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The global ride sharing market was worth at US$ 73.5 billion in 2020 and is expected to hit over around US$ 343.35 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 16.7% between 2021 and 2030.
Rising demand for time-saving and cost-saving trend in the mobility drives the market growth for ride sharing in the coming years. Further, the increasing cost of vehicle ownership along with rising concern for environmental protection is the other major factors that proliferates the market pace. In support to the environmental protection, governments of various regions have mandated the adoption of ride sharing in the country.
Meanwhile, startups in the ride sharing market believe that smartphones along with digital networks are likely to further prosper the market growth of ride sharing in the coming years. Increasing popularity of smartphones and digital networks favors the development of application for booking carpools and other ride sharing services and thus promotes the market growth.
Other than this, increasing commutation time owing to high traffic congestion is the other significant factor that favors the adoption of ride sharing mobility trend across various regions. For instance, average commutation time in Los Angeles is 53.68 minutes. The ride sharing trend is being most popular in highly populated regions such as North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. French startup, BlaBlaCar has already reached to 40 million members across the globe. In United Kingdom, people more than 500,000 uses Liftshare.
However, recent outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the ride sharing market to a greater extent. Social distancing norms and country lockdown has upended the market pace. People are now more concern towards their health and likely to avoid share their rides in order to control the spread of the virus. However, the market anticipated to recover at a stagnant pace owing to rising trend for driver verification before booking a ride hailing service.
Ride Sharing Market Report Scope
|Market Size||USD 343.35 Billion by 2030|
|Growth Rate||CAGR of 16.7% from 2021 and 2030|
|Historic Data||2017 to 2020|
|Forecast Period||2021 to 2030|
|Segments Covered||Service Type, Vehicle Type, Membership Type|
|Regional Scope||North America, APAC, Europe, Latin America, MEAN, Rest of the World|
|Companies Mentioned||DIDI Chuxing, UBER Technologies Inc., GETT, GRAB, LYFT Inc., ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd., INTEL, BLABLACAR, TOMTOM International BV, Denso Corporation, APTIV, WAYMO, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, IBM International|
Service Type Insights
By service type, e-hailing anticipated to grow as the largest revenue contributor during the analysis timeframe owing to increasing demand for e-hailing services because of increasing traffic congestion, ease of booking, and higher level of comfort to the passengers. In addition, increasing government initiatives to create awareness among public regarding the rapid rise in the air pollution propels the demand for e-hailing market. Further, several e-hailing providers are entering in the established ride sharing market in order to expand their offerings. For instance, DIDI, a China-based ride-hailing service provider has relaunched its carpool service to stay competitive in the global market.
Membership Type Insights
Based on membership type, the market is segmented into fixed ridesharing, corporate ridesharing and dynamic ridesharing.
The corporate ride sharing expected to be the fastest growing segment during the forthcoming years because of rising subscription from multinational companies to avail the ride sharing services for the commutation of their employees. Increasing industrialization and shifting of information technology company’s bases to the Asia Pacific region likely to accelerate the market pace for the adoption of ride sharing services in the region. In addition, the corporate ride sharing services offer lucrative opportunity for the market vendor to proliferate in the coming years.
North America is the major revenue share holder in the global ride sharing market because of technology advancement in the region as well as a leading innovator across the world. Further, the region being an early adopter to new technologies promotes the entrance of new market players, this in turn triggers the competition in the region. In addition, the government of United States favors ride sharing in order to reduce the traffic congestion as well as to control the rapidly rising air pollution in the country. Based on the data released by the Environmental Assessment Agency, the United States is the second highest CO2 emitting country after China. Hence, the risk for increasing pollution is much higher in the country, thus government supports the ride sharing mobility trend in order to reduce the traffic on road and in turn the rate of CO2 emissions from the passenger vehicles.
As a result of promoting ride sharing, New York government has replaced 13,000 taxis to 3,000 ride sharing cars. This concludes, that the United States is significantly supporting ride sharing trend in the modern mobility except few cities such as Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, and a few other cities where bill to legalize ride sharing failed to pass. The demand for ride sharing expected to rise in the region owing to initiatives taken by the both the government as well as the market vendors in order to strengthen their presence in the booming market.
Key Companies & Market Share Insights
The global ride sharing market is highly competitive and growing in nature owing to increasing investments for new services of ride sharing. Market players are constantly upgrading their business model to provide unique services to their customers. For instance, in March 2020, DIDI Chuxing announced to launch value-for-money ridesharing service in Sydney, New South Wales. Currently, the company operates across four states to Australian community and the launch in Sydney will start DIDI Express and DIDI Max in the country. Furthermore, in April 2020, Sevenoaks bus services provided by Go Coach were replaced by a new on-demand service Branded Go2. The new service can be booked using mobile application developed as well as powered by Bia Transportation.
Some of the prominent players covered under the global ride sharing market report include DIDI Chuxing, UBER Technologies Inc., GETT, GRAB, LYFT Inc., ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd., INTEL, BLABLACAR, TOMTOM International BV, Denso Corporation, APTIV, WAYMO, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, IBM International, CABIFY, CAR2GO, DAIMLER, and EASY Taxi among others.
The global ride sharing market research report classifies the market as follows:
By Service Type
By Membership Type
By Vehicle Type
By Regional Outlook
No cookie-cutter, only authentic analysis – take the 1st step to become an Precedence Research client


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Rebuilding America: How businesses will reopen after coronavirus and navigate a new reality
New Jersey is about to experience the most comprehensive economic awakening since World War II. After months of economic lockdown, we are on the verge of “reopening” our economy. NorthJersey.com is in an ideal position to tell the story of how America’s economy will be rebuilt — a process that begins on Main Streets in New Jersey.
Our series Rebuilding America focuses on the innovative approaches that businesses are taking in the face of hardships that were unforeseen and unforgiving in their scope. The series will help you understand how this reopening will occur and how you can navigate it — not only for yourselves, but to help lift our communities so that we all benefit.
Hospitals and nursing homes
In a new world of health care in New Jersey for hospitals, ambulatory care centers, doctors’ offices and nursing homes, the patient’s car may become the waiting room for doctor’s appointments and diagnostic tests. No visitors will be allowed, and the only companions permitted will be for birthing mothers, dying patients, children receiving care, and those requiring help to move or communicate. Virtual consults via telehealth will take the replace of many visits that previously occurred face-to-face.
Retail in downtowns and malls
Since the pandemic hit, businesses have had to finds ways to keep their operations from going under. Those changes, experts and business owners say, are likely to carry on well after the pandemic subsides. That’s because with changing consumer habits, a summer of social distancing, and high-profile bankruptcies, the North Jersey retail world will look far different when stores reopen.
Stretched queues, grab-and-go concessions and contactless entry could become the new normal as the Garden State attempts to restart its tourism economy that set new records in 2019. Social distancing requirements and other restrictions could drastically cut turnout. Yet reopening tourist destinations will require new methods of sanitization and customer interaction.
Car sales showed early signs of recovery in May, and the pandemic has been a catalyst for teaching car buyers how to price out deals online, in the comfort of their own homes. "If you don't come into this with the mindset of 'adapt to survive,' " one dealer said, "it's going to be a painful process." Dealers who outlast the pandemic will be more equipped to cater to tech-savvy customers.
When and if colleges reopen campuses in the fall, they may look very different from the bustling lecture halls, packed sports stadiums and dorm life of the past. College and university leaders across the region say they are planning for multiple scenarios. Depending on the path of the coronavirus and advice from health experts, that could involve staggered classes, a hybrid of online and in-person instruction and singles-only one-student dorm rooms.
New Jersey's supermarkets became ground zero in March as a sign of how life changed because of the coronavirus. As one of the few kinds of businesses still open, there have been people saw chaotic crowds, empty shelves and social distancing measures. Some of those changes may not be going away. Chain supermarkets and mom-and-pop shops are facing similar problems in the wake of the pandemic, but smaller stores are dealing with smaller slim profit margins.
Residential real estate
During the pandemic, realtors have been unable to conduct open houses, so they have been showing homes through virtual tours, video and photos. That has led realtors to a different sort of customer – serious buyers rather than those on a lark who look at houses and waste realtors' time. Those serious, committed buyers are keeping the state’s real estate market afloat after it took a big hit because of coronavirus.
Talk to North Jersey restaurateurs and chefs and you'll hear the same thing over and over again: "Restaurants are never going to be the same." What exactly can you expect when restaurants finally are permitted to open their dining rooms to guests — and takeout and delivery are no longer the only options food lovers have for restaurant-quality eats?
Financial planners, accountants and insurance brokers say they are quickly changing how they do business, from shifts in investment advice to deferring premiums and rewriting policies. But with small businesses making up a significant proportion of their clients, they worry that a longer shutdown, an end to government deadline extensions and a drop-off in stimulus programs will cause large-scale business failures and more economic pain.
Arts and entertainment
Arts organizations, like everyone else in Bergen County, are waiting. They're waiting for state and local officials to issue guidelines, restrictions. And most importantly, they're waiting for the public. When — and under what circumstances — will people feel comfortable going to a theater, attending a concert, fraternizing at a festival?
The next three months for New Jersey's youth club and academy sports teams will be predicated on planning, which includes a number of challenges, including scheduling, venue and tournament preparation,as well as hiring coaches, while keeping safety at the forefront. The approach remains cautious.
Golf, with its 18 holes often spread across 100-plus acres, allows players to follow 6-foot “social distancing” guidelines put forth by the Centers for Disease Control. That gives golf the opportunity to become sports’ leader during society’s battle to return to normalcy.
Home improvement services
New Jersey's home improvement industry, much of which is considered essential business, has fared relatively well during the pandemic. Some stores have seen sales have increased about 25% since the pandemic hit. With everyone stuck at home, many residents rerouted the money from their canceled vacations to finance repairs and additions to their homes.

