORKS RELEASES NEW STAND-ALONE SD-WAN SOLUTION

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 (Bernama) -- Hillstone Networks, an infrastructure protection solutions provider, has released a dedicated version of its software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) solution as part of its Hillstone Security Management Platform (HSM) 5.0 release.

Hillstone’s stand-alone SD-WAN solution addresses the increasing need for more bandwidth, as well as improved network availability and quality requirements to better serve latency-sensitive apps.

This is also to ensure that today’s hybrid workforce has the secure networking infrastructure needed to remain productive, according to a statement.

“Organisations today still struggle with how to balance supporting and securing a hybrid workforce against the backdrop of an increasing potential of cyberattacks,” said Co-founder, and CTO at Hillstone Networks, Tim Liu.

 “We designed the Hillstone SD-WAN solution with fully integrated security to address the critical pain points triggered by today’s business needs and market trends, and to ensure that IT teams can reliably and efficiently secure their networks and apps, while delivering a great experience for their end-users.”

The race to the cloud accelerated by the ongoing pandemic, an increasingly hybrid and mobile workforce who demand quality user experience, as well as edge computing are the primary drivers for a secure SD-WAN solution.

Hillstone delivers with advanced SD-WAN capabilities that include simplified orchestration with advanced overlay automation and zero-touch provisioning; global unified network visibility with dynamic health monitoring; and, optimised application performance with intelligent routing and content awareness.

Hillstone Networks' proven Infrastructure Protection solutions provide enterprises and service providers with the visibility and intelligence to comprehensively see, thoroughly understand, and rapidly act against multilayer, multistage cyberthreats.

More details at www.hillstonenet.com.

-- BERNAMA

Cradlepoint new partner portal to optimise customer engagement, 5G and Wireless WAN deployment

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 -- Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-delivered LTE and 5G wireless network edge solutions, has announced Cradlepoint Cascade, a new engagement platform for Cradlepoint’s award-winning partner programme.

The platform offers channel partners a streamlined experience to roll-out and monetise Cradlepoint’s industry-leading solutions that will enable business customers to capitalise on the era of 5G and Wireless WAN, according to a statement.

“Cascade is simply about ensuring these partners have the tools and resources they need to do their job effectively. By adding this new portal to the Cradlepoint Partner Program, we are only bolstering our collective efforts to deliver effective solutions that transform businesses and drive results,” said senior vice president of global partner sales at Cradlepoint, Eric Purcell.

Cascade offers members of the Cradlepoint Partner Program a sleek and simple platform that provides a single pane of glass experience for partners, along with an extensive collection of resources to help deliver a pervasive, secure, and software-defined Wireless WAN edge to customers. 

Capabilities of Cascade include Customer Insights and Management; Sales Support and Management; World-Class Training; and, 5G for Enterprise Branch Specialisation.

Partners have full access to the data that matters, including details on exactly how many licences each one of their customers has, how many are being used, and which ones are in or out of compliance.

In addition, users have access to resources that assist in the sales process, including product collateral, technical details, pricelists, key contacts, and the ability to register deals.

Leading partners selling Cradlepoint’s 5G for business solutions can achieve 5G for Enterprise Branch Specialisation through Cascade, a certification eligible to partners that meet a series of sales, technical, and business proficiency criteria.

More details at www.cradlepoint.com.

-- BERNAMA

INNIO ANNOUNCES JOINING UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL COMPACT

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Bernama) -- INNIO, a leading provider of renewable gas, natural gas, and hydrogen-based solutions and services, announced that it has joined the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative.

In joining this critical voluntary leadership platform, INNIO continues its path to build on an expanded commitment to its environmental, social and governance (ESG) programme, according to a statement.

As part of the Global Compact initiative, INNIO proudly aligns itself with thousands of other companies and non-business signatories globally committed to taking responsible business action to create a better world.

