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OPPO Find X5 series is equipped with the newest version of O Relax, which brings a Moment of Calm for the users

OPPO

SHENZHEN, CHINA - Media OutReach - 8 April 2022 - O Relax, an app offered for free along with ColorOS 12.1 on the latest launched flagship OPPO Find X5 series, offers a peaceful sanctuary on mobile phone — a private meditation space where users can take time out to enjoy relaxing sounds and relieve stress. The power of sound There have been various studies that indicate sound is intrinsically linked to people’s emotional wellbeing and can have a big impact on releasing stress. As an industry leader in sound technology, with a rich history in audio production, OPPO knows the impact that sound can have on users’ feelings and emotions, ever since it released its first MP3 player in 2005. That’s what makes O Relax such an important feature, and why it’s been built into ColorOS 12.1 in Find X5 series. Through a combination of audio-visual-haptic feedback, O Relax provides users with multi-sensory experience. This not only deepens the connection to the audio they are hearing, but also offers things to see, touch and feel, across all features of the app. Explore the city through sound One of O Relax’s key features is Sounds of the City, which offers users something that can’t be found in any other app. So far, O Relax has recorded sound samples of the day-to-day occurrences in six iconic cities around the world. Whether it’s the sound of busy markets in Bangkok or the breeze through the trees in Reykjavik, O Relax transports its users to the heart of these cities with their own unique soundscape. OPPO has also encouraged its users to share the sounds that reflect their memories or favourite things about their city, to create user-inspired soundtracks. The first of these was Chengdu in China. Not just that, but with a digital map on screen that helps users to visualise exactly where the sounds were captured, Sound of the City helps users to deepen their connection and experience with the city while listening to the sound. Through a combination of sound, vision and innovation, Sounds of the City aims to take people away from their current moment, and to feel reinvigorated through the realm of discovery and exploration. Personalized sound experience Alongside Sounds of the City, O Relax also offers a variety of comforting music tracks, and the sounds of white noise in nature, such as the sound of rain or waves, to help deliver those moments of calm. All of O Relax’s sounds and soundtracks are chosen and produced by OPPO’s master tuner, who conducts experiments on the different combinations of tone, rhythm and audible frequencies to find the perfect balance. Additionally, O Relax offers multi-track mixing to create the perfect personalized sound experience for its users. This extensive ability for customisation and personalisation is reflected in the design philosophy of ColorOS, which places a huge emphasis on the importance of the user experience and personalising their experience when using the phone. Experience a deeper connection Through the combination of audio and haptic feedback, O Relax’s deep breathing exercises and relaxation games are designed for users to feel calm. With the strongest haptic motor available on an Android device today, Find X5 Pro provides with a better O Relax user experience than ever before, generating natural, crisp and quiet feedback with every touch and delivering a further dimension to the audio and visual experience. However, O Relax doesn’t stop there. With precise placement and movement of individual sounds, the addition of Dolby Atmos panoramic audio helps to place a listener at the heart of the sound for an even more powerful and moving experience, offering breathtaking sound quality, with impressive clarity, richness and detail like no other. With O Relax, OPPO brings together this human-centric approach with its passion for audio to create an experience that brings a much-needed moment of calm back to busy lives. *Note：The availability of O-Relax may vary among reigons. Contact Details OPPO Media Contact press@oppo.com

April 08, 2022 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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KILTER PARTNERS WITH GIVING PLATFORM CLASSY, CONNECTING ACTIVE LIFESTYLES WITH IMPORTANT CAUSES