domain: news


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Martin SFP BryantFounder
Martin Bryant is founder of Big Revolution, where he helps tech companies refine their proposition and positioning, and develops high-qualit Martin Bryant is founder of Big Revolution, where he helps tech companies refine their proposition and positioning, and develops high-quality, compelling content for them. He previously served in several roles at TNW, including Editor-in-Chief. He left the company in April 2016 for pastures new.
Update at foot of post.
Google has been found to be indexing millions of image thumbnails from Microsoft’s Bing search engine, a little embarrassing seeing as Google accused Microsoft of copying its search results back in February this year.
Search Engine Roundtable reports on a discussion on the Google Webmaster Help forums, where a user flagged up that he had spotted the problem, explaining “I am not so sure that it’s a good idea to index the cache thumbnails of another image search engine. Do you think it would be a good idea if Bing was indexing all the thumbnail images from the google-image cache image database?”
“In addition, i don’t think that Google should encourage (or even allow) web pages to hotlink thumbnails from image-search cache,” he continued. “For image copyright owners, it is certainly not good to see Google doing that, because Google will be indexing copies of some copyrighted work, and giving some visibility to pages that hotlink those copied content, too.”
Indeed, if search engines index each other things could get very messy very quickly. Google’s Matt Cutts stated in 2007 that “In general, we’ve seen that users usually don’t want to see search results (or copies of websites via proxies) in their search results.”
To be fair, it doesn’t look like there’s anything untoward going on here. In the forum discussion, Google employee Gary Illyes promises to escalate the issue internally with the company, indicating that this may well be nothing more than an error.
That said, given the bitter war of words between the Google and Microsoft over alleged “copying” of search results, it’s a little odd to see the shoe on the other foot in this case.
UPDATE: As reader Excalbyte notes in the comments below, a search for Bing cached images now returns just a handful of results, indicating that Google appears to have resolved the issue.
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Byline: Marcy Medina / with contributions from Kristin Young
LOS ANGELES — In a city where velvet ropes and guest lists are de riguer, it’s hard to imagine breezing into the spot-of-the-moment without at least one cell phone call or a hassle at the door. But one veteran studio exec remembers doing just that during the Writers Guild of America strike of 1988, when Hollywood became a virtual ghost town during the five-month walkout.
“I was a twentysomething assistant, and a friend and I decided to go to Le Dome and pretend to be big shots. Back then, it was the kind of place where a nobody wouldn’t even be able to get in the door, and we sat right down,” he recalled.
If the writers union decides to strike again Tuesday, the city could be hit with another case of consumers vanishing into thin air.
Local economists peg the strike’s potential impact at roughly $250 million per week in indirect costs to Southern California businesses. Economists for Mayor Richard Riordan say 16,000 of a total 600,000 jobs in the restaurant, nightclub and retail sector could be lost permanently as a result of the strike.
The timing couldn’t be worse. The city has been undergoing a renaissance in boutiques, hot night spots and eateries in the last A strike could mean closures while the paint’s still wet on the newest destinations.
Already vets are feeling the new conservatism.
Tracey Ross, whose namesake West Hollywood designer boutique is a favorite among industry heavies recalled Los Angeles was “a morgue” during the 1988 strike. Not taking any chances this year, she’s paring back her orders from European designers and opting for domestic lines.
“I’m cutting orders right now. I’m scared,” she said.
Ross doubts that she’ll lose her big spenders. “Thank God for Tori [Spelling],” she quipped. But less cash-heavy celebs could slow their spending sprees.
“I always look at cute clothes and go, ‘I shouldn’t get this,”‘ said actress Rose McGowan.
At Lisa Kline on Robertson Boulevard, Kline said she’s not slowing her buying, but rather reallocating dollars toward casual clothes.
“All girls want are jeans and T-shirts. Maybe they know they won’t be working,” she said.
Shauna Stein, an owner of On Beverly Boulevard in West Hollywood, is more worried about how the strike could affect consumer confidence in general rather than the financial impact on her store — which she anticipates will be “nominal.”
“I don’t feel the doom and gloom,” she said. “The strike is just another wrinkle in everyday retail woes.”
Perhaps, but its impact is already being felt in other segments — particularly those where a visit would otherwise warrant a new dress or pair of earrings.
At The Grill in Beverly Hills, considered the birthplace of the power lunch, with approximately 70 percent of its patrons working in the entertainment industry, business has slowed by about 20 percent in the last month in anticipation of the strike, believes manager Michael Goddard. He said that on average days, the 38-table restaurant serves about 200 lunches with an average bill of about $40 per person.
“They’re saving their nuts for the winter, so to speak, but they’ll be back,” he said. Goddard estimated that if a walkout occurs, business will drop by another 15 percent. Still, he refuses to cut his prices or his staff, instead planning to rotate schedules.
On the other end of the spectrum, casual industry hangouts like King’s Road in West Hollywood, where lunch averages $11 per person, have also experienced dips in business. Manager Lori Taurman noted that the typically heavy breakfast crowd has decreased by about 20 percent in the 35-table restaurant over the last two months. She said she plans to run specials to keep regular customers during a strike.
“Even though our sandwiches are only $7.50, any meal adds up,” she said.
But at Moomba, the month-old West Hollywood clone of the New York original, owner Jeff Gossett is scrambling to keep up with dinner reservations and lines at the door: “At this point, we’re just trying to deal with all people who want to come in and not the people who might not come in on May 1.”


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New Delhi: You might be able to get your PAN card in 4 hours soon as Income Tax Department is planning reform measures like PAN card in 4 hours, pre-filled income tax return forms for faster ITR processing. People can expect allotment of PAN card in just fours hours, to begin within 12 months, reported Times of India.
The national daily report cited Central Board of Direct Taxes chairman, Sushil Chandra saying at a conference that the I-T Department is moving towards automation in areas like ITR filing, refund case selection, tax pre-payment etc. He further said that in order to facilitate ease of doing business in the country, ITR forms have been simplified and refund processing has also been frontloaded.
It may be noted that from today onwards (December 5), new PAN card rules will come into effect. The income Tax department has now made it optional for individual taxpayers to furnish their father's name in PAN card application form of applicants with single parents, which was mandatory before. in case the applicant's father has passed away or separated, they can choose whether or not they want to mention their father's name in their application form.
In order to prevent tax evasion by small businesses, the tax department has now also made PAN card mandatory for any entity doing transactions worth Rs 2.5 lakh or more in a financial year.
As per the new rule, "In the case of a person, being a resident, other than an individual, which enters into a financial transaction of an amount aggregating to two lakh fifty thousand rupees or more in a financial year and which has not been allotted any permanent account number, on or before the 31st day of May immediately following such financial year.
This rule will be applicable to managing director, director, partner, author, founder, CEO, trustee, Karta or office bearer of such entities.


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A new sushi bar is planning to fill a culinary void in the heart of a lakeshore town.
Mizu Sushi opened its doors last month in downtown Holland, across the street from The Knickerbocker Theatre, at 85 E. 8th St.
The roughly 2,800-square-foot Mizu Sushi offers interior seating for about 70 customers and an outdoor patio area that can accommodate up to 25 people.
The sushi bar features a range of menu items: nigiri, which is sliced fish over rice; vegetable rolls, with cucumber, sweet potato, avocado or spinach; tempura rolls; 25 house-specialty rolls, such as a red dragon roll, which is made with shrimp tempura, crab and cucumber, wrapped with tuna, with a spicy sauce and mayo on top; and more.
Jean Yoon, manager of Mizu Sushi, said the sushi bar incorporates different culinary backgrounds and styles.
“It’s modern, but very traditional,” Yoon said. “It has fusions of a lot of Japanese and American styles together.”
Yoon said the response from the community and customers has been positive and gracious, especially when confronted with initial technology complications.
“For the first two days, we had a lot of glitches, and our computer crashed; our printer didn’t work. So there were a lot of patient customers, and they were very gracious on waiting for us to fix it,” Yoon said. “Right now, a lot of people come by and say that they are happy we are open, and they have been waiting for a sushi restaurant to open.”
Owned by Jae Lee, the idea for Mizu Sushi developed after Lee recognized a lack of sushi restaurants in the downtown area.
Lee ended up leasing the space from Colliers International, a commercial real estate firm with an office in Holland.
“He has been travelling and visited Holland several times for about 10 years, just enjoying the downtown scenery and everything,” Yoon said. “He realized that there was not a sushi place, so he has been dreaming about it — and one day, it came to reality.”


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- Bakkt users can now transfer digital assets to none app users.
- App users will be able to make the transfers using email.
- Also, Bakkt has recently signed several key partnership deals.
“Bakkt has aimed to provide the app, marketplace, and payments infrastructure to make all digital assets transactable, and this new functionality welcomes everyone to have a frictionless digital experience to send and receive bitcoin, gift cards, or cash to anyone.”
In fact, users will be able to use the recipient’s email address to make the transfer. However, the feature is only available on the app’s latest version. Thus, to avail of the new feature users must upgrade the app or download the latest version. Notably, an upgraded version of the app is available on both iOS and Android app stores.
To clarify, Bakkat is a financial services provider that unlocks digital asset rewards, loyalty points, gift cards, and cryptocurrency. Presently, Bakkt has unlocked over $1.2 trillion in digital assets. Also, Bakkt is owned by Intercontinental Exchange, the same group that owns the New York Stock Exchange.
The Bakkt product line also includes a wallet that enables users to manage all their assets in one place. In addition, the wallets tracks spending, thus helping users better manage their assets.
Prior to this announcement, Bakkt also signed several strategic partnership deals. The first deal is with Wyndham Rewards. Going forward, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts members will be able to track and convert loyalty and reward points using Bakkt. Secondly, Bakkt partnered with Cantaloupe to enable users to make retail purchases using bitcoin and loyalty points. Specifically, Bakkt users will now be able to make purchases using over a million devices including vending machines.