President and Chief Executive Officer of INNIO, Carlos Lange said: “As part of the Global Compact, we are now positioned with our corporate neighbours to advance broader societal goals, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, through collaboration and innovation. Together, we can push further and faster to effectively address the world’s most pressing challenges.”

As part of its relentless pursuit to achieve a climate-neutral, greener and more secure energy future, INNIO established its Sustainability Review Board (SRB), tasked with developing INNIO’s ESG goals and strategy for its Jenbacher and Waukesha businesses in close alignment with INNIO’s growth strategy. 

In an act to cement its commitment to sustainability, INNIO leadership – in conjunction with its SRB – moved swiftly to become a participant of the Global Compact.

INNIO recognised the Global Initiative as being a beacon platform bringing together companies and non-business signatories everywhere to align their operations and strategies with 10 principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and to take action in support of UN goals and issues embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Launched in 2000, the UN Global Compact is composed of more than 9,500 companies and 3,000 non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and more than 70 Local Networks.

INNIO recently took a bold step in advancing sustainability in the power industry to build the first industrial scale hydrogen-fuelled power plant. 

More details at www.innio.com.

-- BERNAMA

FALCONX VALUED US$3.75 BILLION AFTER RAISING US$210 MILLION FOLLOWING 30X YOY REVENUE GROWTH

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Bernama) -- FalconX, a digital assets and cryptocurrency financial services company providing institutions trading, credit, and clearing across major cryptocurrencies, has announced a US$210 million Series C financing round, valuing the company at US$3.75 billion. (US$1 = RM4.240)

The round was led by Altimeter Capital, Sapphire Ventures and existing investors B Capital Group and Tiger Global Management, with participation from Mirae Asset. Amex Ventures also increased its existing investment as part of this round.

They join existing investors Accel, Accomplice VC, Coinbase Ventures, CMT Digital, Flybridge Capital Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Avon Ventures, a venture capital fund affiliated with FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments.

In just three years, FalconX has become one of the most highly valued institutional cryptocurrency companies in the world, driven by strong unit economics, profitability, and revenue growth across business lines.

FalconX leverages machine learning to provide institutions a single counterparty with access to global cryptocurrency liquidity with 99.9 per cent+ uptime through its web interface, APIs, and 24/7/365 white glove trading desk.

Its credit business enables institutions to access short term financing for trades – filling the gap between long term loans and derivatives markets for institutions looking to increase their balance sheet efficiency in an elastic manner.

“FalconX is the trusted one-stop-shop for the world’s leading institutional cryptocurrency market participants – providing the technology, security, and reliability necessary to power their strategies at scale,” said FalconX CEO and Co-Founder, Raghu Yarlagadda in a statement.

FalconX plans to officially announce several new product offerings in the coming months, each of which are currently live, growing quickly, and profitable.

FalconX will use the funding from the Series C round to expand its product lines, explore strategic acquisitions, and continue to hire great talent globally, including key executives with backgrounds at the convergence of traditional financial markets, digital assets and technology.

-- BERNAMA

TELEDYNE NEW AI SOFTWARE ENABLES LEARNING AT RUNTIME

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Bernama) -- Teledyne has announced its Sapera Vision Software Edition 2021-07 is now available.

Sapera™ Vision Software from Teledyne DALSA offers field proven image acquisition, control, image processing and artificial intelligence functions to design, develop and deploy high-performance machine vision applications.

According to a statement, the new upgrades to the Sapera Vision Software include enhancements to its AI training graphical tool Astrocyte™ and the image processing and AI libraries tool Sapera Processing.

“We are excited to introduce continual learning to the Astrocyte package. This helps improve the accuracy of a classifier ‘on the field’ by training only the samples that fail, without having to retrain from scratch,” said Software Director for Teledyne’s vision solutions group, Bruno Ménard.

“Astrocyte now includes a new anomaly detection called ‘pixel-level anomaly detection’. This new algorithm is much more robust and precise than the previous one. It also has the ability to generate heatmaps at runtime.”

