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In the world of high finance, Erlan Abdikarimov is as small-time as they come. A 30-year-old stock analyst, he plies his trade in Kazakhstan, where he advises investors about local companies and initial public offerings in the United States.
So when Abdikarimov came out last week with a dire warning on Beyond Meat Inc., predicting shares would plunge, no one on Wall Street took much notice. After all, Beyond Meat is the hottest IPO the U.S. market has seen in more than a decade, with the El Segundo company’s stock price having more than tripled since its May 1 debut. Who was this guy to throw cold water?
As it turns out, he’s a guy with something of a track record. Back in 2012, Abdikarimov came out with an aggressively bearish call on Facebook Inc. before its IPO, setting the lowest target of anyone surveyed by Bloomberg and issuing a sell recommendation after shares started trading. That proved prescient: The stock tumbled 30% in its first year, briefly turning Abdikarimov into a bit of a star at the age of 24.
Now he’s waving clients off the maker of faux meat, which he sees as up against too much competition to be flying so high. The rally is “largely fueled by a speculative mood and not by a real assessment of the prospects,” said Abdikarimov, who has set a target of $28.40 on the stock, about one-third the current price. He cut his rating on the stock to “hold” from “buy” last week. “As soon as the first wave of speculative buying is over, we will see a correction.”
Abdikarimov, who works in Almaty, Kazakhstan, for Freedom Finance JSC, the country’s biggest brokerage, is one of only three analysts who cover Beyond Meat at the moment. The other two have set price targets above $80.
At Tuesday’s closing price of $77.50 a share, the company is trading at more than 50 times its 2018 net revenue, after an IPO priced at $25. The stock made history with the strongest debut session since the financial crisis — soaring 163% — and was the best-performing equity in the U.S. last week. Buyers have piled in even as short interest skyrocketed to 44% of free float, according to financial analytics firm S3 Partners.
“The stock’s current price implies some very optimistic assumptions,” he said.
The fundamentals, though, have him predicting the company won’t be able to break even before 2025. A big factor is the competition, which is heating up, with giants such as Tyson Foods Inc. planning to launch meat-substitute products. Nestle has introduced a plant-based burger in Europe and will roll it out in the U.S. this fall. And Impossible Foods Inc. raised $300 million in its latest round, which values the company at $2 billion, according to Reuters.
In his five years with Freedom Finance, Abdikarimov has covered about 58 initial offerings. He has had hits and misses — the latter, recently, with Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc., whose post-IPO slides he didn’t see coming. He has buys on both but says he intends to revise them.
“Any IPO has its own speculative games. It could take from a few months to half a year or even a year for them to play out,” he said. Facebook, after all, came out of its rocky start nicely, having rallied about 390% since then.
Beyond Meat shares slid 10% on Tuesday.


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Japan's Softbank sells two-thirds of recent eAccess acquisition
- 17 January, 2013 07:42
Japan's Softbank has sold off a large portion of a local carrier it acquired just weeks ago, as it looked to assuage fears over its expanded control of Japan's wireless spectrum.
The company, which runs one of Japan's largest mobile operators, said Thursday it sold off two-thirds of the voting shares in eAccess, a rival operator that focuses mainly on data services. Softbank made eAccess a subsidiary on Jan. 1.
Softbank had faced concerns that the purchase would give it too big a share of Japan's wireless bands, which are tightly regulated by the government. The company said that it informed Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of its intention to possibly sell off the stake in November.
The shares were sold to 11 buyers, including subsidiaries of Samsung Electronics, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens, as well as several Japanese financial firms. Each now owns about a 6 percent voting stake in eAccess.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, though any income could help finance another Softbank acquisition, its deal to acquire U.S. operator Sprint for US$20 billion.
Softbank, led by charismatic founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, announced it had signed a $2 billion deal to acquire eAccess in October. The operator, which has piled on users in recent years but struggled with a reputation for poor network service, said the acquisition would help it quickly add high-speed LTE infrastructure, as well as access to more network frequencies.
Two weeks later, Softbank revealed another blockbuster deal, its agreement to acquire a majority stake in Sprint Nextel. Softbank is expected to aggressively compete on price in the U.S. market, a tactic it has used effectively at home in Japan.

domain: news


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Recently, we reported that Bharti Airtel silently slashed the price of the Airtel 4G Hotspot device to compete with Reliance JioFi. Back then, we thought that the price cut is a temporary one. However, Airtel has now sent out a press statement saying that the Airtel 4G Hotspot will now retail for just Rs 999, and the price cut is a permanent one.
In comparison, Reliance Industries-owned Reliance Jio slashed the price of the JioFi M2S router in September 2017 to Rs 999 as a festive offer. But the price of the Reliance JioFi M2S is still the same at Rs 999, and this price drop from Airtel will give a stiff competition to Jio in the data card segment.
Currently, Reliance Industries is the leading brand in the data card segment, thanks to the strong sales of JioFi hotspot devices in the second quarter of 2017. Nevertheless, the company reported a huge sales dip in the third quarter of 2017.
Airtel 4G Hotspot is available at all leading Airtel retail stores across the country. In addition, customers will soon be able to order the Airtel 4G Hotspot from Amazon India. Currently, there are some third-party sellers who're offering the Airtel 4G Hotspot.
Customers can create a Wi-Fi hotspot zone wherever they go with the Airtel 4G Hotspot. It allows users to connect up to 10 devices at the same time, and the operator has collaborated with Chinese vendor Huawei to manufacture the Airtel 4G Hotspot.
The Airtel 4G Hotspot has a 1500mAh battery inside, which is rated to deliver more than six hours of battery life.
Ajai Puri, Chief Operating Officer, Bharti Airtel said, “At Airtel, we endeavour to deliver great value to our customers backed by a superior network experience. Airtel 4G Hotspot delivers a superior multi-device online experience, wherever the customer may be, by leveraging Airtel’s pan-India high-speed data network. What’s more, it now comes at a great price with some very affordable plans that offer large bundles of data.”
Airtel says that the customers need to get an Airtel 4G SIM to activate services on their Airtel 4G Hotspot. The plans start at Rs 499 per month and go up to Rs 12000 for a yearly pack. As said earlier, Airtel has 4G coverage in all the 22 telecom circles in the country.
Another best part of the Airtel 4G Hotspot is that it will switch to the 3G network automatically if there's no 4G network availability in a particular area.


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The latest news (and a big one) is that ngmoco:) has acquired Freeverse. After raising yet another $25 million dollars from investors, ngmoco:) went ahead and bought Freeverse to continue on its domination of the App Store. Last year, ngmoco:) switched to the freemium model (free + DLC), and all of their upcoming games will contain this model.
Meanwhile, Freeverse’s games have succeeded and succeeded well. Skee-Ball has hit the number one spot on the Top 100 Paid Apps chart along with Flick Fishing amassing over one million downloads. Their other popular paid apps include Flick Bowling and Moto Chaser, both of which saw early success when the App Store was first introduced.
In total, ngmoco:) has raised over $40 million dollars from investors. Their freemium games include Eliminate and Touch Pet Dogs, and both were downloaded 9 million times, with 2% of people willing to pay. They also have two upcoming games, GodFinger and WeRule, that will adopt this free + DLC model.
ngmoco:) plans to release 20 iPhone titles by the end of this year, and Freeverse should be releasing around the same amount. We’ll have more news as the story develops.


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Chicago-based BDT Capital Partners believes that Tory Burch LLC is a good fit.
The investment firm run by former Goldman Sachs banker Byron Trott has bought a minority interest in the blonde fashionista's American luxury sportswear and accessories brand.
"Tory Burch is an iconic luxury lifestyle brand with incredible growth potential," Trott said in a statement. BDT has a $3 billion investment fund. It also recently announced a minority stake in Caribou Coffee Co. Other consumer names in its portfolio include grill-maker Weber-Stephen Products and Peet's Coffee & Tea.
Launched in 2004, the Tory Burch brand is carried in 83 free-standing stores worldwide and more than 1,000 department and specialty stores.
The deal, in which private equity firm General Atlantic LLC is also taking a minority stake, enables Tory Burch and Christopher Burch, her former husband, to settle their legal disputes. They were involved in a public battle over whether he could carry out his plans to sell his stake in the company, and she accused him of trying to copy her business with his new enterprise. Christopher Burch, in a statement, said he remains a "significant investor." Each had owned a 28.3 percent stake in the company.
BDT, which invests in and advises entrepreneurs and closely held companies, and General Atlantic "are completely aligned with our long-term approach to building our brand and share our vision for growth globally," Tory Burch, chief executive of Tory Burch LLC, said in a statement.
General Atlantic has $17 billion in capital under management.
The deal was first reported by Women's Wear Daily. Terms weren't disclosed.
firstname.lastname@example.org | Twitter: @beckyyerak


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Given a new lease of life the GAME group online retail websites have been set live once again further hinting at a potential upcoming buy out
Following its recent demise GAME looks set to be brought out of administration by banking firm RBS as the GAME.co.uk and Gamestation.co.uk websites are activated once again.
Having been pulled offline following the retailer’s fall into administration the GAME group’s online shopping outlets are once again live allowing gamers to get their fill of some of the latest console and gaming releases.
Reinstated shortly after the tech based retailer confirmed it was to once again honour reward card claims, the latest glimmer of life from GAME has added fuel to the spreading fire of rumours suggesting the Royal Bank of Scotland is to step in and rescue the cash strapped outlet.
Despite the returning websites marking a positive move in the rescuing of the longstanding British retailer, any potential takeover by RBS would be too late for the 277 stores that have already been closed by administrators resulting in 2,104 job losses.
Would you still buy your games from GAME and Gamestation if they returned from the grave or did you switch to the likes of Amazon and other online retailers long ago? Let us know via the T3 Twitter and Facebook feeds.


