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CMO Spotlight: eCommerce Aggregator Society Pass Inc (NASDAQ: SOPA) CMO Talks With Benzinga On The E-Commerce Company’s Presence in Asia And The Problems It’s Solving

Society Pass Incorporated

E-commerce in Southeast Asia continues to grow by leaps and bounds. The region’s e-commerce industry is expected to reach $89.67 billion in 2022, an increase of $15.31 billion from last year’s $74.36 billion. Only four countries are expected to grow faster than Southeast Asia’s combined figures in 2022, and two of them — The Philippines and Indonesia — belong to the region. It is this growth that e-commerce aggregator Society Pass Inc. (NASDAQ: SOPA) plans to capitalize on, and both the aforementioned countries are already part of Society Pass’s business plan. Benzinga recently talked with Chief Marketing Officer Rokas Sidlauskas to discuss the company’s business, its target market and more. Society Pass’s Vision And Sidlauska’s Perspective About The Company Society Pass, also known as SoPa, is an acquisition-focused e-commerce holding company that is looking to become the goliath of e-commerce in Southeast Asia. The company operates in six verticals: loyalty, lifestyle, food and beverage, telecom, digital media and travel. SoPa is building what it says is a next-generation loyalty program across multiple verticals — a platform where users are rewarded for their daily and ordinary activities such as ordering food, purchasing clothes and buying travel tickets. Sidlauska, who just joined the team at SoPa on the 1st of September, was attracted to the company because of the loyalty program project, CEO Dennis Nguyen’s drive to see it come to fruition and the opportunity to work with talented people to create a product that rewards customers. The company operates in Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. SoPa looks to expand into other markets in Southeast Asia. Demographically, SoPa’s target market is 15- to 50-year-old tech-savvy individuals predominantly living in urban areas where the company operates. “There are around 575 million people who live in the markets that we operate in now. This market is rapidly growing economically, is young and technically engaged, which just highlights how promising of an environment this is for SoPa to be building our operations in,” Sidlauska said. According to Sidlauska, the challenge with loyalty programs is that they are company-centric or vertical-centric. Being company-centric in nature means you can only redeem points through a specific shop while vertical-centric implies they can only be used in a certain industry. Other challenges include difficulty in redeeming points, ensuring their validity and transferring them from one person to another. Sidlauska believes that what SoPa is building will resolve these challenges and allow customers to use their points across different verticals. The Problem SoPa Is Looking To Tackle SoPa is looking to create a win-win environment whereby customers are rewarded for their loyalty to certain brands and services on a daily basis while an opportunity is created for brands to connect with this loyal customer base and increase their revenue. The company’s unique selling point is the reward they offer for all transactions in the SoPa loyalty program. For instance, customers can buy a ticket via a travel agent and then redeem those points in their local market by ordering food. SoPa’s management team includes the CEO, who has over 25 years of experience in the business and finance world. Some of the company’s ventures are run by original founders, such as Leflair Group CEO Loïc Gautier and Johanes Chang who runs NusaTrip Indonesia and has over 20 years of experience in the travel and leisure industry. Commenting on the challenges they are overcoming in the next 12-18 months Sidlauska said, “There are a number of challenges of various levels of complexity. Tokenomics or the point system is something that requires a lot of effort to ensure that economically it makes sense for all ventures and companies that will take part in this loyalty program. Additionally, there are some technological challenges such as making sure that all companies connect to this system and communicate flawlessly. “There is a lot of work to be done, but we are very happy to be on this journey and look forward to delivering a world-class product to the market in Q1 of 2023.” About The CMO Sidlauskas joined SoPa in September after spending several years working in different managerial positions in the digital health space. He has spent the last 11 years in Asia, working in various management roles mostly in e-commerce and digital business. After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree in European studies and politics at the University of West of England in 2008, Sidlauskas started his career as a regional sales executive at Ulysses Systems before joining ding.com, formerly known as Ezetop, in 2010 as a business development manager. He has also worked as a business development manager for The Legal 500, vice president of sales for Ensogo, vice president of international business development for Passport Asia, director/venture lead for CMG.ASIA. Sidlauskas’s most recent role before joining SoPa was as head of product development solutions at Hello Health Group, one of the leading digital health companies in Southeast Asia. As a loyalty and data marketing ecosystem, Society Pass operates multiple e-commerce platforms across its key markets in SEA. Its business model focuses on analysing user data through the expected launch of its Society Pass loyalty platform and circulation of its universal loyalty points, which seamlessly connects consumers and merchants across multiple product and service categories to foster organic loyalty. Since its inception, SoPa has amassed over 1.6 million registered consumers and over 5,500 registered merchants/brands on its platform. It has invested 2+ years building proprietary IT architecture with cutting edge components to effectively scale and support its consumers, merchants, and acquisitions. Society Pass provides merchants with #HOTTAB Biz and #HOTTAB POS – a specialized POS technology solution, a comprehensive system for payment, loyal customer management, user profile analytics, and convenient financial support packages for small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, SoPa operates Leflair.com, Vietnam’s leading lifestyle e-commerce platform, Pushkart.ph, a popular grocery delivery company in Philippines, Handycart.vn, a leading online restaurant delivery service based in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Gorilla Networks, a Singapore-based, blockchain/web3-enabled mobile virtual network operator. For more information, please check out: http://thesocietypass.com/. This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice. Contact Details Dennis Nguyen: Founder, Chairman & CEO +1 877-440-9464 dennis@thesocietypass.com Company Website https://thesocietypass.com