Kilter

Kilter, the breakthrough social engagement app that connects active lifestyles with important causes, is teaming up with Classy, a giving platform that enables nonprofits to connect supporters with the causes they care about, it was announced by Seth Braddock, Kilter Founder & CEO. “The Kilter and Classy partnership will enable nonprofit organizations everywhere to potentially increase supporter engagement and fundraising by up to 3X through activity-based challenges,” said Braddock. “With a focus on flexibility and inclusivity, Kilter will allow nonprofit supporters to tie their everyday health, wellness and lifestyle activities into Classy’s robust fundraising platform.” “Fundraiser gamification and activity tracking is a strength of Kilter’s that we are excited to tap into.” said Katie Golland, Events & Peer-to-Peer Product Marketing Manager at Classy. “Giving fundraisers the power to gamify their efforts by engaging in an activity tracking challenge while training for an endurance event, or giving corporate partners a way to engage their employees through challenges, makes the fundraising experience even more exciting. By integrating Classy online fundraising campaigns into the Kilter activity tracking application nonprofits can consolidate their efforts and stay motivated along the way.” “We're so excited for the Kilter integration for Classy to roll out!” said Lindsay Kolsch, Co-Executive Director of To Write Love On Her Arms and one of the partners utilizing the integration. “As long-time Classy customers, we're always looking for new ways to encourage and motivate our fundraisers and to find ways our team can add value to their fundraising experience. The Kilter integration does both. It's a perfect fit for our movement-based campaigns and the setup was very easy! We can't wait to see how this helps us grow our campaigns year over year and help TWLOHA grow to further our mission.” Available now, nonprofits using the integration can combine any Classy peer-to-peer, ticketed event, or registration with fundraising campaigns with the Kilter app. This allows organizations to supplement their fundraising campaigns with the end goal of reaching and engaging more supporters, adding new value for corporate sponsors, and increasing overall fundraising potential throughout the year. The partnership will enable Classy customers to more seamlessly introduce challenges into their fundraising strategy, while harnessing the power of charitable giving through collaborative and inclusive activities that allow you to track everything from steps walked to minutes read and beyond. Through the integration, donations from activity-based challenges will flow seamlessly from Classy into Kilter’s mobile leaderboards and will provide participants mobile-friendly ways to share their Classy fundraising links with their personal networks. Learn more about the integration here. ABOUT KILTER Kilter is the most inclusive activity-based engagement platform for good. With customizable events, integrations with many fitness tracking devices, and 50+ other trackable activities from running to yoga to pickleball to volunteering, Kilter’s best in class user experience, functionality and customer support provides employers and nonprofits with an easy to deploy tool that will meet their supporters where they are today (on their phones) and easily exceed engagement and impact goals. Learn more at www.kilterapp.com. ABOUT CLASSY Classy is a B Corp Certified Public Benefit Corporation and giving platform that enables nonprofits to connect supporters with the causes they care about. Based in San Diego, CA and trusted by thousands of nonprofits, from the fastest-growing nonprofits to some of the world’s largest social organizations, Classy’s platform provides the formats and flexibility to activate donors when and how they need to by creating more relevant connections to their causes. Since 2011, Classy has helped nonprofits mobilize and empower the world for good by helping them raise over $4 billion on its platform. Classy also hosts the Collaborative conference and the Classy Awards to spotlight the innovative work nonprofits are implementing around the globe. For more information, visit www.classy.org. Contact Details Julian Lavelle +1 315-708-3494 julian@kilterapp.com Company Website https://www.kilterapp.com

April 07, 2022 10:48 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Decentralized MuskMelon Tokens to Embrace Meme Creators Community

MuskMelon

MuskMelon, the disruptive new addition to the world of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and Gaming, is launched with a promising solution for the meme creator’s community. MuskMelon allows the meme creators to spread their word, build a strong community and earn. The entire process of MuskMelon is decentralized and will help aspiring meme creators showcase their talent to the world. melonmusk is an already popular social media feed. To give the melonmusk social media and digital creators community avenues to earn, MuskMelon is launched. MuskMelon will redefine the world of melonmusk, bring out the truth, the good, the bad and the ugly, and modify the meme creation process for the meme creators by procuring them with monetary assets in real-time. MuskMelon ecosystem will also launch a series of melon based lazy games and provide play-to-earn opportunities. “The platform allows people to create their Melon avatars and even host them on the NFT marketplace for auction, bid, or sale. Melon is the native currency used to purchase NFTs, In-Game assets, and even contribute to the Ukraine Relief Fund,” said Neal Mathews, Project Advisor of MuskMelon. The MuskMelon project is planning a comprehensive penetrative strategy with a public sale of 10 billion Melons, of which 5 billion will be released initially at a launch price of $0.05 apiece. The sale is designed to start on Bitmart and XT shortly, and it is widely being considered one of the most exciting projects of its kind to watch out for this year. Binance Gaming NFT has a total of 16 listed projects with a total of $884 million in volume. The project lures the gaming community with an exciting storyline. MuskMelon, who is a Multibillionaire and Influencer, is currently on a rampage on the financial and emerging technology landscape. MuskMelon has made many people angry with his wavery mind, fickle attitude, and unrealistic plans. People from around are now seeking revenge on MuskMelon. MuskMelon has created mini melons and distributed himself amongst various universes. People have now picked up the Baton and are hunting MuskMelon across these universes (MiniGames). For more information, kindly visit the website https://muskmelon.org/ Contact Details MuskMelon hello@muskmelon.org

