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Gurugram-based online grocery startup Grofers has raised nearly $60 Mn in a fresh Series F funding round from Masayoshi Son-led SoftBank Vision Fund (SVF). This is reportedly the first tranche of the larger $120 Mn-$140 Mn funding round that is under works for Grofers.
A source close to the development confirmed the funding to Inc42. With the fresh funding, Grofers is now valued at $425 Mn post-money according to data intelligence platform paper.vc. Currently, SVF holds around 42% stake in the company.
Founded in 2013 by IIT graduates Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar, Grofers offers products across categories such as grocery, fruits and vegetables, beauty and wellness, household care, baby care, pet care, bakery, and meats and seafood, among other things. It operates in 13 cities.
SoftBank had earlier led a $62Mn funding round in Grofers, acquiring 35-40% stake in the company in February.


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Spyware infection rates have risen to the highest levels since 2004 when the Internet security scourge was at its supposed peak, according to latest State of Spyware report issued today by Webroot Software, the leading anti-spyware developer.
During the second quarter of 2006, Webroot researchers found that 89 percent of consumer PCs were infected with an average of 30 pieces of spyware – a slight increase from the first quarter of 2006 when infection rates returned to alarmingly high levels after a supposed lull in spyware infections during the second half of 2005. According to the report, new distribution channels, advanced spyware technologies and a reliance on free anti-spyware programs are all contributing factors to the startling increase.
In the report, Webroot details how spyware purveyors are capitalizing on the popularity of social networking sites like MySpace to reach new victims while spammers have recognized the extra profitability offered by adding spyware programs to their email scams. Spyware criminals are also flooding the Internet with an increased number of malicious spyware websites in hopes of garnering new victims. Using Phileas V, the next generation of Webroot's automated spyware research system, Webroot to date has identified 527,136 malicious websites. This number marks a substantial increase during the last quarter as the number of identified websites at the close of the first quarter of 2006 was 427,000.
At the same time, spyware criminals continue to rely on the most advanced spyware technologies to reel in new victims. With many PC users still relying on free anti-spyware programs, spyware purveyors are able to easily avoid detection using advanced spyware programs like rootkits, Trojan downloaders, keyloggers and driver-level installers. During the last quarter alone, Webroot saw the infection rate of Trojans among consumer PCs rise to 31 percent up from 29 percent during the first quarter of 2006 and 24 percent during the last quarter of 2005. Additionally, Webroot found more than 1 million traces of the most prevalent Trojan, Trojan – Downloader – Zlob during the second quarter.
"Less than a year ago, many so-called Internet security experts began claiming that spyware was on the decline and that infection rates would soon drop to the point of extinction. While the infection rates at that time seemingly supported this theory, the data we have culled during the past six months unequivocally show that spyware is anything but extinct," said C. David Moll, CEO of Webroot Software. "Spyware is a financially motivated threat and as long as there is a dollar to be had, cyber criminals will do everything possible to steal it. It is imperative that PC users deploy a proven anti-spyware solution that offers proactive protection against the most advanced spyware technologies."
Enterprises were not immune from spyware attacks either as evidenced by the more than 40 security breaches reported by enterprises during the last quarter. With industry experts estimating that 70 percent of corporations use an anti-spyware solution, the steady infection rates among enterprises suggest that these deployed anti-spyware solutions may be inadequate. Additionally, Webroot found that infections rates for the most damaging types of spyware – system monitors and trojans – remained steady during the last two quarters.
Webroot also found that spyware is reaching the farthest parts of the world and across each continent. During the second quarter of 2006, Puerto Rico had the highest number of spies detected: 42.6 per scanned PC. Algeria and Bahrain also had high infection rates with 38.4 per scanned PC and 35.7, respectively. For the most malicious threats, the Dominican Republic had the highest infection rates for Trojans at 1,099 per 1,000 PCs scanned and Yemen had the highest rate of system monitors with 426 per 1,000 PCs scanned.
The State of Spyware report is issued quarterly as an in-depth review and analysis of the impact of spyware, adware and unwanted software on consumers and enterprises. The foundation for much of the analysis and trends reporting comes from Webroot's consumer and corporate SpyAudit tools and from online research culled by Phileas, Webroot's automated spyware research system. The SpyAudit tools invite both consumers and enterprises to scan specific PCs and determine spyware infection levels.

domain: news


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Internet of Things (IoT) Verticals News
November 09, 2017
While IoT adoption rates in manufacturing, transportation, and oil and gas are on pace to reach 98% in the next year, many deployments are in early stages.
September 28, 2017
The fifth annual Midwest IoT Summit is being held October 18 and 19, and co-chairman Don DeLoach says it will be a conference to remember.
July 14, 2017
James Turino of Drake Star Partners provides an update of IoT mergers and acquisitions in 2017, as well as a private placement update.
May 26, 2017
PTC is ready to help customers ride the physical and digital convergence wave, as witnessed at LiveWorx 2017.
Internet of Things (IoT) Verticals Get Started
Bring yourself up to speed with our introductory content
IoT in healthcare helps companies boost efficiencies and improve profits, but at the end of the day, patient experience and satisfaction are most important. Continue Reading
IoT, machine learning and AI are playing increasing roles in helping sales, legal, finance and operations professionals generate and manage revenue processes. Continue Reading
The internet of things is changing how manufacturers manufacture and consumers consume. Get ready for an influx of as-a-service offerings, thanks to IoT. Continue Reading
Evaluate Internet of Things (IoT) Verticals Vendors & Products
Weigh the pros and cons of technologies, products and projects you are considering.
IoT is starting to revolutionize traditional brick-and-mortar retailers, making the retail store of the future a reality today, says Samsung's Ed Abrams. Continue Reading
In San Francisco, smart city parking apps are already paying off, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving rider satisfaction. Continue Reading
Kairos Capital Advisors' Russell Redenbaugh discusses three things successful investors must consider before investing in IoT products and companies. Continue Reading
Manage Internet of Things (IoT) Verticals
Learn to apply best practices and optimize your operations.
AT&T's Chris Penrose explores the importance of connected car security and four ways to keep drivers and passengers safe. Continue Reading
Connecting and curating digital ecosystems are essential to defining, designing and implementing complex, IoE-based services, but how do you go about this? Continue Reading
The company facilitates cross-industry IoT proofs of concept with wireless sensor networks and off-the-shelf IoT toolkits. Continue Reading
Problem Solve Internet of Things (IoT) Verticals Issues
We’ve gathered up expert advice and tips from professionals like you so that the answers you need are always available.
Kaleido Insights' Jessica Groopman discusses three scenarios in which blockchain offers an architectural advancement to foster trusted machine interactions. Continue Reading
Smart devices are changing the game for retailers, but there are risks. Thales eSecurity's Cindy Provin on why data integrity might just save brick-and-mortar retailers. Continue Reading
By incorporating IoT-enabled wearable devices into your enterprise deployments, you can harness the full potential of your mobility strategy. Continue Reading


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Nickelodeon is about to rock every ’90s child’s nostalgic dreams at this year’s San Diego Comic Con! First came the announcement that their booth and presence at the annual pop culture convention will be largely ’90s-themed, featuring classics such as All That, Hey Arnold!, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and more.
Now, the channel is announcing that a new episode of Double Dare, the family trivia and game show pitting two teams against each other in often-messy challenges and obstacle courses, will be filmed live during Comic Con! Legendary host Marc Summers will return for the 30th anniversary celebration, which will be streamed live on The Splat’s Facebook page at 9:30pm PST on July 22nd.
The live show will reportedly feature challenges including the Wringer, Down the Hatch, the Human Hamster Wheel and the Double Dare Nose!
This year’s Comic Con booth will include 1,800 square feet of 90s nostalgia, including a virtual reality Legends of the Hidden Temple experience taking fans into the upcoming live-action movie, life-size replicas of the Hey Arnold! stoop and Double Dare nose, and plenty of ’90s-themed merchandise for purchase!


