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Feppy Bilingual Immersion Subscription Box for Kids Celebrates One-Year Anniversary with New Video Audiobook Feature

FeppyBox

-- FeppyBox features innovative immersive, curated bilingual storytelling for kids ages 3-6 -- -- New Video Audiobook Feature Enhances Pronunciation in English and Spanish -- FeppyBox, a bilingual children’s education subscription box designed to immerse children 3-6 years-old in Spanish and English language learning, is celebrating its one-year anniversary with the launch of a new video audiobook feature. The new Feppy video audiobook feature brings the magic of storytelling alive, and demystifies pronunciation in a foreign language, further immersing families in a bilingual world. The Feppy video audio books are included as exclusive access to all FeppyBox subscribers to help with pronunciation of Feppy stories each month. The award-winning bilingual immersion FeppyBox is beloved by families and makes learning in Spanish and English fun. Through a monthly subscription of curated content, inclusive of bilingual books, songs, games, and now video audiobooks, FeppyBox makes it easier for parents to raise their children bilingually, in a fun way designed to feel more like playing than learning. Studies have shown that the best time to learn a second language is between birth and the age of seven. During those forming years the brain is developing to absorb information in an unconscious way. While many bilingual children’s programs are designed to teach preschool curriculum, the FeppyBox difference lies in providing turn-key curated content to immerse kids in a second language, with innovative storytelling that instills lifelong values, taking out the guesswork for parents and caregivers. Founded in 2020, Feppy, a mix of “Happy” and “Feliz” (Spanish for “happy”), is a unique bilingual early childhood immersion brand offering award-winning books, music, videos and play, in a curated monthly subscription box. “We’re excited to be celebrating our one-year anniversary, and are excited to continue to find new ways to encourage creativity, promote connection and make the Feppy experience that much more fun.” said Ronit Shiro, Founder and CEO of Feppy. “At Feppy, the combination of our FeppyBox books and their video audio version was a natural next step, and we are thrilled with the positive response from our subscribing families. From them, we have learned that with the right tools, one doesn’t have to be bilingual to raise a bilingual child,“ added Ronit. Feppy’s curated content includes enhanced visual and auditory storytelling, making it inclusive to all types of learners. All children absorb and learn language in different ways, whether they tend to be more visual, auditory, kinesthetic or tactile. Below is a sneak peek at Feppy’s unique bilingual childhood immersion recipe. Each monthly FeppyBox contains: -- Feppy’s Award-Winning Books: Feppy Book is an original story in both English and Spanish, and exclusive access to its audio videobook. The video not only offers unlimited learning time, but it also supports pronunciation. The spark of bilingualism happens when a kid connects the content in both languages. -- Feppy Music: Feppy Music includes bilingual lyrics to adapted versions of traditional children’s songs with rhythm twists: Merengueton, Salsa/Trap, Reggaeton/Vallenato, Electro Mambo, and other Latin rhythms. Curated Feppy music lists can be found on Spotify, Apple Music and most music streaming platforms. -- Feppy Parents: Feppy Parents is a unique parent guide to support ongoing immersive learning. -- Feppy Play: Feppy Play is a hands-on activity that encourages play-based learning and highlights themes from the Feppy story. Every item in FeppyBox is fully bilingual, so parents don’t need to know both languages to share Feppy with their children. Here is how it works: -- Parents subscribe to FeppyBox without a contract and can cancel anytime. -- FeppyBox arrives at their door monthly to create fun experiences for children to become bilingual. -- Pricing: A monthly subscription is $29.99, or $39.99 for DobleFeppyBox, which contains one extra set of play materials for a sibling or friend. -- Shipping: Shipping is free in the United States. About FeppyBox Designed to raise the next generation of open-minded, resilient global citizens, FeppyBox is an award-winning, kid-friendly and truly bilingual English and Spanish subscription box for kids ages 3-6. Founded in 2020, Feppy’s early childhood curated content is inclusive of bilingual books, songs, games, and video, and has been named “Best in Family-Friendly Media, Products, and Services” by the Mom's Choice Awards and “Parent's Favorite Product” by the Tillywig Toy & Media Awards. For more information, please visit www.FeppyBox.com and follow @feppybox on Instagram and Facebook. Contact Details TORO Agency - PR and Cultural Marketing Ceci Toro ceci.toro@thetoroagency.com Company Website https://feppybox.com

