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ClickHouse infrastructure provider ChistaDATA raises US$3m as it builds Open Source function

ChistaDATA

ChistaDATA, which aims to build the fastest and the most scalable managed ClickHouse implementations in the world, has raised USD 3 million in a pre-Series A round of funding from Sequoia Capital India. The startup plans to use the funds raised to develop a fully-open source ClickHouse server among other orchestration tools that address automation and DevOps for enterprise-grade ColumnStore solutions. It will also focus on developing ChistaDATA Cloud - a completely autonomous and self-healing cloud-native ClickHouse offering that can be provisioned and paid for by data volume and without requiring customers to think about servers and DevOps. The funds raised will also be used to strengthen the team with research, engineering, marketing, and brand hires. Data powers the modern economy and every enterprise today is making data-driven decisions, based on sophisticated business intelligence to create value for stakeholders across the ecosystem. This has led to a huge demand for cloud data warehouses (CDW) that are typically closed-source and have a high total cost of ownership (TCO). Adding to this, the ever-growing analytics bills predicated on usage-based pricing, complete vendor lock-in (given the sheer volume of critical business data stored and analyzed on these platforms), and compromised platform configurability, which is entirely dependent on the vendor’s product strategy, have emerged as pain points. Notably, the data analytics market is expected to create a value chain of USD 300 billion in the consumer facing internet economy by 2025. The current ecosystem is dominated by the cloud giants and/or closed source solutions, and customers are clamoring for an open-source solution (that preserves their optionality and freedom) that is autonomous and self-managed. Enter ChistaDATA, which is committed to building free and open source enterprise-class ClickHouse for both on-premise and cloud. The startup was founded in 2021 by serial entrepreneur Shiv Iyer who is one of the world’s foremost database experts with over 22 years of experience in open source database systems (both transaction processing systems and ColumnStores) with core expertise in performance, scalability and database reliability engineering. Shiv has worked with some of the largest internet companies like Twitter, Pinterest, Garmin, PayPal, managing approximately 100 PB (consolidated database infrastrastructure size) of data. His passion for database systems performance engineering has driven him to build an open source database systems company for planet-scale internet businesses. ChistaDATA is building the world’s first fully-autonomous ClickHouse server on cloud for data analytics ecosystem with automatic provisioning, scaling, tuning, security, fault tolerance and failover, backup, patching, and more. Interestingly, the ChistaDATA team has forked the original ClickHouse codebase developed by Yandex, a Russian search giant, and re-written it to a great extent, creating their own version called ‘ChistaDATA server for ClickHouse,’ which delivers higher and better performance benchmarks at a lower cost of operation. This implementation, which is entirely compatible with the classic ClickHouse, is ~4X faster through implementation of high performance LSM stores. The 100% open source ClickHouse distribution from ChistaDATA is owned by ChistaDATA Foundation (a not-for-profit committed to building enterprise-class open source ClickHouse and other orchestration tools) and thus, ChistaDATA’s customers will always have access to the open source ChistaDATA ClickHouse server, retaining customers on the back of superior service and ROI, and not on vendor lock-in. "Building a fully open source deep-tech ColumnStore business around ClickHouse for both on-premises and cloud platforms involves long-term commitment to community contributors and other stakeholders of the ecosystem like customers, partners, etc. This also means the core team of ChistaDATA and investors should understand the culture of this business, value creation and impact our platforms make in data-powered economies. When I decided to start ChistaDATA Corporation, my first phone call was to Anandamoy from Sequoia Capital India, he quickly helped us structure the formation of the company. The firm is also a hands-on investor committed to supporting on both, strategic and tactical needs." Shiv Iyer, Founder and Principal of ChistaDATA Inc. “When Shiv told us of his intention to create a managed service around ClickHouse, it represented the confluence of a massive technology trend with a special founder. We’re excited to work with Shiv to build what we believe is a compelling 100% OSS company to emerge from our part of the world.” Anandamoy Roychowdhary, Principal, Sequoia India Some of the world’s largest companies like Orange Telecommunications, Applied Materials, DHL, Netflix, National Geographic, BBC etc. depend on ChistaDATA ClickHouse Support and Managed Services for building optimal, scalable and highly reliable Database Infrastructure Operations for web-scale analytics platforms. As businesses start to scale more dramatically than in the past, managed services are an increasingly popular option for them. managed services provide very strong up-time SLA’s (service level agreements). These are fulfilled by the MSP’s performance and troubleshooting team. ChistaData aims to build the best and most reliable Clickhouse in the cloud with the highest up-time guarantees in 2022 so that its customers will have automatic, adaptive, and relevant diagnostic data collection for any application and automated problem detection, troubleshooting and improvement recommendations. About ChistaDATA ChistaDATA is a full-stack ClickHouse infrastructure operations consulting, support and managed Services provider with core expertise in performance, scalability and data SRE. Headquartered in the US, California, the team is also based in Canada, UK, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Australia, Singapore and India to deliver 24/7 enterprise-class consultative support and managed services. ChistaDATA users include the largest and planetscale internet properties like PayPal, Garmin, Honda cars IoT project, Viacom, National Geographic, Nike, Morgan Stanley, American Express Travel, VISA, Netflix, PRADA, Blue Dart, Carlsberg, Sony, Unilever among others. About Sequoia Capital India Sequoia helps daring founders build legendary companies, from idea to IPO and beyond. Sequoia India operates in Southeast Asia and India where we actively partner with founders from a wide range of companies, across categories, including BYJUs, Carousell, Druva, Gojek, OYO Rooms, Tokopedia, Truecaller, Zilingo, Zomato and more. We spur founders to push the boundaries of what's possible. In partnering with Sequoia, startups benefit from 48 years of tribal knowledge and lessons learned working with companies like Airbnb, Alibaba, Apple, Dropbox, Google, LinkedIn and Stripe early on. From the beginning, non-profits have been the backbone of our LP base, which means founders' accomplishments make a meaningful difference. The majority of our profits are returned to great causes, like the Ford Foundation, Mayo Clinic and MIT. For more information on Sequoia's work in India and SE Asia, visit sequoiacap.com/india Contact Details ChistaDATA Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://chistadata.com/