October 21, 2022 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Is This A Robotics Company With No True Competitors? Meet AvaWatz

AvaWatz Inc.

In many collaborative industries, effective communication, project management and systems for effective teamwork are now considered essential. As the demand for robots increases in various industries, the need for collaborative robots (cobots) is also seemingly rising — basic robots might not be able to effectively complete various tasks for companies that demand collaborative elements without complicated programming to do so. AvaWatz Inc. is a decision intelligence tech firm that supplies for the growing demand for cobots. The company created a product platform called ARYA that enables teams of mobile robotic agents to work together — either independently or alongside human partners — to perform complex multipart tasks. Powerful machine-learning methods combine the capabilities of individual mobile robots into a unified system for collaborative detection, decisioning and action. ARYA is scalable to support a range of indoor and outdoor scenarios. Cobots can be used in a variety of fields to perform tasks that are too difficult, dangerous or tedious for humans alone. Cobot teams are adaptable and might help solve challenging problems for public- and private-sector customers in industries such as the military, aviation, search and rescue, construction, infrastructure and transportation. The U.S. Air Force, Army and Department of Homeland Security are funding AvaWatz research and development to advance the existing technology. As robotic technology increases — as has been seen in recent years with the development of drones, self-driving cars and industrial mobile robots — the need for learning platforms that can assist cobot teams may also increase. An Emerging Field With Unique Opportunity And Growth? AvaWatz is a unique company because wherever there is a need for cobot teams, there is a need for programming to make them work. The company says it doesn’t have any true competitors yet because robotic manufacturers are customers, not competitors. Cobots likely aren’t going away anytime soon. In 2021, the global collaborative robots market size was valued at $1.01 billion and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 31.5% from 2022 to 2030. More than 500 companies are making products in the robotic industry, and because of the adaptability of AvaWatz technology, they are potential customers. AvaWatz says it has the technology to reach a huge market with virtually no competitors and only potential clients. This is a feat few companies might be able to boast of. Discover what the AvaWatz investment opportunity involves by clicking the offer link: https://www.startengine.com/avawatz AvaWatz is a decision-intelligence company charting a new frontier in “Cobots” - collaborative air and ground robots. Leveraging AI and advanced knowledge network technologies, our cooperative robotic services are programmed to carry out tasks too dangerous, difficult, or time-consuming for humans. Our initial services target airfields, ground transit, and surveillance missions across private, government, and defense sectors, with a working prototype piloted by the U.S. Air Force. Visit https://www.startengine.com/avawatz to learn more. This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice. Contact Details Rajini Anachi rajini@avawatz.com Company Website https://avawatz.com