August 17, 2021 10:09 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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ADPList raises $1.3 million to help professionals and students get instant access to mentorship

ADPList

Global mentorship platform ADPList today announced US$1.3 million in funding from Surge, a rapid scale-up program by Sequoia Capital India for startups in India and Southeast Asia. ADPList is a platform for people to find, book and meet mentors around the world, providing anyone with access to some of the best minds - starting with the design and product management community. At present, there is no shared platform that makes cross-border mentoring easy, or offers a global network of mentors with different skill sets and at different levels. In the current creator economy, where people are keen to share, support and teach others, ADPList’s instant, one-click access to a global network has made it one of the industry’s most prominent platforms. What initially began as a means for designers to provide peer support, share career opportunities and offer mentorship to others impacted by the pandemic, has since organically grown to over 20,500 mentees, 2,500 mentors, and over 5,000 booked sessions per month. “We started ADPList during the height of the pandemic, and the success of the platform has since shown us that there is a global network of people ready to connect and provide support for others in their communities. The evolution of ADPList today continues to build on the belief that every mentors’ voice can transform people’s career anxiety to agency, and our platform provides them with an entirely new, accessible and engaging way to do so,” said Felix Lee, co-founder of ADPList. “From the first moment I started mentoring with ADPList, I knew it was more than an act of ‘passing on knowledge’. After clocking 6000+ minutes across ten time zones with 100+ mentees from more than 15 different counties, I can tell you one thing for sure: Every session is a unique exchange of our lives, our stories and our dreams. There is no better feeling when Amazing Design People find each other!” said Michael Tam, Global Design Director at IBM iX. On ADPList, mentors can indicate their availability on a shared calendar for mentees to select and schedule virtual sessions. Video calls are conducted within the platform along with feedback and ratings after each session. Beyond one-on-one mentoring, the platform also offers small group mentoring, townhall-style talks and other formats. ADPList started in 2020 as a list of names, sprouted by the founders’ desire to help the many designers who found themselves out of a job as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. One tab in the open-source spreadsheet focused on mentoring, which received the most clicks. This eventually inspired the founder to build this into a platform, and that’s how Amazing Design People List - ADPList - was born. ADPList mentors work at companies like Spotify, Apple, Twitter, LinkedIn, Nike, Netflix, Twitch, Coinbase and many more. The company was incorporated in 2021 in Singapore by Felix Lee and James Baduor. Felix is a product designer turned tech entrepreneur. He was the Design Lead at Gotrade and Co-Founder at Packdat, which was acquired in 2018. He completed his studies at Singapore Polytechnic but decided not to go on to university, and instead pursue his entrepreneurial pursuits. Based in Ghana, James is passionate about community and design education, and taught himself Webflow and other NoCode tools. He has helped numerous students build design careers and worked with startups to validate their MVPs and launch their products. He is one of Webflow’s top creators in the world, with the number one most viewed project on the platform. The funding is supported by prominent angel investors Crystal Widjaja (ex-Gojek executive), JJ Chai (CEO of Rainforest), Quek Siu Rui (Co-Founder & CEO, Carousell), Ting Feng Toh (Co-Founder of GetGo), and Zopim Founders (Royston Tay, Wen Xiang Wu, and Yang Bin Kwok). ADPList is part of Surge’s fifth cohort of 23 companies that have developed new digital solutions to help companies and individuals live, work and learn better in a rapidly evolving Southeast Asian landscape. About ADPList Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Singapore, ADPList is a platform for people to find, book and meet mentors around the world, providing anyone with access to some of the best minds in the design and product management community. The company is on a mission to democratise mentorship and make it accessible for everyone through a community platform where people can find, book, and meet mentors around the world. Contact Details ADPList Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://adplist.org/

August 17, 2021 09:35 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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News Direct Joins OTC Markets Group’s Premium Provider Directory