Sapera Vision Software is ideal for applications such as surface inspection on metal plates, location and identification of hardware parts, detection and segmentation of vehicles and noise reduction on x-ray medical images.

-- BERNAMA

CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD-WEWORK PARTNERSHIP TO DELIVER INNOVATIVE FLEXIBLE SPACE OPERATING PLATFORM

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Bernama) -- Cushman & Wakefield, a leading global real estate services firm, and WeWork, one of the leading global flexible space providers have entered into an exclusive strategic partnership to market both landlords and businesses on WeWork’s management experience platform and on new jointly developed solutions.

The partnership is intended to provide clients with best-in-class office operations by combining WeWork's proprietary platform of workplace experience management software and hospitality experience with Cushman & Wakefield’s industry-leading asset and facilities management services.

“With flexible workspaces being an important component of the hybrid workplace, we’re excited to partner with WeWork to demonstrate how global occupiers and investors will benefit from the power of two global leaders providing unmatched accessibility to flexible offerings, best-in-class technology and a seamless tenant experience,” said Cushman & Wakefield Executive Chairman & Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Brett White.

Together, WeWork and Cushman & Wakefield will work to unlock opportunities to provide landlords and businesses with the ability to create a differentiated workplace experience for tenants and employees in the new hybrid world of work where flexibility remains at the forefront.

“Partnering with Cushman & Wakefield will combine WeWork’s industry-leading workplace experience management platform and hospitality-driven Community teams with Cushman’s world-class global client and property portfolio to create a solution that helps both landlords and businesses meet the demand for flexible workplaces to fit the changing needs of today’s workforce,” said WeWork CEO, Sandeep Mathrani.

In addition, Cushman & Wakefield, WeWork and BowX Acquisition Corp are in discussions regarding a potential transaction where Cushman & Wakefield would provide up to US$150,000,000.00 in a non-dilutive backstop equity facility on mutually agreeable terms. (US$1 = RM4.240)

According to a statement, the Facility would be subject to required approvals and the expiration or termination of any applicable waiting periods under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended.

More details at www.cushmanwakefield.com.

-- BERNAMA

TECHREPUBLIC ACQUISITION EXPANDS TECHNOLOGYADVICE’S GLOBAL CAPABILITIES, AUDIENCES

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Bernama) -- TechnologyAdvice, a full-service B2B media company and leading provider of media, brand, and demand services has purchased TechRepublic, the B2B brand previously owned by Red Ventures and CNET Media Group.

According to a statement, the acquisition will include a global team of dynamic technology and media professionals who will augment TechnologyAdvice's growing team in the US, the UK, Singapore and Australia.

"The acquisition of TechRepublic presents an incredible opportunity for TechnologyAdvice to build upon our core purpose of creating opportunity for technology buyers, technology vendors, our team members, and our communities,” said TechnologyAdvice Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Rob Bellenfant.

“The deal grows our audience substantially - enabling our 600+ technology clients to more intelligently engage with over 10 million technology users every month.”

For more than 20 years, TechRepublic has been a leading resource for IT and business decision makers with innovative web, video, and audio content that reaches an impressive global community of over 18 million registered users.

The deal further spurs TechnologyAdvice's trajectory of intense growth which began early last year with the acquisition of Quinstreet's B2B media business unit, a move that added world-class talent, proprietary technology, and best-in-class content to TechnologyAdvice’s core performance marketing services.

The strategic moves of the last 18 months have positioned TechnologyAdvice as a major player in the B2B media space with the capability to meet technology buyers at every point in their increasingly unique journeys.

More details at http://technologyadvice.com.

-- BERNAMA

CSOP GLOBAL SMART DRIVING INDEX ETF (3162.HK) TO LIST ON THE HKEX

 

CSOP Global Smart Driving Index ETF (stock ticker: 3162.HK) (Photo: Business Wire)

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Bernama) -- CSOP Asset Management Limited (CSOP) has announced the listing of CSOP Global Smart Driving Index ETF (stock ticker: 3162.HK) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (the HKEX).