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Toyota said it will move compact Tacoma production to San Antonio after it ends production next spring at Fremont’s NUMMI plant shared with General Motors Corp. Tacoma production should begin in San Antonio next summer, said Toyota manufacturing spokesman Jim Wiseman on Friday. The plant, which opened in 2006, currently produces Toyota Motor Corp.’s Tundra, but the company has had to furlough workers and cut back to one shift as demand got hammered by high gas prices and then the recession. He said it’s not clear how many jobs will be added to the 1,800 workers Toyota already employs here, but local officials estimate it could bring 750 to 1,000 new jobs. Wiseman said most of the Tacoma workers will be local hires.
Santa Clara-based Intel Corp. raised its third-quarter revenue forecast above Wall Street’s expectations Friday, citing strong demand for its chips and giving another signal that business is improving for one of the world’s biggest technology companies. Intel’s shares rose 4 percent, up 78 cents to $20.25. The leading maker of computer microprocessors said it now expects sales of $8.8 billion to $9.2 billion. Its last guidance, which came July 14, was for revenue in the range of $8.1 billion to $8.9 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting $8.55 billion in revenue before Friday. Intel also said it expects the quarter’s gross profit margin to be in the upper half of the range it previously forecast.
Cupertino-based Apple Inc.’s iPhone will go on sale in China in the fourth quarter, entering a market that has more subscribers than the combined populations of the United States and the 16 nations that share the euro. China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd., the country’s second- biggest provider of mobile-phone services, will sell the original iPhone 3G and the 3G S model in the nation. Apple will compete with Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry and handsets powered by Google Inc.’s Android software in China, where shipments of smartphones may triple by 2013, according to research company IDC. The world’s third-biggest economy has defied a global recession by continuing to grow, fueling demand for luxury products including the iPhone from its 695 million mobile-phone users.
Compiled from staff and wire reports. Got Bay Area business news? Reach Drew Voros at 925-943-8099 or email@example.com.


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TORONTO, July 26 (Reuters) - Potash Corp, the
world's largest fertilizer maker, reported a 38 percent drop in
second-quarter profit on Thursday, mainly due to one-time
charges and weaker results from its phosphate business.
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Potash said net income in the
period fell to $522 million, or 60 cents per share, from $840
million, or 96 cents per share, a year earlier.
Along with other one-time items, results in the latest
quarter were hurt by a $341 million impairment recorded on its
investment in Chinese fertilizer maker Sinofert Holdings Ltd.
Although strong overseas demand boosted production and sales
of its namesake nutrient in the quarter, higher costs led to a
slight narrowing of profit margins in its potash business.
The company expects gross profits from its potash business
in 2012 to be in the range of $2.6 billion and $2.8 billion. It
earlier forecast a range of $2.6 billion to $2.9 billion.
Lower volumes and prices for its phosphate-based nutrients
also hurt profit margins in that business. Low natural gas
prices, however, helped boost profits from its nitrogen
Potash Corp boosted its forecast for combined phosphate and
nitrogen gross margin in 2012 to a range of $1.4 billion to $1.6
billion, up from a prior range of $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion.
Free cash flow, an indicator of its ability to service its
debt and make strategic investments, rose to $797 million in the
quarter, from $575 million, a year ago.


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Tura(Meghalaya ), July 1 : Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Rameswar Teli graced the function held at Christian Girls Higher Secondary School, Tura, today evening in the presence of Chief Executive Member, Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC), Benedic R Marak, Chairman, GHADC, Rakesh Sangma, along with distinguished dignitaries, officials of GHADC and entrepreneurs of the district. The function was organized by GHADC, Tura.
While addressing the gathering, Rameswar Teli highlighted various schemes available in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India and informed that different options are being provided to farmers and entrepreneurs with special emphasis for the people of North East region. Mentioning about the various horticultural products cultivated abundantly in the region such as pineapple, cashewnut, ginger, turmeric, black pepper, etc, and the products being organic in nature, he said that food processing industries could be set up in the region for which interested persons can avail and apply for these schemes from the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India. Further, the Minister also informed that the Ministry provides 50 percent transportation cost to farmers for exporting their products to other states like Mumbai, Delhi, etc.
Moreover, stating that the State has immense potential for organic farming he said that there is huge potential for food industries in the region and informed that the Ministry is focusing on organic farming and products and thereby provide career options in a sustainable manner. He also informed that under PMKSY scheme, he had sanctioned Mega Food Park for Ri Bhoi District in the State of Meghalaya recently.
Explaining in detail the procedures and guidelines for applying for various schemes, he assured his full support and cooperation to ensure these schemes meant for the people of the region and thereby upscale the productivity and economy of the people of the area.
Expressing his gratitude to the Minister, CEM, GHADC, Benedic R Marak said that this is the first time the Union Minister had visited the district and appraised the minister of the quality of products available in the region and the initiatives taken by the District Council for promotion of food industries in the district.
Executive Member (GHADC), incharge Agriculture, Promod Koch, Deputy Commissioner, West Garo Hills, Tura Ram Singh, Virender Mittal, IAS, PS to Minister, Principal Secretary, GHADC, Tura H A Sangma, Joint Secretary to the EC, GHADC, S R R Marak, Agriculture officer, GHADC, Rohan Ch Momin were among others who spoke on the occasion.
Earlier, during the program, the CEM, GHADC Benedic Marak presented the Memorandum to the Minister of State Rameswar Teli. The Minister also interacted with the entrepreneurs and then visited the stall put up at the venue displaying organic products from across the district including pure honey from Nokrek, scented candles, local made wine made from fruits available in the region, banana, jackfruit chips, etc.


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New World fans and potential players are wondering whether they'll be able to play New World on consoles.
New World has dominated MMO headlines since its first closed beta performance over a month ago. It is the first came of its kind to come from Amazon Games and, as such, the studio has continually declared—and proven—its dedication to fans by working to create the best product possible. Whether that was accomplished by implementing player feedback or issuing launch delays in the interest of further development, New World now stands on the precipice of release.
The wait to find Aeternum is finally over.
Will New World Release on Console?
Unfortunately, no. At the time of writing, New World is not scheduled to release on any consoles. This includes the Xbox One/Series S|X, PlayStation 4/5 or any other previous generation of console. Amazon Games' New World is a PC exclusive.
That's not to say that it will remain that way, however. While the studio likely has little to no plans to bring the game to console right now, there are MMOs that have done so and found success. The Elder Scrolls Online is one example. Then, however, cross play capability becomes a whole third issue.
Fans likely won't see New World make that jump for some time—regardless of whether or not the studio has plans to do so. Amazon Games has already shown its commitment to creating the best and most stable product it can. It's unlikely they'll be looking to port the game to consoles anytime soon.
New World releases tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 28, at 8 a.m. ET.