April 06, 2022 07:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time

EagleTree Backed Companies, Arc and The Channel Company, Acquire Incisive Media

The Channel Company

Arc, the global events, data, and media platform, announced today it has acquired Incisive Media’s financial services and business sustainability portfolios. These portfolios expand Arc’s sector diversity across the UK market with the addition of leading financial services and business sustainability brands such as Investment Week, Professional Pensions, Professional Adviser, and BusinessGreen. The Channel Company, a leading IT-channel focused B2B marketing company, will acquire Incisive’s technology portfolio. The acquisition will reunite CRN and CRN UK under the same company. The technology portfolio also includes the Computing and Channel Partner Insight brands. Simon Foster, CEO of Arc, said, “This is a pivotal step in the evolution of Arc. We are pleased to welcome Incisive Media CEO, Jonathon Whiteley, and the financial services and business sustainability teams to Arc, and look forward to growing and developing these portfolios. We also look forward to further developing the Arc platform through this acquisition with the addition of more resources and channels with which we can grow our network.” Blaine Raddon, CEO of The Channel Company, said, “We are excited to add Incisive’s technology channel brands to our portfolio, and believe the reunification of the US and UK CRN brands will provide substantial benefit to our audiences and clients. This acquisition gives us the opportunity to link Incisive’s Computing brand with our Midsize Enterprise Services brand in a powerful, connected, global end-user community. Altogether, the acquisition results in a leading position for The Channel Company in content and events in both the US and EMEA.” Jonathon Whiteley, CEO of Incisive Media, said, “Following a very successful period of growth over the last few years, Incisive Media is now ready for its next stage of development. The global platforms of Arc and The Channel Company offer natural homes for Incisive Media’s brands and people. Our audience and customer centric approach to growing and supporting the end markets that we serve fits squarely with the philosophies of both Arc and The Channel Company. This split allows us to support that growth in a relevant and focused way. I am excited about the future and look forward to working with Simon and his team at Arc to take Incisive Media into this next and exciting chapter.” Cardean Bell advised Incisive on the transaction and Macfarlanes provided legal advice. Arc’s M&A advisor was Canson Capital Partners. Jones Day was legal advisor to both Arc and The Channel Company. Plural Strategy Group advised Arc and The Channel Company on commercial due diligence. Incisive Media Based in the heart of London, Incisive Media is an award-winning business to business digital media and events business established in 1995. Operating in the financial services, enterprise technology and business sustainability markets we have some of the most influential, engaging and well-known brands in business media. We are a tech-enabled, forward facing marketing services business that connects and informs business professionals through our analyst-grade content and our market leading events. We offer our clients the ability to reach their customers through advanced and integrated digital marketing activations and we are constantly adapting to the ever-changing digital marketplace. www.incisivemedia.com Arc Arc is a B2B platform backed by investment funds managed by EagleTree Capital that intends to redefine business networks by building the next generation events and media business. With a customer-centric approach, guided by data and intelligent insight, Arc seeks out ways to connect communities, wherever, whenever, or however, people need to come together to meet, network, learn, and grow their businesses. http://www.arc-network.com The Channel Company The Channel Company is focused on the technology industry and its CRN brand is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2022. Headquartered in Westborough, MA, The Channel Company has been servicing the technology channel community for over 40 years. From CRN, the #1 source of technology news, insights and analysis for the IT Channel, to industry-leading events that connect clients to customers, to powerful research, consulting and engaging education to accelerate growth, to transformative marketing services to maximize investment, The Channel Company provides a full suite of outcome-driven services focused on addressing the channel’s unique needs worldwide. The Channel Company is a portfolio company of investment funds managed by EagleTree Capital, a New York City-based private equity firm. www.thechannelcompany.com EagleTree Capital EagleTree Capital is a leading New York-based middle-market private equity firm that has completed over 35 private equity investments and over 75 add-on transactions over the past 20+ years. EagleTree primarily invests in North America in the following sectors: media and business services, consumer, and water and specialty industrial. For more information, visit www.eagletree.com or find EagleTree on LinkedIn. Contact Details The Channel Company Corporate Communications +1 508-531-9172 corporatecommunications@thechannelcompany.com Incisive Media Sophie Eke +44 20 7484 9802 sophie.eke@incisivemedia.com Arc Caitlin Read +44 7727 860756 caitlin.read@arc-network.com Company Website https://www.thechannelcompany.com