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GODFREY, IL (KTVI)-- It was a Sunday like any other at Casey's general store in Godfrey, Illinois.
"I had a $25 Bingo ticket and cashed it in and was going to get more Bingo tickets," says Doug Compton.
But this scratch off machine didn't have what Doug Compton wanted.
"By just out of happenstance that day I was out of them," says Marena Turner the Casey manager. "I had put in a different book so he decided to try a different ticket."
That was a 50x the cash instant ticket, and quicker than you can say cha-ching, it changed Doug's life.
"It was just like a shock," says Compton. "Awesome."
The $20 scratcher revealed Doug could now add the letter h to his first name, because he'd just won four million dollars and the Casey's store $40,000 for selling the winning ticket.
"I load these tickets everyday, but I never pay attention to how big the jackpots are," says Turner. "I mean its amazing cause its four million dollars for 20 bucks."
"That could buy a lot of World Series tickets," says Patrick Clark.
"Oh yes it could," laughs Turner.
So what does Doug and fiancée Katy McCahill plan to partake in with the money they'll receive for the next 20 years?
"Paying off our mortgage and personal bills and stuff like that," says Compton. "She's got a pretty nice vehicle so I'm going to get me a new truck."
He'll restore his 63 Corvair that's been waiting in the garage while Doug was trying to find the spare change and spare time to fix it back up.
"Doug, can I call you Doug?" asks Clark.
"Yes you may," says Compton.
"Can I call you my new good friend?" Asks Clark.
"Yeah, we'll see," says Compton.
Compton who works for a concrete company won't give up his day job, or his habit of buying scratch off tickets.
"She's always on me, 'You know we'd have a little more money if you weren't buying scratchers tickets all the time,`" says Compton.
"I don't say that anymore," laughs Katy McCahill.


text: As Firaxis Games, the creator's of Civilization and the modern XCOM series, is owned by Take Two, I find the recent statement from Take Two chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick to be troubling for the series' futures. https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news...es_with_recurrent_consumer_spending_hooks.php So far, Civilization 6's DLC model has been a pretty standard season pass, even extending the amount of civs given in said pass. But what about Civilization 7 or even a new expansion? Do you think we'll have to worry about microtransactions and virtual currencies in future titles from Firaxis? What would that even look like? I could easy see charging players to bring back from the dead soldiers in XCOM or certain technologies hidden behind a pay wall. But I might be overly paranoid and Take Two just lets Firaxis do it's thing.


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|| Print ||
|Articles - October 2012|
|Monday, September 24, 2012|
Page 1 of 2
BY KRISTEN HALL-GEISLER
Back in 1998, when the Pearl District was still transitioning from Drugstore Cowboy to art-gallery central, Dave Brook launched CarShare Portland. It was the first car-sharing business in the country — only Switzerland and Germany had similar programs at the time — and it had exactly one car to share.
The CarShare Portland fleet quickly grew to 20 cars to meet demand, and the idea of sharing a car rather than owning one seemed viable. So much so that in the year 2000 Zipcar was started in Boston and FlexCar in Seattle. FlexCar bought CarShare Portland not long after, and then Zipcar merged with FlexCar in 2007, taking the zippier name.
From 2007 to 2011, Zipcar grew from 140,000 members to 673,000, with revenue in 2011 totaling $242 million and offices in two dozen cities in North America and the United Kingdom (Zipcar does not release city-specific numbers, only global totals). So from its humble Portland beginnings, a worldwide car-sharing industry began — a market that is projected to reach $10 billion globally, according to industry insiders.
There’s still room for growth, even in car sharing’s hometown. Zipcar has 250 cars (30 different makes and models) in its Portland fleet at 175 designated parking spaces throughout the city. “The active lifestyle in Portland resulted in some of our cars having bike racks or forest passes included,” says Jeremy Nelson, general manager of Zipcar’s Portland office. “A lot of our Portland members also gravitate toward trucks.”
To further meet that demand, in August the company rolled out its Zipvan service in Portland, which gives members access to full-size cargo vans. Besides helping individuals move bulky items, small businesses can use the vans to make deliveries.
Members of Zipcar generally take the vehicles for longer periods of time, likely because of the pricing structure. In addition to the either annual or monthly membership fees, there is an hourly rate, a day rate and a reduced overnight rate. Insurance and fuel are included with membership, and parking is paid for only in Zipcar spaces. Portland’s decades-long reputation for alternative transportation is holding up, thanks in part to car sharing. In August Katie Stafford, communications manager of Car2Go, sat in on a discussion of future cities in Washington, D.C., which included transportation infrastructure. Portland was mentioned as having the best practices in this arena, in the same breath as Paris. “Portland understands urban planning really well,” says Stafford. She says car sharing is one part of the transportation puzzle in an urban setting, along with everything from buses to walking.
Car2Go, a Daimler company, is the newest of the car-sharing services, having its start in Ulm, Germany, and Austin, Texas, in 2008. It opened its Portland service in April 2012 and had already signed up 6,000 members by July that same year. To compare, Stafford says the Washington, D.C., office opened one week before the Portland office, and it had 8,500 members by August in a metro area with more than twice the population. She acknowledged that Portland’s history with car sharing, particularly Zipcar, paved the way for Car2Go’s early growth.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
BY GARY CONKLING | GUEST BLOGGER
Avoiding a crisis is a great way to burnish your reputation, increase brand loyalty and become a market leader.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
BY JACOB PALMER
Power lunching at the Court Street Dairy Lunch in Salem.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Portland is awash in rideshare options. We ask the head of Flywheel what sets his app apart.
Monday, April 27, 2015
BY JOE CORTRIGHT
The Knight challenge is an important instance of philanthropy. But we should not assume it will magically transform OHSU into a business- and job-spinning engine for the local economy.
Friday, April 24, 2015
BY BEN DEJARNETTE | INVESTIGATEWEST
Timber companies and environmental groups take a stab at collaboration to boost logging and restoration in Oregon fires.
Friday, March 27, 2015
BY LINDA BAKER
Founded 12 years ago, Keen Inc. likes to push the envelope, starting with the debut of the “Newport” closed toe sandal in 2003. Since then, the company has opened a factory on Swan Island and a sleek new headquarters in the Pearl District. The brand’s newest offering, UNEEK, is a sandal made from two woven cords and not much more.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
BY KIM MOORE
A conversation with Craig Wanichek, president and CEO of Summit Bank.
|The Good Hacker|
|Downtime with the director of Barley's Angels|
|It's a Man's Man's Man's World|
|Fighting Fire With Fire|
|Shades of Gray|
|Man for All Seasons|
|Airline earnings are in the bag|
|Trade deficit reaches six-year high|
|Comcast reaching tipping point in Internet subscribers |
|SurveyMonkey CEO dies|
|Labor groups hope franchisees will join fight against fast-food companies|
|Special fee to ship oil proposed|
|Jeff Bezos launches spaceship|
New conference aims to solve challenges, quell fears amid regulatory changes.
Tourism marketing supports entrepreneurship by attracting visitors to all corners of the state.
Beaverton firm's business intelligence platform rivals that of industry heavyweights.
Earlier this month CEO of Gravity Payments, Dan Price, disrupted the payment inequality discussion worldwide by compassionately raising the minimum salary for each one of his 120 employees to $70k and cutting his $1M salary down to $70k.
Thinking about an MBA? Join us for our upcoming Wine & Cheese Information Session to learn more about Concordia University's MBA program.
Providing attendees with unique taste of the Northwest Reception.


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The France-based and Africa-focused sustainable cooling company, Koolboks has raised $2.5 million in the seed round. It aims to scale solar refrigeration across geographies, where erratic and inconsistent power supply inhibits the growth of businesses by adding the cost of diesel-fueled generators.
In 2018, when Koolboks started off, it targeted European campers with an outdoor camping refrigerator. Within two years, the company pivoted to a new market: business owners in off-grid locations in emerging markets of Africa, like Nigeria.
The co-founder and CEO of the four-year-old Koolboks, Ayoola Dominic told TechCrunch in an interview, “Koolboks wanted to change the way the world experiences cooling. We had initially started with the camping world in Europe. Despite some success, it didn’t take us too long to figure out that our technology could be more impactful with the people that need it the most.” He further added, “These people find it difficult to feed their families because 40% of their food gets spoilt even before getting to the market. Some labour day and night to put their savings together to buy food stocks only for them to throw it away the next day due to lack of refrigeration.”
Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, the founder of Aruwa Capital Management, said, “We have been impressed with Koolboks’s innovative solution, which goes far beyond food waste reduction — the team’s laser focus on ensuring clean, renewable energy in off-grid areas is crucial to the survival of many small businesses and sectors as well as fostering economic gender equality.” Aruwa Capital Management is a female-led growth equity fund based in Lagos, Nigeria. Rhodes further added, “Equitable access to clean and reliable energy is key to closing the gender economic gap across rural areas, and we are excited to see Koolboks’ expansion continue to make economic equity a reality for millions more women across Africa.”