News Direct

News Direct, the state-of-the-art news and content distribution service designed to meet the demands of modern media outreach, today announced it has joined the OTC Markets Group Premium Provider Directory in the News Dissemination section. Through inclusion in the Premium Provider Directory, News Direct’s news and content distribution services will be easily accessible to the thousands of companies that trade on the OTCQX®, OTCQB® and Pink® markets. News Direct is reinvigorating the newswire industry by utilizing rapidly advancing software technology to help companies succeed in today's challenging and ever-changing media environment. Notable features that are now more available to OTC companies include News Direct’s collaborative content studio including their proprietary SimpliFi ™️ capability that dramatically streamlines the earnings distribution workflow, 24/7 live customer support, standalone multimedia distribution and the most advanced security protocols in the industry. These services, combined with unsurpassed global reach, provide OTC companies with a more efficient distribution workflow that helps amplify their content beyond the traditional channels in today’s competitive business landscape. “We recognize that fast growing companies need an update to the news dissemination process if they’re to standout in highly competitive industries so we’re excited to offer access to streamlined solutions that enhance speed, control, security, and efficiency in the press release drafting and distribution process” said Gregg Castano, Founder and CEO of News Direct. “The way PR and IR professionals create, disclose and distribute company news has gone unchanged for decades and we’re happy to offer a modernized way to simplify workflow and increase effectiveness in drafting content and reaching relevant media outlets at scale”. News Direct designed a self-directed platform to empower communications professionals to work more efficiently, with greater control and flexibility. To secure sensitive information, the company mitigates third-party risk with two-factor authentication, cloud isolation technology, and secure sharing capabilities. Once media content is published, companies can assess goal-oriented analytic reports powered by AI software. Unlike other global newswires, News Direct media distribution comes at a flat-rate asset fee, regardless of word count or geographic distribution. To learn more about News Direct, please visit https://newsdirect.com. About News Direct News Direct provides news and content distribution for PR, IR, Corporate Communications and Marketing professionals. Our automated platform delivers a completely-reimagined, intuitive workflow, industry-leading security, transparent, flat-rate pricing and actionable analytics. Further, News Direct has deployed an array of innovation including advanced automation, isolation cloud technology and custom software for the most dynamic, efficient and flexible platform available today. To learn more visit newsdirect.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube. Contact Details Kevin Pryor +1 212-334-9753 newsdirect@n6a.com Company Website http://www.newsdirect.com

August 17, 2021 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

David Lane, Co-Founder & President of LevLane Advertising, Sells His Ownership Stake in Agency to Co-Founder, Bruce Lev

LevLane

LevLane, the full-service, award-winning advertising agency, has announced that Co-Founder, Bruce Lev, has purchased the shares of his partner, David Lane, to become the sole owner, CEO and Chief Creative Officer. Lane will continue to be on staff with the agency as a consultant and will continue to maintain his relationships with the clients he now helps serve, as well as look for new opportunities for the agency. “This certainly is an emotional moment for the both of us,” said Lev. “David’s leadership, hard work and friendship have been central to what has helped us endure for 38 years. And though titles and ownership may change, what will never change is our commitment to each other, our commitment to our clients, and our commitment to great work. It was our philosophy when we started, and it will remain that way moving forward.” LevLane was founded by Lev and Lane almost 40 years ago and has grown into the nationally recognized agency it is today. LevLane, which has more than 75 full-time employees, has experienced steady expansion through the decades. “38 years ago, Bruce and I were determined to build an agency that produced the best work for our clients, and attracted the strongest talent around,” said Lane. “Seeing where we are today – with clients who inspire us and a staff that consistently outperforms expectations – it makes me so proud, and I’m excited to continue to be part of that in my new role as Agency Consultant.” Lev sees the transfer in ownership as a great opportunity to continue to take the agency to the next level. “The agency leadership has been shifting for the last five years,” said Lev. “It’s a natural progression that will ensure that our current client base, talent and growth will stay energized. It has been and will continue to be, a very exciting time in the evolution of the agency.” About LevLane LevLane is an award-winning, full-service, independent advertising agency in Philadelphia, PA that has been building brands that people love for nearly 40 years. Contact Details LevLane Liz Weir +1 610-401-4825 lweir@levlane.com Company Website https://www.levlane.com