April 06, 2022 06:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Decentralized domain registry EDNS goes live on April 12th and launches Ambassador Program

EDNS

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 7 April 2022 - EDNS Decentralized Domain today announces that its decentralized domain naming platform will go online on April 12 th. The platform, the first of its kind built on the Polygon blockchain, aims to break boundaries of internet domain with on-chain decentralized domain technology, representing an important step towards upgrading user experience in the new era of Web3.0. To encourage global participation in the move towards Web3.0, EDNS announces it is giving 700,000.meta* domains to the owners of.eth domains, with first-year service fees waived. The project is also launching an ambassador program and a Reseller NFT Membership Program. Today’s announcement came as investors have been snapping up decentralized domains built on the Ethereum-blockchain Name Service addresses, a trend reminiscent of the acquisition of.com names during the Web1.0 era. EDNS, short for Ether Domain Name Services, simplifies the crypto and decentralized finance space by allowing users to create simple nicknames for all their public addresses and decentralized websites. In a breakthrough among existing decentralized domain platforms, EDNS will also provide direct connection to decentralized storage, decentralized Web Hosting, Web Builder, and decentralized SMS messaging and verification services – features that will significantly enhance web security and privacy protection. Through EDNS domains, users can manage smart contracts and realize their vision of an authentic decentralized future free from the control of IP administrators. “Over the past year, our team has worked tirelessly to develop the underlying technology to help users prepare for the move towards Metaverse and Web3.0,” said Joey Lam, Co-founder and CEO at EDNS. “The official launch of the EDNS domain platform is only the beginning. Going forward, we will continue to focus on building more applications that will help bridge the gap between where we are and our vision of a truly decentralized internet.” * EDNS reserves the right of final decisions. About EDNS EDNS (Ether Domain Name Services) is a name and lookup service built on the Polygon blockchain, a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum and its compatible, with Ethereum allowing crypto users to translate their machine-readable addresses to human-readable addresses. The service provides Decentralized Domain Naming Service for Web3.0-related demands, including NFT, Cryptocurrency Wallet, Web hosting, DeFi ID and GameFi ID in Digital world. https://www.edns.domains #EDNS Contact Details Scarlett Chui info@edns.domains

April 06, 2022 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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RevenueBase Secures $6M in Seed Funding to Revolutionize B2B Data Solutions for Sales and Marketing Teams