October 21, 2022 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

VideoXRM Gets Your B2B Video Found

VideoXRM

VideoXRM, a B2B content distribution and discovery platform, launched its beta site today with a commercial launch slated for January 2023. VideoXRM merges the superior communications power of rich media with granular searchability to bring global exposure to video and rich media assets. VideoXRM is the launch brand and new corporate name for this cloud-hosted platform developed over two and a half years as Issuer Pixel. VideoXRM is a scalable media discovery platform leveraging proprietary indexing structures, industry taxonomies and search engine technology that lets content providers upload and individually index their rich media assets to be easily found. Industry Problem – B2B video is hard to find with precise results, which limits its value and potential. It’s either siloed on millions of corporate websites or buried on consumer video portals. Irrelevant results from conventional text searches create frustration rather than solutions. 59% of executives prefer video to reading text. 81% of businesses use video as a marketing tool. 82% of consumer internet traffic will be video by 2022 Global corporate video investments exceed $20K per company, per year - but these assets are hard to locate. Solution – VideoXRM’s patent-pending technology uses highly sophisticated indexing and search technology to make unstructured video content easily discoverable with precision. This new ecosystem delivers huge value to searchers and content providers as businesses increasingly tap the power of video and rich media to differentiate their value and to reach new audiences. The platform is ideal for company-to-company and company-to-customer engagement, news media, researchers, supply chain and procurement managers, M&A sourcing, partnering and benchmarking. VideoXRM has the “Last Mover” advantage in the video and audio sharing industry, bringing structure, searchability, distribution and intelligence to rich media investments. About VideoXRM ( VideoXRM.com ) VideoXRM is a global, searchable video and audio sharing and networking platform connecting corporate rich media content with all potential stakeholders. The platform and smart search technology creates value and knowledge from mountains of unstructured digital media, delivering greater ROI from content investments. VideoXRM’s mission is harnessing the enhanced communicative power of rich media through a new distribution and discovery paradigm. VideoXRM was Co-founded by David N. Baker, who formed Revere Data LLC (Sectorbase) which was acquired by FactSet Data Systems, Inc. His Co-founders are Vadim A. Tarasov, Byron Kwok and David Guzy. Contact Details Catalyst IR David Collins +1 212-924-9800 VideoXRM@Catalyst-IR.com Company Website https://videoxrm.com

October 20, 2022 02:17 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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CloudWerx Announces Infrastructure Services Specialization in Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program

Cloudwerx

CloudWerx, a full-service enterprise cloud consulting firm, announced today that it has achieved the Infrastructure Services Specialization in the Google Cloud Partner Advantage program. A Google Cloud Premier Resell and Service Partner and a fast-growing North American partner, this specialization proves CloudWerx’s expertise in building customer infrastructure and workflows on Google Cloud. Google Cloud Partner Advantage provides organizations with qualified partners that have certified experience in successfully delivering Google Cloud solutions. Organizations that have achieved the Infrastructure Services Specialization — the highest technical designation a partner can earn — have demonstrated technical proficiency, industry expertise, and proven success using Google Cloud infrastructure solutions and services. “We are excited to be aligned with the open source, open community culture at Google Cloud,” said Jason Geis, Co-Founder and CEO of CloudWerx. “Our Digital Native customers that want to take advantage of the open source community and best-of-breed security are migrating to Google Cloud.” “Google Cloud specializations highlight the proficiency required to deliver technical competencies and support to customers,” said Derrick Thompson, Global Head of Partner Differentiation, Google Cloud. “Achieving this specialization is evidence of CloudWerx’s commitment to providing customers with the expertise they need to build and modernize their infrastructure workloads on Google Cloud.” CloudWerx chose to be an exclusive resell and service partner of Google Cloud because of the innovation, customization, collaboration, and flexibility Google Cloud offers its customers when it comes to building optimized and secure cloud infrastructures. To learn more about CloudWerx’s Google Cloud Infrastructure deployment process, please visit cloudwerx.tech/infrastructure. About CloudWerx CloudWerx is an engineering-focused cloud consulting company that provides the most elite technology resources to solve the toughest challenges. Maintaining 100 percent customer retention and a commitment to 11/10 technical, account and customer service, the CloudWerx team has unique experience working in some of the most complex cloud environments at scale and can help your business accelerate with confidence. Please visit https://www.cloudwerx.tech/ to learn more. Contact Details CloudWerx Betsy Reed +1 206-999-3517 press@cloudwerx.tech Company Website https://www.cloudwerx.tech/