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ITF CEO Hints On Readiness For Mass Production Of Android Smart Phone
TECH DIGEST – The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) has disclosed its readiness to begin mass production of its android smart phone, preparatory for its introduction into the market.
Sir Joseph Ari, Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the ITF, disclosed this after the formal presentation of the ITF Mobile Android GSM smart phone to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday.
Suleyol Fred Chagu, Director, Public Affairs Department in ITF, quoted Ari as saying plans were afoot to commence mass production of the phone in preparation for its introduction into the market.
Ari said: “Plans are at an advanced stage to ensure commencement of the mass production of the smart phone, making it available and affordable, which in turn will expand the GSM phone market and create more jobs in the process.
“We are presently putting processes in place with the relevant regulatory agencies towards quality assurance, legal framework and intellectual rights amongst others.
“Our vision is to create a mass production hub that will churn out products that will be available to all Nigerians.”
He added that the ITF mobile phone, which was comparable in quality to any other brand of Android Phone in the world, was assembled by the ITF Model Skills Training Centre (MSTC), Abuja, as part of the implementation of the vision of the incumbent management of the ITF with particular emphasis on research and development.
According to him, “The ITF Mobile Phone was produced with 100 percent locally sourced material. And for me, this breakthrough is proof that given the enabling environment and opportunities, Nigerians will unleash their creative potentials.
“in terms of quality and performance, our phone is comparable or even superior to most Android phones currently in our markets.”
He, however, commended the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for its policies of encouragement of innovation and creativity and for its initiatives that gave birth to this breakthrough, appealing for increased funding for the ITF to ensure full actualisation of its mandate.
He also lauded the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo and his counterpart, Ambassador Mariam Yalwaji Katagum, for providing qualitative leadership that has unleashed innovativeness and creativity of agencies and parastatals under the supervision of the Ministry.


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Earlier this week Samsung formally announced the Galaxy S5 LTE-A. It has the same build and design as the Galaxy S5 which was released back in April, but the smartphone touts a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor and a Quad HD display. Now we have been hearing for a few weeks now that a premium variant of the Galaxy S5 is on the cards, and while the recently announced variant may live up to that expectation, it appears that the Galaxy F is still very much in the pipeline.
One thing that’s said to set the Galaxy F apart from the Galaxy S5 is its metal build. The latter is fashioned out of plastic so a change in build material would certainly be a big selling point for the device. Samsung is also expected to improve the specifications, add in a Quad HD display and the Snapdragon 805 processor.
Merely a couple of days after the Galaxy S5 LTE-A was announced, infamous Twitter leaker @evleaks tweeted a press render of the Galaxy F in “glowing gold,” reiterating the possibility that this particular variant still lives on. On the other hand Samsung has already said that the Galaxy S5 LTE-A might not make it out of South Korea.
Apart from the updated processor and 3GB of RAM, the Galaxy F’s display is also expected to be bumped up in size, from 5.1-inches to 5.3-inches, with Quad HD resolution. The company hasn’t said if and when this device will hit the market so we’ll just have to sit tight and wait.


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SILVER CITY >> In the heart of the historic downtown district, Silver City MainStreet Project is hosting the Taste of Downtown — a one-day food festival featuring the fine restaurants and culinary businesses within the renowned downtown district from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Sample dishes from premiere Silver City restaurants while enjoying live music, local wines and brews. Purchase taste tickets for $1 and then use the tickets to select samples from participating vendors. Proceeds from the taste tickets go toward supporting Silver City MainStreet Project, a downtown economic revitalization program.
"The vitality that the restaurants and additional locations where food can be purchased is an essential component of helping downtown Silver City to be the destination that it is," Silver City MainStreet Project Board President Lucy Whitmarsh said through a news release.
Silver City MainStreet Project's current goal is renovating the historic Silco Theater to provide first-run films to Grant County residents. Once the renovation is complete, the Silco is expected to be a game-changer to the downtown historic district. But the Taste of Downtown offers attendees an opportunity to do more than help bring about the economic revitalization of downtown Silver City. Guests can simply enjoy sampling delicious dishes from a host of Silver City's downtown restaurants.
"The Taste of Downtown provides exposure of the artisan food culture of our historic downtown district to tourists outside of the Silver City area," Timothy Brown, general manager of the Silver City MainStreet Project said through a news release. "The event also gives those who contribute to the downtown food scene the opportunity to showcase what they can create."
Chef Rob Connoley of the Curious Kumquat Restaurant Beer and Wine Garden believes that with all that downtown restaurants have to offer the taste buds, no one who comes out Saturday for Taste of Downtown will leave disappointed.
"Even more than in the past, Silver City's food scene is in the national spotlight, and as a whole the restaurant community has stepped up in recent months. This should be one fantastic event," Connoley said through the news release.
There's really something for everyone at the Taste of Downtown.
Arrive early for the Art & Farmer's Market on Bullard Street and make a day of eating, shopping and strolling through the downtown.
Buy your tickets online at www.eventbrite.com, search "Silver City Taste of Downtown" and receive a $2 discount on books of 20 for $18. Advance tickets also available in historic downtown Silver City at participating vendors in addition to the Visitor Center at 201 N. Hudson St. and Alotta Gelato, 619 N Bullard St.
Park at the Visitor Center and cross the Big Ditch Park over the Market Street Pedestrian Bridge and turn left down Bullard Street or cross at the Downtown Gateway on Broadway. Info: 575-534-1700


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Report: Tencent aims to increase its stakes in Ubisoft by purchasing shares from the Guillemot family
A report says Nintendo is unlikely to announce a new console soon to focus on shipping more Switch units
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz revealed that they have been working on a very exciting new digital initiative that builds on our existing industry-leading digital platform in innovative ways.
WhatsApp will block screenshots for View Once messages and will let users silently leave group chats
While Unilever is keen to embrace these new virtual worlds, it wants to mitigate the risks and concerns around web3 and the metaverse.
Sony comments on Microsoft’s looming Activision Blizzard acquisition by stating that ‘Call of Duty’ is so popular it can influence players’ choice of console
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4’s full technical specs sheet has leaked shortly before its official announcement on August 10
New ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’ information will be revealed at an esports event later this week
Every virtual NBA game is driven by actual NBA data, which Sportradar obtained as part of a US$1 billion streaming and betting data agreement with the league.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 color options leak corroborates reports that a ‘Pro’ version is in the works
A new leak revealing more details about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 series has appeared in the wild. It appears that there could be up to six color options across the entire lineup. It also corroborates earlier reports that Samsung may introduce a new “Pro” model for its smartwatch line.
Well-known leaker Evan Blass shared an image that appears to contain the list of all the color options for the Galaxy Watch 5 series. The leak suggests there will still be two models of the smartwatch, including the standard variant paired with the codename “Heart.” The rumored Galaxy Watch 5 Pro also appears in the leak, along with what could be its internal name “Project X.”
Thought you guys might find this interesting. pic.twitter.com/VTPqOVhPwo— Ev (@evleaks) June 16, 2022
Based on the same leak, it looks like one of the exclusive features of the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is that it uses titanium material. It is expected to be available in Black and Gray.
The standard Galaxy Watch 5 will be available in “Large” and “Small” models, which will both have Graphite and Silver color options. The large watch will have a Sapphire variant, while the small model will have a Pink Gold option.
So far, most of the Galaxy Watch 5 leaks suggest that Samsung is planning on improving the battery capacity and charging rates of the upcoming wearable devices. The Galaxy Watch 5 Pro model was first mentioned in a SamMobile report back in April, which also claimed that it would ship with a 572mAh battery.
Meanwhile, details from an earlier Korea Agency for Technology and Standards certification suggested Samsung is working on a wearable device with a rated capacity of 276mAh (1.07Wh 3.88V). Note that the smaller Galaxy Watch 4 (40mm) and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic (42mm) have a 247mAh battery, while the larger models (44mm and 46mm, respectively) shipped with a 361mAh battery.
Several Samsung devices, believed to be Galaxy Watch 5 models, recently passed through the FCC. It may have also revealed that the smartwatches are designed to support faster charging -- up from 5W to 10W.
Samsung typically announces its new Galaxy Watch during an Unpacked in event summer. And following the company’s schedule in previous years, the Galaxy Watch 5 series could be unveiled sometime in August.


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PayPal Canada released the results from a new survey conducted by Leger Marketing shows that 56 per cent of Canadians are comfortable with never having to handle cash to make a purchase and many would prefer the use of a digital wallet to give money to others or pay for items when shopping. PayPal accounts have always provided digital wallet functionality.
Are Canadians Ready For Mobile Payments?
According to the data, 34 per cent of survey respondents would rather carry a mobile phone to make a payment than a pocket full of change. The survey also indicates that 36 per cent of Canadians would make mobile payments for a wide variety of purchases, on average, saying they would use their mobile device to buy something as expensive as an iPod ($272.30) or as inexpensive as a latte ($5.50).
Canadians are in fact becoming used to the idea of making a payment from their mobile device, almost 40 per cent of survey respondents say using a mobile phone to make a payment would be more convenient because they can make transactions whenever and wherever they want and 60 per cent of respondents would find it appealing to not have to find a bank machine every time they need to pay someone back.
“A Canadian uses PayPal as their digital wallet once every second because they want greater flexibility, security and convenience in how they pay and get paid,” said Darrell MacMullin, Managing Director, PayPal Canada. “From avoiding the search for ATMs, to finding easier ways to split restaurant bills with friends or making payments anytime, anywhere and from virtually any device, Canadians want easier, faster and safer ways to shop, share expenses, send money or get paid back.”
PayPal Canada does have a leg up on other mobile payment systems, as they currently are used by more than four million Canadians.