January 27, 2022 09:15 AM Eastern Standard Time

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SuperOps.ai Raises $14m funding round as it boosts the Managed Service Providers industry

SuperOps.ai

SuperOps.ai, a unified Professional Services Automation ( PSA ) and Remote Monitoring and Management ( RMM ) platform, announces $14 million raised in new funding, enabling the company to disrupt the stagnant Managed Service Providers (MSP) market and take on legacy vendors with its newly launched AI-powered PSA-RMM platform. In beta since May 2021, SuperOps.ai now reveals the launch of its full-service platform, having already worked with over 30 clients to build a platform that meets the needs of MSPs. The Series A fund raise was led by Addition and Tanglin Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors, Matrix Partners India and Elevation Capital, as well as angel investors, Giovanni Sanguily (CEO of Honey CRM), Sidharth Malik (CEO of CleverTap), Noel Wax and Lisa Woods (CEO and COO of Groundswell Group), and Abhi Kumar (Partner at M12 Ventures). As the MSP industry has seen little innovation over the last few decades, customers have been forced to work with clunky, outdated, and slow software. SuperOps.ai has entered the market to change the status quo, providing a unified PSA-RMM platform that is incredibly fast, powerful, intuitive and sleek – a stark contrast to the alternative – primarily on-premise software, known to be disjointed, slow and outdated. According to Arvind Parthiban, SuperOps.ai Co-founder and CEO, “The MSP space is in desperate need of innovation and modern software to replace the existing legacy solutions. Customers have been stuck with bloated and extremely outdated on-premise tools. SuperOps.ai is here to modernize the industry and provide users with smart, AI-powered, cloud-based software that is more efficient and effective. With our AI-powered PSA-RMM platform, clients can now focus on the core business and leave the old hurdles behind.” Multiple surveys and studies have shown that MSPs face several challenges, such as increasing complexity in the tech demands of clients, difficulty in finding capable talent, customer acquisition issues, and struggles of managing multiple tools and platforms. MSPs currently use PSA and RMM tools that were not built to work together and require additional tools and plugins for requirements like IT Documentation or Project Management. SuperOps.ai is a unified PSA-RMM platform, so everything is seamless. All the tools an MSP needs, including IT Documentation or Project Management, is available within the platform. Most importantly, SuperOps.ai is built entirely on the cloud, so MSPs can deploy their services through a tool built with today’s technology and capabilities. In addition, SuperOps.ai boasts a number of features, automations, workflows, and runbooks in ticketing that enable an MSP to proactively deal with their client’s IT issues and be on top of operations. SuperOps.ai has launched Intelligent Alerting to further improve MSP productivity, cutting through the noise and highlighting the alert that is most critical to ensuring happy clients. SuperOps.ai has built their platform by identifying the numerous downfalls of legacy technology. In doing so, they have revealed enormous opportunities for growth and innovation to be realized. The global managed services market is projected to grow from $243.33 billion in 2021 to $557.10 billion in 2028 at a CAGR of 12.6% in the forecast period of 2021-28. The MSP industry is estimated to have over 150,000 players—a majority of them SMB businesses employing just a handful of technicians. SuperOps.ai’s investors have also recognized this opportunity and applaud the company’s pioneering efforts in challenging the status quo. “We’re excited to support SuperOps.ai as they bring about a much-needed change in the MSP space, a field that has not yet benefited from the pace of technological innovation seen across most other industries. SuperOps.ai’s vision of bringing AI and automation to MSPs is being driven by an impressive and solutions-focused team, and we look forward to partnering with them as they lead the digital transformation of the MSP market,” said Lee Fixel of Addition. In speaking to these realities, Tarun Davda, Managing Director at