According to a statement, CSOP Global Smart Driving Index ETF (3162.HK) will track the performance of the Solactive Global Smart Driving Index (the Index).

With listing price at around HKD 7.8 per unit, trading lot of 100 shares and annual management fee of 0.99 per cent, CSOP Global Smart Driving Index ETF will start to trade on Aug 12.

Upon inception, CSOP Global Smart Driving Index ETF (3162.HK) has received around US$5.3 million initial investment. (US$1 = RM4.240)

Smart driving refers to a whole advanced and integrated industry chain of automobiles, which includes electric vehicles (EV), biodiesel fuel and battery system, autonomous control electronics, semiconductors manufacturing and other related industries.

The Solactive Global Smart Driving Index comprehensively invests in up to 50 most representative global leaders listed on US, mainland China and Hong Kong.

These companies represent advanced technological progress in the smart driving industry, focusing on electric vehicles, semiconductor manufacturing and related innovative sectors.

As an established ETF manager in Hong Kong, CSOP has always been dedicated to providing ETFs/ETPs to global investors for nine years.

The launch of CSOP Global Smart Driving Index ETF (3162.HK) further completes CSOP’s thematic ETF spectrum.

-- BERNAMA

GTJAI REAFFIRMED CONSTITUENT OF FTSE'S ESG INDEX

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 (Bernama) -- Guotai Junan International Holdings Limited (Guotai Junan International, GTJAI, or the Company) announced that the global index provider FTSE Russell, owned by London Stock Exchange, reviewed the eligibility of constituents of FTSE4Good Index Series this June and then released the result in July.

It reiterated GTJAI’s eligibility and reaffirmed the Company’s constituent status in recognition of its good sustainability practices, according to a statement.

FTSE4Good Index Series is designed to measure the performance of companies demonstrating strong ESG practices. The Index Series is used by a wide variety of market participants to create and assess responsible investment funds and other products.

In response to the recent floods in Henan Province, the Company has made donation to Henan Youth Development Foundation as a helping hand to the frontline rescue.

Besides supporting various community services, GTJAI also prioritises green investment and financing.

This June, as a major underwriter, GTJAI assisted AiHuiShou, a pre-owned consumer electronics transactions and services platform, to list on The New York Stock Exchange, making it the ‘first ESG-related China concept stock’. 

GTJAI will continue sparing no effort in deploying its resources to mobilise global movement to a more sustainable future.

Guotai Junan International is the market leader and first mover for internationalisation of Chinese Securities Company as well as the first Chinese securities broker listed on the Main Board of The Hong Kong Stock Exchange through initial public offering.

-- BERNAMA

INGREDION INCORPORATED SECOND QUARTER 2021 RESULTS REPORTED

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 (Bernama) -- Ingredion Incorporated, a leading global provider of ingredient solutions to the food and beverage manufacturing industry, has reported results for the second quarter of 2021.

According to a statement, the results, reported in accordance with US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for 2021 and 2020, include items excluded from the non-GAAP financial measures that the Company presents.

“We delivered exceptional second quarter performance, resulting in our strongest quarter since 2017, with reported operating income of US$222 million, up 96 per cent versus prior year, and adjusted operating income of US$208 million, up 64 per cent versus prior year,” said Ingredion president and chief executive officer, Jim Zallie. (US$1 = RM4.226)

“In every region, we saw double-digit volume growth from demand recovery across all customer segments, as well as strong specialties growth. Our strong sales execution and price mix management, in a challenging supply chain landscape, mitigated rising corn costs and contributed to our 31 per cent increase in net sales.”

The Financial Highlights include at June 30, total debt and cash including short-term investments were US$2.2 billion and US$549 million, respectively, versus US$2.2 billion and US$665 million, respectively, at Dec 31, 2020.