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Genesys Cloud Achieves Record Sales
70% YOY annual revenue growth for Genesys
Global leader in omni-channel customer experience solutions and contact centre innovations, Genesys, recently announced some amazing results for the first six months of 2019. According to Genesys, the brand has achieved a 70% growth in new customers within selected cloud offerings in the first 2 quarters of the year.
Rapid adoption of the next-gen Genesys Cloud customer experience platform is the primary driver behind the company’s exceptional growth. Businesses around the world, including JPIMedia, Lowell Group, and Whirlpool are all turning to the Genesys Cloud environment for its security, resiliency, and commitment to innovation. Genesys cloud revenue grew by almost 225% within the first half of 2019 in the UK alone (YOY).
The fantastic progress of the Genesys Cloud platform has also extended to the SaaS product suite from Genesys too, which includes the PureCloud offering. The success of PureCloud is particularly essential, as the solution has continued a growth of triple digit proportions every year since its 2015 launch. For the first half of 2019, PureCloud achieved a 110% YOY growth.
A Tipping Point in Genesys Success
According to the CEO of Genesys, Tony Bates (pictured above), the company has reached a tipping point where most new customers are choosing the flagship cloud offer to power their solution. The Genesys Cloud platform is excellent for helping new and existing customers to deliver the experiences that customers need in this new age of CX. Genesys says it will meet organisations wherever they are in the journey to the cloud to help them manage meaningful experiences with customers.
With it’s proven use cases and prescriptive approach, Genesys’s PureBridge offer is another leading force behind the company’s growth. In the first half of 2019, sales from Avaya displacements have grown by 143% compared to last year, helping to move Genesys even further forward.
Positive Outcomes for Genesys Customers
Additionally, the brands moving into Genesys offerings are also reporting fantastic returns on their investments, as evidenced by a recent report from Nemertes Research. The well-known global research and consulting firm surveyed a host of companies moving from on-premise legacy solutions to Genesys customer experience technology and found that 70% are using the Genesys cloud platform. The report identified common beliefs including scalability in global expansion, quick implementation times, and rapid availability of new features.
Other implementation outcomes from moving to Genesys have included 23% improvement in first call resolution, 31% decrease in operational cost, 6% increase in customer satisfaction, and 12% reduction in call handling time.


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Two cafes, a barbecue place, a wireless retailer and a physical therapy business are the five newest tenants announced for the Towne Centre at Laurel development, a $130 million redevelopment of the former Laurel Mall site.
Mission BBQ: the Maryland-based, fast-casual barbecue restaurant will open a 3,791-square-foot restaurant
First Watch: a daytime cafe that serves breakfast, lunch and brunch will open a 3,768-square-foot restaurant.
Hard Bean Cafe - a cafe specializing in coffee and tea and serving light fare will open a 1,349-square-foot restaurant.
AT&T - the nationwide wireless provider will open a 3,500-square-foot store.
Pivot Physical Therapy - the physical therapy business will open a 1,468-square-foot location.
Developer Greenberg Gibbons announced Thursday that the new tenants will open by December.
"We're excited to add more great retailers, restaurants and services to Towne Centre at Laurel," said Brian Gibbons, chairman and CEO of Greenberg Gibbons. "We have a strong mix of national and regional brand names that are new to the Laurel community."
The developer said the tenants are part of Phase two of the project, which also includes Regal Cinemas, Sports Authority, B.J.'s Restaurant & Brewhouse, Harris Teeter and more.
Current tenants that are now open include Burlington, Old Navy, Nando's Peri Peri, Panera Bread, Noodles & Co, Party City, Massage Envy and Tutti Frutti.


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Zendesk’s landmark annual research has highlighted the potential for businesses to drive success with a focus on customer experiences – as more than two-thirds of consumers worldwide (70%) report making purchase decisions based on the quality of customer service they receive.
The global Zendesk Customer Experience (CX) Trends Report 2022 shows that a majority of businesses surveyed agree there is a direct link between customer service and business performance. Despite this, almost half of UK customers (48%) feel customer service is an afterthought for businesses, indicating a gap between consumer expectation and company actions.
“Companies cannot afford to have a purely transactional relationship with their customers. Good customer service is a key competitive advantage these days. However, this year’s report shows clear gaps between expectations and actual delivery of service,” said Matthias Göhler, EMEA Chief Technology Officer at Zendesk. “Customers are noticing this gap, and they’re making purchase decisions based on the service they receive. That is perhaps the clearest signal that rapid change is needed at companies.”
The report draws on input from customers, agents, customer service leaders, and business leaders from across 21 countries. Data was also gathered from more than 97,500 Zendesk customers who participated in the company’s Benchmark program.
As customers call out increased expectations, and with 44% of UK customers saying they’d switch to a competitor after just one bad experience, the need to close the gap between these expectations and the customer experience delivered have never been more urgent. The opportunity cost for many is nothing short of revenue loss and missed opportunities for growth.
Consistent Truths – Customer Service Can Drive Growth
Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed in the UK (74%) see a direct link between customer service and business performance, with over half (57%) estimating that customer service has a positive impact on business growth. The opportunity is not simply to deliver a single solution-based interaction with the consumer but to use that point of engagement as an opportunity to deepen the relationship. Customer engagement in the UK is up 12% from the previous year (higher than the 11% global uptick), representing more opportunities to upsell or cross-sell to happy customers.
This cuts both ways though, and the insights reveal that customer expectations can drive or stifle growth plans. As consumers spend more online, a majority say that their customer service expectations have increased in the past year. Channels play a big part in meeting these increased expectations and particularly, being where the customer is. However, almost half the companies surveyed did not have a strategic plan for customer service over the immediate to medium term.
The Agent X Factor
Increased expectations leads to increased pressure on agents, who are right on the front line of customer’s experience with a business. And their role isn’t simply in answering customer queries – the research found that nearly three quarters of respondents (71%) agree that customer service agents are essential to driving sales.
When it comes to resolving issues, almost half the consumers surveyed are looking for agents who are helpful and empathetic. Given a good experience, customers are also more open to recommendations from service agents. Many businesses, though, have yet to update their view of customer service as simply a cost center. This means that investments in optimizing the function have not kept pace with growth, let alone with increasing customer expectations. In turn, while a majority of businesses acknowledge customer service agents as being pivotal to driving sales, only a very small number of those same agents are extremely satisfied with their workloads.
- Nearly half of consumers say that helpful and empathetic agents are what matters most when they want to resolve a customer service issue.
- 63% of consumers are open to product recommendations from service agents.
- Only 15% of global agents are extremely satisfied with their workloads
Closing Gaps and Mapping Paths To Growth
Over three quarters (76%) of UK business leaders say that their organization views customer service as a critical business priority, but 57% report that it’s still not owned by the C-suite. While the insights clearly indicate a business case for investments in customer experience, this isn’t necessarily being followed through with executive sponsorship or the right tools or programs, such as training for agents. Alongside this is the need for customer service metrics to be mission critical and reviewed with the appropriate frequency and gravitas. Over 74% of business leaders say the ROI of their organization’s spend on customer service over the past 12 months has been positive. However, only 30% strongly agree that customer service spending has kept pace with company growth.
“This year’s report shows that customer service teams can be catalysts for revenue growth and go far beyond the traditional definition of the customer service department. We need to look beyond just customer satisfaction scores and consider the impact on business success,” adds Göhler. “It’s the moment for leaders to step in to make positive progress and ensure business success through customer service. Success does not depend on one department alone, but on a company-wide mindset.”


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The Senate approved Wednesday on second reading the amendment of the eight-year-old Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) “to ease the burden of power consumers, [eliminate] stranded-cost recovery and enhance competition among power industry players.”
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the principal author of the amendatory bill, said the main highlights of the approved measure are the hastening of open access, the cap on systems loss and the institution of rights and privileges of power consumers.
“Open access” gives certain power consumers the privilege of choosing which power utility would supply their power needs. EPIRA states that the open-access regime will take place once the state-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) has privatized 70 percent of its power-generating assets.
Enrile said that under his bill, the threshold of privatization is scaled down to 50 percent, “which means that retail competition and open access would be immediately implemented.”
He added that “system loss” had generated a lot of controversy when it was learned that some power-distribution utilities are passing on their own power consumption to consumers as “system loss.”
The amendatory bill states that “the one-percent administrative use of electricity by distribution utilities shall be removed as part of the system loss that may be passed on to the end-users.”
The corporate income tax of a distribution utility will no longer be passed on to the end-users of electricity while the Energy Regulatory Commission is directed to review the allowable systems loss caps and the proper allocation of system loss.
Incentive to utilities
“The ERC will also grant incentives to distribution utilities that reduce their systems losses below the mandated caps to allow consumers and distribution utilities to share equitably in the efficiency gains,” Enrile said.
He explained that the non-recovery of stranded debts and contract costs by Napocor, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), generation companies and distribution utilities will result in the reflection of the “true cost of power and avoid additional burden to consumers.”
“Stranded contract costs” refer to the excess of the contracted cost of electricity over actual selling price of energy in the market. “Stranded debts” refer to any unpaid obligations of Napocor that have not been liquidated by the proceeds from the sales and privatization of its assets.
Enrile also cited the provisions in the amendatory bill on the protection and promotion of consumer rights and interests. Among the provisions are granting consumers adequate access to information on electric service, prompt and speedy resolution of complaints and freedom to organize themselves as a consumer group in the franchise area where they belong.
The House Committee on Energy headed by Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo of Pampanga had issued a manifestation declaring that the panel was no longer interested in amending the act.
Enrile said this manifestation meant nothing to him and the Senate.
“I cannot dictate on them [congressmen], but the Senate will do its duty,” he added.
Enrile admitted that the amendment of the act would not have as immediate an impact on lowering power rates as two other bills that he had introduced. One bill seeks to impose on power-distribution utilities just a franchise tax of three percent on gross distribution income in lieu of income tax, the 12-percent value-added tax, business taxes, licenses and any and all taxes, duties, fees and charges of any kind.
Enrile noted that under the system at present, power-industry players merely pass on their ordinary income tax, as well as the 12-percent value-added tax to consumers. He pointed out that a franchise tax is not a pass-on tax, so the amendment would “ease the burden of consumers, as well as allow industry players to enjoy a more equitable tax regime.”
The second bill seeks to reduce the royalties, returns and taxes of the national government for the exploitation of all indigenous sources of energy. –Efren L. Danao, Senior Reporter, Manila Times