August 17, 2021 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Edison Interactive’s Nick Stanitz-Harper Wins Denver Business Journal Award

Edison Interactive

Edison Interactive (EI), a leading provider of enterprise software for connected device networks across the globe, is thrilled to celebrate Nick Stanitz-Harper as a winner of the Denver Business Journal 2021 C-Suite Award. The Denver Business Journal C-Suite Award honors leaders who have not only demonstrated essential leadership in their organizations but have also made invaluable contributions to the Denver region. As a vital leader at EI since 2016, Stanitz-Harper has been an integral part of driving innovative technology while simultaneously creating an unmatched company culture through his role as CRO & Co-founder. “I am ecstatic to be a recipient of this year’s Denver Business Journal C-Suite Award. It is such an honor to be recognized alongside so many other incredible leaders,” said Nick Stanitz-Harper. “I believe a key component of building a successful organization is to surround yourself with talented individuals who you can trust and empower to get the job done. This award is a testament to the team and partnerships we have built at Edison.” With a predominantly Fortune 500 client base, Stanitz-Harper worked tirelessly to understand the unique challenges faced by partners during the pandemic. As a result, EI built and launched new products that ultimately drove additional revenue streams and created more opportunities for its clients. Not only did these efforts further cement Edison’s partnerships, but they also contributed to roughly 4000% revenue growth over the past three years including 110% year-over-year revenue growth and a 30% increase in headcount in 2020. Stanitz-Harper continues to focus on driving revenue and bringing strategic partners to the table at EI. His ability to foster relationships and understand the unique circumstances of individual businesses has opened the door for countless opportunities. Currently, EI is focused on investing in premium content partnerships, monetization tools and enhancing its offerings through bring your own device (BYOD) solutions that will unlock new income opportunities for clients. Nick has also been recognized as a two-time recipient of the prestigious Titan 100 award in 2020 and 2021 and is a member of the Business Journal Leadership Trust. Edison Interactive is a leading provider of enterprise software for connected devices. Focused on digitally transforming the customer experience, EI is known for its vast network of premium displays, digital signage and infotainment solutions in a variety of industries including transportation, recreation and hospitality. The company’s end-to-end solution combines premium content, functional feature sets and monetization tools that enable brands to connect with their customers in more meaningful ways. Millions of consumers across the globe engage with the Edison platform on a monthly basis. The company was founded in 2016 and headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Visit www.edisoninteractive.com for more information. Contact Details Edison Interactive Ali Peters +1 330-608-7419 ali@edisoninteractive.com Company Website http://www.edisoninteractive.com

August 12, 2021 11:57 AM Mountain Daylight Time

Phil Steele Releases 2021 College Football Preview -- The Most Accurate College Football Magazine For 23 Years