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IN THIS CRANKYGEEKS CLIP:
Microsoft will soon launch an all-in-one subscription service, code-named "Albany," for many of its key productivity applications. Is Microsoft feeling threatened by Google? Dvorak and guests discuss.
Click on the image to play clip. or watch the entire show at CrankyGeeks.
For additional CrankyGeeks episodes, visit CrankyGeeks.com.


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Amazon Launches 'Coins' Virtual Currency
Amazon.com yesterday launched its virtual currency program, dubbed Amazon Coins. To kick things off, Amazon is providing all Kindle Fire owners with 500 free Amazon Coins, which are worth $5. "You can use the coins to buy apps and games, as well as items inside apps and games," Amazon said in a note on its homepage. Amazon also said Amazon Coins are available to purchase at a discount, for savings of up to 10 percent depending on how many coins you purchase.


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Pride Month is coming up in June and in celebration of the month and the LGBTQ+ community, Kellogg's has teamed up with GLAAD to launch an all-new cereal for a good cause. The new Together with Pride cereal is set to hit store shelves nationwide in mid-May and is described as celebrating everyone having a seat at the table together. The new cereal is the latest collaboration between GLAAD and Kellogg's as part of their long-standing partnership. Together With Pride is the latest is the latest evolution of the fan-favorite All Together cereal that had previously only been available online. This new Together With Pride will be available in stores at select retailers nationwide.
The new Together With Pride cereal features berry-flavored, rainbow hearts dusted with edible glitter. The cereal comes in a purple box that features a number of beloved Kellogg's cereal characters, including Tony the Tiger, Rice Krispie's Snap, Crackle, and Pop, and Froot Loops' Toucan Sam gathered around the cereal bowl which is filled with the cereal that sort of resembles a sparkly version of Froot Loops. You can check it out for yourself in the photo below.
As was noted above, this isn't the first time that Kellogg's and GLAAD have come together to release a cereal for Pride Month. All Together was released in 2019 with that offering featuring one large box containing different smaller boxes containing Kellogg's favorites all together, as the cereal’s name implies.
The new Together With Pride cereal will be available at select retailers nationwide for a limited time beginning in May. It comes in a 7.8 oz box with a suggested retail price of $3.99. Kellogg is donating $3 of each purchase of Together With Pride to GLAAD with cereal receipt upload. All customers have to do is upload their receipt of purchase to the Kellogg's Family Rewards site. Receipts must be uploaded within 30 days of purchase. Purchases need to be made between May 1 and November 30 to be eligible for the donation. Kellogg's will donate up to a total of $140,000 to GLAAD as part of the campaign.
Will you be checking out Kellogg's Together With Pride cereal? Did you check out 2019’s All Together? What is your favorite cereal flavor? Let us know your thoughts about this and all things cereal in the comments!


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Gurugram based Design-driven lifestyle D2C brand, DailyObjects has said, “It has raised $2 million from Root Ventures.”
“Significant part of the funding will be used for building a stronger design team and customer experiences,” the company said.
Speaking on the fundraise, Pankaj Garg, Co-Founder & CEO, of DailyObjects said, “As we look forward to scaling up the lifestyle products/accessories in India, we will be utilizing the incoming funding to strengthen the team that has constantly innovated ahead of the curve. We are delighted with the trust and faith that Roots Ventures showed in us and are focused on taking the brand to the next level.”
Commenting on the investment, Japan Vyas, Managing Partner, Roots Ventures said, ” DailyObjects has built strong in-house end-to-end capabilities, allowing it to anticipate consumer trends and launch products faster than competitors. Scaling up while focusing on quality is something that is hard to achieve, and it has not only been profitable in the journey but has become a go-to name for the youth. With multiple product offerings under a single umbrella and its expansion across the world, we believe in the excitement that DailyObjects has brought in the D2C space. We are excited to be a part of their journey.”


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NEW YORK — The publisher of Hillary Clinton’s new book What Happened is questioning Amazon reviews posted within a day of the book’s release.
Published Tuesday, the book is Clinton’s retelling of her presidential election loss last year.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
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As of Wednesday morning, more than 1,500 reviews appeared on Amazon. Many contained little information about the book and instead offered high praise or sharp criticism of the Democratic candidate.
Simon & Schuster publisher Jonathan Karp tells The Associated Press: “It seems highly unlikely that approximately 1,500 people read Hillary Clinton’s book overnight and came to the stark conclusion that it is either brilliant or awful.”
He said the company hopes the online commentary would reflect opinions of people who have actually read the book.
Of the reviews of the 500-page book posted to Amazon.com, 95 per cent are 1- and 5-star ratings.
Some reviewers slid in some questionable facts about the election.
One fan, baking grandma, said she would read the book again.
A 3-star reviewer who hadn’t read the book yet had an axe to grind with people who were grinding their axe on Amazon’s reviews section.
Even among “verified purchase” reviews — reviews from accounts that purchased the book on Amazon.com — reactions were at either end of the star scale.
The 1-star verified purchase reviews (there are only three so far) offered a sharp critique of the audiobook version of What Happened.
Clinton appeared on The View Wednesday morning as a guest co-host and to promote the book. She was asked to comment on comments made by Trump’s press secretary, who called What Happened “sad.” Her response? “I honestly don’t pay much attention to what she says.”
With files from National Post