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The USGA has launched the Victory Club, the first-ever dedicated U.S. Open fan club, where fans can celebrate the U.S. Open Championship and experience a greater connection to the championship year-round.
This launch follows the recent introduction of the “From Many, One” U.S. Open brand platform as part of the USGA’s ongoing commitment to elevate the U.S. Open experience for players and fans. While serving as a community of fans for the U.S. Open, the Victory Club offers more direct content, updates and access to the championship than ever before.
“We are excited to provide fans an opportunity to share their passion for the U.S. Open while celebrating the glory, determination and triumph of the championship,” said Craig Annis, chief brand officer of the USGA. “The Victory Club is designed to give fans a direct connection to the U.S. Open. Through engaging content, outreach and exclusive offers, we want to bring the championship to them in ways that we never have been able to before.”
The 120th U.S. Open will be played Sept. 17-20 at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., after it was postponed from its original June dates in April due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. Open Victory Club members can expect to receive the latest news and updates leading up to the championship in September, as well as other exciting ways to help them get closer to the action during U.S. Open week.
Benefits of membership in the Victory Club include exclusive ticket offers, limited-edition merchandise and virtual fan experiences. Club members will have access to special offers and personalized championship content 365 days a year, including digital wallpapers, previews of future U.S. Open venues and unique championship stories.
The Victory Club name originates from the U.S. Open Trophy, paying homage to Victoria, the goddess of victory figure that stands atop the 18-inch-tall, sterling silver trophy. In addition to celebrating the championship, the Victory Club will introduce fans to USGA initiatives and the impact that the U.S. Open has on the work of the USGA on behalf of the game.
There is no cost to join the Victory Club. For a limited time, new club members will receive a discount of 25 percent at the official USGA shop. Fans can sign up now at usopen.com/victoryclub.


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Bots that buy up tickets to music concerts and sporting events are set to be criminalized in New York.
A new bill means people using bots to snap up tickets — which they then resell at higher prices — can be penalised with jail time and fines.
The practice was already illegal under civil law but the new legislation would also make it a criminal act.
The new bill was passed by the New York State Assembly after being put forward by member Marcos Crespo.
Assembly speaker Carl Heastie said: “This kind of ticket scalping has had a very negative impact on fans that want to enjoy sporting and entertainment events.
“Ticket scalpers often buy up as many tickets as possible with this illegal software and then resell tickets at prices that many New Yorkers simply cannot afford. This measure aims to discourage the tactic by criminalizing this offense.”
Ticket-buying bots have become an increasing problem around the world, and means fewer fans are able to buy tickets as normal prices.
Bots often buy up large numbers of tickets which are then sold on later by the people behind them.
In one case, 1,012 tickets to a U2 concert were bought up by bots in under a minute.


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ACH Foam Technologies LLC will add a second facility in Fond du Lac, Wis., to manufacture expanded polystyrene for construction and packaging applications.
The pieces of a parcel puzzle recently fell into place for the Denver-based company, which serves a variety of end markets with everything from packaging peanuts and shipping containers to roof, wall and underslab insulation to geo-technical solutions for retaining walls, berms and green roofs.
ACH Foam has had a presence in Fond du Lac since 1985 and can no longer add on to its current location, Todd Huempfner, ACH vice president of operations, said in a telephone interview.
“We have 110,000 square feet at our current place and we're landlocked,” Huempfner said. “The future is now in terms of charting our course for growth.”
The company will shift some operations, including its lost foam casting process, into a 40,000-square-foot facility it is leasing at a different industrial district. Off-site storage of finished goods also will be consolidated under the new roof. The foam product manufacturer will invest $250,000 in capital improvements ahead of an early January 2015 move-in day, Huempfner said.
Lost foam casting uses an EPS pattern to make metal parts, often for original equipment manufacturers' engine blocks, heads and crankcases. One of ACH Foam's major customers is boat engine and outboard manufacturer Mercury Marine.
“Everything is growing a little,” Huempfner said of the foam maker's need to expand.
ACH Foam is seeing increased demand for its building and construction products, in particular. The company makes a variety of insulation panels called Foam-Control Plus that improve energy efficiency and moisture resistance from the frost line to the roof line.
“Foam-Control Plus for the perimeter and the underslab has been growing as you see commercial and residential building coming back,” Huempfner said.
Orders also are up for the company's related Geofoam products, which have strong but light weight qualities good for road beds, green roofs and bridge abutments.
“Wherever there are unstable soil conditions, it's an opportunity for Geofoam,” Huempfner said.
In addition, the company is seeing growth for the temperature-controlled coolers in its DuraTherm product line.
“That's also made in Wisconsin,” Huempfner said. “We have a large facility there. The plant represents 80 percent of the products we make. Outside of the heated film laminates and garage-door laminate components, we do pretty much everything here.”
ACH Foam plans to hire 15 more employees over the next two to three years in Fond du Lac.
The City Council there granted a property holding company exclusive purchase rights to land next to the facility ACH Foam is leasing in case the foam businesses needs more room to expand. The council approved an option agreement that will let TNT Property Holdings LLC buy two lots next to the building for $195,200 if the land is needed. The lots total 6.1 acres. TNT got a two-year option to buy the parcels as well as the right of first refusal on the land for the three following years.
ACH Foam has at least a five-year window to increase its space in the city.
“We're very excited they feel the economy is strong enough to support them and they're growing. That's always great for a community,” Fond du Lac Redevelopment Planner Dyann Benson said in a telephone interview.
ACH Foam has eight U.S. plant locations in Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Iowa, Nevada and Utah in addition to Wisconsin.


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Ever since this $599 rope grenade, er, maritime rescue device came in, we’ve been dreaming about zip-lining out the window to escape boring meetings.
All posts tagged ‘Wired’
- 6:30 AM
We’ve asked product reviews editor Michael Calore, the office’s most opinionated loudmouth, to weigh in on the topics most deserving of this year’s Wired/Tired/Expired honors. Actually, on second thought, maybe we should have let this sleeping dog lie.
- 12:28 PM
As you no doubt know by now, Apple unveiled its new iPad to the world on Wednesday to much ado. So now that we know how the myriad rumors have held up to what was actually unveiled, it’s time to …
- 6:30 AM
Wired culls its collective Apple knowledge to predict exactly what will be revealed at Wednesday’s media event. Tackling product features in a descending order of likelihood, our editors and reporters handicap the future of Apple tablet design.
- 7:25 PM
Wired is heading to Las Vegas to cover the crazy, whirlwind electronics trade show known as CES. We’ll be hitting the announcements, demos and debauchery hard and heavy. But who exactly are we? We’re bringing a talented team of editors, …


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Small-Scale Farmers and Organic Produce Could Disappear Under Proposed FDA Rules
Small-scale farmers, such as those who sell at the local farmers market or through a community-supported agriculture (CSA) say the supply of organic, local produce will be greatly reduced and many small farms will go out of business if the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) goes into effect as currently written.
FSMA was signed into law in 2011 to preserve the safety of the U.S. food supply and was the largest overhaul in federal food safety regulation since 1938. FSMA introduced new regulations for produce farms and facilities that processed food for human consumption.
The rules are meant to prevent food-borne illnesses, which have affected one in six Americans a year over the last decade, by preventing or quickly identifying food-borne pathogens before they contaminate the food supply.
But many small-scale food producers express concern that the food safety rules are designed with larger, more complex and tightly-coupled food systems in mind without regard to how they would impact smaller producers. The rules may drive some farms out of business because those with less than $500,000 in sales that sell mostly to commercial customers would have to pay 4 percent to 6 percent of their gross revenue for inspections to comply with the new regulations.
The National Sustainable Agricultural Coalition (NSAC) says farmers and consumers are worried that the rules will:
- put many farms out of business
- reduce the supply of fresh, local produce in schools and hospitals
- push farmers to tear out wildlife habitat
- increase the use of chemicals rather than natural fertilizers
The proposed rules come at a time when demand for fresh, organic produce is on the rise. The number of farmers markets in America has quadrupled to 8,144 in the last 20 years, due in part to supermarkets, restaurants, schools, hospitals and other wholesale buyers increasingly using food procured from local farmers. This is fresh produce generally grown without pesticides, herbicides or GMO seeds.
“I’m really worried that if this law is not interpreted in terms of the challenges a small farmer faces, but only in terms of a 1,000 acre field of lettuce, that it could be the end of small, local, sustainable farming,” said U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), who is a farmer. “I cannot imagine the outrage on behalf of the consumers if local food systems are regulated out of existence.”
The Food and Drug Administration is asking for comments from the public. The comment period closes at 11:59 p.m. Friday. NSAC has come up with a FSMA rules primer and suggested templates the public—whether you are a farmer or a consumer—can use to prepare and send your comments to the FDA.
For many consumers, farmers markets and CSAs are places to buy produce that is unavailable anywhere else. Those buyers also appreciate the chance to support local businesses.
Here, courtesy of Care2, is sampling of farmer market foods that could disappear if the new rules go into effect:
- Heirloom tomatoes. The new rules could cost farmers more than half their profits and will keep beginners from starting to farm. As a result of the high costs of compliance for the Produce and the Preventive Controls Rules, FDA anticipates some farmers will go out of business and fewer people will start to farm.
- Locally grown peppers. Although the rules set modified requirements for small and very small businesses, the FDA has not settled on a definition for very small business. This means that thousands of farms could be regulated like big industrial food manufacturers, and small operations could be regulated with compliance costs too high for them to stay in business.
- Fresh strawberries. It will be hard for mid-size farms to diversify their operations because all food grown on the farm counts toward the $500,000 income eligibility test, including covered crops like strawberries. So a small pick-your-own strawberry operation on a 800-acre corn and soybean farm, bringing in $25,000, could be subject to the same expensive, burdensome requirements as California’s mega-scale packaged berry industry.
- Pickles and salsa. The rules fail to protect a host of low-risk processing activities done by smaller farms and processors, including the making of pickles and salsa. Farmers adding value to their crops through this processing would be subject to the same regulations as high-risk processing activities by large corporations.
- Spring apples. The rules will make it extremely difficult for farmers to use compost and manures as fertilizer. These natural systems are extremely important for organic and sustainable farmers and the new rules would stop most farmers from using them.