October 20, 2022 11:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

Adventure Together Industry Event Wraps with a Record Attendance and Inspiring Discussions from 37 International Speakers

TourRadar

TourRadar, the Adventure Booking Platform that offers more than 50,000+ multi-day organized adventures across the globe from 2,500+ reputable and niche operators, hosted its second annual Adventure Together event which was a hybrid, held both online and in Vienna, Austria Oct. 18-19, 2022. Furthermore, the company announced increasing travel advisor commissions to up to 12 percent for bookings for the rest of 2022. With more than 2,100 people in attendance, the event brought together thought leaders and practitioners in multi-day touring including travel agents and agencies, tour operators and suppliers, influencers, OTA, and airlines, to provide inspiration, education, and insights into the technology and trends that shape the industry. Sessions covered subjects ranging from marketing, sustainability, distribution, and technology, to indigenous and inclusive tourism. The event theme ‘‘Now What?’ kept topics focused on what adventure travel and multi-day tours will look like in the future and how to plan for success. “Adventure Together gathered industry leaders together for much-needed discussions around the trends and opportunities for organized adventures and group travel in today’s global landscape,” said Travis Pittman, CEO, and Co-founder of TourRadar. “We recognized that there wasn’t a single global event or conference dedicated to the multi-day tour industry with a focus on technology, so we created one.” In his opening keynote, Pittman announced the company is raising commissions on its Agent Marketplace for both new and current travel advisors from up to 8 percent to up to 12 percent until the end of 2022. Agent Marketplace launched in November 2021, and now has more than 3,500 advisors. Pittman told attendees that since the company launched it has had 100 million travelers visit the platform, who have booked more than half a billion dollars in travel, experiencing 4 million days of adventures. Pittman revealed his three predictions for What’s Next; 1. trust, payments & financial technology products will be more critical and top of mind than ever, 2. data-driven storytelling will highlight and drive community impact and sustainability, and 3. digital distribution & tooling will come of age in the multi-day adventure market. In the session Targeting Net Zero – How Is the Multi-Day Tours Industry Responding to the Climate Crisis? Michael Edwards, CEO of Explore! shared insights on their comprehensive carbon-reducing strategy and Nadine Pino shared how The Travel Corporation is collaborating with destinations to build a shared agenda for climate action. Moderator Graeme Jackson, Head of Strategic Partnerships at the Travel Foundation, and one of the co-authors of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism reinforced the need for travel businesses and destinations to make a commitment publicly and set a deadline for action. The panel also addressed the need to move beyond measurement and offsetting and to start looking at all strategic business decisions through a climate lens. In the Adventuring through Data session, Sher Khan, Industry Lead at Google, and Lia Costa, Analytics Lead at TourRadar discussed how a post-pandemic world brought on different user behaviors and unveiled new travel trends. The two shared data about search terms and shorter booking windows. Costa indicated that 42 percent of TourRadar sales were booked less than 2 months in advance and that Google search volume for multi-day tour & adventure-specific terms increased 44 percent YoY. In addition, Costa reported that the top 10 destinations for summer 2022 TourRadar bookings were all in Europe with Italy, France, England, German, and Switzerland taking the top 5 slots. A panel on Responsible and Sustainable Indigenous Tourism included Anniina Sandberg, Founder of Visit Natives, Sebastien Desnoyers-Picard, Vice President of Operators of the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC), and Aurélie Debusschère a Europe agent for World Indigenous Tourism Alliance. Together, they discussed how the travel trade can make indigenous tourism more responsible by ensuring that businesses are working with majority-owned, operated, and/or managed indigenous people. The panel suggested operators directly engage indigenous people, their elders, and the community to ensure they share the right experiences and content. They also encouraged operators to ensure communities are benefiting from tourism. TourRadar also announced its new brand positioning ‘Adventure Begins Here’ which came from months of consumer and industry research and collaboration with agency partner Park & Battery. TourRadar, the Adventure Booking Platform, helps people seize and savor every opportunity global travel has to offer. “TourRadar has built considerable bonds with its customers but there is an opportunity to form a deeper connection, said Pittman. “The range of options TourRadar provides in the multi-day sector gives us a differentiator that no one else can own.” The announcement, film, and all sessions from the event were recorded and can be found here. About TourRadar TourRadar is the world’s first Adventure Booking Platform, where you can effortlessly book private, group, and tailor-made multi-day organized adventures from 160+ countries worldwide. Founded in 2010, TourRadar was the first to transition multi-day tours to an online marketplace, making them the global leader in the industry today. In 2021, TourRadar further revolutionized the industry by introducing the Adventure Booking Platform, connecting travelers, operators, and travel agents to organized tours through one, easy-to-use platform. www.tourradar.com Contact Details TourRadar Lisa Verbeck +1 310-254-0039 press@tourradar.com Company Website https://www.tourradar.com/