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New stores furnish boost
Furniture retailer ScS has reported that the January sales 'exceeded expectations' and orders for the first 16 weeks of its year are 'very substantially' higher than last time. It was helped by a 77% expansion in floor space through new openings. Three more stores are planned for the second half.
Like-for-like sales are up 4% and margins are being maintained, ScS chairman Tony McCann told the annual meeting.
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In April, Sainsbury's was on the verge of being bought in what would have been one of the largest deals in British history. Marc Smith finds out what caused the takeover bid to fail and what the future has in store for the retail giant and its founding family.
Marc Smith is deputy editor of Families in Business.
A heroic tale of a family standing up to and defeating a Goliath private equity consortium? Or a missed opportunity that will drive a wedge between family and shareholders? Whichever way you look at it, one thing is certain – CVC and its partners are not going to get their hands on J Sainsbury, one of the UK's best-known retail chains.
Less than 10 weeks after it was announced that a CVC-led consortium was considering making an offer that would have been the largest leveraged buy-out in British history, the deal is dead in the water. In a statement, the bid team said it had become clear that the Sainsbury's board would not back their offer of a reported 582 pence a share, which included a major investment programme and the promise of extra jobs.
For its part, Sainsbury's said that "the board explored with the consortium whether the key pre-conditions (which were related to the consortium's proposed financing structure) attached to their proposals were capable of being satisfied or could be revised, but the consortium concluded that this was not possible. As a result, the consortium decided to cease discussions."
Family stands firm
It is understood that the principal stumbling block to the deal's conclusion was the position taken by the Sainsbury family. The family, who now hold an 18% stake, remains active in the company, despite no longer having a management role – David Sainsbury's retirement in 1998 brought to an end 129 years of family members at the top.
In particular, the family was keen to hold out for 600p a share, substantially above the offer made by the consortium. "I think that it was a brave decision by the Sainsbury family," says Tim Denison, director at retail research group SPSL and member of the Retail Think Tank. "Clearly there is a great deal of faith in the management team, but they obviously didn't believe that the bid was going to work in the long-term interests of the business."
It has also been reported that leading family members were not happy about loading the company with debt to finance the deal – a common criticism of private equity by business-owning families. "A strong balance sheet and a largely freehold property base" have always been the cornerstones of Sainsbury's success, said Lord John Sainsbury of Preston Candover, who ran the business until 1992. "Eroding these attributes will make the company more vulnerable to competitive pressures which is not in the best long-term interests of the company, its customers, staff, shareholders or pensioners."
But there is surprise in some quarters that the family did not decide to sell up. With the fifth generation pursuing business interests elsewhere, and the overall family shareholding on a downward spiral, it seems evident that the family's ties to the business are slowly being cut. However, it is understood that the consortium's bid included a facility for the family to maintain a reduced stake in the business and, naturally, the family wants to see the business's success continue.
The failure of the Sainsbury's bid could well be seen as a setback for private equity in the UK. The industry has been under severe scrutiny in the past few months with commentators, unions and even the government all having their say.
Leaving aside the family's intransigence to the deal, the problems began when the consortium began to unravel. Events conspired against Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, one of CVC's partners, when its attempt to purchase another UK retailer, Alliance Boots, reached a critical period. There were rumblings that the UK's competition commission would have misgivings about their involvement in two high-street buy-outs and KKR decided to pull out of the Sainsbury's bid. Only a few days later, Texas Pacific Group and Blackstone, the consortium's other members, also withdrew, leaving CVC to carry the bid on its own.
Another major problem for the consortium was Sainsbury's pension fund deficit. It is understood that there was disagreement as to whether the consortium had enough money set aside to plug the gap in the pension funds.
However, the major jewel in the crown of the deal is the company's property portfolio. It had been debated for some time in the business press that the consortium would look to sell and lease back the firm's real estate, which was valued at up to £9 billion. One of the problems for the consortium, however, was the presence of minority shareholder Robert Tchenguiz, who holds around 5% of Sainsbury's. It is understood that Tchenguiz, a property magnate, had suggested this very tactic to the Sainsbury's board, negating one of the central tenets of the consortium's bid. In a further twist, a Qatari property investment group, Three Delta, has purchased a 14% stake fuelling speculation that they will join forces with Tchenguiz and try to force the family's hand on the property portfolio.
Then we come back to one of the consortium's "key preconditions", which was the need for 75% of shareholders to agree to the bid. This caveat was inserted by the consortium's bankers to ensure the bid's financing. While it is understood that the board felt confident that over 50% would have supported a deal, they were not confident about reaching a 75% ceiling.
Business as usual
The collapse of the bid led to a fall in the Sainsbury's share price (to 526p) once the news broke, as shareholders reacted to losing out on a substantial payout. However, this fall comes within a consistent trend of increased growth and profits. Indeed, Sainsbury's has just reported a ninth consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales growth.
So why was there such interest in Sainsbury's at the time? The smoking gun for the consortium's bid was the sale of 2.1% of David Sainsbury's shares in February this year. However, private equity has had its eyes on the firm since 2004, when the firm was pushed into third place in the UK supermarket sector behind Tesco and ASDA. At that time private equity groups again made an unsuccessful bid in the region of 300–400p. But since then, under the guidance of CEO Justin King, the firm has made a good recovery and is clearly still an attractive takeover target. In announcing the collapse of the latest bid, the board said it "believes that Sainsbury's has great potential and it is committed to completing its Making Sainsbury's Great Again recovery plan."
What does the future hold?
According to Denison, "the question now is how deep the pockets of the investment plan are". The board has to show that it can keep the recovery on track and maintain the share price around the bid level. Equally, the veto that the family effectively has on any future sale will be sure to alarm some shareholders worried about the effect this will have on future share price. However, Denison believes that there were other major shareholders who were keen to back the family's position – it would undoubtedly have been harder for the family to take their hardline position on their own.
The family, therefore, has a delicate balancing act to play in the near future – looking after its wellbeing and continuing to support that of the company's. The question remains, are these roles mutually exclusive?


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Uber has begun reviewing its operations in India after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) launched a probe to investigate whether the company had broken US laws by bribing foreign officials.
The scrutiny of the India unit as part of a review by Uber, for which it has hired law firm O‘Melveny & Myers LLP, will focus also on suspicious activity in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Korea, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday. The company has notified US authorities of the payments made by its staff to Indonesian police officers.
The incident also forced the government to bring in measures to regulate the app-based ride-hailing industry, a step that made it mandatory for these firms to verify drivers on the platform.
The victim woman has filed a lawsuit in a US court against Uber, Kalanick and Alexander of violating her for a second time by “unlawfully” obtaining and sharing her medical records.
India is the last large remaining market in Asia that Uber has a significant presence, having lost to local player Didi Chuxing in China and merged its operations with Russia’s Yandex.
Interestingly, SoftBank, which has backed both Didi and Ola, is holding talks with Uber to invest substantially, a move that could potentially spark a merger between the two players in India. Both players are wary of a merger, unsure of which company would remain on top in the country.
Last month Uber named former Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi as its new CEO after several months of hunt to replace Kalanick.


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No businesses want to face that again, but if there is no choice, they hope the govt can take a targeted approach
by S BIRRUNTHA / pic by TMR FILE
MALAYSIAN businesses are well-prepared to handle another surge in Covid-19 cases on a timely basis, as they have learned enough lessons from the past outbreaks.
SME Association of Malaysia national VP Chin Chee Seong said when the Covid-19 pandemic spread rapidly in early 2020, most businesses had to respond quickly without any plans.
However, the situation is different now that businesses have had the opportunity to learn from the impact of Covid-19 and multiple lockdowns, they will be able to react in more agile and decisive ways when there is a crisis.
“Businesses are well-prepared to face another spike in daily cases. There’s no doubt about that. We have gone through all the experiences, as well as lessons and it has definitely made us stronger.
“Of course, no businesses want to face that again, but if there is no choice, we hope the government can take a targeted approach instead of announcing a blanket lockdown again.
“In fact, we feel that businesses cannot afford to face another blanket lockdown, especially those in the retail, as well as food and beverage sector.
If there is another lockdown, they must resort to closing their business once and for all,” he told The Malaysian Reserve (TMR).
Chin noted that the government should take a targeted approach such as implementing lockdown in a specific building that is infected with Covid-19, instead of locking the entire district or area.
He also emphasised that as the country moves into the next phase, it is now time for businesses to explore and take advantage of the opportunities emerging in the recovery.
He added that this includes conducting an “after-action review” to collect data and insights on the lessons gained from the pandemic and use them to increase business value today and build strategic resilience for the future.
Chin said businesses that are currently taking these steps will be able to handle the upcoming crises more effectively, as well as restore their security and stability.
“We don’t feel that businesses need to be worried about facing another challenge because we are starting to see enhanced confidence among consumers.
“We do hope that the cases will continue to decrease and eventually come to an end. Even if it does not end, we will learn to live with it and find ways to move forward,” he noted.
To date, Malaysia has opened up almost all economic sectors under the recovery phase, as the government accelerated the pace of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.
In line with that, Malaysia also eased the travel restrictions for fully vaccinated residents, after reaching its target of full inoculation for 90% of the adult population.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has previously noted that the Covid-19 lockdown move is no longer feasible as it can have more negative implications, including on the mental health of Malaysians.
Meanwhile, Putra Business School Assoc Prof Dr Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff opined those businesses still need to have emergency funds to prepare for any eventualities not just on increasing cases of Covid-19.
He said apart from the pandemic, the world is also facing a global supply chain issue as many countries have started to open their economies and caused massive demand for products and services worldwide.
“So, I think local businesses and small and medium enterprises need to make sure they have ample supply for their materials from various sources, enough workers.
“This will enable them to tap into their cash reserves if there is a sudden increase of material costs due to possible interruption of the supply chain,” he told TMR.
As for the spike in Covid-19 cases, Ahmed Razman said businesses can still survive if the cases spike again provided that the government did not close down the sector or implement Movement Control Order (MCO).
He believes the government would not decide to implement another MCO or blanket lockdown again, as the country is currently in the endemic phase.
“Therefore, any increase in cases will not be as severe as before due to 95% of adults and 45% of those aged 12 to 17 years old are already fully vaccinated.
“The hospitals also can take in serious cases as there are enough beds at the moment. So, there will be no major impact to the businesses if the cases increase again,” he said.