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Guar gum prices fell by over 1 per cent or Rs 91 to Rs 8,032 per quintal in the futures trade today due to a weak trend at physical markets amid sluggish export demand.
At the National Commodity and Derivative Exchange, the most traded November month contract of guar gum dropped by Rs 91 or 1.12 per cent to Rs 8,032 per quintal, with a business turnover of 45,130 open lots.
The December month contract declined by Rs 88 or 1.06 per cent to Rs 8,181 per quintal, with an open interest of 21,235 lots.
Marketmen attributed the fall in guar gum prices to offloading of positions by speculators amid mounting stocks on constant supplies of guar seed from growing belts.
Besides, muted export demand kept pressure on prices, they said.
(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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During the last couple of years, solar energy has become a very popular, reliable, and effective power alternative for both residential and commercial consumers. As a result, solar panels can be seen in many different houses and buildings all across the country. However, seeing that they have proven to be worth the investment, it was a matter of time until the trucking industry decided to catch on this renewable energy trend.
The director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE), Michael Roth, has been interested in researching how solar energy could become an essential part of the trucking industry. Thanks to a study conducted by the NACFE and the Rocky Mountain Institute, the question of whether solar panels belong in trucking has been answered, giving positive results. Last year, they issued a Confidence Report on Solar for Trucks and Trailers, aimed at explaining how these two industries could meet.
This report described several considerations that trucking companies should take into account if they want to invest in solar panels for their fleets. One of the most relevant findings shows that the most common use for solar energy in trucking is supplementing the HVAC battery systems and hotel loads without having to add more batteries to the trucks. Extending battery life and avoiding roadside assistance is one of the main benefits that solar panels can bring to the industry.
Investing in solar panels represents a large investment, and the NACFE’s main concern is that some freight companies might not be aware of the costs when they start investing in solar energy. However, what they worry about the most is that companies may not be aware that the costs of replacing batteries and having to get roadside assistance because of dead batteries represent an even higher cost that investing in renewable energy, which is one of the reasons why they issued such report.
There are other considerable conclusions in the report that the NACFE wanted to point out. Firstly, they wanted to highlight that solar power is no longer something still in development, or that is not largely available yet. Many trucking companies are already using this alternative to power their trucks, and the results have been largely satisfactory. Yet, despite the positive results, fuel savings from solar energy are still quite small, as these come from other factors and practices that we need to address with our drivers through training and education.
Another important consideration is that solar panels need to be sized according to the application we will give them. Panels for solar energy tend to be sold on a standard size, but this size might not be the right one for our trucks or our facilities. Before investing, we need to consider the problem we are trying to solve in order to determine the best size for the panels we will get.
Manufacturers have been improving their panels, which increases their performance. As time goes by, we will see more effective solar panels that will also be more affordable. Therefore, as trucking and freight companies look for ways to optimize their operations, solar energy panels might be the future of the way the industry thinks of renewable energy.


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Al-Futtaim Honda launches special offer
Dubai, December 3, 2012
Al-Futtaim Honda, the sole distributor for the Japanese automotive brand in the UAE, has announced special offer across all its showrooms.
From December 4 till 31, customers purchasing any new 2012 Honda vehicle including the Honda Accord, Civic, Pilot, CR-V will receive up to Dh12,000 ($3,266) cash back, a company statement said.
The Al-Futtaim group company is also offering free insurance on select models and customers can also receive a special trade-in allowance on any Honda models.
“The highly rewarding festive offer from Al-Futtaim Honda is an extension of our customer first philosophy. We are confident customers will see the value and anticipate a great response to our festive offers,” said Mark Kass, regional managing director at Al-Futtaim Honda. – TradeArabia News Service
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NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (WKBN) – In Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary, voters in the Lawrence County community of New Wilmington voted 240 to 114 — more than a 2 to 1 margin — to allow for the sale of alcoholic beverages in the borough.
New Wilmington has been a dry town since the 1930s. Even though it’s not anymore, don’t expect bars to open on the streets next to Westminster College. Liquor licenses will be limited to restaurants only.
The owners of Tavern on the Square, Todd and Alma Ulicny, spearheaded the effort to change the liquor situation in New Wilmington.
There’s now a notice on the door, saying the restaurant has applied for a license to sell alcohol. Pending approval, the Ulicnys will likely get the first license.
“We didn’t want to let anyone down, so we bought our license before the vote. It was a gamble,” Todd said.
A gamble that paid off. Tavern on the Square hopes to be serving alcohol in 60 days.
The sound of Amish buggies is often heard in New Wilmington. It’s a quaint little town and most people there want to keep it that way.
That’s why a provision was put in the law — to prevent bars from lining the streets.
“It would have to have a restaurant license to do so. The petition that we signed, the vote that was carried was to authorize restaurants,” Todd said.
“I was so over the top elated that it passed,” said Sherie Babb, New Wilmington’s mayor who also sells real estate.
She said first thing the next morning, she got several calls from people wanting to buy a building.
Babb will also make sure the issuing of liquor licenses will be strictly regulated.
“Any other license, anyone else wanting to put in a restaurant with a liquor license, would have to go before borough council to do that,” she said.
Wendy Famerie runs Silk Road Fair Trade Market across from Tavern on the Square.
“I think there’s going to be more businesses coming in, there’s going to be more restaurants coming in, there’s going to be more places to shop. I think it’s going to make us a little livelier. I don’t think it’s going to change the fabric of our town one bit,” she said.
There are actually places in downtown New Wilmington that sell liquor. Hop Asylum and Fractured Grape make their own beer and wine.
Under a relatively new state law, they were allowed to open as long as they made their own product. The law was used to promote Pennsylvania’s craft beer and wine industry.


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London: Payment systems giant Visa said it was experiencing problems processing transactions in Europe on Friday and was trying to fix the issue.
"We are currently experiencing a service disruption which is preventing some Visa transactions in Europe from being processed," a Visa spokesman told AFP.
"We are investigating the cause and working as quickly as possible to resolve the situation."
Visa users have taken to social media to complain. It is understood the Bank of England is aware of the issue and is in touch with Visa.
HSBC bank's UK Twitter account replied to a customer query saying: "From what we understand there are still intermittent issues but services are slowly recovering."
Paymentsense, which provides card machines, online payment gateways and virtual terminals to some 60,000 independent businesses in Britain and Ireland, advised users to try paying via contactless transactions.
"We have been informed that Visa has corrected the outage and transactions are now starting to go through. There is still some intermittency however, we believe this is due to a backlog of transactions," it said.
"We now understand that contactless transactions have a better chance of going through. We'd encourage affected customers to try contactless transactions where possible."
© Thomson Reuters 2018
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)


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The owners of three meat processing plants in Wales say that more than 3,000 jobs have been safeguarded with its sale to a Birmingham based company. The Dutch firm Vion say they have agreed to sell the plant to 2 Sisters Food Group.
The deal includes a plant in Merthyr Tydfil and Sandycroft in Flintshire, both employing more than 1,300 staff. A further 300 people work at a poultry processing plant in Llangefni that has also been sold.
More top news
Wales got their 2016 Six Nations campaign under way with an entertaining 13-all draw with Ireland at the Aviva Stadium.
Mosques across Wales and the rest of the UK have opened their doors today to encourage people to find out more about the Islamic faith.
Rain quickly clearing this evening with blustery, locally heavy, showers following, merging at times into longer spells of rain.


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The ongoing dispute between the US and China has resulted in some conflict for Huawei, making it difficult for Chinese smartphones to work with American companies like Google.
While things started looking up recently when Huawei was offered a 90-day cancellation, Google has now told Reuters (global news and financial information company) that Huawei’s upcoming Mate 30 flagship handset cannot be sold with licensed Googled apps and services.
The reason for this is that the cancellation, offered by the US Government only applies to exist products and deal with partnerships that Huawei has with US companies.
While there is currently no word on whether it will happen, it’s possible for Google to seek an exemption from this ban for specific products. It was recently revealed that over 130 such applications have been submitted to the US Commerce Department, although none of them has yet been granted.
At present, Huawei is still considered the world’s second-largest smartphone maker after Samsung. Although, with the future of its Google support, it could severely impact its hold on the Western market.
Huawei has been developing its own operating system for some time now, but it would take considerable effort for this alternative to reach the same ubiquity of the Google ecosystem.
The Huawei Mate 30 range of smartphones is rumoured to launch sometime in late September, with availability to follow, however, we’ll now have to wait and see if the US-China trade strife causes any delays or not!