RevenueBase

RevenueBase, the next generation B2B SaaS data solution for sales and marketing teams, today announced their $6 million seed round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. The funding round includes investors from ten venture capital firms who will work alongside RevenueBase’s founders Mark Feldman and Milenko Beslic to further expand its offering. RevenueBase, which officially launched in the Spring of 2021, was founded on the principle that the B2B data market is incredibly flawed. Companies have significant trouble finding and engaging with people in their ideal customer profile. The founders of RevenueBase saw an opportunity to create a solution that not only provides essential contact information, but also enables strong engagement – the ultimate win. “We saw a whitespace for a company like RevenueBase, especially given that we’ve seen little real innovation or change in this market over the past decade leading business people to be bombarded with impersonal and poorly-targeted messages multiple times a day. This situation has been made worse by ‘The Great Resignation,’ during which so many people have left their positions and the data hasn’t kept up with those changes,” said Feldman. “Milenko and I knew that we could build a better solution to make it easier for companies to access more buyers in order to increase revenue. We do this by providing information others don’t, such as customer-specific insights, up-to-date role information (what do they actually do), and technographics. We’re excited to have the support of great investors who are on board with our vision.” RevenueBase delivers value in three key ways; completeness of data, data accuracy at scale and ease. The company is highly involved in understanding its clients, conducting proprietary discovery workshops that unlock a client’s ideal customer profile, and then combing through more than 700 million contacts globally to deliver reach, using multi-point verification for better data accuracy, which ultimately leads to a connection or engagement. This is made possible in part by RevenueBase’s use of graph technology to better understand the relationships between seemingly unrelated data points. RevenueBase customers receive all of this information with ease, using the solution as a one-stop-shop and replacing the need to source data from multiple providers who may not be updating their databases as frequently as RevenueBase. “In our short time working with RevenueBase, we've already seen such an incredible lift in our reach, which is what we had been craving for a long time,” said Clint Poole, CMO at Egress. “We’ve been trying to understand the people we want to reach on a deeper level. Working with RevenueBase, we are able to clearly define our ideal customer profile and translate that into effective outreach that connects and ultimately drives our business forward. We are thrilled with our partnership and foresee it only growing stronger as they focus on further innovation.” Since its founding in May of 2021, RevenueBase has already secured 20 clients, including Plannuh, Egress Software, Forj, Pliant and others primarily in the SaaS and technology industries. With this first round of funding, RevenueBase will focus on bringing its advantages to more companies as well as improving the breadth and scale of data provided to current customers through investments in product, sales, and marketing. “We think the opportunity to be the B2B data refinement layer powering growth-oriented companies is massive," said Kent Bennett, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, "We are impressed with RevenueBase's early traction and Mark's and Milenko's appetite to transform the B2B data industry." Additional investors in this seed round included 2 Lanterns, Argon Ventures, Converge, Feldsmith Capital, Good Friends, Graph Ventures, Gutbrain Ventures, KOA Labs, PBJ Capital, and Service Provider Capital. Kent Bennett, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, Bob Davoli, Founder and Managing Director of GutBrain and Jude McColgan, former CEO of Localytics, will all join the Board of Directors in an effort to ensure continued growth and reinvestment for RevenueBase. To learn more about RevenueBase and its offerings in the space, please visit revenuebase.ai. About RevenueBase RevenueBase is a Boston-based SaaS company that provides a cutting edge B2B Revenue Database as a Service to its clients. RevenueBase strives to deeply understand customers’ go-to-market opportunities and then delivers a one-stop, easy to use solution for B2B business leaders that is more complete and more accurate than other providers, allowing users to quickly convert data into revenue growth. For more information, visit www.revenuebase.ai. About Bessemer Venture Partners Bessemer Venture Partners helps entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to build and forge long-standing companies. With more than 135 IPOs and 200 portfolio companies in the enterprise, consumer and healthcare spaces, Bessemer supports founders and CEOs from their early days through every stage of growth. Bessemer’s global portfolio includes Pinterest, Shopify, Twilio, Yelp, LinkedIn, PagerDuty, DocuSign, Wix, Fiverr and Toast and has $9 billion of capital under management. Bessemer has teams of investors and partners located in Tel Aviv, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York, London, Boston, Beijing and Bangalore. Born from innovations in steel more than a century ago, Bessemer’s storied history has afforded its partners the opportunity to celebrate and scrutinize its best investment decisions (see Memos ) and also learn from its mistakes (see Anti-Portfolio ). Contact Details RevenueBase Sergey Rusak sergey@revenuebase.ai Company Website https://revenuebase.ai

April 06, 2022 11:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Minuteman Press Franchise in Bath, England Moves to New Location, Lands Bath City FC Sponsorship