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Legendary Motorola RAZR preparing to revive in the form of a folding smartphone
According to WSJ, under the Motorola brand RAZR plan to release a new smartphone. Moreover, as reported, the new RAZR will be a folding smartphone and may be introduced in February; the price of the device, according to the publication, will be about 1, 500 dollars.
According to WSJ, the upcoming RAZR will be exclusive to the US Verizon operator. It is indicated that the device is currently at the testing stage. In this case, any technical details about the new items have not yet been disclosed. It is only noted that it will be a folding smartphone - with a folding screen (like the Samsung prototype presented at the end of last year). According to WSJ, Lenovo expects to produce more than 200, 000 new RAZRs - which, in principle, is a lot for the premium model.
The first smartphone of the original RAZR series was introduced by Motorola in the summer of 2004. As you know, the company sold about 130 million RAZR V3 phones. An earlier attempt was made to revive the RAZR - in the form of Android-smartphones in 2011-2012.Do you like the article?
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WhatsApp users in Brazil can now make payments to local merchants and send money to friends and contacts “without leaving their chat”... More
Samsung Pay will begin rolling out across Brazil on July 19, Samsung has confirmed, making it the first market in South America to introduce the mobile payment service. It will be supported by both MasterCard and Visa as well as Banco do Brasil, Brasil Pré-Pagos, Caixa, Porto Seguro, and Santander. More
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• Find a list of all the companies and other organisations that have been featured in NFCW in our directory.


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Suzuki India expands BSVI product portfolio with V-Strom 650XT ABS launch
PTI, Nov 23, 2020, 4:25 PM IST
Mumbai: Suzuki Motorcycle India on Monday expanded its BS-VI product portfolio with the launch of V-Strom 650XT ABS (anti-lock braking system) with BS-VI engine, priced at Rs 8.84 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
Displayed for the first time at the Auto Expo in Greater Noida earlier this year, the rollout of the V-Strom 650XT ABS has become the first BS6 compliant big bike from the company’s portfolio, Suzuki Motor India Private Limited (SMIPL) said in a release.
“V-Strom has made its own following in India. The ultimate adventure tourer has proved its mettle in the highway touring capabilities while exploring different terrains. This is our first BS6 compliant big bike and we are confident that this cleaner and greener motorcycle will continue to win people’s hearts with its performance and manoeuvrability as it hit the Indian roads,” said Koichiro Hirao, Managing Director, Suzuki Motorcycle India.
The middleweight adventure bike comes with a secure and stress-free start with the push of a button and anti-lock braking system, offering a controlled grip on the road and trustworthy braking performance in extreme conditions, according to the release.
The BSVI-compliant V-Strom 650 XT ABS will be available at all Suzuki big bikes dealerships across India, it added.
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MINNEAPOLIS — Yoplait is going back to basics with its latest yogurt.
Yoplait Simplait yogurt is crafted from a combination of six ingredients, including cultured pasteurized grade A milk, fruit, sugar, corn starch, natural flavor and a vegetable or fruit juice or extract or pectin.
"Consumers are continually looking for new and different ways to enjoy the refreshing goodness of yogurt," Yoplait Simplait associate marketing manager Rachel Ringel said. "There has been an increasing demand for simpler ingredient lists, but one thing remains constant — taste is the most important."
Yoplait Simplait will be available nationwide this month in four flavors — strawberry, vanilla, peach and blackberry — and has a suggested retail price of 90 cents per single-serve cup.


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Morteza Matkan is an architect whose specific interest is the impact of light and lighting technologies on human health and behaviour in the built environment. Matkan is preparing for a PhD and during his research he spotted a gap in the market for a consumer product that made use of smart lighting technology to boost the mood, health and wellbeing of those who spend a lot of time indoors. Matkan subsequently teamed up with fellow architect Dr Sadegh Panahi Azar to develop the product, and last year they set up IllumniAI Tech to bring it to market.
Much has been written about the impact of light on how people feel, particularly during the winter when light levels are low, and the company’s first product is a smart “lamp” designed to replicate the continuum of natural light changes. It can also act as a mobile phone charger and can connect users to immersive outdoor scenes and guided meditations accessed via an app.
"We wanted our lamp to be accessible to as many people as possible. The pricing has not been finalised, but it will be between €150 and €200."
“Our lamp utilises next-generation smart lighting technology to mimic the natural light-dark cycle, bringing you the right light at the right time of day, just as nature intended,” Matkan says. “By replicating the biological benefits of natural light, our lamp will support the human circadian rhythm and help the user to maintain a healthy sleep and wake cycle and to enhance their mood and concentration. In developed societies, people spend up to 90 per cent of their time indoors, so having access to changing daylight plays an important role in human physical and psychological wellbeing, particularly if the view contains natural elements.”
During his research, Matkan found that many people’s only access to daylight and a view of the outdoors was through windows or skylights. He also discovered that daylight is no longer the main source of light in indoor environments. “It seemed to me there was a solid basis to develop a device that could artificially provide the stimulus of natural light combined with outside views at an affordable price,” he says. “The few virtual technologies on the market that replicate ‘real life’ windows and views are more commercial and prohibitively expensive for individuals. We wanted our lamp to be accessible to as many people as possible. The pricing has not been finalised, but it will be between €150 and €200.”
One of the main differentiating features of illuminAi’s technology is that it fits in with the user rather than the other way around. This contrasts with most existing human-centric lighting which takes a one-size-fits-all approach. The machine learning element within the illuminAi software means it “learns” from user feedback and adjusts to suit individual use, as people’s sleep and working patterns may vary significantly.
“The lamp is suitable for all, but we believe our main market will be corporate employees who spend most of their time indoors and whose mood, productivity and overall health are influenced by the quality of their space and its lighting,” Matkan says. “Connecting to the outside world also helps with reducing stress, encouraging relaxation and restoring depleted attention capacity.”
IlluminAi Tech is based at Nova, UCD’s innovation centre for new ventures, and the in-house-designed illuminAi Smart Lamp will be assembled in Ireland.
The founders are aiming to go global with their product, which has received commercialisation and competitive start backing from Enterprise Ireland. The founders are now looking to raise around €2 million in seed funding. IlluminAi’s technology has been in development for four years and investment to date has been about €300,000. The product will be launched in Q3 of this year and market entry will be through a crowdfunding campaign designed to raise around €250,000, create awareness of the product and get it into consumers’ hands as quickly as possible.
Source:The Irish Times
Image Source: Nick Bradshaw