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What is cyber security?
Are you a business owner who worries about their cyber security? In an age where technology is imperative to businesses, the importance of cyber security cannot be emphasised enough.
With cyber attacks growing in frequency and sophistication, it’s vital that businesses take proactive measures to protect their digital assets.
October is Cyber Security Awareness month; this month focuses on educating about cyber security and elevating your awareness and practices. So we’ve written a blog to explore the world of cyber security, its significance and how you can enhance your businesses defences.
What is cyber security?
At its core, cyber security envelopes a set of practices, technologies, and measures designed to safeguard your business from cyber attacks such as hacking, ransomware, and breaches.
Cyber security has evolved hugely over the past few years, but cyber crime is becoming more sophisticated, just this year, a casino in Las Vegas fell victim to a cyber attack that exploited a rather unlikely entry point – the thermometer in their fish tank!
Why should I care about cyber security?
The consequences of a successful cyber attack can be disastrous, they can result in huge data loss, financial loss and data breaches. The down time as a result of a cyber attack can also last for days, which can be incredibly disruptive to your business function, resulting in further financial loss.
Furthermore, as businesses increasingly rely on digital assets, the potential for cyber attacks grows exponentially as the entry points for hackers increases. Ignoring cyber security can leave your business vulnerable to not just opportunistic hackers, but also targeted attacks from cyber criminals looking to exploit your lack of cyber security and disrupt your operations.
What is Cyber Security Awareness month?
October is recognised as Cyber Security Awareness month, this is a collaborative effort between organisations to provide resources and remind businesses as well as individuals to elevate their cyber security knowledge and practices. It’s an annual campaign which encourages everyone to take the necessary steps to protect themselves and their businesses from cyber threats.
Throughout Cyber Security Awareness month, a variety of educational resources are created to educate individuals and businesses about the importance of cyber security and staying vigilant year-round.
How can I improve my business’s cyber security?
Enhancing your business’s cyber security in an ongoing process that requires the right resources.
Here at Geeks, we offer a range of tailored cyber security solutions to help you fortify your defences and navigate the digital landscape:
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
EDR solutions continuously monitor your systems for suspicious activities, providing real-time detection and alerts so you can respond to a suspected cyber attack as soon as possible. We’ve recently deployed EDR across our client base, at no extra cost, and our expert team receive any alerts so we can take necessary action.
Next-generation firewalls (NGFW)
NGFWs offer comprehensive protection by filtering and inspecting network traffic and identifying and blocking potential threats. As a Watchguard partner, our NGFWs go beyond traditional solutions, offering advanced features with threat intelligence integration, these firewalls provide the first line of defence against cyber crime.
Multifactor authentication (MFA)
Passwords are no longer enough to secure your account, MFA adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to provide multiple forms of verification before granting access. For example, an SMS message can be sent to your mobile phone with a 6-digit code to ask for a second layer of authentication whilst logging in.
At Geeks, we recommend using the Microsoft Authenticator app which sends a push notification to your phone for quick approval of your login attempts. We deploy MFA which includes location specific information and which application is attempting login, so you can easily block any unknown logins. Our MFA can also include number matching which means you need to type the numbers that appear on your screen, into your authenticator app, so you don’t fall victim to MFA fatigue where you accidentally approve an unknown login.
Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus are effective UK Government backed schemes which provide certification and digital accreditation. The scheme aims to improve cyber hygiene by providing a framework to ensure businesses have essential cyber security measures in place. It helps businesses by protecting them from over around 80% of the most basic cyber security breaches.
As well as working with businesses and helping them achieve their annual Cyber Essentials certification, which you can read about in our recent case study here, we also provide Cyber Essentials as a Service. With Cyber Essentials as a Service, we deploy software on your devices, to ensure you maintain real-time compliance to keep your systems protected year-round.
Employee who are knowledgeable on cyber security provide a great defence against cyber threats. Employees should be educated on multiple topics surrounding cyber security such as recognising phishing emails and good password hygiene.
Soon, we’ll be providing security awareness training, where we educate your team about cyber security risks, best practices, and preventative measures.
We offer a wide array of cyber security solutions and services tailored to meet the unique needs and challenges of your business. By implementing a combination of these solution and maintaining a strong cyber security posture, you can significantly reduce your cyber risk.
As technology advances, the importance of protecting your digital assets becomes even more important. Cyber security is not just a buzzword, it’s essential to modern business operations. As the digital landscape evolves, so do cyber criminals tactics. Cyber Security Awareness month serves as a reminder of the need for ongoing vigilance and action. By Prioritising cyber security and taking advantage of the evolving technologies, you can safeguard your business.
Looking to strengthen your cyber security? Get in touch!


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3.3M of TSLA Tesla Shares Added by Legendary Hedge Fund
Is Tesla's Stock the Safe Harbor During Pullback?
Tesla is a tech company on wheels, unlike Ford And GM, Says Сrаmer
Former Ford CEO says Tesla is an 'Iconic Brand'
New Street Research Raised Tesla ( TSLA ) Price Target From $530 to $800
There is no “unintended acceleration” in Tesla vehicles
Catherine Wood said she sees Tesla rise to $6,000 in five years
Tesla shorts down $1.25 billion in mark-to-market losses
Oppenheimer raises target price for Tesla to $612
Bob Lutz admitted being wrong about Tesla


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Country Bird Holdings won't be renaming Enterprise brand
Country Bird Holdings will, however, be renaming Enterprise Foods, which it bought from Tiger Brands.
Country Bird Holdings CEO Marthinus Stander has said that they will not change the name of the Enterprise brand, but that they will be changing the name of the meat business, Enterprise Foods, which they bought from Tiger Brands on Monday, 17 August.
“We will definitely do a name change of the overall business [Enterprise Foods],” Marthinus said. “But the brand itself, Enterprise, will remain.”
He added that consumers will continue to buy its meat and canned products under the Enterprise brand they have known for more than 100 years.
Country Bird Holdings bought Enterprise Foods for R311 million through its wholly owned subsidiary Silver Blade. The company paid R153 million for Enterprise Foods’ meat-processing facilities and an additional R158 million for the product inventories.


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Getinge announces that Datascope’s EVH business will be sold to Sorin Group
Press release November 26, 2008
As previously announced, Getinge has made a public tender offer to the shareholders of Datascope Corp. In order for the acquisition to be completed, the competition authorities in Germany and the U.S. must grant their approvals. The German competition authority granted its unconditional approval on October 24, 2008.
Datascope today announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell its EVH business to Sorin Group, a company developing medical technologies for cardiac surgery. The transaction is contingent on the closing of the acquisition of Datascope by Getinge as well as the satisfaction of other typical conditions. The agreement will be reviewed by the U.S. competition authority.
Getinge, November 26, 2008
Getinge AB (publ)
For further information:
Ulf Grunander, CFO
+46 (0)35 15 55 00


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- After an initial announcement about a month ago, the Apex Legends x Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth collaboration event got its first trailer a few days ago.
- As revealed by Apex Legends, the One-Winged Angel Death Box will be the first-ever cosmetic Death Box in the game.
Apex Legends recently announced its first event of the year, and it is a collaboration with the upcoming game Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. The crossover naturally had fans excited; however, the cost of the skins has played a spoilsport.
After an initial announcement about a month ago, the Apex Legends x Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth collaboration event got its first trailer a few days ago. Notably among the various new additions introduced in this event were as many as 36 new cosmetics, ranging from the usual skins and stickers to a new death box cosmetic.
How much does the Apex Legends’ Death Box skin cost?
To acquire the Apex Legends x Final Fantasy 7 cosmetics during the upcoming event, players need to open event packs. Purchasing packs cost Apex Coins, which cost real money. However, that’s not the only way to ensure one gets the skins they want.
The event introduces a new addition in the form of a one-winged Angel Death Box in Apex Legends. It will bring a new range of cosmetics for the death box, which is being done for the first time in the game’s history.
Recently, Apex posted a short video outlining the rewards on offer during the upcoming Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth event. It gives a glimpse of what the rewards will look like. It also gave a sneak peek into how much a pack costs. Not considering the 90% discount seen in the video, one single pack costs 1,000 Apex Coins.
1,000 Apex Coins are equivalent to $10 in real currency. On a normal day, 1,000 Apex Coins can easily fetch 10 normal Apex Packs. However, during the event, it will fetch just one single pack. It also means players have to spend as much as $360 for a Deathbox skin.
Notably, Apex Legends event packs are typically priced at 700 Apex Coins; however, this one costs 300 Apex Coins more. Additionally, a Battle Pass in Apex Legends also costs less than the event pack, which is 950 Apex Coins.
It is still unclear how many skins or what benefits will be available for Battle Pass holders in this event. The blog only mentions that players can use Gil, a newly launched in-game currency for the event, to earn additional Battle Pass Stars that will add up to the seasonal progress.
How does the Death Box skin work in Apex Legends?
As revealed by Apex Legends, the One-Winged Angel Death Box will be the first-ever cosmetic Death Box in the game. It is designed after Sephiroth and his iconic lone wing. It will be gray in color and feature a wing on the side, as the name suggests.
That being said, notably, the devs have not yet released an official image of the One-Winged Angel Death Box. It has only been leaked by prominent leakers.
In fact, the only detail shared by the developer about the Apex Legends x Final Fantasy 7 Rebirt Deathbox was a single sentence, “Complete your Apex Legends & FINAL FANTASY™ VII REBIRTH collection before the event ends and you’ll automatically receive the One-Winged Angel Death Box — a brand new cosmetic item to Apex Legends that is equippable by any Legend via the new Lobby Melee tab.”
New “One-Winged Angel” Deathbox 👀🔥 pic.twitter.com/i5U5JwgUlx
— HYPERMYST (@HYPERMYSTx) January 6, 2024
As per the Apex Legends blog, the One-Winged Angel Death Box will be automatically unlocked along with the first-ever universal heirloom, the Buster Sword, when a player unlocks all 36 cosmetic items in the FFVII event. There is still no clarity on how the Deathbox skin will work.
A Reddit user pointed out, “When they showcased it, it was the pov of you killing someone and then they turned into this, so that would make sense.” Thus, it is to be believed that when a player kills someone, their death box turns into the skin and not the player.
Fans furious over the pricing
Although it may be a special and exciting event, the idea of paying 10 times more for a single pack, clearly did not go well with the fans. Users were furiously looking at the cost and did not shy away from sharing their concerns on social media.
A user started a Reddit thread asking, “The upcoming collection event packs COST 1000 COINS EACH?” Several users expressed their displeasure in the comments section. A user named ‘Shavertz’ blamed EA’s revenue-making techniques, saying, “Passing the royalty fee onto consumers lol. EA said fu*k taking lower margins.”
Another user, ‘HornetGloomy75’ wrote, “$360 for a death box is ludicrous. We as a community need to boycott this event. Speak with your wallets.” While ‘Istn’ wrote, “This is actually fu*king insane. Aside from Newcastle, the character skins are borderline common skins with slight tweaks. The effort is laughable but we’re the ones being laughed at.”
Another user criticized EA, saying, “Apex is a fun game, but EA is such a fu*king greedy piece of a sh*t company. Wish we had good options that weren’t so set on ripping players off. Like make money and still make sh*t reasonable. But hey that’s unchecked American capitalism for ya.”
It turns out that the Apex Legends x Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth event is the most expensive Apex Legends event to date. However, irrespective of the disappointment with the pricing, some users are likely to pay the costs. Some experts even suggest that maybe the Death Box, along with a Universal Heirloom, may make the high prices worth it.