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[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.]
Old World Industries announced it acquired Dasco Inc.’s diesel exhaust fluid and prilled [pellet] automotive-grade urea global business and assets.
Terms were not disclosed.
OWI forecast the DEF market is expected to grow at nearly a 10% compounded annual growth rate over the next decade.
“OWI successfully entered the DEF market in 2009 with best-in-class products under its flagship brand BlueDEF,” Charles Culverhouse, CEO of Old World Industries, said in a release. “We have become the market leader for DEF because our channel partners, distributors and consumers recognize OWI’s commitment to providing the highest quality DEF available. The acquisition of Dasco’s DEF and AGU business expands OWI’s reach and capabilities to meet the needs of our customers and consumers in this growing category.”
Based in Monument, Colo., Dasco manufactures products related to crop nutrients, animal feed ingredients and industrial chemicals.
Northbrook, Ill.-based Old World Industries manufactures and distributes automotive and heavy-duty fluids. — Transport Topics
Want more news? Listen to today's daily briefing:


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Economy Minister Gordon Lyons has encouraged Northern Ireland tourism providers to become accredited with the ‘We’re Good to Go’ industry standard mark.
The UK-wide industry standard and consumer mark provides reassurance to businesses, customers and communities that safe working guidelines in relation to Covid-19 have been adopted.
Speaking after a series of visits the Minister said:
“There are currently over 1,800 businesses in Northern Ireland accredited with the ‘We’re Good to Go’ mark and we want as many businesses as possible to sign up for the accreditation mark.
“The industry standard mark has been introduced to help reassure people that tourism providers are once again open for business and taking the necessary precautions to keep visitors, customers and staff safe. It indicates a business has agreed to comply with Covid-19 safety guidelines, like social distancing and recommended cleaning processes; and also to undergo spot checks to ensure procedures are being maintained.
“All businesses operating within the visitor economy including accommodation providers, visitor attractions, restaurants and pubs, business conference and events venues, and tour and coach operators are currently eligible to apply for the ‘We’re Good To Go’ industry standard. UK members are automatically eligible for the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) international ‘Safe Travels’ stamp.”
For further information on the accreditation visit the TourismNI website.
Notes to editors:
- Picture captions
- Sawers. Pictured Left to right: Kieran Sloan, owner Sawers, Economy Minister Gordon Lyons, Cathy McCormick, Tourism NI and Caroline Wilson Founder Taste and Tour
- Belfast Zoo. Pictured Left to right: Economy Minister Gordon Lyons, Ryan Black, Director of Neighbourhood Services Belfast City Council, Cathy McCormick, Tourism NI and Alyn Cairns, Belfast Zoo Manager
- Grand Central. Pictured Left to right: Economy Minister Gordon Lyons, Cathy McCormick, Tourism NI and Stephen Meldrum, General Manger Grand Central
- Follow us on Twitter @Economy_NI
- For media enquiries contact the Department for the Economy Press Office at firstname.lastname@example.org
- The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110
- Increase in shoppers as Spend Local cards continue to boost high streets 03 December 2021
- Electricity Consumption and Renewable Generation in Northern Ireland: Year Ending September 2021 02 December 2021
- Essential Skills statistical bulletin published 02 December 2021
- Spend Local cards boost High Street by over £100m 30 November 2021


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Gone are those days where a smartphone needs 3 hours of charging to charge 100 percenr of battery. Fast charging is one of the greatest feature in Android which is missing in iPhone. Oneplus’ dash charging technology is the fastest one in present. This Dash charging technology uses 10V/3A fast charging adapter which is higher than tha stand fast charging 2.0’s 10V/2A.
Recently Oppo launched its most ambitious project – Oppo find X. The premium version of the smartphone which is Lamborghini Edition of Oppo find X has Oppo’s latest super VOOC fast charging techonology which beats oneplus’ dash charging. VOOC fast charging technology need only 35 minutes to fully charge a battery of 3750 mAh. But this technology comes at a price. The normal edition of Oppo X doesn’t adopt this feature.
Huewei’s Fast charging technology:
Huewei’s Fast charging technology gets certified recently. This technology says to have the similar speed of Super VOCC charging tech. Huewei uses 10V/4A charging adopter to beat Oneplus dash charging tech.
The Huawei Power adapter that comes with model number HW-100400C00 and has a 10V/4A recharge adopter passed the 3C certification. In this feature, the maximum charging power will go as high as 40W which will break the ceiling of the 22W fast charge present in the Huawei P20 pro.
Back in 2016, Huawei launched the Honor Magic back with 5V/8A fast charging tech that claimed to full charge in just 45 minutes. Huawei beats it’s own tech with this new Huawei Super Charge technology, which reduces the charging time to just 30 minutes.
Huewei dint use its Honor Magic back technology in it’s latest flagship P2p pro. So we are notnsure whether Huewei will make use of it’s Super Charge technology in it’s upcoming smartphone Huewei Mate 20 which is rumoured to be launched in October 2018.
The new Huawei’s Super Charge. definitely beats Dash charging and competing against the likes VOOC in terms of speed and efficiency. But unlike Oppo if Huawei make this as affordable, then the company may really see some success.
Stay connected with us to get the latest updates on Tech and Gadgets.


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The Galaxy S5 is more than a month away from hitting stores in multiple international markets, but the first official accessories for the device – only cases for now – have been uncovered and can be pre-ordered at least in one online store in the U.K., although MobileFun says on its website that they’re expected to ship in two months.
The retailer has various types of Galaxy S5 cases available for purchase, providing official imagery and pricing details for them. The list includes the €24.49 Galaxy S5 Protective Hard Case Cover Plus (in grey); the €66.99 Galaxy S5 S View Wireless Charging Cover (in white or black); the €36.99 Galaxy S5 Flip Wallet Cover (in white, Blue Black, Blue Topaz, Rose Gold and Glam Pink); and the €54.99 Galaxy S5 S-View Cover Case (in Blue Black, Topaz Blue, Rose Gold, White or Glam Pink).
Announced in late February at MWC 2014, the Galaxy S5 is going to launch on April 11, with the Samsung device expected to have a regular high-end price, despite rumors that suggested the contrary. The South Korean giant is yet to list the official Galaxy S5 accessories on its website.
Images showing the Galaxy S5 cases follow below.


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Reviews on Amazon are becoming attack weapons, intended to sink new books as soon as they are published.
In the biggest, most overt and most successful of these campaigns, a group of Michael Jackson fans used Facebook and Twitter to solicit negative reviews of a new biography of the singer. They bombarded Amazon with dozens of one-star takedowns, succeeded in getting several favorable notices erased and even took credit for Amazon’s briefly removing the book from sale.
“Books used to die by being ignored, but now they can be killed — and perhaps unjustly killed,” said Trevor Pinch, a Cornell sociologist who has studied Amazon reviews. “In theory, a very good book could be killed by a group of people for malicious reasons.”


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No more empty prospects for China hotels
Opportunities for hotels to cash in as domestic tourism goes from strength to strength
Analysts are turning positive on China hotels as the country’s appetite for travel drives domestic tourism to new heights.
It’s a welcome reversal after several tough years in which the sector became a victim of its own ambition, plagued by oversupply, while external forces like the national anti-corruption campaign helped to suppress demand for luxury accommodation.
Those factors have not yet disappeared. According to Fitch, four in 10 rooms still sit empty in China as a result of overexpansion by hotel chains.
But third quarter RevPAR – an industry measure of occupancy and daily room rates – grew 0.3 per cent year on year, the first positive result in four years. In Beijing, demand for high-end hotel accommodation is growing almost twice as fast as supply.
Although offshore travel is growing faster, domestic tourism still accounts for more than 80 per cent of China’s travel expenditure. Official figures show 1.65 trillion yuan was spent on domestic travel in the first half, up 14.5 per cent on last year.
Fitch analysts forecast double digit growth to continue for the coming five years, as domestic destinations become more attractive and accessible and an increasing number of households acquire the financial means to travel.
“The improvement in domestic transportation infrastructure, new investments and upgrading of domestic tourist spots … will continue to boost the demand for visitor accommodation in China,” Fitch analysts wrote in a note on Wednesday.
While the hotel industry recovery is still in its early days, analysts say there are already good buys in a sector which may look overpriced at first glance.
“We believe the sector’s average valuation is misleading as some outliers among the A share tourism stocks trade above 100x, which raises the average,” wrote Deutsche analysts on September 21, noting that key stocks were tracking at 21x rather than the general tourism industry’s 37x.
“We believe that now is a good entry point to China tourism and leisure stocks with good fundamentals,” the analysts said.
Bigger isn’t necessarily better, with the luxury hotel oversupply in tier one cities likely to continue, according to Fitch. Credit Suisse analysts point out that competition among travel agencies, especially online, has opened up an array of cheaper options for the cost-conscious Chinese tourist.
“Although the press has been calling him a walking wallet, this wallet is actually much thinner versus those in the most developed countries and some other neighbouring countries. So, value for money is still the top priority,” Credit Suisse analysts wrote in a 24 April report.
But with budget hotels showing poor cost discipline and hurting one other in a price war, analysts tip the mid-scale and boutique segment – hotels rated 3 or 4 stars and charging 200 to 600 yuan per night – which they say appeals to the new generation of independent travellers and remains under-exploited by major brands.
China Lodging, Jin Jiang and Homeinns are listed groups with good prospects in the mid-scale segment, while the privately owned Atour Hotel is an attractive acquisition target, Credit Suisse says.
As ever, location remains a key success factor for hotels which are proximate to natural or cultural attractions, while entertainment, shopping and modern transport infrastructure are also becoming prerequisites for growth.
The tropical island city of Sanya is the country’s number one summer holiday destination for independent travellers, according to travel agency Ctrip, and number four for tour groups. Industry research group STR Global says the city will increase hotel capacity by 69.1 per cent over the next five years.
Around the country, Deutsche analysts forecast strong second half tourism volumes for Wuzhen, Gubei, Huangshan and Lijiang, driven respectively by major events, a hot spring project, a new high speed rail connection and a popular cable car attraction.
Credit Suisse sees Jin Jiang as a proxy for strong tourism demand for Shanghai Disney, as well as a likely beneficiary of state-owned enterprise reform, while Bank of China picks Hong Kong-listed integrated resort developer China Travel International Investment on its fundamentals.
Despite an improving outlook, the sector is not immune to risks. Analysts point out vulnerabilities to a drop in demand growth, the development of excess or cut-price competition, and capacity issues or safety incidents on major attractions.