October 20, 2022 12:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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CSG Forte Combats Fraud with Launch of End-to-End Authorization Solution, CSG Forte Authenticate

CSG

CSG Forte, a CSG (NASDAQ: CSGS) company and the expert in processing and making automated clearing house (ACH) payments more secure and reliable, today launched CSG Forte Authenticate. To be successful, merchants need lock-tight authentication capabilities that effectively reduce the risks of fraud and automate their processes. Authenticate is an end-to-end payments security solution that empowers merchants across verticals to seamlessly verify account owner ACH payments and reduce the risk of fraud. “At a time when fraud is surging, it is not a matter of if, but when fraud occurs. From customer convenience to ease of acceptance, CSG Forte Authenticate gives merchants the ability to process ACH payments with confidence, securely and reliably,” said Jeff Kump, head of payments, CSG Forte. “CSG Forte continues to modernize our platform to reduce time to activation, ensure that businesses get paid on-time with accuracy and introduce new products that meet evolving customer demands. We’re proud to be industry leaders in helping merchants combat fraud.” According to “The State of Retail Payments in 2022” from Forrester Research, Inc., September 2022, “improving security (fraud, management encryption) jumped to the top of the list of online initiatives, with a significant 42% of retailers including it on their list of priorities.” With CSG Forte Authenticate at the center of ACH payments, an insurance company can reduce fraudulent deposits and increase customer loyalty and trust by depositing a check into the account owned by the person they are writing the check to. With CSG Forte Authenticate, businesses can: Reduce fraud or potential losses, establish a secure financial transaction relationship and improve overall profitability Ensure validated and non-failing inputs to the processor/network, to drive increased acceptance rates Catch errors in the early stages of a transaction and prevent transaction delays, to deliver increased customer satisfaction and loyalty Based on the Merchant Risk Council, the volume of ACH transactions has grown by over 50% in less than a decade, which indicates that ACH payments are a growing segment of the modern payments landscape. CSG Forte’s expertise in same-day ACH technology allows merchants to fuel growth by receiving funds quicker and at a lower price than working with other payment processors. For more information about CSG Forte Authenticate, join us at Money 2020 in Las Vegas #3-222 (Venetian Tower) or visit https://www.forte.net/why-csg-forte/authenticate. # # # About CSG Forte CSG Forte, a CSG company, delivers scalable digital payments for smarter and faster business growth. Our world-class, award-winning technology offers a unified end-to-end payments platform that easily adapts to changing needs and empowers companies to transform their payments operations into a competitive business strategy. With CSG Forte, companies can process omnichannel payments and offer agnostic payment acceptance, shifting payments from a line-item expense to a profit center. CSG Forte manages billions of payments annually for over 81,000 merchants across government, telecom, insurance, and other industries. CSG empowers companies to build unforgettable experiences, making it easier for people and businesses to connect with, use and pay for the services they value most. Our customer experience, billing and payments solutions help companies of any size make money and make a difference. With our SaaS solutions, company leaders can take control of their future, and tap into guidance along the way from our more than 5k-strong experienced global CSG services team. Want to learn more about how to be a change maker and industry shaper like our 1,000-plus clients? Visit csgi.com to learn more. Copyright © 2022 CSG Systems International, Inc. and/or its affiliates (“CSG”). All rights reserved. CSG® is a registered trademark of CSG Systems International, Inc. All third-party trademarks, service marks, and/or product names which are referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners, and all rights therein are reserved. CSG Contacts Jordy Spitale Public Relations +1 (504) 615-8820 Jordy.spitale@csgi.com John Rea Investor Relations +1 (210) 687-4409 john.rea@csgi.com Contact Details Tammy Hovey +1 917-520-2751 tammy.hovey@csgi.com Company Website https://www.forte.net/