Phil Steele

Proven as the most accurate college football magazine for the last 23 years, Phil Steele’s 2021 College Football Preview has become one of the top-selling books at Barnes & Noble in 2021. Steele spoke to 110 head coaches out of the 130 FBS schools to compile 352 pages of analysis, predictions, and unmatched information for every team. “The season officially starts, every year, when I get my copy of Phil Steele’s preseason magazine,” said ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit. “Really appreciate the hard work and relevant material.” Steele is a member of the Heisman Voting Committee and 14 other prestigious award committees in college football. His loyal readers and over 133,000 Twitter followers anticipate his preseason predictions. Here are a few highlights and excerpts from the 2021 edition: National Champion: Oklahoma Sooners Most improved team: Penn State Nittany Lions Heisman Trophy winner: Oklahoma QB Spencer Rattler Surprise team of the year: Washington Huskies Largest margin of victory per game: Alabama Crimson Tide (+28.6 PPG differential) Team projected to lose games by the largest amount: Bowling Green (-25.8 PPG differential) Largest yards per game differential: Clemson Tigers (+257.1 YPG differential) Worst yards per game differential: UMass Minutemen (-241.2 YPG differential) Steele’s analysis and predictions go well beyond the Power Five conferences. He projects the Cincinnati Bearcats will be the top non-Power Five team in 2021, followed by the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns, and the UCF Knights. He believes the Minnesota Golden Gophers have the 11 th best offensive line unit and the Wyoming Cowboys have the 59 th best linebacking crew. The magazine boasts hundreds of predictions across all conferences and player groupings. “The magazine has come a long way from the 1995 black and white first edition that covered just 86 FBS teams,” said Steele. “I appreciate all of my followers and readers who look forward to my magazine every year. It’s not only for the diehard fans but also the casual fans. With the legalization of sports betting in states across the country, many fans are looking to increase their knowledge of the teams and access to data across college football.” On Friday, Aug. 27, Steele and his team will update their projected stats and forecasts after factoring in injuries, suspensions, and transfers that have taken place since the book went to print. Updates are available via the digital version of the magazine at https://philsteele.com/digital-magazine-links/. This year, Steele tapped LEARFIELD to assist with production and distribution for the magazine, as well as sales promotion for both the print and digital formats. Once the season is underway, Steele’s work continues through Phil Steele Plus, a digital platform where Steele and his staff pour in countless hours to revise stats, analysis, power ratings, and individual team grades for all 130 teams after every game. Phil Steele Plus provides full access to his innovative color-coded stats system that is not available anywhere else. According to Chris Stassen (Stassen.com), Phil Steele’s College Football Preview is the most accurate preseason college football magazine over the last 23 years. Stassen uses simple, judgment-free mathematical scoring systems to assess the accuracy of the leading college football preseason magazines. About Phil Steele Phil Steele is nationally known as one of the best football analysts in the entire country. His superior knowledge of the game has landed him on the voting committee for every major post-season award including the prestigious Heisman Trophy. Phil is known for his preseason magazine, which has been dubbed “the college football bible” by many experts in the industry. The magazine gives a complete breakdown of every team in the country and predicts how they will do in the upcoming season. Find more information about Phil at PhilSteele.com and follow him on Twitter. Contact Details Eric Nemeth nemeth@ericpr.com Company Website https://philsteele.com/

August 12, 2021 10:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Channel Factory Targets APAC Growth with Key Hire

Channel Factory

Channel Factory, the global brand suitability and YouTube measurement programme partner has appointed Alex Littlejohn as Managing Director to manage its existing operations and to spearhead it’s growth in the APAC region. Alex will be responsible for growing the Channel Factory’s existing operations in Singapore, and will be tasked with launching the business into the broader APAC Region with local offices across SEA and Australia slated for launch in Q4 2021. Alex has extensive experience in scaling AdTech Businesses having held the position of President International for Adconion Media Group for 8 years where he was responsible for growing the team from a standing start to over 250 employees across 8 European and 4 APAC Markets. Following Adconion’s acquisition by Singtel (SGX), Alex held the position of Senior Vice President APAC for Amobee where he managed the post merger integration of 3 Business Units and was responsible for the groups Regional Finance, Marketing, HR, Product, Sales and Operations Teams. He has been recognised in the 40 most influential people under 40 years in the media and marketing twice, on two continents and has been awarded multiple times in multiple markets for his contributions to the industry. “I am excited to be joining Channel Factory at such a pivotal time for the business. Our Mission is to build a better Video ecosystem that connects creators, brands, and consumers, and as one of only 7 accredited YouTube Measurement Partners globally am excited to further develop the existing Channel Factory operations in the region”, said Alex Littlejohn. “Alex clearly brings years of incredibly valuable experience to Channel Factory and we could not be more excited to welcome him to the team,” said Tony Chen, Founder & CEO of Channel Factory. “His impressive record and successful wins speak for themselves and we have full confidence in him to lead our business growth across the APAC region in each local market as we increase our global footprint and push the ad industry to be more conscious while we approach a new decade of recovery and regeneration.” About Channel Factory Channel Factory is a global technology and data platform that maximizes both performance efficiency and contextual suitability, turning YouTube’s 5 billion videos and 500 hours per minute of new content into brand-suitable, efficient advertising opportunities. Channel Factory’s mission is to create a suitable video ecosystem that connects creators, brands, and consumers - by enabling advertisers access to the most relevant videos, channels, and creators. Through their proprietary platform that harnesses the power of the deepest YouTube dataset in the industry, Channel Factory has enabled advanced brand suitability, customized content targeting, and maximum performance for the world’s biggest brands. Channel Factory’s algorithm ensures not only that advertisers run against content that aligns with their brand but also delivers outcomes by optimizing campaigns using active and historical campaign performance data.Channel Factory has offices across the USA and is present in over 30 countries worldwide including the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Spain, Ukraine, Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Contact Details Kite Hill PR Kerriann Becker +1 631-235-7796 kerriann@kitehillpr.com