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Customers in some markets are demanding the right to opt out of smart meter deployments. Their concerns involve radio frequency (RF) emissions and potential privacy breaches. Whether these...
Understanding the New Energy Consumer
Unlocking value in the evolving energy marketplace.
Energy providers are awash in change. As the industry continues responding to concerns over climate change, the safety and security of supply, and volatile energy prices, disruptive technologies are supporting the development of new value-added products and services—and creating opportunities and challenges for utilities and energy providers. From electric vehicles and distributed generation to home area networks, advances in the cost and availability of these technologies are accelerating consumer interest and adoption.
The evolving energy marketplace includes in-home consumer products and technologies and demand-side management programs, as well as related support services. As value-added products and services proliferate, so will utilities’ competition from traditional and non-traditional players. Indeed, the introduction of the beyond-the-meter marketplace will challenge utilities to rethink their customer relationships beyond business-as-usual activities. 1 In other words, it has become more important than ever for utilities and energy providers to develop a deeper understanding of consumer needs and preferences and to effectively address them.
Building on Understanding Consumer Preferences in Energy Efficiency , a research report published in 2010, 2 Accenture recently conducted a second large-scale study. In Revealing the Values of the New Energy Consumer , Accenture surveyed more than 10,000 residential consumers across 18 geographies. Combined with industry analysis, the study’s findings yield insights about how energy providers should focus and where they should invest as the market evolves beyond the meter.
Evolving Energy Market
In non-competitive and competitive markets alike, utilities face the realities of an evolving energy marketplace. In non-competitive markets, non-traditional players, such as retailers and other home service providers, are entering the beyond-the-meter market with products and services designed to complement regulated utilities’ commodity services. Home energy management services are just one example. Meanwhile, in competitive markets, energy providers must improve customer retention and stickiness in commodity sales and also must compete against other energy providers and diverse new entrants, such as product retailers and telecommunications companies, around value-added products and services. Accenture’s study confirms that these non-traditional competitors might pose a threat and that energy consumers are consumers first; they will seek out the providers that offer the most value. In Accenture’s survey, nearly three-quarters of consumers (73 percent) indicated that they would consider buying electricity, energy efficiency products, and related services from providers other than their electricity suppliers. More than half (59 percent) would consider buying from retailers, 49 percent from cable or phone companies, and 45 percent from online sites, such as Amazon and Google. These findings underscore the potential for other companies to enter the market and insert themselves between a utility and its consumers.The research also suggests that utilities and energy providers have valuable opportunities to further strengthen customer relationships. Most consumers say they would still go to their utilities or energy


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The long-term saga of forcibly transferring Apple to USB-C has ended. The European Union authorities have officially adopted the necessary amendments to their Directives, and now, from 2024, all electronics that can be charged will have to be equipped with a USB-C port if their manufacturer wants to trade in the EU countries. Later, a power standard will also be approved, which will allow owners of smartphones, tablets, headphones and other electronics to be charged from accessories of any other analogue at the proper speed.
In fact, the law is not aimed at Apple in any way, but aims to reduce the amount of electronic waste and make life easier for users. However, it just so happened that Apple will feel the demand for itself, since the Cupertino company still uses its own Lightning standard. In discussions about the adoption of this law, the Americans insisted that such a decision would be an obstacle to innovation, but officials were not impressed by this argument. Analysts expect Apple to switch to USB-C in the iPhone a year earlier, in 2023, but there may be a very extreme option – the corporation will abandon the charging connector altogether (however, the likelihood of this development is extremely small). And how do you feel about a single charger standard?
© Artur Luchkin. mobile phone
Sourced from 9to5mac.com


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BitMex’s 100x Group has awarded its last Bitcoin development grant of the year. The company has awarded a grant valued at $40,000 to Calvin Kim for his Bitcoin scalability solution, Utreexo — a project originally created by Tadge Dryja from the MIT Digital Currency Initiative.
Bitcoin’s protocol checks every proposed transaction to make sure that the sender has enough coins to complete the request. All unspent Bitcoin (BTC) is saved in what is known as UTXO, or Unspent Transaction Outputs. While the entire Bitcoin blockchain is currently around 300 GB, the UTXO is only 4 GB. MIT researchers have claimed that as the network grows, this may one day present a bottleneck of its own.
With Utreexo, the person holding the funds specified in a particular transaction maintains the full UTXO data themself, proving that the funds exist. When they want to spend coins from their wallet, they present proof of their validity in the form of a hash, which takes up a lot less space than the original data. This, in turn, makes the protocol more scalable without sacrificing security, according to the project’s researchers.
This solution is reminiscent of the “fast catch up” concept recently proposed by Algorand. It is worth noting, however, that Bitcoin purists tend to be skeptical of any scalability solutions that seek to replace full nodes with hashes or zero-knowledge proofs.


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Jack Ma Retires On Monday, Will Dedicated Time to Philanthropy and Education
Update [9 September, 2018]: Jack Ma isn't leaving the company abruptly on Monday. Instead, he'll prepare his succession plan and will work closely with his replacement for 'considerable amount of time'.
Alibaba founder and Chairman, Jack Ma has announced that he will retire on Monday. Jack Ma's retirement will end an era in the China's biggest e-commerce mammoth. Ma informed about his decision to the New York Times. He will, however, continue to be a board member of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
Jack Ma has had very humble beginnings. He was born on September 10, 1964 and began studying English at a very young age. He had to ride about 70 miles on his bicycle to work as a tourist guide for English speaking people.
Jack Ma's interviews about how he was rejected from various companies and roles are quite famous, and inspiring. In 1995, Ma went to the United States and heard about the Internet for the very first time.
He was fascinated and decided to make a career on the Internet.
Ma, along with his friends in the United States began building websites for clients. In 1999, he returned back to Hangzhou, China to start Alibaba - a B2B (business-to-business) marketplace in his apartment along with his 18 friends.
Alibaba was quick to attract $25 million foreign venture capital; as e-commerce was booming in 1999. As Alibaba gained traction, Taobao and eBay offered to acquire the company.
Ma, however, rejected all acquisition offers and instead decided to get an investment of about $1 billion from Yahoo's Jerry Yang.
In September 2014, Alibaba raised about $25 billion in Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange - the largest in US stock exchange history. This made Alibaba the most valuable technology company in the world.
Jack Ma will turn 54 on Monday, the day he chose to retire. Ma calls it 'the beginning of a new era'. He said he's got a lot to learn from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates about philanthropy.
He even considered going back to 'teaching', which he thinks he can do much better than being the CEO of Alibaba.
Jack Ma is already worth over $40 billion, making him the richest man in China and among the top few richest people in the world. Ma said that he's been planning for his retirement for the last 10 years and will soon reveal his plans.
Here's Jack Ma's one of the very inspiring interviews with Bill Gates-