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Boise, ID (PRWEB) June 15, 2006
HotRodHotLine.com (HRHL), the world’s largest online rodding magazine, is gearing up to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the “Deuce,” – the 1932 Ford. Announced at the 57th Grand National Roadster show during its annual Hall of Fame luncheon, a list of “THE 75 Most Significant ’32 Ford Hot Rods,” was unveiled in the first in a series of events marking the 75th anniversary. HRHL was instrumental in locating 6 of the 75 that eluded the organizers after a blue ribbon panel of experts voted on 75 out of 474 nominated cars. This included the Jackman Brother’s car, thought to be gone forever but has now been found.
“We put out a call to our online fans,” said Mary Ann Lawford, who with her husband, Jack Lawford, own HRHL, “and within weeks we had them located. We have always counted on our site enthusiasts to locate hard to find items and this was no different. They always come through.”
“What a fantastic effort,” said Larry Erickson, Chief Designer at Ford Motor Company. “All of the horsepower that HotRodHotLine brought to the table is truly one of the things that will be remembered as part of the Deuce legacy. What a great boost HRHL is to the whole 75 Greatest Deuces project.”
The elite panel of decision makers in choosing the 75 included automotive authorities across a variety of fields such as, Greg Sharp, curator of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum; John Dianna, publisher, American Rodder; Ken Gross, journalist, author of “Hot Rod Milestones” and chief judge of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance hot rod class; Roy Brizio, Brizio Street Rods and a host of other experts. The 75 top picks will premiere at the January 2007 Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, CA., the nations oldest annual hot rod show.
“We are dedicating an entire section of our HRHL website to honoring the Deuce,” said Lawford, “and we have an entirely new website, http://www.YearoftheDeuce, focusing on the ’32 only. It features a Calendar of Deuce Events from around the country, articles on the ‘75 Most Significant ’32 Ford Hot Rods,’ as well as a special feature article following the restoration of the Jackman Brother’s car. There is even a place for visitors to participate where they can post their own ’32 story.”
Hotrodhotline.com began in 1999 as a “Cars for Sale” site and has expanded to become the largest online rodding magazine including thousands of pages of information, articles and classifieds with over 35,000 Unique Visitors per day. The HotRodHotLine Group of publications includes http://www.HotRodHotLine.com, http://www.HRHLBikes.com and http://www.Hotrodtrucks.com.


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Fruit and veg could have a positive effect on mental as well as physical health
A recent study from the University of Leeds has uncovered the positive impact increased consumption of fruit and vegetables can have on our mental wellbeing as well as the physical benefits.
The report, as referenced in Science Daily looked at data from more than 40,000 people in the UK and found a strong positive association between people’s self-reported mental state and the amount of fruit and vegetables they consumed.
A similar study from the University of Manchester, also reported by Science Daily, found similar results by looking at data from 46,000 people where evidence suggests that weight loss, nutrient boosting and fat reduction diets can all reduce symptoms of depression.
The effect of vitamin D on our skin
Previous Nutrition News features have covered the ways in which vitamin D is vital to a normal, healthy lifestyle, but a recent study has looked deeper into the lesser known benefits to our skin.
As reported in INSIDER , vitamin D levels are most frequently maintained through sun exposure and, while this seems at odds with skin benefits, vitamin D is actually crucial in skin cell growth, repair and metabolism. The key, the report highlights, is to ensure you avoid sunburn.
Astaxanthin shown to have a role in sports nutrition
Astaxanthin can be found in the skin of wild-caught salmon, krill and in the shells of some crustaceans as well as being commercially produced via the cultivation of Haematococcus pluvialis algae. It is known to be a powerful antioxidant but it is where it is found in nature that has led researchers to examine its benefits in sports nutrition.
The subject was discussed at NutraIngredients-USA’s Sports Nutrition Summit, as reported by NutraIngredients-USA. As salmon make a trip of over 1,000 miles from the sea to river tributaries in order to spawn, something which they do relying entirely on their fat reserves, researchers tested the possibility of this energy being down to astaxanthin. The team found promising results from a cycling time trial study where their power output was improved by 15% when compared to a placebo group.
While the research is still in its early stages and more trials will need to be conducted, those in the sport nutrition sector are watching developments intently.
Share your thoughts
Alison is Director and Founder of Metabolics who writes about Metabolics updates, events and natural healthcare. Her experience and passion for natural supplements and healthcare comes from her years of experience as a practising osteopath, having founded Metabolics in her search for high quality, natural products in her own work. Alison has been a qualified and practising Osteopath since 1981 and regularly gives seminars on a range of healthcare subjects to the wider practitioner community helping share her knowledge and experience.


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In spite of everything, the United States is still the finest environment for Black people to start a business and get funding. The stakes are higher, the market is more developed, and the goals are sky-high. More money, more choices, more chances, more, more, more.
It’s simple to dwell on the poor support and frequently biassed treatment that Black entrepreneurs face in the United States. However, despite appearances, the American Dream is still very much alive.
Lotanna Ezeike, a serial entrepreneur who previously raised over $1 million for his UK-based fintech, XPO, said he is now trying to attract capital for a new venture in the United States.
When asked about the differences between the United States and the United Kingdom, he replied, “Across the pond in the U.K., thinking tends to be pretty constrained, particularly around the seed stage.”
Because the United Kingdom is very tiny compared to other parts of the world, I believe this is the case. It’s a downward circle of diminishing returns: less money, less investment, and fewer breakthrough ideas.
German-born Cephas Ndubueze had the same opinion. He claimed that while living in Germany, he is still more likely to seek out investment capital in the United States since there are more examples of Black entrepreneurs succeeding there than in Europe.
When asked about the best place for Black entrepreneurs to work, he said the United States. “I can absolutely say the U.S. is a better environment for Black founders,” he said to TechCrunch. “Why? Increasing the variety of U.S. investors. Increasing numbers of capitalists are putting their money into nonstandard enterprises. Greater institutional investors are making seed stage investments of $100,000 to $500,000, creating more possibilities for entrepreneurs to connect with one another, and include more investors who have made prior investments in Black founders.
While it may seem that Black entrepreneurs are being welcomed with open arms in the United States, the data shows otherwise. (Despite the lack of official race statistics in both countries, interviews with startup founders and VCs have shown pervasive prejudice in France and Germany). For whatever reason, this has led many startups to go to the United States for their early networking needs.
Subtly charming pop culture geek. Amateur analyst. Freelance tv buff. Coffee lover


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After 32 years brewing beer for one of the world's largest alcohol companies, Keith Villa is going green.
In 1995, Villa founded Blue Moon, the Molson Coors-owned wheat beer largely credited with bringing the craft beer craze to a mainstream audience. Now, after retiring from the booze industry in January, Villa has announced his newest venture, Ceria Beverages, a THC-infused brewed beverage scheduled to hit Colorado's adult-use cannabis market this year.
Villa is the latest in a long line of alcohol brands and bigwigs taking their talents to America's burgeoning green rush, following in the footsteps of Anheuser-Busch executive-turned-ganjapreneur Chris Burggraeve, Corona parent company Constellation Brands, and breweries like Lagunitas and Fat Tire (which have both experimented with adding non-psychoactive cannabis terpenes to beer).
But unlike Burggraeve, who has invested in a number of California cannabis companies, including a pre-roll producer, Villa is carrying his decades of brewing experience into Ceria, with plans to produce a marijuana-infused beer — minus the alcohol.
According to a press release announcing the Centennial State company, Villa and his wife, Jodi Villa, will team up with local cannabinoid research firm ebbu to develop water-soluble "formulations." These will then be added to traditionally-brewed beer that's had its alcohol removed, much like current commercially sold non-alcoholic beers. Under Colorado's adult-use and medical marijuana regulations, THC and alcohol cannot be sold in the same product.
Villa claims that Ceria will be the world's first cannabis beverage that is brewed like a beer without losing its THC concentration. That said, there are others who've been experimenting with similar techniques, including Lisa Molyneux of Canna Vine.
"I'm ready to introduce another high-impact brand to the industry again, this time with a new line of custom cannabis-infused craft beers," Villa said. "Today, the opportunity and the demand are here, inviting Americans to enjoy a more social way of consuming cannabis — by drinking rather than by smoking it or through ingestion of edibles."
In addition to the new method of cannabis-infused brewing, Villa said that his non-alcoholic bud beer will get users high at the same rate that a traditional beer would get a consumer drunk.
Villa has yet to announce a firm release date for Ceria's new concoction, but he expressed confidence that the new brew would hit Colorado dispensary shelves by the end of this year.
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Cargo traffic at New York¹s Kennedy International Airport fell 9.4 percent in October, the steepest year-over-year rate of decline so far in 2011 and a downbeat ending to the peak air freight shipping season.
The airport saw a slight uptick from September to October, but the 3.2 percent sequential gain was only a small boost and domestic cargo at Kennedy actually slipped back from the previous month.
Overall cargo at JFK in October was below what the airport handled in July, when the expedited shipping broke from usual seasonal patterns by slipping
The fourth straight year-over-year decline at New York Kennedy left the airport¹s cargo tonnage up 0.3 percent in the first 10 months of 2011 over the same period a year ago. The airport's freighter capacity has grown sharply over last year, however: JFK averaged 6.3 freighter flights a day in October against just 2.7 daily all-cargo operations last year.