Minuteman Press International Inc

After 23 years in business and now entering their 24 th year, the long-time Minuteman Press franchise in Bath England has moved to a beautiful new location located on Pines Way Industrial Estate in central Bath. Since the move, Minuteman Press in Bath has nearly doubled production capacity and produced quicker turnaround times for their clients. In what has been a busy year for Minuteman Press in Bath, they have also landed a back of shirt sponsorship for Bath City FC. Throughout the 2021/2022 season, Minuteman Press in Bath has had their logo on player uniforms to increase their brand awareness and visibility. Managing Director David Ghent and Marketing Director Dave Dixon talk about the history of the business as well as what the future holds for Minuteman Press in Bath. What is the history of the business? Dave Dixon: “It all started in 1998 when our MD David Ghent had a vision to provide the best printing services in Bath. He saw a gap in the market for a city-centre location to offer on-site print and copying services. We’ve since outgrown our Walcot Street site and have developed into a commercial, print and signage service in our new facility at Pines Way.” How has the business grown and what are the keys to your success? David Ghent: “For us it’s always been about putting our customers first. We like to help them stretch their marketing budgets as far as possible. Sometimes it’s not about finding the cheapest option, it’s about the maximum return on investment. The success of our customer base is our success. We still have customers today that placed their first orders back in 1998!” What would you say have been the major changes to the printing industry over the past decade? Dave Dixon: “Speed and print enhancements! Sure, if you want a simple brochure to go through the door or get picked up with a load of other flyers that’s great, we can produce thousands of those and you’ll get a small percentage return rate. However, we find that once we add a spot of gloss, gold ink or foil it stands out from the crowd. We’ve also invested heavily over the years in the most up to date technology and most reliable kit to ensure that we can produce great results on time and quickly. After all you’ve seen it on your screen and you are keen to have it in your hand.” How do you set yourself apart from the competition especially online suppliers? David Ghent: “Online print is great if you want cheap bulk printing and you’re 100 percent sure that your artwork is designed well, you’re not too concerned about the final colours and you don’t need any advice or are not expecting a long term relationship with a local supplier. Most of our clients value business relationships and like to discuss their print job and how they might make it look as good as possible. Alongside that excellent level of customer service, we are also able to meet almost any deadline; most of our work is produced the same day on site here at Pines Way, with real people checking your artwork, colours and print quality. We are also a one stop shop. We will deal with your business forms, flyers and brochures, and we can also produce shop signage, vehicle graphics and exhibition displays. You really don’t need to go to many sources for your marketing materials. That’s how we differentiate ourselves.” How did you adapt over the past two years and diversify your offerings? Dave Dixon: “We very soon discovered the joy of floor and wall graphics! We did a little but of that pre-pandemic, but then we had to take it to another level. Our Large Format Studio Manager was in fact working hard during the first lockdown producing a catalogue with a full range of social distancing signage. We also had to test the materials to ensure that they were safe enough for installation on the ground – we really didn’t want people slipping on our floor graphics! We produced thousands of linear metres of floor and wall graphics. We continue to do so now, but for marketing purposes rather than safety.” Why did you decide to move to your new location and what does it mean for your clients and your future? David Ghent: “In reality, we outgrew Walcot Street and we really could not reach our full potential there. The new location represents a €1 million investment in the business. We have two of Xerox’s top end presses and we have added the full range of specialty colours to those, this includes white, fluorescent, gold, silver and clear toners, the range of colours we can really achieve is impressive. We’ve added short run foiling in house and of course our huge vehicle bay means that we can now do signwriting on cars and vans. Our signage team is expanding our offerings further. Interiors will be a big growth area for us including printed graphics on walls, floors, and windows. Window blinds are very popular at the moment and a really cost-effective way to keep your branding visible.” What makes you most proud as you reflect on the past 24 years? Dave Dixon: “We are proud of our level of customer retention. We work closely with our client base to ensure that they are always happy. We are also always happy to give back to our local community through supporting charities and clubs with free or heavy discounted pricing, as well as being proud to be a local business taking part in the civic life of our city.” What’s next for Minuteman Press in Bath? David Ghent: “We are in the right premises at last, so we now need to consolidate and plan for expansion. We need to continue strengthening our print and signage offerings and ensure that we are seen locally as Bath’s number one printer, as well as growing our online sales.” For more information on Minuteman Press in Bath, England, visit https://minutemanbath.co.uk. Learn more about Minuteman Press UK franchise opportunities at https://minutemanpressfranchise.co.uk. Contact Details Minuteman Press International Chris Biscuiti +1 631-249-1370 cbiscuiti@mpihq.com Company Website https://minutemanpressfranchise.com

April 06, 2022 10:10 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Agora Data’s CTO Chad Stilwell to Present at Auto Intel Summit 2022