August 11, 2021 09:22 AM Eastern Daylight Time

VBox ATSC 3.0 TestBed

VBox Communications

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jonathan Rind VBox Communications Ltd +972-9-9502821 Marketing@vboxcomm.com VBOX ATSC 3.0 Testbed New Enhanced Version of TV Gateway for NextGenTV Developers & System Integrators HERZLIYA, ISRAEL August 11 th 2021 – VBox Communications, a pioneering specialist in broadcast TV streaming, recording and digital datacasting, announced the availability of its new ATSC 3.0 Testbed – an enhanced version of the company’s original ATSC 3.0 Android TV Gateway product released earlier this year. The VBox ATSC 3.0 Testbed is designed for TV stations, broadcast engineers, video system integrators, digital app developers, and others in the emerging NextGenTV technology development ecosystem looking to test “real-world” ATSC 3.0 features and functionality. As US deployments of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard approach 50% market penetration later this summer – and more than 70% by the end of 2021 – a priority shift towards commercial productization and monetization of potential NextGenTV capabilities is quickly coming into focus. VBox’s ATSC 3.0 Testbed provides an ideal, ready-made toolkit for monitoring service performance and ascertaining technical viability for product field trials and market launches. The VBox ATSC 3.0 Testbed offers the ability to analyze both linear and “beyond-TV” ATSC 3.0 signal provision through features such as: ATSC 3.0 Signal Reception: Ensuring signals arrive as expected, via ROUTE and DASH protocols; Advanced Emergency Alerts Reception: Enabling AEA-standard weather and storm information as well as localized emergency messaging; Electronic Service Guide Reception and Visualization: Monitoring of broadcaster/3 rd -party programming information for accuracy and timeliness; SDK Provision and Testing Documentation: Enabling oversight of 3 rd -party application development, deployment and compliance testing. AEA Advanced Emergency Alerts example: As an official member of the Advanced Television Systems Committee VBox Communications is committed to implementing ATSC 3.0 VBox’s ATSC 3.0 Testbed offers a unique approach to addressing the advanced features and benefits of the new ATSC 3.0 standard in addition to the video and audio features enhancements it provides. ESG Electronic Service Guide in ATSC 3.0 example: About VBox Communications: VBox Communications ( https://vboxcomm.com/ ) is an expert in Digital TV, offering products that deliver live TV broadcasts (e.g., DVB-T/T2, DVB-C, DVB-S2, ISDB-T/ATSC) to IP combined with OTT video streaming services, for home and business use. VBox’s innovative, end-to-end firmware, software, and hardware solutions empower telcos, STB/streamer OEMs, and integrators to harness the benefits of converged live broadcast and IP- based TV – while helping grow revenues, streamlining communications and reducing costs. The company is also an active contributor and participant in the evolving 5G Broadcast standard, with planned products in the pipeline. For more details about the ATSC 3.0 Testbed, please contact us at: marketing@vboxcomm.com. More information about the VBox ATSC 3.0 TV Gateway can be found at: https://vboxcomm.com/landing/landing-atsc3/ About VBox: VBox Communications is an expert in digital TV and new media, combining Live TV broadcast to IP and OTT. Our solutions empower Telco's, STB/streamer OEMs and integrators to harness the benefits of converged live broadcast TV and OTT services. VBox enables outstanding viewing experience (watch, stream and record at home and on the go) encompassing Live TV broadcast with OTT, supporting a variety of worldwide TV Sources. Contact Details VBox Communications Jonathan Rind +972 9-950-2821 jonathanr@vboxcomm.com Company Website https://vboxcomm.com/