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Chevrolet introduced the Classic Advantage special series, which focuses on a generous equipment list and will be sold for R $ 34,170. The same issue has already been posted for other models of the brand - Celtic, Colbalt and Spin - last year.
Fiat showed on Tuesday (25) images of the model 2015 Linea. According to the statement issued by the automaker, the new sedan will arrive at dealerships in April and Brazil have some aesthetic changes.
Nissan launched the UK Limited Edition Micra hatchback sold in the Brazilian market as March. The model has an initial price of 12,300 GBP and is based on an intermediate version (there treated as Acenta).


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Explaining that they were her first pickled onion rings, the Melodrama artist went on to say that she “totally [vibed] with the concept,” as she “used to eat pickled onions out of the jar as a youngster.””However, I think if you’re gonna go there, go there, and let acidity rather than sweetness dominate,” she noted in her review. View this post on Instagram A post shared by @onionringsworldwide Photo via Getty / Steven Ferdman And, hopefully, her latest post is proof that we won’t have to wait literal years for her next nosh.On Monday, April 26, Lorde finally gave us a brand new post in which she reviewed the rings at New Zealand’s Hotel Ponsonby. But much to our delight, the star returned to the account last December with her first review in three-and-a-half years. Related | Lorde’s Onion Ring Reviews Are BackGranted, onion ring updates are a rare treat, as the Instagram was previously on a lengthy hiatus after the Lorde was identified as the mystery reviewer. And with that said, Lorde determined that the “absolutely sensational batter” was “perhaps the best I’ve tried,” before rating the “overall ringsperience” a 4 out of 5.Check out her review for the pickled rings below. It may not be new music, but at least we do have an onion ring update.As any stan worth their salt knows, Lorde has a not-so-secret Instagram account called @onionringsworldwide, which is exclusively dedicated to sussing out and critiquing some of the world’s finest onion rings.
Lorde Blesses Us With Another Onion Ring Update
April 27, 2021Lyrics


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Phos announced the securing of a €2 million funding
By Joy Dumasia
Phos, the FinTech behind the leading software-only Point of Sale system (SoftPoS), has secured €2 million in funding as it plots a course to a Series A round later in the year. Led by a global leader in cloud software for Conversational Commerce CM.com, this recent funding round will allow the company to expand into the US and make new hires in its development team.
Merchants are caught between consumers wanting to make contactless payments and the challenges of implementing systems that can accept cashless transactions, including hidden costs, hardware requirements, and security issues. With Visa alone having processed more than one billion contactless payments, the phos SoftPoS provides a safe and sustainable alternative to cash.
This clear market demand for phos’ SoftPoS has helped the company win a string of clients and partner with various leading financial services companies globally, including Dutch neo bank bunq, Stanchion Payments, Tokmatech, Curb and Maxaa.
The phos SoftPoS works across a range of devices and is android agnostic, and is more affordable and simpler to use than alternative systems. This means that merchants can download the service quickly using existing phones and tablets, negating the need for expensive hardware.
Merchants also benefit from phos’ comprehensive knowledge of the payments industry’s regulation, compliance, and schemes, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, offering them critical protection and security.
Brad Hyett, CEO of phos, said: “Consumer expectations are constantly evolving, and they increasingly want the same frictionless transaction experience wherever they’re shopping. Securing further investment helps us accelerate our expansion into new markets and support more retailers in more countries to accept high-value transactions. All while delivering a seamless shopping experience, irrespective of their size or scale.”
Recently, IBS Intelligence reported that Phos, the FinTech behind the software-only Point of Sale (SoftPoS), has teamed up with German fintech Wellet to enable merchants to accept contactless payments using their smartphones.


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We all want solutions tailored to our needs for a lot of things, online and offline, but does that include a search engine that shows results for queries based on dozens of factors (and more importantly, hides from you certain results based on those factors)?
Well, I’m inclined to think that’s not such a bad thing at all, or at least not that big a deal.
DuckDuckGo, a tiny alternative search engine, begs to differ, and this morning they spread the word about a new website they’ve set up to give home to an illustrated guide of the ‘search engine filter bubble‘ concept and why they think it
Go visit DontBubble.us and please make up your own mind.
Also, you can add &pws=0 to any string on Google and it will turn off personalized search results (though there is some debate about if it actually does what it’s supposed to).
(Via Hacker News, where there’s an interesting discussion about the ‘filter bubble’ being complete nonsense or of the utmost importance to mankind)


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CES 2022 Innovation Award Honoree
CES 2022 named Carewear as an Innovation Award Honoree in Health and Wellness for its outstanding design and engineering in wearable digital health.
What makes Carewear unique is that it is the only wearable light therapy system on the market that is CE approved and FDA registered as a Class II(a) medical device for the management of pain, treatment of soft tissue injury, wrinkles and acne. This sophisticated technology medical device is paired with a digital health infrastructure allowing clinicians to select treatment parameters and outcome indicators, monitor utilization and report real-time over the Cloud through the use of the Carewear application.
This additional honor is but one of many innovation awards that Carewear has received in Optical Engineering (SPIE), Wearable Technology (IoT/WT), Aging Innovation (AARP) and Sports Wearables (ISPO).
“We are pleased to receive all this recognition and excited to see the increasing adoption of this efficacious, non-pharmacologic breakthrough for pain, wrinkles and acne”, said Dr. Chris Castel, CEO at Carewear.
Be sure to view Carewear’s display at the Innovations Awards Showcase in the Venetian Expo or visit Carewear at CES 2022 for a live demonstration at booth 8013 in the North Hall at the main convention center in the Health and Wellness section. Learn how Carewear’s light therapy can help improve your wellness.


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Banks across the world are set to significantly increase spending on new payment technology in 2016, according to a new report from Ovum.
Ovum says the boost in spending is driven by increased emphasis on security, changing consumer behaviour, and new technologies - such as Blockchain, mobile payments, and real-time payment transactions.
Ovum says almost two in three (61 per cent) banks globally will increase their spending on payment technology next year.
This is up significantly on 2015, when just over half (52 per cent) increased their IT expenditure on payment technology, according to Ovum’s 2016 Trends to Watch: Payments.
Most tellingly the proportion of banks reporting significant increases in payments’ spending (over 6 per cent) has leaped from near 10 per cent to almost 30 per cent. Ovum says that such a major shift is representative of the transformative levels of change happening in the payments market.
“Investment levels in payments have been high in recent years, driven by the need to deploy new payment services, cope with the overall rise in electronic transaction volumes, and replace ageing legacy infrastructure. 2016 will see an increase in this trend,” says Gilles Ubaghs, senior analyst, financial services technology team at Ovum.
This will be driven by the need to find new means of authentication while reducing risk and the burgeoning growth in tokenisation technologies.
Ovum says it has surveyed CIOs and other senior IT decision-makers in over 60 countries and processed data from around 6,500 interviews in 17 industries, for this report.
Security remains a top of the agenda for banks, the report states.
Banks’ increasing investment in payment tech is aided by growing concerns over security and the need for regulatory compliance, says Ovum. The research firm says over 70 per cent of retail banks report a rise in expenditure on security and anti-fraud technologies.
Ubaghs says this focus is not surprising given the need for top notch security across the explosion of new payment tools and services now emerging. Immediate payments are a close contender for top priority, with nearly 65 per cent of banks viewing immediate payments as an opportunity across every business category.
“Security is always a core issue for both vendors and enterprises alike and the market is set to see renewed levels of investment activity in 2016. This will be driven by the need to find new means of authentication while reducing risk and the burgeoning growth in tokenisation technologies.”
Highlighting retail banks’ concern with adding security with new ways of paying, 34 per cent cite biometric technology as a priority for the coming year as well as a focus on using additional information such as location data during transactions.
The report notes the impact of Blockchain technology on the payments landscape.
As attention moves away from Bitcoin as a currency and towards the longer term use of distributed ledger technology, the report emphasises how enterprises from banks to merchants need to get to grips with this technology now. Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies are finally approaching practical applications as the regulatory environment begins to become clear, according to Ovum.
"Not every organisation will need the Blockchain in the short term, but what they will need is an understanding of where it can fit into their organisation,” says Ubaghs. “The scale of implications of the Blockchain suggests slow movers are likely to miss out in the long term."
The report likewise notes the unexpected lack of success experienced by platforms such as Apple Pay has taught banks a valuable lesson.
Even with the best laid intentions, it remains extremely difficult to force consumers to use new products and services without incorporating a clear ‘why’ case, says Ovum. The customer interface is not the same as the customer experience, and banks need to create a more compelling story for consumers with their platforms.
Read more: ANZ launches mobile wallet
"Even the magic wand of Apple has not been enough to jumpstart the mobile proximity payment market,” notes Ubaghs. “With similar platforms from Google and Samsung now emerging, it would appear these platforms face several years of steady slog towards mass acceptance."
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Published on : Wednesday, March 31, 2021
The consumption of China is hoped to be firing on all cylinders, starting right from the movie box office, tourism to the catering services in the forthcoming Qingming Festival along with May Day holidays, with Chinese consumers releasing their purchasing power not done before as the country raises all restrictions on people’s movements after bringing the pandemic under control.
The insiders of the industry hope for at least 100-percent growth in the revenue of film and tourism during the impending holidays compared with 2020, when those industries remained idle due to the virus outbreak. The bounce back is hoped to drive retail consumption to exceed the level of 2019and lay the foundation for significant second-half GDP growth this year, analysts said.
“This year’s Qingming festival will provide a turning point for China’s cinemas, which were battered by the pandemic,” Zhejiang Province-based film director Xiang Kai told the Global Times on Monday.
He has calculated that the revenue of the box office during 2021’s Qingming Festival, starting on April 3 till 5th, will be 30 percent higher than 2019. As per Xiang, during the festival, over 10 new domestic films will be screened, many more than in 2019.
During the Qingming Festival in 2019, China generated 695 million yuan ($107 million) in box office revenue. Industry observers have said that the film industry revenue of China is hoped to rise even further during the Labor Day holidays. “China’s film industry and cinemas have survived the darkest moment and are ready to take off,” Xiang said.
A laundry list of available travel data signals that the Qingming Festival may lead to the first domestic travel peak for 2021.
As per a report Ctrip.com sent to the Global Times, the Chinese tourist number during the Qingming Festival will surpass 100 million, compared with 43.25 million in 2020 and 112 million in 2019.
Tags: Qingming Festival