Matrix India, remarked, “Arvind and Jayakumar are experts on the MSP market and over the last few months, the SuperOps.ai team has built a category redefining product with exciting customer feedback. We're delighted to be doubling down on our investment in SuperOps.ai as they transform how MSPs operate and welcome Addition and Tanglin to the partnership.” Akarsh Shrivastava, Principal at Elevation Capital, said, “PSA and RMM software form the backbone of MSP operations. Current products used by IT MSPs were created years, if not decades, back. SuperOps.ai has reimagined these products for MSPs, which not only make it extremely easy and seamless for MSPs but also equips them to handle challenges that come with tailwinds like cloud migration and remote work. We have always been fascinated by Arvind and Jay’s understanding of the space and the team they have built. Super excited to double down on our partnership.” The unwavering trends of cloud-first environments, as well as the increased demands and nuances of remote workforce realities, further demonstrate the need for modern technologies that support distributed organizations. SuperOps.ai is now capable and ready to be the innovative force that adapts the industry—improving the effectiveness and efficiency of MSPs and IT delivery service providers globally. About SuperOps.ai SuperOps.ai is a PSA-RMM platform powered by AI and intelligent automation, built for modern MSPs. The company was founded in 2020 by serial entrepreneur Arvind Parthiban and Jayakumar Karumbasalam, who have a combined experience of over 35 years in the IT industry. CEO, Arvind, created the leading marketing automation software—Zarget, which was acquired by Freshworks. Jayakumar, the CTO and CPO, has worked with Zoho, Optus, and Freshworks, where he was heading and building data platforms. Now, both have entered the MSP space to transform the industry, introducing the modern alternative - SuperOps.ai - pioneering a bright future in the market. About Matrix Partners India Matrix Partners India is an investment firm with approximately $1 billion under management. Founded in 2006, the firm invests in companies targeting the Indian consumer and enterprise market at the seed, early, and early growth stages. Matrix India has invested in several market-leading companies such as Ola (mobility), Dailyhunt (mobile local language platform), Razorpay (payments), OfBusiness (B2B Commerce, fintech), Five Star Business Finance (SME lending), Ola Electric (electric vehicles), DealShare (social commerce platform), Stanza Living (tech-enabled student housing platform), OneCard (mobile-first credit card), Country Delight (D2C dairy & fresh foods brand), GoKwik (e-commerce enablement platform), Captain Fresh (seafood marketplace), Bijnis (B2B platform for factories), MoEngage (intelligent marketing cloud platform), Mswipe (mobile POS), Zupee (leading skill-based gaming app) Rockelane (B2B SaaS startup) and Itilite (corporate travel SaaS platform) among others. Matrix India has advisory offices in Bangalore, Delhi, and Mumbai. Matrix Partners has a global network of funds investing in the US, China, and India, with approximately $5 billion under management. Further information is available at www.matrixpartners.in. To know more about our investment philosophy & ideologies, check out the #MatrixMoments podcast series. About Elevation Capital Elevation Capital is a leading venture capital firm which provides seed and early stage capital for emerging companies in India. Elevation Capital has been investing in India since 2002 and is currently investing out of its seventh pool of capital. The firm is led by Co-Managing Partners Ravi Adusumalli and Mukul Arora, along with three Managing Directors Mridul Arora, Deepak Gaur and Mayank Khanduja. The firm has invested in over 150 companies across Consumer Internet, SaaS, Fintech, D2C, Edtech, Healthtech and Web3/Crypto, and has offices in Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Salt Lake City. Contact Details SuperOps.ai Radhika P Nair pr@superops.ai Company Website https://superops.ai/

January 27, 2022 09:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

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Comcast RISE Announces Major Expansion to All Women-Owned Small Businesses in the Twin Cities