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Business Deals Sealed at MTA2011
Asia’s leading precision engineering event a premier sourcing platform for the industry
Singapore, 4 April 2011 – Over 13,400 trade visitors, exhibiting staff, conference delegates and speakers, and members of the press participated in MTA2011, Asia’s leading precision engineering trade exhibition and business forum. The event drew to a close at Singapore Expo on 26 March 2011. Visitors to this international trade event arrived from almost 50 countries and regions to network and source for the latest machine tools and precision engineering technologies available in the global market.
With the manufacturing sector in the region currently in good health, industry players were looking for the latest technology and know-how to reduce dependence on the mass production of uncomplicated components and standardised products as demand for such output can be highly volatile. MTA2011 was designed to help the industry move up the manufacturing value chain into high value sectors which is imperative to long term growth.
The buyers who came to the show saw a wide array of machine tools and technologies, serving the traditional precision engineering base and also specifically for the strategic growth sectors of Aerospace, Medical Technology and Oil & Gas. MTA2011 witnessed numerous business deals signed during its four exhibition days.
Ryandi Irawan, President Director of PT Bumi Cahaya Unggul, an Indonesian company specialising in pumps, and the Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Pump Producers said about MTA2011, “There is a lot of useful information at the show. I found many products for my line of business in fluid machinery. I arrived in Singapore in the morning and came to the exhibition directly just to source for what I need, and eventually bought a polishing machine. I’m now reviewing the specifications of Hankook’s vertical machining centre as we are looking to purchase it.”
Exhibitors who managed to secure business transactions at the show include Agie Charmilles, Advanced Manufacturing Tools, Amada, Bystronic, DKSH Technology, Eunion, Hankook, Hebo Gmbh, Hexagon Metrology, Hsiu Fong Machinery, Hurco, Ichi Seiki, Marking Method System, Mitutoyo, Newera Tools & Machinery, Newserv Machinery, SMG Technologies, SMS Machinery, ST Machinery, Sumitomo Precision Machine Tools, Taipei Industrial, Wenzel Asia Pacific, Yamaris Machinery and Yamazen.
William Lim, MTA’s Project Director at SES, said, “We are glad that exhibitors and visitors alike have found many opportunities at the show to network, strengthen professional relationships, and close business deals. The many transactions that have taken place at the show affirm MTA’s strong reputation as Asia’s leading sourcing ground for the latest in manufacturing equipment and technology.”
Complementing the exhibition was the Precision Engineering Business Forum 2011 which returned for a second edition this year. The event was well attended by local and overseas delegates keen to network with representatives from leading companies and gather the latest information on the developments of the aerospace, medical technology, oil & gas and surface finishing sectors.
“There is a need for precision engineering across all industries. It is a perfect platform for cross communications. We shared what we have learnt and others learnt what had been shared. There was global representation and that was great,” said William John Begue, Director of Maintenance at Hawker Pacific Asia, who was a speaker at the forum.
MTA2013 will return from 27- 30 March 2013 at Singapore Expo.
Guest-of-Honour, Singapore’s Senior minister of state for Trade & Industry and Education (far right) at a tour of the exhibition.
The exhibition saw almost 600 exhibitors from 36 countries and regions showcasing their latest products and technologies.
Exhibitor at MTA2011 Bystronic, and Malaysia’s Kum Hoi Engineering industries sign a deal
One of the many transactions closed at the show
Visitors sourcing and networking at MTA2011
The Precision Engineering Business Forum covered the aerospace, medical technology, oil & gas and surface finishing sectors


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"People who are compassionate to animals tend to be compassionate to people." Queen rocker Brian May is addressing a crowd of supporters in Edwardian-era suffragette costumes and paper animal masks, clutching placards denouncing animal testing. Lush's Oxford Street flagship store is heaving, as it should be — it's read
We Londoners had to do a double-take on our commutes this morning as a floating, turquoise house seemed to have arrived on the Thames overnight. No, we didn’t all take the weekend too heavily. The brilliant Airbnb publicity stunt was to raise awareness and celebrate new rules that allow Londoners and fellow Brits to read


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Paychex Inc.'s PAYX, +0.05% fiscal first-quarter earnings rose 6.4% as the company's revenue growth outpaced expansion in its expenses.
The results came in slightly above Wall Street expectations.
The payroll and human resources services company has posted better earnings in recent years as its main check-processing business generates more revenue per paycheck. The smaller human-resources segment has also posted revenue gains in recent quarters as it develops new business lines.
For the quarter ended Aug. 31, Paychex posted earnings of $162.8 million, or 44 cents a share, up from $153.1 million, or 42 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose 5.1% to $607.9 million.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected per-share earnings of 43 cents and revenue of $606 million.
Operating margin widened to 42% from 41.2%. Expenses were up 3.7%, due mainly to compensation-related costs.
Payroll-service sales, which provide most of the company's revenue, rose 2.4% to $395.2 million as checks per payroll increased 1.6%. Revenue per check improved slightly due to price increases partially offset by discounting, the company said.
Human-resources revenue grew 11% to $202.7 million.
Shares of Paychex, which reaffirmed its full-year outlook, were down 37 cents to $40.27 after hours.
Write to Michael Calia at firstname.lastname@example.org
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires


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John Leech, KPMG UK head of automotive, comments on The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) UK car production figures which fell 5.8% in September but remains up10.2% over the year-to-date:
“At first glance, Europe poses a real threat to UK car production as its economies struggle to restore business and consumer confidence. However, demand for cars outside of Europe in countries such as China and India is still strong and expected to remain steady going into 2013. Therefore, a drop in last month’s output figures should be taken with a pinch of salt as the UK is set to invest and grow its automotive industry including its supply chain for the export market.
“Throughout 2012, we’ve seen car production in the UK rise and fall. At the beginning of the year the Euro crisis deepened and UK car output clearly reflected a change in business and consumer attitudes in Europe. But despite weakening demand in the Eurozone, UK car production rose on the back of strong exports to non-European economies such as China at the beginning of the year. We can expect this trend to continue into 2013 but this time we are also expecting a bounce back from the UK consumer.”
For further information please contact:
Arti Mohan, Corporate Communications
Tel: 020 7694 8735
Mobile: 07768 858 085
KPMG Press Office: 020 7694 8773
KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, is a subsidiary of KPMG Europe LLP and operates from 22 offices across the UK with over 11,000 partners and staff. The UK firm recorded a turnover of £1.7 billion in the year ended September 2011. KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax, and Advisory services. We operate in 152 countries and have 145,000 professionals working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"), a Swiss entity. KPMG International provides no client services.


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Missouri AG: Schnucks did not break data security law in cyberattack
The St. Louis-based grocery chain “was itself a victim of criminal wrongdoing,” Nanci Gonder, press secretary for the attorney general, told the Business Journal. “After reviewing the records and speaking with forensic investigators, we did not find that Schnuck Markets violated Missouri laws regarding data security,” she said.
Gonder said investigators from Koster’s office worked with officials from Maryland Heights-based Schnucks for several months following reports of a data breach in 79 Schnucks stores. Schnucks officials have blamed a cyberattack for the breach, which impacted 2.4 million payment cards between December 2012 and March this year.
In March, Schnucks hired Alexandria, Va.-based Mandiant, an independent forensic investigation firm, to examine its network and identify the cause of the breach. “Our investigators, in conjunction with investigators from the Illinois Attorney General’s office, interviewed the independent analyst who examined the breach and reviewed the thorough report the analyst prepared,” Gonder said.
But Schnucks still faces a legal battle.
In all, the grocery chain has been hit with six lawsuits related to the breach. Last month, Schnucks filed motions to dismiss two of the suits, which argue that Schnucks did not act fast enough to inform the public of the breach.
Led by Chairman and CEO Scott Schnuck, Schnuck Markets had $2.5 billion in revenue last year. The grocery chain could face $80 million in compensatory damages in Illinois alone, according to court documents.
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"Extra's" Terri Seymour caught up with L.A. Galaxy soccer hottie David Beckham backstage at the Cartoon Network Hall of Game Awards and talked about his smokin' hot H&M commercial.
"We were at a friend's house," explained Beckham when the ad ran during the 2012 Super Bowl. "There were about 20 or 25 people in the room and I didn't know where to look. Victoria didn't know where to look, and the kids were the same."
Watch the interview!
Check out more raw video from the Cartoon Network Hall of Game Awards!


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|Among the many things reported on in March of 2017 was this probably-not-delicious, plump-breasted pigeon. With a camera. The pigeon is probably not named Speckled Jim.|
We’re looking back on the photographic world in 2017, and we kicked off March with a look at the CP+ trade show that had taken place the previous month in Yokohama, Japan. One of my favorite snippets of show coverage was a cameo made by the Michel Pigeon Camera. Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like, and no, it (and the pigeon) thankfully wasn’t included in a late-February roundup of things we’d found at CP+ that had been cut in half.
Overall camera news was a little on the slow side, as we’d expect for the month following a major photography trade show. Olympus finally drove the nails into the coffin of the legacy Four Thirds system, and CIPA – the standards organization behind claims that your camera’s battery doesn’t last long enough – reported that compact digital camera sales were lower than ever before.
And of course, the industry also said a solemn goodbye to Popular Photography magazine and PopPhoto.com, an institution that was shuttered after eighty years in the business. One of our own, Dan Bracagalia, got his career started at the publication, so the announcement hit very close to home for all of us at DPReview.
On the lighter side, we had our first chance to shoot with the Fujifilm GFX 50S since it was announced at Photokina the previous autumn, and by-and-large, we were very impressed with what it’s capable of. We tagged → continue…


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$QCOM said some IP, patents, etc., of TDK businesses will be acquired by the JV, with some acquired by $QCOM. $QCOM has the option to acquire TDK's JV interest for $1.15Bil 30 months after closing date. TDK will be entitled to $200MM based on sales of RF filter functions over 3-year period after closing date. Deal is expected to close early 2017.
$PYPL jumps 6% in after hours on strong results. I am bullish on this stock.
$TSCO stock remained active in the after hours trading and rose more than 2% after the retailer posted better than expected 1Q17 results.
Instagram has reached 700 million monthly active users. Looks like it will hit 1 billion soon. That would make it $FB’s fourth billion-user platform.