Reported and adjusted effective tax rates for the second quarter were 11.7 per cent and 25.7 per cent, respectively, compared to 28.7 per cent and 28.7 per cent, respectively, in the year-ago period. The decrease in reported tax rate resulted primarily from the reversal of an accrual for unremitted earnings.

Second quarter and year-to-date net sales were up from the year-ago period. The increase was driven by higher volumes, including PureCircle and KaTech, as well as strong price mix, including the pass through of higher corn costs.

In addition, second quarter reported and adjusted operating income were US$222 million and US$208 million, respectively, an increase of 96 per cent and 64 per cent, respectively, from the same period last year.

In April 2021, a quarterly cash dividend of US$0.64 per share was paid to shareholders of record on April 1, totaling US$43 million, bringing dividend payments for the first half of the year to US$86 million.

The Company expects full-year 2021 adjusted EPS to be in the range of US$6.45-US$6.85 compared to adjusted EPS of US$6.23 in 2020. This expectation excludes acquisition-related integration and restructuring costs, as well as any potential impairment costs.

-- BERNAMA

UNIQUE NETWORK EXCLUSIVE BLOCKCHAIN PARTNER FOR UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATED NFT CLIMATE INITIATIVE

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 (Bernama) -- NFT platform Unique Network has been selected by the United Nations’ accredited Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) and the International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges (IAAI GLOCHA) as the lead tech partner for DigitalArt4Climate, its latest initiative to help combat climate change.

Unique Network is an NFT Chain that is expanding the capabilities for non-fungible tokens through its more efficient and scalable proof-of-stake solution, currently built for the Kusama and Polkadot blockchains.

“We believe that the future of human expression will be through sustainable NFTs, and we are dedicated to showing the world how it can unite our disparate communities in the fight to save our planet,” said Unique Network Chief Executive Officer, Alexander Mitrovich.

As the climate crisis continues to escalate, it is imperative the young people of the world are brought into the solution-making process, according to a statement.

To this end, the United Nations has recognised NFT technology as a unique new medium for creative expression that can help amplify messages about climate action.

DigitalArt4Climate aims to empower young artists, designers, and activists worldwide to create art that can inspire people to take action against the global climate crisis.

Unique Network will create and host DigitalArt4Climate’s NFT marketplace for these artists and web designers to showcase their artwork.

The marketplace will be built on Unique Network’s ready-to-use suite of NFT solutions that uses blockchain technology that is optimised for energy efficiency and low carbon impact.

Unique Network has joined DigitalArt4Climate to lead the technical implementation of the programme, alongside partner organisations GLOCHA, UN-Habitat, Social Alpha Foundation, Exquisite Workers, and Palette69.

The first component of this initiative was a Designathon, a design competition started in July that saw UX/UI designers compete to create the digital art gallery and marketplace that will showcase the second component of this initiative, DigitalArt4Climate’s Art Competition.

Meanwhile, starting on International Youth Day, Aug 12, young artists will be able to submit their work on the initiative’s website. At the end of the competition, the submissions will be put up for auction on the DigitalArt4Climate marketplace. 

-- BERNAMA

NIPPON EXPRESS (NEDERLAND) COMPLETES SCHIPHOL AIRPORT LOGISTICS CENTRE CONSTRUCTION

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 (Bernama) -- Nippon Express (Nederland) B.V. (NE Nederland), a local subsidiary of Nippon Express Co Ltd, has completed construction of its Schiphol Airport Logistics Centre in Schiphol Trade Park.

A ceremony was held recently to mark the occasion, according to a statement.

Situated in Schiphol Trade Park about 7km southwest of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, a major European hub, the Centre offers twice the space of NE Nederland's existing warehouse while being an eco-friendly facility with a 60m x 55m section of its rooftop covered in solar panels.

The newly-opened location comes fully equipped with dedicated temperature-controlled spaces for pharmaceutical products that allow for storage in three temperature ranges as well as dedicated truck docks to better serve the logistics needs of customers in the pharmaceutical industry.