Comcast Twin Cities

Comcast recently announced a major expansion of its Comcast RISE program to now include all women-owned businesses regardless of race or ethnicity in Comcast services areas nationwide, including the Twin Cities. This expansion of the Comcast RISE program furthers its efforts to advance digital equity and help provide underrepresented small business owners with access to the digital tools they need to thrive. In its first year alone, Comcast RISE provided more than $60 million in grants, marketing and technology services to more than 6,700 small businesses owned by people of color, including Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, and Asian Americans, among others. Of the 6,700 Comcast RISE recipients to date, nearly 70% are businesses owned by women of color, which spurred Comcast to take a deeper look into the unique challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. According to a study by the National Association of Women Business Owners, 42% of businesses in the U.S. are owned by women, with more than 1,800 new businesses being started every day. That’s nearly five times the national average. However, according to the same study, women-owned businesses are growing at only half the rate of those run by men, namely because women struggle to access capital and other resources to help them succeed. Comcast RISE, a multi-year, multi-faceted initiative launched to help strengthen small businesses hard hit by COVID-19, is accepting applications now through June 17, 2022. Twin Cities small businesses owned by people of color and all women-owned small businesses are encouraged to apply for the chance to receive consulting, media, and creative production services from Effectv, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable, or technology upgrades from Comcast Business, based on their specific needs. Since the program’s inception, Comcast announced over 200 Twin Cities small businesses as Comcast RISE recipients. This includes Revival, Stunning Beauty Supplies and The Greenery Minneapolis, all local woman-owned businesses and Comcast RISE recipients. “This opportunity is a positive aspect to my business and the community. Not only will we be able to reach more prospects, we’ll also be able to add a few employees to the team,” said Henrietta Smaller of Stunning Beauty Supplies in Burnsville, Minnesota. “It feels great to know someone believes in me and my dream.” Comcast RISE, which stands for Representation, Investment, Strength, and Empowerment, is part of Project UP, Comcast’s comprehensive initiative to advance digital equity and help provide underrepresented small business owners with access to the digital tools and funding they need to thrive. Over the next 10 years, Comcast is committing $1 billion to programs, like Comcast RISE, and partnerships to reach an estimated 50 million people with the skills, opportunities, and resources they need to succeed in an increasingly digital world. Comcast RISE, which just celebrated its one-year anniversary, will continue to be open to racially and ethnically diverse small business owners. The expanded Comcast RISE eligibility to all women-owned businesses is effective now. More information and the applications to apply for marketing and technology services are available at www.ComcastRISE.com. About Comcast Corporation Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company that connects people to moments that matter. We are principally focused on broadband, aggregation, and streaming with 57 million customer relationships across the United States and Europe. We deliver broadband, wireless, and video through our Xfinity, Comcast Business, and Sky brands; create, distribute, and stream leading entertainment, sports, and news through Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, Universal Studio Group, Sky Studios, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, multiple cable networks, Peacock, NBCUniversal News Group, NBC Sports, Sky News, and Sky Sports; and provide memorable experiences at Universal Parks and Resorts in the United States and Asia. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information. Contact Details Comcast Corporation Jill Hornbacher +1 651-425-1695 jill_hornbacher@comcast.com Company Website https://twincities.comcast.com/

January 27, 2022 08:00 AM Central Standard Time

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The Customer Experience Market Ecosystem is Being Transformed by a High Level of Consolidation and Investment Activity, According to Dash Research