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Microsoft broke ground on Tuesday on a $280 million research centre that is to become the software giant's largest research centre outside of the United States.
Microsoft plans to double the number of full-time Microsoft research employees to 3,000 by 2010, in addition to about 1,500 current project-based researchers in China, and the energy efficient campus will eventually be home to 5,000 employees.
"Through investments such as this, we are building on our capabilities as one of Microsoft's key global R&D centers," said Zhang Yaqin, the company's mainland China chairman.
Microsoft is growing rapidly in China and expects that shipments to the mainland of handsets loaded with its software will again double this fiscal year. Long-delayed third generation (3G) wireless services are expected to be launched later this year and could help boost demand.


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The production of Volkswagen's all-new Up! city car is scheduled to have its official world premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September and we can't wait to see this production version of the Up!
Although the three-door hatchback's looks are similar to its original Up! Concept displayed at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show, there's a whole new story going on under the hood. Volkswagen has ditched its unique rear-engine, rear-wheel drive layout for a traditional front-engine, front-wheel drive setup.
Volkswagen will offer the Lupo's spiritual successor at launch with a choice of small displacement, three-cylinder gasoline engines with plans to add a pure-electric version into the mix at a later date.
Global warming has been a major concern for many people across the world. At the same time, various world leaders have committed themselves to reduce the dependence on petroleum by their countries. In line with this, sustained efforts have been directed towards the designing and production of environmentally friendly cars. Indeed, such cars have seen major adjustments aimed at making them more comfortable and improve their performance. This year has seen the production of some of the best electric cars of the decade. Instead of this cars relying on gas to power their engines, they rely on power from rechargeable batteries. Read more
Volvo has created a suit of systems for its upcoming 2015 XC90 SUV, which will include an automated Park Assist Pilot which offers automatic reversing into a parking bay as well as entering and exiting a parallel parking spot. Read more


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French hospitality review Michelin Guide unveiled its first-ever San Francisco restaurant rankings, with just one three-star review, for Thomas Keller's Yountville restaurant the French Laundry.
The guide's two-star awards were eyebrow raising, since only one of four has won four stars from the most influential local food critic, the San Francisco Chronicle's Michael Bauer. Michelin Guide gave two stars to Aqua and Michael Mina in San Francisco, to Manresa in Los Gatos and to Cyrus in Healdsburg. Only Manresa has four stars from Bauer.
The 23 one-star awards included many restaurants that have been traditionally considered among the very top in the area, including Bauer four-star honorees Chez Panisse, Fleur de Lys, La Folie and the Ritz-Carlton Dining Room. Highly regarded Gary Danko also took just one star.
Michelin's Jim Micali, company president for North America, acknowledged that the guide and its departure from other ratings would get tongues wagging in an area with "a sophisticated clientele passionate about food and wine."
"There is some difference" with Bauer, he said. "And there will be some very healthy discussion over that, and that's good."
Also winning a Michelin star were San Francisco's Rubicon, Bushi-Tei, Quince, Range, Acquerello, Masa's, Boulevard and Fifth Floor.
Winning a star outside of San Francisco were Sushi-Ran in Sausalito, Chez TJ in Mountain View, Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford, Bistro Jeanty in Yountville, Thomas Keller's Bouchon in Yountville, La Toque in Rutherford, Terra in St. Helena, Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg, Farmhouse Inn & Restaurant in Forestville and K & L Bistro in Sebastopol.
The San Francisco Bay Area guide will include reviews of a total of 356 restaurants, most without a single star.
Chef Roland Passot of La Folie said Friday that the debut San Francisco Michelin guide will start out with limited impact, eclipsed by Bauer.
But "eventually ... it will become a bible," Passot said, after the guide has spread to more cities and gained more awareness among the public.
Passot praised the guide for sending anonymous inspectors.
"Its very nice and honest -- an honest opinion from a few inspectors," Passot said.
Micali said repeatedly that his ratings are "not a popularity contest" -- a thinly veiled swipe at the rival Zagat Guide.
Micali may not be too popular himself among local chefs after awarding just a single star to Chez Panisse, considered not only one of the country's best restaurants but also a paragon of a fresh style of cooking that has transformed food over the past thirty years. Its latest honor was being named the second best restaurant in the country in a recent issue of Gourmet magazine.
Passot wondered Friday how Panisse would do by Michelin standards, since its food emphasizes simplicity -- not the signature of France's traditional haute cuisine, known for intricate dishes and presentation.
Asked about Chez Panisse's single star, Micali said "it doesn't have to be ostentatious or overdone. It's the quality of the plate we're looking for."
He also said that while the French company's ratings guidelines are the same around the world, the Bay Area team of inspectors was mostly non-French.
"Almost every inspector was American," he said. Half were from the West Coast, he added.
A Michelin spokeswoman emphasized that even a single star, as Chez Panisse won, is a significant honor from Michelin.
The Bay Area team started with 6 inspectors before ballooning to 13. Micali himself does not conduct inspections.
Michelin's dining guide is part of a "red book" that also reviews hotels -- some 60 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The local hotel reviews have not yet been made available. A "green book" detailing local attractions will also be released.
The New York City dining and hotel guide, released a year ago, has gone through a 115,000 copy first printing and a 50,000-copy second printing. The initial press run in San Francisco is 50,000 guides.
The company hopes sales of the guides will help boost sales of its tires and maps.
Asked how restaurant owners and chefs could get into the guide or boost their rating, Micali said, "cook good quality food and we'll find you."


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TAMPA — Jeremy Perez will never forget the first time he ate at Shake Shack.
Several years ago, after getting married in New York City, his wife took him to the restaurant’s iconic flagship location in Madison Square Park.
Originally from the Bronx, Perez’s wife already knew all about the magic of those smashed burgers, crispy crinkle-cut fries and creamy frozen custards. But for Perez, it was all new. In the years since, the couple has developed a shared love for the fast-casual chain, stopping by a location whenever their travels aligned.
On Monday, the Tampa Bay area’s first Shake Shack opened at Midtown Tampa.
It was big news for the couple, and other Tampa Bay residents who lined up for the opening. With Perez’ wife stuck at home working, Perez, 39, and the couple’s 10-year-old son, Gabriel, showed up more than an hour before the store’s 11 a.m. opening to bring back lunch for mom. Her favorite? The cheesy Portobello mushroom ‘Shroom Burger. For Perez, a bacon-loaded SmokeShack was on deck; Gabriel had his sights set on a creamy vanilla milkshake.
Along with recent Jesuit High School graduate John Barreto, 18, and friend Logan Kant, 17, the father and son duo were first in line for the restaurant’s grand opening, which featured a ribbon cutting attended by Tampa mayor Jane Castor, members of South Tampa’s Chamber of Commerce and Feeding Tampa Bay.
Though Monday’s opening marked the restaurant chain’s Tampa Bay debut, there are 15 locations of the popular burger and shake chain spread around Florida (until now, the closest was in Sarasota, at the Mall at University Town Center). It was one of the most anticipated restaurant openings at Midtown Tampa, the massive mixed-use development and entertainment complex on the southeast corner of N Dale Mabry Highway and Interstate 275.
The $500-million project, from New York-based developer Bromley Companies, recently welcomed the addition of outdoor retailer REI Co-op, along with a dual-brand Aloft and Element hotel and the rooftop bar Sal y Mar. Though the pandemic pushed back the opening of several additions to the complex, Shake Shack is the first of many eateries projected to open, including a second location of St. Petersburg Italian restaurant BellaBrava, an offshoot of chef Chris Ponte’s iconic Cafe Ponte, and a new cafe from Belleair Bluffs chocolatier William Dean Chocolates. Also on tap are a Whole Foods Market and some national restaurant chains, including the Drew Brees-backed Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux, Ben and Jerry’s, and Oprah Winfrey’s health-focused True Food Kitchen.
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By the time Shake Shack’s doors opened around 11 a.m. Monday, the line had stretched to more than 50 people, with a queue wrapping around the building and down W Cypress Street. Shake Shack employees handed out custom Shake Shack glasses and straws to those waiting. There were strong gusts of wind, but, to everyone’s surprise, no rain.
A DJ in the background bounced between a collection of multigenerational hits, from Bill Withers’ Lovely Day to Dua Lipa’s Levitating, while a string of bright green balloons — a nod to the chain’s signature color — bounced in the wind.
The store’s general manager Dana Balch said the event felt unique, in part, because of the enthusiasm from the spot’s employees and Tampa residents.
“It feels different because of the excitement from the team,” he said. “And with the year that we’ve had, it’s phenomenal.”
Many of Monday’s eager Shake Shack fans said they were first introduced to the restaurant — which bills itself as a “modern day roadside burger stand” — at locations along the East Coast. The first location opened in 2004 in New York City. Sabrina Norwood, 65, and Mary Patterson, 68, both from Tampa, recalled a holiday trip to New York a few years ago where they ate standing up in a throng of people because the restaurant was so crowded and busy.
“Once we found out they were in Florida, we started looking for them,” Norwood said. “We couldn’t wait for this to open.”
Known for their 100 percent Angus beef burgers, flat-top Vienna hot dogs and creamy frozen custards, the chain has since expanded to include more than 300 restaurants across the U.S. and more than 100 international locations. The Midtown Tampa restaurant, which features pale wood accents and dark green tiling inside, includes both indoor and outdoor seating.
The new restaurant’s menu is mostly identical to other locations. In addition to time-honored favorites like the ShackBurger and ShackStack (a burger topped with a cheese-filled Portobello mushroom), guests can also expect newer additions, like the Avocado Bacon Chick’n Shack and this month’s Pride Shake, a strawberry and blackberry frozen custard topped with a mango and passion fruit blend, whipped cream and rainbow glitter. (For the month of June, five percent of sales from the shake will go to the Trevor Project, a national organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ+ people under 25.) In addition to the chain’s Brooklyn Brewery Shackmeister Ale, the Midtown Tampa spot also features Cigar City Brewing’s Jai Alai IPA and several seltzers, as well as a collection of Shack-branded red, white and rose wines.
The restaurant partnered with Feeding Tampa Bay for Monday’s opening, and $1 of every sandwich sold on opening day will go to the local food bank.
Shake Shack is located at 1011 Gramercy Lane and will be open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.