October 20, 2022 07:25 AM Mountain Daylight Time

Sekur Private Data Has Seen Wild Growth In Q1 and Q2

Sekur Private Data Ltd

Sekur Private Data Ltd. (OTCQX: SWISF), previously known as GlobaX Data Ltd., has had a remarkable year of growth. The company grew revenue and subscribers in the first and second quarters apart from expanding subscription models and developing technologies. Sekur is a US listed cybersecurity and internet privacy company — with roots in Switzerland — that provides Swiss-hosted secure communications and data management. It uses military-grade encryption security and combines it with its own infrastructure located in Switzerland, under Swiss data security practices and laws. All user data is protected by the Swiss Federal Data Protection Act (FADP) and the Swiss Federal Data Protection Ordinance. Under Swiss federal law, it is a crime to publish information based on leaked “secret official discussions.” In 2010 the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland found that IP addresses are personal information and that under Swiss privacy laws they may not be used to track Internet usage without the knowledge of the individuals involved. Sekur’s use of some of the strongest privacy protection in the world for individuals and entities makes its Swiss-hosted services attractive. In early 2022, Sekur launched its SekurMail email service and Sekur business plans, a resource for businesses globally. The expansion brought an increase of over 5,600% in sales and an increase of over 1,900% in subscriber signups in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the first quarter of 2021. One reason Sekur appeals to businesses is its disconnect from any Big Tech. The company offers independent, private and secure means of communication through its proprietary technology and secured servers in Switzerland, taking advantage of the country’s tight regulatory laws protecting privacy. Sekur’s ability to promise privacy and security for businesses broadened its market early in the second quarter. In April, Sekur signed an agreement with Tasloko S.L., a Spain-based distribution company that is tasked with distribution for Sekur. This partnership allowed for sales to begin in Colombia, Panama, Peru, Chile and Mexico beginning in June. Central America and South America are vulnerable to cybersecurity threats, especially as the region continues to develop economically and technologically. Sekur’s strategic decision to begin distribution in the region has so far proved successful. In May, Sekur qualified to trade on the OTCQX Best Market, an upgrade from the OTCQB Venture Market. The second quarter also marked continued growth for Sekur, with sales increasing by 1,140% and active recurring paid users rising by 800% compared to the same period in 2021. Technology Advancements In Q1 And Q2 The first half of the year also saw technology and product advancements at the company. SekurMessenger, a defining product of Sekur, expanded to include a proprietary feature and technology coined SekurArchive. SekurArchive allows business clients to archive all employee messages and manage them for the period regulations require while simultaneously allowing the business’s employees to use the Self-Destruct feature, a popular aspect of the messaging platform. SekurMessenger now also has the capacity to facilitate the registration of thousands of users at once, bringing convenience to companies that are mass-onboarding users, whether they be employees or clients. This feature is especially popular in Latin America. Another function of the platform that will further boost privacy and security is a proprietary technology called Chat-By-Invite. This feature allows a SekurMessenger user to invite a non-SekurMessenger user to chat in a fully secure way without downloading the app or registering as a user themselves. This feature is now available in 61 countries with a combined population of 3.4 billion. Between proprietary technology advances and increasing sales, Sekur is setting itself up for continued growth in the third and fourth quarters of this year — and beyond. Sekur Private Data Ltd. is a Cybersecurity and Internet privacy provider of Swiss hosted solutions for secure communications and secure data management. The Company distributes a suite of secure cloud-based storage, disaster recovery, document management, encrypted e-mails, and secure communication tools. Sekur Private Data Ltd. sells its products through its websites www.sekur.com and www.sekursuite.com, and approved distributors, and telecommunications companies worldwide. Sekur Private Data Ltd. serves consumers, businesses and governments worldwide. This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice. Contact Details Corporate Department corporate@sekurprivatedata.com Company Website https://sekur.com/en/about