Dash Network

The customer experience (CX) market ecosystem is a broad web of solutions and technologies aimed at smoothing out a customer’s journey from start to finish and providing a personalized and engaging experience. On the technology provider side, these solutions aim to increase loyalty and satisfaction, optimize revenue, and allow for better targeting and retention. According to a new report from Dash Research, this market landscape has been developing at a rapid pace for more than a decade, however recent shifts in industry priorities and business models are now creating a period of significant change as mergers & acquisitions, investment activity, and new business formation reshape the constellation of market participants. Dash Research’s analysis indicates that COVID-19 in particular has resulted in an abrupt, but sustained move to digital, causing a large increase in the digital customer data stream and a greater focus on housing, analyzing, and interpreting this data. In addition, customers have grown to accept and even look for increased personalization during their customer journey touchpoints, allowing this deluge of data to be leveraged by companies aiming for deeper relationships and more engagement. “The CX market itself encompasses large players, such as Oracle or Adobe, as well as smaller companies carving out a niche in areas like personalization or customer feedback,” says senior analyst Sherril Hanson. “There are pure play companies included in the ecosystem, but many companies span multiple market segments both within and outside of CX.” Hanson adds that even established market participants are in the midst of significant change. For instance, contact centers have needed to pivot their technology and workflows to account for increased omnichannel usage and remote agents. And tied to these new demands is a greater focus on employee experience (EX), as support employees and others in the labor force have needed to respond to fast-changing models. Driven by these changes and other emerging trends, Dash Research anticipates that continued consolidation, repositioning, and investment will all continue to make the CX market a rapidly evolving ecosystem for at least the next few years. Dash Research’s report, “CX Market Ecosystem”, outlines six segments in the CX ecosystem: customer data & analytics, personalization & optimization, customer insights & feedback, contact center, customer relationship management (CRM), and employee experience (EX). The report provides an overview of the market in general and includes a brief discussion of industry trends in each segment. Dash Research has included profiles on 150 companies in the CX space. There is an additional list of 100 other industry participants included in the report, as well as an Excel-based summary of key facts and figures for the companies. An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the firm’s website. Dash Research, the market intelligence arm of Dash Network, provides in-depth research and insights on the worldwide CX market including a comprehensive assessment of technology solutions, business issues, market drivers, and end-user dynamics across industry sectors. Dash Research’s global market coverage combines qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to provide a complete view of emerging business opportunities surrounding contact center technologies, customer data & analytics, customer data platforms, customer insights & feedback, customer relationship management, personalization & optimization, and employee experience. For more information, visit www.dashresearch.com or call +1.720.603.1700. Contact Details Dash Research Clint Wheelock +1 720-603-1700 press@dashnetwork.com Company Website http://www.dashnetwork.com

January 27, 2022 08:15 AM Eastern Standard Time

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Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise unites global partners for 2022 virtual conference

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, a leading provider of communications, cloud and networking solutions tailored to customers’ industries, is hosting its global partner conference between February 15-16 th 2022. Following the success of last year’s Connex21 event, which was the first of its kind to be held virtually, this year’s Connex22 conference will again take to a virtual stage, prioritising the safety of employees and partners and demonstrating Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise’s belief that the enterprise can work from anywhere and everywhere. With a purpose to maintain business continuity and inspire the Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise community for the year ahead, Connex22 will bring together Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise partners and employees from all over the world. The theme for this year’s event is ‘Go Future’ and recognises that the future is built upon experience and learning as well as ambition and goals. The event will feature CEO Jack Chen, alongside other Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise executives and business leaders. The conference will discuss the challenges faced during 2021, from the health crisis to the global components shortage. It will also showcase the company’s 2022 strategy, discussing core business objectives, the product roadmap, and growth opportunities for the business and its international partners in 2022. “Supported by learnings from the last two years, businesses now have the opportunity to take advantage of digital transformation, and thrive by embracing new technologies which boost business with more efficiency at employee and company level,” comments Rukmini Glanard, Executive Vice President Global Sales, Services and Marketing. “Some businesses are yet to adopt the necessary technologies, and we are committed to guiding them on their digital transformation journey. For those who have already started, it’s about optimising the use of technologies such as the cloud, automation, IoT, network data and Artificial Intelligence to reach their full business potential in 2022 and beyond.” Continuing its vertical focus, Connex22 will reveal Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise’s plans for further innovation across the healthcare, education, government, transportation energy and utilities markets. Solutions specialists will demonstrate new product roadmaps and present the ways in which Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise will continue to support partners in making everything connect for business growth. “Connex22 ‘Go Future’ is about continued momentum for Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, our business partners, and of course our customers,” says Rukmini Glanard. “It’s about building on the progress we have made in digitalising business with continued co-creation and innovation. The digital landscape holds so many possibilities and we look to a future of building great relationships and solutions to facilitate even more business success in the digital age.” Following the announcement of new partnerships, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise has an even stronger ecosystem of 3,400 business partners all over the world. This helps the company achieve an effective international reach, with a local focus, for over a million customers around the world. About Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise delivers the customised technology experiences enterprises need to make everything connect. ALE provides digital-age networking, communications and cloud solutions with services tailored to ensure customers’ success, with flexible business models in the cloud, on premises, and hybrid. All solutions have built-in security and limited environmental impact. Over 100 years of innovation have made Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise a trusted advisor to more than a million customers all over the world. With headquarters in France and 3,400 business partners worldwide, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise achieves an effective global reach with a local focus. al-enterprise.com | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram Contact Details Alcatel Lucent Carine Bowen +33 1 55 66 31 09 press@al-enterprise.com Company Website http://www.al-enterprise.com/