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Hello Fintech Friends,
Today marks Juneteenth in the United States, a commemoration of the end of slavery (and now a federal holiday). It is a much-needed reminder of the racial inequalities that persist today due to systemic injustice.
Racial inequality takes many forms - differences in education, in career opportunities, in criminal justice, in financial access - and results from many drivers. Those drivers are systemic, in that they permeate the basic architecture on top of which society is constructed. The criteria used by a bank loan officer, for example, can have nothing to do with race, and yet generate disparate racial outcomes. But that architecture is a choice, and it is one we can unmake. This simple fact is a reminder to the fintech community of our responsibility to build a better financial system: one predicated on inclusion and justice.
It’s exciting to see community-focused banks like Greenwood, First Boulevard, and Cheese gain traction for that explicit purpose: to provide the banking services to underrepresented communities that legacy financial institutions won’t.
But there is still much work to be done...
Please find another week of fintech financings and exits below.
Editor’s Note: If you’re an early-stage startup founder raising equity or debt, I may be able to help - reach out to firstname.lastname@example.org.
“52% of financial services institutions are concerned about collecting on delinquent loans,” Aite Group. Your debt collection process is essential to maintain existing relationships. Considering each borrower’s financial circumstances will prevent delinquency, reduce your outstanding collections, and ultimately show customers that you care. Download the report by Aite Group and Virtusa.
💸 Venture Financing
- Shopify, Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake, and others bought up $1 billion of secondary shares from Stripe.
- Ebanx, a Brazilian cross-border payments platform, raised $430 million ahead of a potential US IPO.
- Guideline, a provider of 401(k) solutions to small businesses, raised $200 million at a $1.5 billion valuation.
- ThinCats, a UK alternative lender to SMBs, raised a £160 million strategic investment.
- 10x Future Technologies, a banking software provider, raised a (confirmed) $187 million Series C. (We reported on the $130 million rumor last week.)
- Addepar, a wealth management dashboard software, raised $150 million at a $2.17 billion valuation.
- Paycargo, a freight payment platform, raised a $125 million Series B.
- DNA Payments, a UK payment processor, raised £100 million.
- Unit, a banking as a service provider, raised a $51 million Series B.
- FIA Tech, a technology provider to the futures industry, raised $44 million from industry backers including ABN Amro, Bank of America, Barclays, Citi, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Wells Fargo.
- Novo, a neobank for SMBs, raised a $40.7 million Series A.
- Splash Financial, an online loan comparison tool, raised a $44.3 million Series B.
- FamPay, an Indian neobank for teens, raised a $38 million Series A.
- Finleap Connect, a European open banking platform, raised €22 million.
- Hello Alice, a business capital and CFO suite for SMBs, raised a $21 million Series B.
- Eltropy, a communications suite for financial institutions, raised $21 million.
- Upflow, a payments collection optimization platform, raised a $15 million Series A.
- Booste, a Polish revenue-based financing platform, raised a €12 million Series A.
- Dapp, a Mexican business payments startup, raised a $12.4 million Series A.
- Goldfinch, a decentralized lending platform for emerging markets, raised an $11 million Series A.
- Arrived Homes, a residential real estate investing platform, raised $10 million.
- Coinme, a startup providing crypto enablement to financial services institutions, raised $10 million.
- nSure AI, a fraud prediction service, raised a $6.8 million seed.
- Wajve, a financial advisory app for Gen Z, raised a €5 million seed.
- Change, a crypto investing platform, raised €3.7 million in crowdfunding.
- Finley, a debt management CMS, raised a $3 million seed.
- Ophelos, a UK debt collection platform, raised a $2.3 million pre-seed.
- B9, a financial app for immigrants, raised a $1.7 million pre-seed.
- Finantier, a Southeast Asian open banking / open finance startup, raised a “seven figure” seed round.
- Layer, an Irish digital banking transformation platform, is in the market for new funding.
- TeamApt, a Nigerian agent banking platform, plans to raise funding at a $1 billion valuation.
💵 Debt Financing
- Residential real estate platform Arrived Homes raised $20 million in debt.
💰 Venture Funds
- Fintech partner bank Cross River Bank launched its own venture capital arm, Cross River Digital Ventures, to invest in fintech startups.
- Build-to-rent operator Amro Partners launched a dedicated fintech venture capital arm.
- European fintech venture capital firm Augmentum Fintech plans to raise a new £40 million fund.
- International cross-border payments company Wise (formerly Transferwise) settled on a direct listing on the London Stock Exchange at a valuation of $6 to $7 billion.
- Angel Oak Mortgage, a mortgage investment fund, priced a downsized IPO, selling 11% fewer shares than expected to raise $137 million.
🤝 M&A - Fintech
- JP Morgan Chase’s UK arm will acquire personal financial management startup Nutmeg to expand its consumer wealth management offering in the UK.
- Global payment solutions provider EVO Payments acquired Chilean payment gateway Pago Fácil.
- Kenyan retail distribution solution provider MarketForce acquired retailer startup Digiduka to bring financial services to more consumers in Africa.
- UK online payments giant Checkout.com acquired Estonian software development firm Icefire.
- BearingPoint RegTech, a European banking regulatory technology provider, acquired Irish regtech Vizor Software.
- Experian acquired tax solution Tax Credit Co. from private equity firm VSS Capital Partners.
- Vertically-integrated payments solution provider REPAY completed its acquisition of BillingTree for $503 million.
- Mastercard completed its acquisition of ID verification provider Ekata.
🏦 M&A - Bank
- Private equity firm Cerberus will acquire the French retail banking division of HSBC.
💲 M&A - Investment Management
- Private equity giants Ares Management and Maven Capital Partners launched a new firm,Titan Wealth Holdings, built through its acquisitions of Tavistock Wealth (£1 billion AUM) and Global Prime Partners (£2 billion AUM.)
- Capital markets service provider D.A. Davidson acquired fintech-focused investment bank Marlin & Associates.
Primary Venture Partners just opened applications for the second cohort of their NYC Founders Fellowship. The fellowship is a six-month, part-time program for aspiring New York-based entrepreneurs to explore company building. Apply by June 29!


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U.S., European legislators call for permanent end to wine tariffs
For the Basin Business Journal | July 16, 2021 1:00 AM
WASHINGTON, D.C. —
Members of the Congressional Wine Caucus, along with their counterparts in the European Parliament, have called upon the U.S. and the European Union to resolve their current trade dispute and permanently remove all tariffs on wine.
The statement was co-signed by Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Yakima, co-chair of the Congressional Wine Caucus, along with Rep. Mike Thompson, D-California, with 34 other U.S. members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as 50 members of the European Parliament, ahead of a U.S.-EU summit in mid-June.
“The EU and US wine sectors play a critical role in supporting a vibrant transatlantic trade relationship,” the statement reads. “This sector is an essential driving force for many rural economies and for a significant number of medium and small enterprises.”
“We ask our governments to further support the economic vitality and diversity of our wine sectors by working to remove all tariffs on wine to achieve a ‘zero for zero’ wine trade environment,” the statement continues.
In October 2019, the administration of President Donald J. Trump imposed a 25% tariff on French, Spanish, German and English wines, leading to a drop of nearly $500 million in the value of French wine exports to the United States in 2020, according to reports in the U.S. wine industry press.
U.S. officials suspended those tariffs for four months in early March, with the EU also agreeing to a similar suspension of tariffs on U.S. goods.
According to the Washington State Wine Commission, the state is the second-largest producer of wine in the U.S. with nearly 1,100 wineries and a total output of more than 178,000 tons of wine grapes in 2020 valued at roughly $8.4 billion.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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The Australia Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) recently published draft guidance identifies eight principals businesses can focus on when making environmental claims.
The draft guidance is aimed at improving the integrity of environmental and sustainability claims made by businesses and protect consumers from ‘greenwashing’.
According to the draft guidance, false or misleading environmental claims:
- Limit a consumer’s ability to make informed choices
- Lead consumers to pay more for the value of an environmental benefit that doesn’t exist
- Unfairly disadvantage businesses which do make significant investments in genuinely pursuing more sustainable products or service
- Undermine consumer trust in environmental claims in general and can create a disincentive for businesses to invest in more sustainable practices.
“As consumers become more environmentally conscious, businesses need to be honest and transparent when making environmental or sustainability claims so consumers are not being misled,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said in a press release.
“False or misleading claims can undermine consumer trust in all green claims, particularly when consumers are often paying higher prices based on these claims.”
“Similarly, businesses that are taking genuine steps to adopt sustainable practices are put at a competitive disadvantage by businesses that engage in ‘greenwashing’ without incurring the same costs.”
By following the eight principles below, businesses are less likely to mislead consumers and contravene the Australian Consumer Law.
- Make accurate and truthful claims
- Have evidence to back up your claims
- Don’t leave out or hide important information
- Explain any conditions or qualifications on your claims
- Avoid broad and unqualified claims
- Use clear and easy-to-understand
- Visual elements should not give the wrong impression
- Be direct and open about your sustainability transition
The ACCC is seeking feedback from businesses, consumers and other stakeholders on the draft guidance.
“We would like to hear from businesses on whether our draft guidance improves their confidence in making legitimate environmental and sustainability claims as well as if they have seen concerning green claims made by other businesses,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
“We also want to hear from consumers on how businesses can provide useful and relevant information about any green claims so they can be confident in the accuracy of these claims.”
ICN National Office CEO Warren Jansen welcomes the draft guidance and encourages small and medium enterprises to provide feedback to the ACCC.