Envisioning the need to handle heavyweight and long-length cargo such as semiconductor-related devices, ULD-handling systems capable of processing 20ft pallets have been introduced with the aim of handling more large cargo items.

Aiming to expand logistics services in the Netherlands with the establishment of this new Centre, NE Nederland will step up its efforts on behalf of the pharmaceutical and semiconductor industries, both designated priority industries in the Nippon Express Group's business plan.

More details at http://www.nipponexpress.com/

-- BERNAMA

ZOOM VIDEO COMMUNICATIONS RELEASES 2ND QUARTER FISCAL YEAR 2022 FINANCIAL RESULTS AUG 30

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 (Bernama) -- Zoom Video Communications Inc, a leading provider of frictionless enterprise communications, has announced it will release its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2022 on Aug 30, after the market closes.

A live Zoom Video Webinar of the event can be accessed through Zoom’s investor relations website at https://investors.zoom.us.

According to a statement, a replay will be available approximately two hours after conclusion of the live event.

Zoom, founded in 2011 and headquartered in San Jose, California, is an intuitive, scalable, and secure choice for large enterprises, small businesses, and individuals alike.

-- BERNAMA

STABLE OUTLOOK ASSIGNED TO MALAYSIA'S NON-LIFE INSURANCE INDUSTRY - AM BEST

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- AM Best has assigned a stable market segment outlook to Malaysia’s non-life insurance industry, based on the sector’s underwriting discipline and robust pricing, as well as increased use of digital solutions to enhance data and pricing capabilities, claims automation, product innovation and distribution.

In its Best’s Market Segment Report, ‘Market Segment Outlook: Malaysia Non-Life Insurance’, the United States-headquartered global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry expects the COVID-19 economic fallout to remain a key challenge for the Southeast Asian country’s non-life segment for at least the near term.

A slight contraction in non-life insurance premiums was offset partially by growth in health insurance, as the pandemic boosted demand and raised awareness for health and medical products. Looking ahead, AM Best expects the health line of business to remain an important driver of the non-life industry’s growth.

Economic recovery likely will be affected adversely by the need to impose periods of stricter COVID-19 containment measures, such as those seen in May, June and July this year, with the effectiveness of the country’s COVID-19 vaccination programme being instrumental in allowing the country to open up more freely over the months ahead.

According to the report, Malaysia’s non-life market has made good progress in upgrading its infrastructure to enable minimal disruption in a remote working environment, as well as in expanding digital platforms to manage operations.

AM Best notes that most insurance companies now have an established framework and developed risk management guidelines to govern a digital-based remote working environment during periods of movement control orders with business contingency plans set up.

According to a statement, AM Best notes capital market volatility remains a risk over the near term and likely to be dependent on ongoing global and regional developments, as well as management of the pandemic.

In response to these market conditions, AM Best expects the segment’s non-life insurers to continue closely monitoring their underlying risk exposure to various investment classes and adjust and refine their portfolio allocation as part of their risk management approach.

For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

-- BERNAMA

ALR TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES ADVANCEMENT IN PARTNERSHIP TALKS WITH 2 ANIMAL HEALTH PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 (Bernama) -- ALR Technologies SG Pte Ltd (ALRT or the Company), the diabetes management company, has announced the advancement in partnership talks on the GluCurve Pet CGM with two key pharmaceutical companies in animal health.

Subject to further due diligence and financial negotiations, one of the two will be selected as a strategic partner through purchasing a stake in the GluCurve Pet CGM, according to a statement.

“After receiving a great deal of interest, we have put other partnering opportunities for the GluCurve on hold because we believe the expertise, relationships, and global market reach these two pharmaceutical companies have, will provide the most value to the veterinarians and pet owners who care for diabetic pets, along with our shareholders,” said Head of Animal Health at ALRT, Joe Stern.

The GluCurve Pet CGM addresses an unmet need in diabetes care for veterinary clinics, pet owners, and the pets by making glucose monitoring effortless and financially favourable.