January 27, 2022 05:30 AM Eastern Standard Time

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Say Hello to Amazon Glow: Technology That Keeps Families Connected

YourUpdateTV

Families who live or spend time far from each other have long understood how technology can help keep people connected. Over the last two years, the need to stay connected has been more important than ever. Recently, Lifestyle Expert Bethany Braun-Silva teamed with Amazon on a nationwide satellite media tour to discuss tips on connecting with family, keeping kids engaged, and how the new Amazon Glow can help. A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/7Saw2MonRxg Connecting with distant family is especially important for kids – there is something so special about the smile’s kids bring to our lives, especially when they are shared with extended family and relatives. From playing games and drawing to reading and solving puzzles, the fun families and loved ones have together is so important. It is so hard to replicate these experiences when not in person together, but we try our best because we know these relationships can be so impactful. While video chatting has been a great tool over the last few years, how many times have we jumped on a call with relatives, only for our child to quickly get bored and wander off? The key to staying connected is keeping everyone engaged and visible, making virtual visits feel much more like being in person together. Amazon Glow is a new device that really makes it easy and fun for kids to spend time with remote grandparents, aunts, uncles and family friends. It’s really a new way to create bonds across generations, even when distance is a barrier. During video calls on Amazon Glow, kids read stories, play games, use physical objects and can even create art using the touch-sensitive projected virtual space. At the same time, loved ones far away can engage with the same content on their tablet or smartphone using the free Glow App. Pick from thousands of children’s books to read together, draw pictures, or play early literacy games like ABC Bubbles or classics like Chess and Checkers. Activities on Glow create engaging sensory experiences with audio, video, and tactile elements similar to in-person fun. Children have access to books, games and art activities and can experience all of these in a whole new way with remote family and friends. It’s a great resource for parents looking to provide opportunities for their children to actively use their senses while simultaneously building new family memories and connections. For more information, visit Amazon.com/Glow About Bethany Braun-Silva: Bethany Braun-Silva is the former editor at Parenting.com, one of the most trusted resources for parents online! She received her Bachelor's Degree at New York University, where she studied theater arts and creative writing. She then received an M.F.A. from Pace University at the Actors Studio Drama School. She moved to Los Angeles in 2010 where she began her career in journalism. It was a particular Broadcast Journalism class at UCLA that confirmed her passion for telling stories and being of service to the community. She worked at various media companies before landing her first job as a parenting editor. It was there that she knew she could blend her love for writing with her love of being a mom—she had just welcomed her first son Eli! Since then, Bethany has worked for Understood.org, Big Apple Parent Magazine, CafeMom, RedTri, Mommy Poppins, OK! Magazine, Hollywood Life and various other parenting publications. She can often be seen interviewing celebrity parents and of course at her local playground with her two boys. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

January 26, 2022 05:01 PM Eastern Standard Time

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REPX appoints Ian Clowes as CEO