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Google’s Latest Patent May Boost Enterprise AI Offerings
Google’s latest AI patent may make your spreadsheets less daunting.
Sign up to uncover the latest in emerging technology.
Google may want its language models to get comfortable with spreadsheets.
The company is seeking to patent a system for training language models to “reason over tables.” To put it simply, Google’s filing pitches a system that can train language models on a question-and-answer table without the use of “logical forms,” which are explicit representations of a natural language query that are easier for an AI model to understand.
Typically, training a model to accurately translate questions into these logical forms requires a good deal of human labor to create supervised training data, “making it expensive and difficult to obtain enough training data to sufficiently train a model,” Google said in the filing.
“Although an NLP model can, in theory, be trained to generate logical forms using weak supervision … such methods can result in the model generating forms which are spurious,” Google noted.
Google’s system first pre-trains a language model on synthetically generated tasks pulled from a large “unlabeled knowledge corpus,” or database like Wikipedia. Google’s system uses two methods of pre-training on this database: “masked-language modeling tasks,” in which the language model basically has to fill in word blanks of a sentence; and “counterfactual statements,” or “what-if” statements to help it understand relationships between data.
Following this, the language model is fine-tuned using examples derived from only a question, an answer, and a table. This fine-tuning essentially allows the model to apply what it’s learned in training to the specific data in front of it, allowing it to answer questions based just on data from those tables.
Though this may sound quite technical, the outcome is a more easily scalable and adaptable language model that has a simpler development process and can handle all kinds of data, structured or unstructured.
Google’s system relies on taking logical forms out of the process of AI training, which is already a pretty common concept in large language model development, said Vinod Iyengar, VP of product and go-to-market at ThirdAI. Where the value of this tech lies, however, is in its application specifically for breaking down large spreadsheets or documents filled with tables, and answering questions about them with little pre-processing needed.
With structured and unstructured data, “there’s work being done to handle each of those separately,” Iyengar said. “It becomes tricky when you have a mix of data. But Google’s claiming they can handle all of that easily.”
This kind of tech could be particularly valuable for enterprise purposes, said Iyengar. For example, if someone needs to quickly analyze a large financial document that’s filled with both structured and unstructured data, such as tables, figures, and paragraphs of text, a system like this could be trained to accurately answer queries related to it.
“The more they can automate this workflow instead of manually pre-processing all the data — if that can all be eliminated and LLMs can do it themselves — then that will be a huge win,” said Iyengar.
Google has spent the past year weaving AI throughout its Workplace suite and enhancing its search engine with AI. Its patent activity is filled with enterprise-related AI innovations, including automatic generative coding and design tools.
The company faces stiff competition with the tag team of OpenAI and Microsoft, which offers its own AI-based work and productivity suite with Copilot. But creating a system that can train models to parse through tons of different types of data only serves to bolster its enterprise offerings more. “They’re probably going to offer this more broadly as part of their AI stack,” Iyengar noted.
Plus, if this is integrated into Google Gemini, this could also be put to use in its potential partnership with Apple. For instance, a system like this could be paired with iCloud, allowing users to easily break down large documents within Apple’s systems.


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The new cash gives the procurement startup a $1.5 billion post-money valuation. While many companies are seeing stagnant or falling valuations, the new valuation represents a slight bump from its previous $1.2 billion valuation last May after the company raised a $43 million Series B.
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“We continue to invest in Zip because we believe in this outstanding team’s ability to achieve their mission to solve a ubiquitous business problem: spend control,” Garry Tan, president and CEO at Y Combinator, said in a release. “Zip is one of YC’s most successful B2B companies from the last few years.”
Zip helps companies with the burdensome process of buying new software and hardware. Its platform helps with sourcing, approving and paying for needed business tools, ideally helping to streamline the process to make it less taxing.
Procurement falls under the broader umbrella of what is often called enterprise resource planning.
While not the sexiest of industries, companies do need software systems that help run processes in departments such as finance, human resources and supply chain. SAP, Ariba and Coupa have built large companies in the sector.
ERP startups have not seen big funding dollars in recent times, according to Crunchbase data. In 2021, startups in the sector raised $1.5 billion in 80 deals.
However, last year those numbers fell to just $335 million in 53 deals.
Thus far this year, the industry has seen only $115 million of dealmaking — with Zip’s being the largest by far.
Founded in 2020, Zip has raised $181 million to date, per the company.
Illustration: Dom Guzman
Stay up to date with recent funding rounds, acquisitions, and more with the Crunchbase Daily.


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World News: 05:07 GMT Wednesday 15th May 2019. [Yahoo Business News Feed via SPi World News]
Industrial output, retail sales and investment all slowed, capping a tough month for the world’s second-largest economy. The state sector continued to boost investment while private business eased off, and growth in manufacturing investment came in at the slowest pace in data dating back to 2004. Faltering credit and consumption at home coupled with a weaker global economy means China is running out of steady growth engines just when it needs them, turning attention to government stimulus measures yet to come.
SPi News is published by Sector Publishing Intelligence Ltd.
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German mobile bank startup N26 raises a whopping $900 million+, tripling its valuation to more than $9 billion in just one year
We last wrote about N26 back in January when the Peter Thiel-backed mobile bank N26 hit a new milestone after it surpassed 7 million customers in the EU and the US. In recent years, the German banking startup has been luring deposits from US heavyweights like Chase and Citibank. Since then, N26 has grown exponentially and investors are lining up to invest in the company.
Today, N26 announced it has raised a record-breaking $900+ million Series E funding round, the largest financing round to date for a digital bank in Europe. The round was led by renowned New York-based tech investors Third Point Ventures and Coatue Management, with participation from Dragoneer Investment Group as well as N26’s existing investors. N26 was also supported by Goldman Sachs Bank Europe who acted as the placement agent for the round.
The latest funding now increases the company’s valuation to more than $9 billion, making the Berlin-based pioneer the highest valued fintech in Germany, and ranking it amongst the top 20 fintechs in the world.
In an email to TechStartups, N26 told us the company will use the fresh funding to significantly expand its mobile banking offering. N26 will also scale its global team further, and aims to bring on board 1,000 new team members in the coming years, with a particular focus on the areas of product, technology, and cybersecurity.
In addition, N26 will significantly expand its employee equity pool, while broadening Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) participation to 100% of employees as part of one of the largest ESOP programs in Europe.
N26 was founded in 2013 by Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal to offer mobile banking solutions to customers in the European Union through its subsidiary. Today N26 has more than 5 million customers in 25 markets. To date, N26 has raised more than $1.8 billion from the world’s most established investors, including Insight Venture Partners, GIC, Tencent, Allianz X, Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, Li Ka-Shing’s Horizons Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital, Greyhound Capital, Battery Ventures, and others.
Valentin Stalf, CEO and co-Founder of N26: “This recent financing round solidifies the fact that retail banking as we know it has changed. With our fresh capital, we are in pole position to become one of the biggest retail banks in Europe, all without a single branch.”Heath Terry, Partner at Third Point Ventures: “N26 has established itself as a leading tech-forward global digital bank. We are excited to provide capital and strategic support to accelerate N26’s work to make digital retail banking accessible to millions.”
Maximilian Tayenthal, Co-CEO and co-founder of N26: “It is hugely important to us that we can share the success of N26 with our employees. Without them, we would not be the company we are today.”
To lay even stronger foundations for sustainable future growth, N26 has agreed with the German regulator to temporarily onboard a maximum of 50,000 – 70,000 customers per month. This will also be published in an upcoming order. With the tremendous interest and demand for the N26’s banking products, it is possible that new customers in certain markets may be temporarily redirected to a waiting list. Existing customers will not be affected, or have any changes to their accounts or their N26 banking experience.


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Why a Small Dutch Earthquake Is Having a Big Impact on Gas Prices
Global energy prices are soaring due in part to a natural gas shortage.
By Wall Street Journal
In 2012, the Netherlands experienced a 3.6 magnitude earthquake. It was caused by one of the world’s largest gas fields, known as Groningen, and it set off a chain of events that’s contributing to today’s sky-high energy prices. WSJ’s Shelby Holliday explains. Illustration: Sebastian Vega
Shelby Holliday goes in search of the little-known stories behind big business and news headlines, revealing the surprising ramifications for individuals.
Up Next in Shelby Holliday
How Apple’s Privacy Move Could Affect Your Wallet
Your Coffee Is Getting More Expensive Due to Bad Weather in Brazil
When it comes to coffee beans, what happens in Brazil doesn’t stay in Brazil. In July and August, a bad frost hit the country's coffee-producing region and analysts say Brazil’s bean shortage is already rattling the global coffee market. So how will the frost affect the price of your morning cup? WSJ’s Shelby Holliday spoke to coffee experts around the world to find out. Illustration: Rafael Garcia
A School Bus Driver Shortage Has Students Taking Other Rides
A nationwide school bus driver shortage has prompted parents, private companies and even the National Guard to drive students to class. WSJ’s Shelby Holliday reports. Illustration: Rafael Garcia