Agora

Agora Data’s Chief Technology Officer, Chad Stilwell, will speak at the 2022 Automotive Intelligence Summit in Raleigh, N.C., April 12-14. His breakout session, titled “Using Data to Predict Subprime Auto Performance,” will start at 1:30 p.m. on April 12. Stilwell is responsible for all data science initiatives at Agora, including artificial intelligence (AI), modeling, and analytics. During his presentation, Stilwell will share how data science helps today’s auto industry better predict – and even improve – the performance of subprime loans. This underserved, underbanked, and previously considered risky segment is rapidly becoming a viable asset class. Stilwell will explain what this means for the future of subprime and how these latest innovations impact lenders, dealers, and consumers. “Closing the deal is only half the battle for today’s independent auto dealers and finance companies. Long-term success in this business relies heavily on how a loan performs after the deal is closed,” Stilwell said. “I look forward to discussing the treasure trove of data analytics now available to dealers and finance companies – and how to best use this information to maximize the performance of their portfolios.” Stilwell brings to the conversation a diverse background of industry firsts. He played a crucial role in launching Agora’s crowdsourced securitizations, their line of credit with reducing interest rates, and their technology platform that provides a book value for subprime auto loans. With over a decade of technology and development expertise, Stilwell previously served as the Director of Analytics & Insights for a top Fortune Global 500 company. He has a passion for using cutting-edge technology to solve today’s challenges. Currently, he leads the Agora team of developers to bring personalized business intelligence and expert analytics to Agora users. Stilwell looks forward to demystifying subprime auto finance for Auto Intel Summit attendees while sharing the game-changing significance of in-depth portfolio analytics. Company representatives will also be on hand at the NIADA Convention & Expo in Las Vegas in June to help further Agora’s mission of empowering independent auto dealers and finance companies. About Agora Data, Inc: Agora Data’s platform delivers a suite of tools to empower independent dealers and finance companies to finance their subprime customers. Agora’s family of auto finance products provides a wide range of critical funding paths so originators can obtain the cash they need to fuel growth, compete, and build wealth. Powered by patent pending technology, originators now have access to robust data analytics and planning resources to help optimize the performance of their portfolios. Agora Data made history by closing the first-ever Crowdsourced Subprime Auto Securitization in 2020 and followed that up with its second transaction in early 2021. For more information, visit agoradata.com or contact us at 877-592-4672. Contact Details Shelly Vandeven +1 682-282-4130 media@agoradata.com Company Website https://agoradata.com/

April 06, 2022 09:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Learn to Earn community, Qureos secures $3M funding round to accelerate 100M careers