REPX

Clowes brings over 25 years of executive and board experience in the fintech, financial services, and payments industry. REPX’s race to the top of the fintech world continues with a very high-profile entry at its top. The fintech, through products and a series of technologically advanced applications – all based on registered patents – and an innovative business model, allows sports clubs, entertainment and sports stars, celebrities, influencers, brands and cities with high tourist appeal to have their own personalized prepaid card. Along with a special App that allows them to connect with their followers, this innovative product boasts a significant potential increase in fan engagement. Reaching its target of nearly half a billion fans in soccer and Esports, REPX has already signed partnerships with 15 top football clubs of international relevance. As proof of a winning dynamism on the product front but also of the management team, the company has announced in recent days another excellent entry in its top management, entrusting Ian Clowes with the post of CEO. Clowes brings over 25 years of executive and board experience in the fintech, financial services, and payments industry. He is also a seasoned entrepreneur and has an impressive track record of launching and building successful businesses in the fintech space. His career has included roles such as Group payments director of Abbey Bank (now Santander), director of Unisys and CEO of an investor-backed, high-growth digital payments and banking platform Fintech. He earned his MBA from Warwick University. “I am thrilled to be joining REPX at the start of their amazing journey and looking forward to building a transformational business with this prestigious board to bring social commerce to billions of sports and celebrity fans worldwide” – said Clowes. “Repx already has an envious roster of premiere sports teams and global brands as clients and is uniquely positioned to provide banking services and exciting new fintech products to the sports and entertainment world. Building on the recent launches of AS Roma and AC Milan, its rich client base of global brands gives access to over 500m fans worldwide and is a true industry disruptor”. Clowes is an influential player within the payments and fintech industry, having served on numerous industry associations and regulatory bodies including the Payments Association (PA), APACS Council, BACS and the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company. He is currently serving as Chairman for the boards of Paynetics UK (a card issuer and payment service provider) and Swiipr (a mobile wallet platform in the travel space). Prior to REPX, Clowes was the CEO of Payment Cloud Technologies (PCT), a B2B digital banking and payments platform that he founded in 2008 and merged with Tuxedo Money Solutions to form the Omnio group in 2019. Francesco de Leo, a founder and senior board member at REPX, commented: “We are proud to announce that The Repx is on the move to make 2022 a memorable year under the stewardship of Ian Clowes, our new CEO. We are confident that with this highly qualified addition to our executive team, we are now ready to fast forward the blitz-scaling of REPX across Europe. The financial service industry is currently facing an unprecedented process of creative disruption, with not so much room left for those players that are not capable, nor willing to embrace tech-enabled innovation. We operate in a hyper-competitive market space where talent and brainpower make all the difference. REPX is moving on to further enlarge its talent pool to sharpen the future of the fintech world. Speed of action is key to stay ahead of the game: I like to thank our best-in-class board of directors and the founder, Alfredo Maria Villa, for their un-relentless support”. About REPX REPX is a fintech revolutionizing traditional banking by combining technology and the passion of billions of fans worldwide with Social Media. REPX allows sports teams, celebrities, influencers, brands and iconic cities to innovatively connect with fanbases through exclusive co-branded prepaid cards, debit cards and digital products. REPX’s portfolio of partners and brands creates maximum engagement of the social generation through electronic payments. Come and explore the many opportunities our platform has to offer by visiting us at www.therepx.com Contact Details REPX Antonio Matta +44 7752 613086 marketing@therepx.com 360PRWire Allan Herman +1 786-544-5592 allan@360prwire.com Company Website https://therepx.com/

January 26, 2022 11:55 AM Eastern Standard Time

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CSG Forte Earns Best Performing Payments Gateway by The Strawhecker Group in 2022 Real Transaction Metrics Awards

CSG

CSG Forte, a CSG ® (NASDAQ: CSGS) company, the leader in complete and customizable digital payment platforms today announced its recognition by The Strawhecker Group (TSG) as the Best Performing Payments Gateway in the 2022 Real Transaction Metrics Awards for delivering exceptional performance across transaction and gateway check benchmarks. Additionally, CSG Forte received first place for Lowest Gateway Minute Outage, with the lowest outages recorded in North America and global benchmark groups. The Real Transaction Metrics Awards are based on TSG’s Gateway Enterprise Metrics (GEM) platform, where TSG measures and benchmarks the experience from the merchant’s point of view by using pings and real transactions to monitor each gateway’s performance from over 20 different global locations. “It’s no small feat to be rated the best in The Strawhecker Group’s Real Transaction Metrics Awards and this achievement is the result of the dedication and innovation of the entire CSG Forte team to create extraordinary experiences for our customers,” said Jeff Kump, head of payments, CSG Forte. “The ubiquity of digital payments has elevated the bar for secure and convenient digital transactions. As merchants and partners demand more out of their digital payments platforms, CSG Forte will continue to lead the way in delivering game changing technologies that drive the next era of growth for the industry. I would like to thank The Strawhecker Group for this honor and for recognizing our team’s hard work and relentless efforts.” “We are excited to honor CSG Forte for their stellar performance,” said Mike Strawhecker, President of TSG. “GEM has provided the data to make tangible improvements to the CSG Forte platform, and it shows with this year’s awards.” On TSG’s GEM Index, CSG Forte surpassed the average score by over 12 points. Benchmarked against more than 20 gateway providers, the Index is an overall scorecard for gateway metrics based on five key areas: gateway minute outage, gateway availability, transaction speed, transaction success rate, and authorization rate. For more information on CSG Forte’s single, end-to-end payments platform, please visit: https://www.forte.net/why-csg-forte/. 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 73,000 merchants across government, telecom, insurance and other industries. For nearly 40 years, CSG’s technologies and people have helped some of the world’s most recognizable brands solve their toughest business challenges and evolve to meet the demands of today’s digital economy with future-ready solutions that drive exceptional customer experiences. Our solutions deliver real world outcomes to more than 900 customers in over 120 countries. To learn more, visit www.forte.net and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter. 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. Contacts: Jordy Spitale CSG +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.csgi.com