August 11, 2021 09:12 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Enter Africa: Versus Africa seals fundraise as it paves the way for companies to access markets with ease

Versus Africa

Africa presents a $2.1 trillion consumer spending market for businesses seeking to explore new opportunities for their products and services. Enabling businesses to enter the continent is Versus Africa, a consumer insights platform, that has today announced a $850k pre-seed capital fundraise as it scales operations to support companies in Africa and around the world as they launch their products and services across Africa. A Techstars 2019 cohort start-up, Versus Africa helps brands get closer to their consumers by obtaining key insights and helping them make better business decisions. Versus combines online and offline consumer data to give brands actionable and competitive insights for the African market. Versus counts brands such as Pizza Hut, Vodacom among others and has partnered with several global agencies including R/GA to support their campaigns. The Versus Africa platform improves the go-to market strategy and approach of businesses selling in the continent. Through their unique African language sentiment analysis, the technology captures consumer insights using online (social listening and online brand tracking) and offline data trends (conducting in-person surveys through several thousand local scouts) to help brands inform, engage and adapt their product and service strategies. They ‘listen’ (for sentiment, trends and feedback) and then ‘ask’ (for opinions, about behaviours and motivations) to offer a complete insights package for businesses. Kemdi Ebi, CEO and Co-Founder of Versus commented: “We’ve purposely built our tool to help businesses “'listen” and ''ask” the African consumer to get true engagement and actionable insights. We’re helping them make sense of the thoughts and opinions of African consumers from varying backgrounds. For those who speak in different African languages and slang, we're able to accurately identify sentiment, trends and opportunities when we “listen” online. With real-time market research and unique patented tools that translate the complexity of local languages and cultures, Versus offers actionable insights to businesses that want to make their African market entry or continuing existence a success.” The complex nature of the continent with multiple languages, varying socio-political communities and cultural nuances means it has long been difficult for companies to be successful across multiple countries. Versus Africa offers a fresh lens into the market opportunity with their unique and dynamic research approach. “We have blended technology with boots on the ground to offer the purest insights to companies using Versus Africa. For the first time, businesses near and far are able to make better decisions on their product strategy in the continent. We are particularly excited because as we scale further, we are in pole position to be the go-to homegrown solution for easy, flexible and accurate research for the plethora of new local businesses cropping up across the continent” added Kemdi Ebi. Commenting on investing in Versus Africa, the MD of Techstars London Eamonn Carey said: "For the longest time, it’s been apparent that there is huge potential in markets throughout Africa - but one of the big challenges has always been getting real, detailed, granular data about users, habits, opinions and more. The Versus Africa platform helps local, regional and global brands get real, meaningful answers to their questions - helping them launch, grow and scale more effectively across the continent. I was incredibly impressed by the team, the tech and the vision they had to use a combo of tech and people to gather an incredible dataset for their customers." Various global research businesses have reported on Africa’s macro trends and geo-political events. Before Versus, there have been few that have achieved true regional and local market insights for businesses to make informed decisions. “How many Africans own and operate research in Africa? Not many. Africa deserves a local intelligence research edge born from within. There have been international research agencies and insights tools that have tried to explore Africa but only from a distant and macro lens, now, for the first time businesses will get true local insights to help them enter key markets across the continent. I hope our launch and growth propels more like-minded tech-focussed Africans to help grow this research industry” concluded Kemdi Ebi. About Versus Africa Versus Africa helps brands get closer to their consumers by obtaining insights and helping them make better business decisions. Versus combines online and offline consumer data to give brands actionable and competitive insights for the African market. Versus has served brands such as Pizza Hut, Vodacom among others and have partnered with several global agencies including R/GA.Versus Africa, a 2019 Techstars cohort startup, was recognised by Cannes Lion Festival for Innovation and it was the first African company to showcase at Slush Tokyo 2019. Contact Details Versus Africa Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com

August 11, 2021 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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