It also addresses an unmet need for insulin manufacturers by creating and capturing data on how each pet is responding to therapy, along with providing insulin dose calculations and best practice guidelines for different types of insulin directly to the veterinarians in an all-inclusive patient management platform.

One interested pharmaceutical company stated they believe the GluCurve Pet CGM “will revolutionise diabetes management for pets.”

The GluCurve Pet CGM combines the hardware technology to effortlessly record glucose levels, with the software technology to effectively manage patients in one holistic solution that saves veterinarians and pet owners time and money.

ALR Technologies SG Pte Ltd is a medical device company that developed the ALRT Diabetes Solution, a comprehensive approach to diabetes care.

-- BERNAMA

I'MBESIDEYOU ‘UNION OF EMOTIONS’ SERVICE USES AI, VISUALISING CHEERS ACROSS NATIONAL BORDERS

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- I’mbesideyou Inc (I'mbesideyou) has launched the ‘UNION OF EMOTIONS’ service on July 23, the opening day of an international sporting event.

This is the first time it has been able to visualise people cheering each other with emotion analysis AI, according to a statement.

More than 20,000 cheers have already been sent from over 79 cities across more than 14 countries worldwide, and the sight of the cheers flying across the globe has moved many people on social media.

UNION OF EMOTIONS is the world's first example of people's emotions connecting in real time across countries with the help of AI. It is scheduled to be available until Aug 8, when the closing ceremony of the international sporting event will be held.

Cheers sent from around the world will be visualised on the globe using I'mbesideyou's emotion analysis technology.

I’mbesideyou has embarked on this journey with the hope that people worldwide will feel a sense of connection to the world and to themselves by sending each other inspirations for the athletes' efforts and transcend national boundaries.

Submissions from around the world include not only those cheering for their own country, but also many that sent encouragement to other countries.

UNION OF EMOTIONS is a service that utilises I'mbesideyou's emotion recognition technology to help people worldwide connect with each other via emotions by capturing and posting videos and photos of people cheering on athletes.

The service is completely free of charge and does not include any advertising. It is purely an effort to encourage athletes to compete without spectators.

I'mbesideyou hopes people the world over will feel free to participate and connect with each other through the celebration of sports.

More details at https://world-emotions.imbesideyou.com/index.html.

-- BERNAMA

CIRCUS SOCIAL REBRANDS AS RADARR, ASSISTING BUSINESSES NAVIGATE ASIA DIGITAL LANDSCAPE

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- Social media intelligence company, Circus Social has rebranded as Radarr to cater to an ever-increasing demand for predictive digital insights in Asia, rolling out its new name, visual identity, products, and website this month.

The rebrand reflects the company’s recent innovations and technological transformations using AI, predictive intelligence, and linguistic-based predictive algorithms that scan the digital universe of billions of conversations.

According to a statement, the new offer is designed to serve brands in an unprecedented era of content proliferation—especially as platforms in Asia continue to grow, and time spent on social media continues to increase.

As the region’s fragmented digital landscape evolves, companies are increasingly looking for better ways to analyse and utilise the wealth of data available online for strategy, business intelligence, and audience insights.

Radarr Co-Founder and CEO, Ram Bhamidi explained: “At the core of Radarr’s new offer is an intelligence platform that delves deep into the billions of conversations happening online to deliver digital monitoring and predictive analytics.

“Bespoke dashboards provide targeted intelligence on select areas such as crisis monitoring or influencer management, whilst industry-centric dashboards on topics like Crypto and Gaming provide a bird’s-eye view of trends emerging across specific sectors.

“This intelligence informs actionable, data-driven recommendations for brands, enabling them to anticipate the future effectively and act rapidly.”

Most recently, the Singapore and Bengaluru-based company had announced its Pre-Series A funding led by Inflection Point Ventures and several high-profile investors from the US, Singapore, and India.

For more information, visit www.radarr.com

-- BERNAMA