October 20, 2022 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Tips for Finding Friends as an Adult

YourUpdateTV

Making new friends as an adult can be challenging, and with more people working remotely, socializing and meeting new people organically can be difficult. Recently, Bumble BFF’s Friendship Expert, Danielle Bayard Jackson, participated in a nationwide satellite media tour to highlight the importance of friendships, especially as 90% of women say friends are the family you get to choose in life.* A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/RjBw9kGkR3M Unlike when you were younger and had a built-in community or network through school or social clubs, adulthood seems to offer fewer opportunities to meet others organically. The increasing number of people working remotely has also impacted many people’s ability to socialize, which may explain why many adults report feeling lonelier than ever before. Here are Danielle’s top tips for finding friends as an adult: Have the courage to initiate – Those who are intentional about making connections tend to have the most meaningful relationships. If you’d rather not approach someone in public, group activities are a great option, as they can unite people over a common interest and organically lead to friendships. You can also use an app like Bumble BFF, the friendship-finding mode on the Bumble app, to potentially meet others! Gradually enter into more meaningful conversations - Be sure to engage someone with safe ‘small talk’ and then gradually reveal more about who you are and what you value. This creates the trust necessary to cultivate something deeper. That trust can become the basis for a friendship where you both feel comfortable sharing and asking each other questions that deepen the relationship. Staying in touch - After meeting up with a new friend for the first time, it’s important to be consistent about staying in touch, especially if there isn’t a scheduled time when you both see one another, such as through a class or planned group activity. These short interactions can go a long way in building and maintaining a new friendship. Give it time - According to studies, it can take 40-60 hours of talking and hanging out for an acquaintance to become a casual friend. This might look different from friendship to friendship, but the general takeaway is that it takes time to build trust, vulnerability, and platonic intimacy. To start connecting with friends in your area, visit Bumble.com/BFF. For more tips, check out The Buzz, where you can learn more strategies to help you make (and keep!) meaningful friendships. About Danielle Bayard Jackson: As a certified women’s coach, Danielle Bayard Jackson emphasizes that friendship is a wellness imperative, ultimately teaching women the power and importance of social connections. She is the Friendship Expert for Bumble BFF, the friendship-finding mode on the social networking app Bumble, and has been called TikTok’s resident friendship coach. A former high school teacher, Danielle now uses her teaching skills as an educator to coach women on ways to navigate common friendship conflicts. As a member of the American Sociological Association, she uses the latest research to create practical, tangible strategies to help women create more depth in their platonic relationships. About Bumble: Bumble, the women-first dating and social networking app, was founded by CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd in 2014. Bumble connects people across dating (Bumble Date), friendship (Bumble BFF) and professional networking (Bumble Bizz). Bumble is built on the importance of equitable relationships and how crucial they are to a healthy, happy life. They've built their platform around kindness, respect, and equality – and their community plays an important part in that. Bumble holds its users accountable for their actions and strives to provide them with an experience free from hate, aggression, or bullying. Bumble is free and widely available in the Apple App Store, Google Play Store and the web. * Based on data that was commissioned by Bumble between November 4-18, 2021 with a US sample size of 5,081 Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

October 20, 2022 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Skuad secures Series A funding to drive global expansion in helping companies hire, manage and pay talent globally