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3 emerging Jacksonville companies trading in public markets
Often times, a newly public company enters the spotlight with a stock sale underwritten by major investment banks. For example, Jacksonville-based RailAmerica Inc. filed plans in July for an initial public offering of up to $300 million in stock.
But other times, a company quietly begins trading publicly without an IPO, and you only notice when it starts issuing news releases that hit the financial wires. At least three Jacksonville companies have fallen into this category by issuing a series of releases about their businesses that recently caught my eye. They don't trade on the major stock exchanges and are all priced at less than 40 cents a share. But if you enjoy following the progress of local businesses, it's fun to have more public companies on the radar.
The three companies are:
- FNDS3000 Corp., a financial transaction processing company. It trades in the over-the-counter market under the ticker symbol "FDTC."
- Quasar Aerospace Industries Inc., a holding company for several aviation-related businesses. It trades on the pink sheets under the symbol "QASP."
- Liquor Group Wholesale Inc., which trades under the symbol "LIQR" in the over-the-counter market. Its name pretty much tells you what the company does.
"We handle just about every aspect of alcohol," said President and Chief Executive C.J. Eiras.
Liquor Group Wholesale distributes more than 1,800 spirits and wine products in 32 states. The company was basically spun off from a larger company called Liquor Group Holdings, and the Liquor Group Wholesale operation represents 8 percent of the larger company, Eiras said. The wholesale business began publicly trading in October 2008 and was created to give the company a public vehicle to facilitate acquisitions, he said.
Liquor Group Wholesale reported sales of $480,704 in the nine months ended May 31. It recently announced because of a tax credit, it will report a net profit of $729,828, or about 7 cents a share, for the fiscal year ended in August.
The company has its corporate headquarters and a warehouse in Jacksonville, but only employs five people locally.
FNDS3000 was formed in January 2006. Its corporate office is in Jacksonville, but CEO John Hancock is based in Atlanta.
The company is focused on the development of prepaid card programs in foreign countries, including cards for people who lack access to conventional banking services. It recently announced the successful completion of a pilot test of its program in the South African market, and it's hoping to expand its service in the coming weeks.
With the company still in its development phase, FNDS3000 reported revenue of $51,791 in the nine months ended May 31 and a net loss from continuing operations of $2.7 million.
Quasar Aerospace operates a flight training school called Atlantic Aviation at Herlong Airport on Jacksonville's Westside. CEO Dean Bradley said the company has "substantial expansion plans" for its operations at Herlong. But the company has even bigger plans in the works. The company announced last month that it has four acquisitions in the pipeline of aerospace and aviation businesses that will add about $150 million to Quasar's revenue in 2010.
Bradley said last week that funding for those deals is confidential and he can't yet give more details.
Quasar is not yet filing quarterly financial reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Lynch gets a bump
Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. Chairman and CEO Peter Lynch received a slight pay increase in the fiscal year that ended June 24, according to the company's proxy statement filed last week.
Lynch's salary for fiscal 2009 was about $1.297 million, up from $1.25 million in fiscal 2008.
His total compensation package, including estimated value of stock and option awards, rose from about $5.6 million in fiscal 2008 to $5.9 million in fiscal 2009.
Jacksonville-based Winn-Dixie has scheduled its annual stockholders' meeting for Nov. 4.


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New in Management (page 98 of 114)
Oct 02, 2008 | 10:35 AM CDT
Students and recent graduates are urged to participate in the Accent on Design exhibit.
Oct 01, 2008 | 03:51 PM CDT
Latitudes International expands and changes its name to Maesa Home, the new home fragrance division of Maesa Group, offering turnkey product solutions for brands and retailers.
Sep 30, 2008 | 03:30 PM CDT
State regulators given broad authority to evaluate and ban potentially harmful industrial chemicals; state department charged with developing program to identify chemicals of concern and analyze alternatives by 2011.
Sep 29, 2008 | 11:53 AM CDT
Organic Monitor reports growing resonance of ethical sourcing and social responsibility; report evaluates the business potential of fair-trade cosmetics and ingredients.
Sep 29, 2008 | 11:08 AM CDT
Adrienne Kramer joins the professional cosmetics brand.
Sep 23, 2008 | 10:34 AM CDT
William Ludlum joins the fragrance company.
Sep 23, 2008 | 09:58 AM CDT
Global supplier of cosmetics packaging names new senior management team.
Sep 23, 2008 | 09:40 AM CDT
Ruth St. Usaire and Danielle North join the Schülke team.
Sep 23, 2008 | 09:36 AM CDT
Stefani Thionnet transfers from working as the executive vice president of MD Skincare by Dr. Dennis Gross.
Sep 19, 2008 | 11:12 AM CDT
Enrique Puig, managing director of Barcelona-based Antonio Puig Perfumes, died Thursday, Sept. 18 in Seville, Spain, of an apparent heart attack.