Qureos

UAE-based EdTech and Future of Work marketplace Qureos has raised $3M million in its pre-seed round led by Dubai-based early-stage VC COTU Ventures and New York-based early-stage VC Colle Capital as it seeks to fast track growth and democratize “Learn to Earn” opportunities for talent globally. The round also saw participation from global and regional investors, including Globivest, Plutus21 Capital, Dubai Angel Investors, and AlZayani Venture Capital. Several angel investors including current and former leaders of Swvl, Boston Consulting Group, Moelis & Company, Careem, Cisco Systems, Koinz, Message Bird, Bain & Company, Hiperpool, ADNOC, QIA, and other notable individuals. Founded in August 2021 by Alexander Epure, Mehrad Yaghmai and Usama Nini, Queros began life as a passion project for the founders to accelerate careers by making mentorship more accessible. This passion project was validated when selected by the Dubai Future Accelerators to solve the skill gap in the transition from campus to the workplace and in between jobs. Qureos is building an experiential learning community to change how people connect, learn and work. Qureos is helping people from over 127 countries learn in-demand skills through cohort-based learning paths led by world-class industry experts that match the hiring demands from Qureos’ business partners. Qureos is solving the skill gap in the transition from campus to the workplace and those changing careers. Globally, there are 254 million Gen Z who have graduated and are still unemployed due to the skill gap, most notably in emerging markets where youth unemployment is above 36%. The job market is changing faster than school curriculums and emerging talent are not getting traditional job placements. Qureos is tapping into the $470B e-learning and future of work markets that are currently separated. “We believe that new learning models like Qureos, which combine cohort-based, synchronous education with community, are going to become more mainstream and disrupt traditional players. From our perspective, the energy and passion that the team exhibited from our initial conversations, to the traction demonstrated so early on, and the deep product vision, were all ingredients to driving our conviction in the business. We’re excited to be a part of this journey and seeing the team’s vision of upskilling talent become a reality. “ said Amir Farha - Founder and Managing Partner at COTU Ventures With instant applications on many job platforms today, hiring fatigue is becoming a burden on HR teams with 47% of candidates failing job interviews due to a lack of alignment to the company. By 2025, Millennials and Gen Z will make up 75% of the global workforce according to Deloitte. As a result, businesses are facing an increasing average cost of hiring of $4,129 per hire and an average time-to-hire of 42 days. By creating a learning community, Qureos allows growing businesses to tap into an on-demand workforce of talent who have been mentored to deliver a high quality of work. With Qureos, businesses are able to reduce their cost-to-hire by up to 79% and their time-to-hire by 36% through Qureos’ proprietary performance-based hiring framework. “Learning and hiring are disconnected and Qureos aims to leverage its unique position at the nexus of these two markets through an experiential learning community where emerging talent can learn from industry experts and gain experience through mentor-led hiring cohorts from businesses,” said Alexander Epure, Co-Founder and CEO at Qureos. “Qureos is going after a massive opportunity with the ultimate aim of creating an ecosystem that unlocks the potential of the human capital. There is a huge untapped potential amongst emerging talent which is not harnessed and it’s about time we create an inspirational story that brings together people who align with our mission” said the founders. With native network effects of the platform, Qureos has been able to achieve phenomenal organic growth of 25,000+ users, as well as attracting mentors from leading organizations including Google, Paypal, Amazon, Cisco, and more than 100 business partners globally. “Creators and industry experts can seamlessly monetize their knowledge, build an online presence and personal brand while giving back to the local and global community.“ said Tomas Panek - Digital Marketing at Qatar Airways. Victoria Grace, Founder and Managing Partner at Colle Capital said: “We see tremendous opportunity in Qureos’ mission to bridge knowledge gaps and upskill professionals through leveraging the extraordinary pathway with direct mentorship. Simultaneously this platform provides a fantastic opportunity for highly skilled individuals to directly monetize their knowledge base, compounded by distinct network effects, and for companies to access high quality and motivated pool of talent. It is also extremely gratifying to see the proliferation of entrepreneurial talent in the region directly stemming from the success of Swvl. It is clear to us at Colle Capital that the rising Swvl Mafia will be at the forefront of ushering in a new and exciting wave of innovation in the MENA region and beyond.“ In November 2021, Qureos announced its partnership with DP World, a Dubai-based multinational logistics provider, to digitize the Tumoohi program, an initiative to support the Emirati society and contribute to the UAE government’s efforts to enable Emirati youth. “I am excited to see Alex and Usama, Swvl alumni, and the rest of the founding team raise a highly successful and oversubscribed round and launch in multiple markets. From Swvl’s reliable and affordable transport to Qureos’ Learn to Earn model, the common mission is enhancing access to work and education opportunities and empowering livelihoods. I am also encouraged to see Victoria, the CEO of Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital, the SPAC Swvl is combing with, continue to invest in global players emerging out of the Middle East to scale internationally and access global pools of capital” said Youssef Salem, CFO of Swvl and Member of Board of Advisors of Qureos. Qureos plans to use this investment to build product-led operations and expand its remote-first team with a focus on hiring talent for their offices in the UAE, Pakistan and India. Its diverse team comes from 11 cities and 10 nationalities with experiences at Swvl, Cisco, Careem, EY, Daraz, HSBC and Aleph. About Qureos Qureos is a ‘learn to earn’ marketplace that makes it easy for emerging talent to learn in-demand skills from world-class industry experts through cohort-based learning paths led by world-class industry experts that match the hiring demand from Qureos’ business partners. About Investors COTU Ventures is a Dubai-based leading seed stage venture firm in the Middle East who partners with incredible founders at the beginning of their journey and accelerating their path to product-market fit and ensuring that they get access to the right capital and expertise. Colle Capital Partners is a global, opportunistic, early stage technology venture fund, based out of New York and founded by Victoria Grace who is also the founder of Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital which is leading the SPAC IPO of Swvl. Dubai Angel Investors is member-led Micro-VC made up of more than 100 like-minded angel investors and are passionate about entrepreneurs that have taken their ideas from concept to customer traction to scale with drive, energy, determination and ambition. Globivest, is a Beirut-based private investment firm with a primary focus on innovative and scalable early stage start-ups. Investments range across a spectrum of sectors and asset classes mainly in Europe and the USA. Plutus21 Capital, is a US-based multi-strategy investment firm focused on blockchain infrastructure investments. AlZayani Venture Capital, a portfolio company of AlZayani Investments and is focused on investing in innovative start-ups and disruptive technologies. Currently, it has investments in various companies in sectors such as Fintech, Retail, Food & Beverages, Tourism and EdTech. Contact Details Qureos Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodtrategy.com Company Website https://www.qureos.com/

April 06, 2022 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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