Skuad

Numerous large companies around the world have started to adopt globally distributed and hybrid team structures as part of business growth and expansion plans. However, they are struggling to remain compliant with local employment regulations, process cross-border payroll and find high-quality talent as they hire beyond borders. Skuad, a Singapore-based company that enables global hiring and payroll, announced today that it has raised US$ 15 Mn in Series A funding to help companies like these overcome challenges around building global teams. The funding round was led by a Southeast Asian venture capital fund alongside a U.S. strategic investor specializing in staffing and two leading global payments platforms. This round also saw participation from existing investors BEENEXT, Anthemis as well other prominent angel investors. This funding follows on from the US$4 Mn seed round in December 2020, taking the total capital raised to US$19 Mn. The brainchild of Sundeep Sahi, Skuad was founded in 2020 with the singular aim of simplifying the process of finding and managing the right talent while removing the limitations of boundaries. While the pandemic-induced lockdowns and the “work from home” situation enabled the rise of distributed working models and global teams, they also created a unique set of challenges for organizations that were used to a traditional “office” set-up. Skuad enables companies to build global, distributed teams by hiring the best talent beyond borders (without setting up a legal entity). Its array of services include onboarding, payroll, benefits, taxes and local compliance (at a fraction of the usual cost and time). “The way people work and companies hire has changed,” said Sundeep Sahi, Founder and CEO of Skuad. “ Our mission is to elevate lives by democratizing opportunities and talent globally. We started Skuad because we realized that talent was everywhere but opportunities were not. With the complexities of hiring in foreign markets and cross-border payments, companies were finding it hard to discover and hire the right talent and build global teams. On the other hand, talent did not have the right discovery platform for finding remote employment that invests and helps them grow in their career rather than working for transactional short term gigs. We want to change this status quo and actively work towards enabling 1 Mn workers to discover the best opportunities globally, work anywhere in the world & get paid anytime in their currency of choice”. To further its mission, Skuad is also finalizing its acquisition of Codejudge, a data-driven talent assessment platform that automates the tech interview process. On the Codejudge acquisition, Sundeep Sahi added: “Finding the right talent is only half the battle — being able to qualitatively assess, interview and hire this talent is fundamental to the success of talent acquisition and retention strategies. The acquisition of Codejudge will strengthen Skuad’s existing hiring and onboarding capabilities with an added layer of data-driven talent assessment functionalities. Skuad will leverage Codejudge’s robust code-simulation platform and code sandboxes to further enhance its product offerings and scale its acquisition capabilities.” Commenting on the funding, Dirk Van Quaquebeke, Managing Partner, Beenext, said, “Businesses are beginning to see the advantages of having teams not constrained by borders. This not only enables them to scale teams and enter new markets quickly, but also helps them find and hire the best talent without the need to relocate. As early investors in Skuad, we’ve seen the team bridge the gap between talent shortage and surplus markets. We are excited for this next phase of growth of the business — building global, distributed teams for thousands of customers.” In the last two years, Skuad has witnessed exceptional growth — with customers across 34 countries (>50% from North America and Europe), talent in 94 countries (>80% from emerging economies) and 3X growth in ARR since January 2022. Further, given Skuad’s affordable pricing plans — starting at US$199 per employee per month for payroll and US$499 per employee per month for talent discovered through the integrated platform — their clients range from emerging and early-stage startups to larger businesses. These companies have built their global teams on Skuad’s platform and are processing over US$120 Mn in payroll and payments worldwide in over 50 currencies. Skuad has also expanded its leadership team with experienced senior hires across all verticals (Product, Sales and Operations), resulting in brand visibility and big client wins in the US and EU in a short period of time. Remote and hybrid work trends have continued in the post-COVID world leading to a greater demand for digital knowledge workers, especially from the Asia-Pacific region. Evolving digital advancements across industries and sectors has led to the need for diverse and upgraded tech skills. This has resulted in the creation of new technology hubs in the Philippines, Malaysia, India and Indonesia. According to a McKinsey Global Institute article, Asia is expected to account for almost 40% of global consumption and generate more than 50% of world GDP by 2040. Skuad is built for this new world of work. Together with the funding capital and the Codejudge acquisition, the company plans to strengthen its tech features to scale across global hiring, payments and payroll. It will also continue to build growth functions to further penetrate prime markets and expand beyond current geographies. About Skuad Skuad is a fast-growing global employment and payroll platform, which enables large enterprises and emerging start-ups to employ and pay exceptional talent anywhere in the world, compliantly. Skuad is valued and trusted by leading global companies worldwide. Skuad’s digital employment infrastructure ensures companies can hire, onboard, and pay employees and contractors in 160+ countries, without setting up local entities, on a single unified dashboard. Our legal infrastructure manages all local compliances and provides a range of amazing country-specific benefits and insurance packages. Contact Details Skuad Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://www.skuad.io/

October 20, 2022 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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