January 26, 2022 06:15 AM Mountain Standard Time

First United States Open Registry to be Launched in Washington, DC

COPE

A landmark Revitalization Plan for US Maritime Trade, Commerce and Strategic Competition to support and assist in resolving America’s supply chain crisis, ensure maritime sovereignty and security, and revitalize maritime commerce will be launched at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on February 1, 2022, at 1:30PM with remarks by Ambassador John D. Negroponte, the first U.S. Director of National Intelligence and former Deputy Secretary of State; the Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Honorable Albert Bryan, Jr.; and President Eric R. Dawicki of the Northeast Maritime Institute. Highlights of the Plan include the formation of the first U.S. open registry, and other maritime initiatives designed to make the United States more competitive and propel it into a stronger leadership position as a maritime nation. Governor Bryan and President Dawicki will participate in the signing of a historic agreement between the U.S. Virgin Islands and Northeast Maritime Institute which features the collaboration on the development of the first open U.S. registry. Following initial remarks outlining the Revitalization Plan, there will be a panel discussion moderated by Jeremy Greenwood, a Federal Executive Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Strobe Talbott Center on Security, Strategy, and Technology. Panel participants include Stephen Flynn, PhD, Founding Director of the Center for Global Resilience at Northeastern University, leading Homeland Security advisor under the Bush and Obama administrations, and global expert on supply chain resilience; Admiral James Watson, Northeast Maritime Institute Trustee and former Director of Prevention Policy for Marine Safety, Security and Stewardship at the United States Coast Guard and the first Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement at the US Department of Interior; Captain Anuj Chopra, Co-Founder & CEO of FNI ESGPlus; Carleen Lyden Walker, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the North American Marine Environment Protection Association, and Captain John Konrad, Founder and CEO of gCaptain. Additional commentary will be provided by Nishan Degnarain, former Chairman of the World Economic Forum – Global Agenda Council on Oceans; Jonathan Kempe, Verifai Australia; and Dr. Sal Mercogliano, PhD, Campbell University. Remarks from all are expected to cover topics such as decarbonization of shipping, capital investment in new technologies, supply chain security, transparency in shipping, economic growth opportunities, the status of the U.S. maritime industry, U.S. national security interests, and more. The event will outline how implementation of the Revitalization Plan for US Maritime Trade, Commerce and Strategic Competition will provide economic stability and environmental protection, as well as revitalize the position of the United States as a major competitor in international maritime trade and commerce while enhancing national security, both domestically and internationally. A Revitalization Plan for US Maritime Trade, Commerce and Strategic Competition was developed by a team of Distinguished Fellows at the Northeast Maritime Institute – Center for Ocean Policy and Economics (COPE) and advised by an array of leading thinkers in the maritime industry. Key elements of the plan include: Formation of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ open international ship registry—the first, and only, international U.S. open ship registry. Development of a short sea transshipment hub in the Caribbean to alleviate supply chain congestion by moving a portion of east coast distribution from land to sea and increasing the number of ports importing ever-increasing quantities of goods from overseas. Build public/private/international partnerships to address strategic maritime issues, increase transparency and enforce legal and ethical standards. Establish and implement a green shipping strategy, including decarbonization of the U.S.-flagged fleet. Establishing a Maritime Venture Capital Fund to finance commercially advanced technologies that solve maritime and ocean industry problems with a focus on environmental vulnerabilities. Modernization of the maritime workforce by deploying state of the art education and training tools in the US and abroad. Additional information can be found at COPE Advanced registration to attend this event will be required for access to the live stream. About Northeast Maritime Institute Northeast Maritime Institute (also called NMI) is a private, coeducational, maritime college offering an Associate in Applied Science in Nautical Science degree. Established in 1981, Northeast Maritime Institute is the only private maritime college in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college was originally established to provide an alternative to traditional education and training, with an emphasis on preparing mariners for employment. Graduates receive an Associate degree and are eligible to receive a United States Coast Guard Masters license upon graduation. The college operates a training ship, the M/V Navigator, as well as the brigantine tall ship S/V Fritha. About COPE The Center for Ocean Policy and Economics (COPE) is hosted by the Northeast Maritime Institute – College of Maritime Science: Created to tackle some of the ocean’s “wicked problems.” A culmination of years of extensive research and conversations with leading experts in the maritime and ocean related fields, COPE is a facilitator for cogent maritime and ocean policy and economic development project initiatives linking academic, corporate, non-governmental, and governmental partners to create impactful solutions. Contact Details COPE Carleen Walker +1 203-260-0480

January 25, 2022 07:51 PM Eastern Standard Time

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