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|By Marketwired .||
|April 15, 2014 02:00 AM EDT||
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM and COPENHAGEN, DENMARK -- (Marketwired) -- 04/15/14 --
- Q1 Meta revenues grow at 116% year-on-year, driving Group increase of 29%
- International expansion, hotels and mobile channels underpin growth
- Investment in R&D drives innovative launches, beginning with 'Friend Compass'
- Group readies push into South America, Asia
Momondo Group Ltd, the travel search pioneer (formerly Cheapflights Media Ltd), today reports its Q1 results for the three months to March 31 2014.
- Strong traffic across website portfolio with visits reaching over 19m per month
- Total revenue increases by over 29% to £ 14.5m
- Q1 EBITDA up 32% to £ 3.2m
- Benefits of investment in momondo product coming through with revenue up by 101% year-on-year, to £ 7m
- International business (markets outside the UK) now accounts for 84% of revenues -- up from 74% at the end of Q1 2013
Momondo Group total revenues in Q1 increased by more than 29% to £ 14.5 million, driven by product innovation, an international marketing push and a successful product launch pipeline, which has seen the roll-out of a series of new apps, mobile-optimised services and country-specific sites in Europe and Asia-Pacific over the past 12 months.
The London-based group, which bought and invested in Copenhagen-based travel meta technology company momondo in 2011, has seen explosive international growth, with more than 84% of group revenues now generated outside the UK -- and a global footprint taking in more than 20 languages.
Overseas growth and expansion has been the engine of transformational change, driving international revenue up 163% in Q1 2014 -- with stand-out performances in the Nordics (83%), Russia (138%), Western Europe (142%) and the US (125%). Further underpinning this, new dedicated site launches in the last 12 months have included Ireland, Poland, Ukraine, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The Cheapflights portfolio also performed well, maintaining strong profitability to pay down the debt used to purchase and invest in momondo. Traffic across the sites -- taking in the core markets of UK, US, Canada and Australia -- continues to grow. Cheapflights.com.au showed the fastest year-on-year growth in visits (+36%) establishing itself as a top ten travel website in Australia in 2013 -- mirroring the performance of its Cheapflights.co.uk business that is already established in the UK top ten. Cheapflights is also a top 20 player in both Canada and the US -- and the largest European online travel player in the United States.
The Group is looking to further build on this success by developing its international footprint in the coming year, targeting expansion in South America and Asia, alongside further build-out of its European business.
As well as expanding its geographical presence, the Group continues to invest in innovative new applications and channels. Today, 40% of Cheapflights' visits come from mobile devices -- with traffic from this channel growing at 40% per annum.
momondo has also expanded its mobile offer, with its flight search product available as an app for iOS, Android and now Blackberry; recording 3.5 million downloads across the portfolio. Its core flights app now includes the pioneering Friend Compass, which synchronises with users' Facebook accounts to enable them to find the cheapest flights to wherever their friends live around the world. This is complemented by momondo places, a free city guide app that enables users to discover the places locals would recommend with a colour wheel that allows users to tailor a guide according to the way they feel -- whether social; fancy; cultural; family; local or romantic.
The company expects to roll out a series of new mobile applications and big-data driven search products as part of its "Tech & Visiona Hub" product pipeline over the next 6-12 months, building on the success of its award-winning Flight Insight tool, which enables users to look behind the factors that influence airline ticket pricing.
To support its continued growth the company has already expanded its headcount by 34% over the past year from 150 to 200 across its main operations in London, Copenhagen and Boston. Looking forward, the Group expects at least a double-digit percentage increase in headcount in the areas of marketing and software development in the coming year to support the roll out of new products and services and underpin continued growth.
Hugo Burge, CEO of Momondo Group, said: "2013 was a tipping point for the Group and the strong numbers for the first quarter of this year reflect our focus on investing for long-term growth. Consistent with this, our momondo unit has shown triple-digit growth year-on-year -- with our established Cheapflights business continuing to deliver impressive returns.
"We will build on this strong first quarter by continuing to develop genuinely insightful, innovative travel search tools that deliver clear consumer benefits -- as well as investing heavily in international growth. We're looking forward to revealing further innovative eye-opening products this year and expanding into new markets; sharing our expertise to help people find cheap flights and best-fit travel options."
Alan Martin, CFO of Momondo Group, added: "We have spent the last two years investing in and building our momondo unit; this is now bearing fruit in both product and revenue terms, with successful diversification into new areas such as hotels. Strong cash generation has allowed us to support this investment at the same time as paying down our debt. Profitability also continues to improve, with Q1 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation 32% ahead of the prior year at £ 3.2 million.
"These results herald the next phase of our growth strategy as we look to further build market share in Europe, Asia and further afield. This is a dynamic business, built on innovation -- but we operate in a fast-moving sector and remain committed to driving expansion; investing for growth in 2014 and beyond."
Momondo Group: "Let's Open our World."
Momondo Group is an online travel media and technology company that is driven by the belief that an open world is a better world. The portfolio of sites now attracts over 17.5 million visits a month -- plus 7 million travel newsletter subscribers -- via its Cheapflights (http://www.cheapflights.co.uk/) and momondo (www.momondo.com) brands.
Skygate began the sourcing of complex air-travel data in 1992, whilst Cheapflights pioneered the online comparison of flight deals for users in 1996 and momondo launched meta-search in the Nordic countries from 2006.
The Group has offices in London, Copenhagen, Boston and Toronto, with a consumer base across more than 29 core international markets and engaged travellers, explorers and holiday-makers all over the world.
Corporate website and further information about Momondo Group: www.momondogroup.com
For further information please contact:
T: 020 3727 1000
Global Head of PR, Momondo Group
DD: 020 3219 7553
Mobile: +44 (0) 77 4025 1147
Scott Jenson leads a project called The Physical Web within the Chrome team at Google. Project members are working to take the scalability and openness of the web and use it to talk to the exponentially exploding range of smart devices. Nearly every company today working on the IoT comes up with the same basic solution: use my server and you'll be fine. But if we really believe there will be trillions of these devices, that just can't scale. We need a system that is open a scalable and by using ...
Nov. 25, 2014 08:30 PM EST Reads: 859
The Internet of Things is tied together with a thin strand that is known as time. Coincidentally, at the core of nearly all data analytics is a timestamp. When working with time series data there are a few core principles that everyone should consider, especially across datasets where time is the common boundary. In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, Jim Scott, Director of Enterprise Strategy & Architecture at MapR Technologies, discussed single-value, geo-spatial, and log time series dat...
Nov. 25, 2014 08:30 PM EST Reads: 906
High-performing enterprise Software Quality Assurance (SQA) teams validate systems that are ready for use - getting most actively involved as components integrate and form complete systems. These teams catch and report on defects, making sure the customer gets the best software possible. SQA teams have leveraged automation and virtualization to execute more thorough testing in less time - bringing Dev and Ops together, ensuring production readiness. Does the emergence of DevOps mean the end of E...
Nov. 25, 2014 08:30 PM EST Reads: 727
"For the past 4 years we have been working mainly to export. For the last 3 or 4 years the main market was Russia. In the past year we have been working to expand our footprint in Europe and the United States," explained Andris Gailitis, CEO of DEAC, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at Cloud Expo, held Nov 4–6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Nov. 25, 2014 08:15 PM EST Reads: 841
P2P RTC will impact the landscape of communications, shifting from traditional telephony style communications models to OTT (Over-The-Top) cloud assisted & PaaS (Platform as a Service) communication services. The P2P shift will impact many areas of our lives, from mobile communication, human interactive web services, RTC and telephony infrastructure, user federation, security and privacy implications, business costs, and scalability. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Robin Raymond, Chief Architect...
Nov. 25, 2014 08:00 PM EST Reads: 1,296
The Domain Name Service (DNS) is one of the most important components in networking infrastructure, enabling users and services to access applications by translating URLs (names) into IP addresses (numbers). Because every icon and URL and all embedded content on a website requires a DNS lookup loading complex sites necessitates hundreds of DNS queries. In addition, as more internet-enabled ‘Things' get connected, people will rely on DNS to name and find their fridges, toasters and toilets. Acco...
Nov. 25, 2014 07:00 PM EST Reads: 1,084
The term culture has had a polarizing effect among DevOps supporters. Some propose that culture change is critical for success with DevOps, but are remiss to define culture. Some talk about a DevOps culture but then reference activities that could lead to culture change and there are those that talk about culture change as a set of behaviors that need to be adopted by those in IT. There is no question that businesses successful in adopting a DevOps mindset have seen departmental culture change, ...
Nov. 25, 2014 07:00 PM EST Reads: 746
"Verizon offers public cloud, virtual private cloud as well as private cloud on-premises - many different alternatives. Verizon's deep knowledge in applications and the fact that we are responsible for applications that make call outs to other systems. Those systems and those resources may not be in Verizon Cloud, we understand at the end of the day it's going to be federated," explained Anne Plese, Senior Consultant, Cloud Product Marketing at Verizon Enterprise, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at...
Nov. 25, 2014 07:00 PM EST Reads: 1,164
"Cloud consumption is something we envision at Solgenia. That is trying to let the cloud spread to the user as a consumption, as utility computing. We want to allow the people to just pay for what they use, not a subscription model," explained Ermanno Bonifazi, CEO & Founder of Solgenia, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at Cloud Expo, held Nov 4–6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Nov. 25, 2014 06:15 PM EST Reads: 769
Enthusiasm for the Internet of Things has reached an all-time high. In 2013 alone, venture capitalists spent more than $1 billion dollars investing in the IoT space. With "smart" appliances and devices, IoT covers wearable smart devices, cloud services to hardware companies. Nest, a Google company, detects temperatures inside homes and automatically adjusts it by tracking its user's habit. These technologies are quickly developing and with it come challenges such as bridging infrastructure gaps,...
Nov. 25, 2014 04:30 PM EST Reads: 1,160
SYS-CON Media announced that Centrify, a provider of unified identity management across cloud, mobile and data center environments that delivers single sign-on (SSO) for users and a simplified identity infrastructure for IT, has launched an ad campaign on Cloud Computing Journal. The ads focus on security: how an organization can successfully control privilege for all of the organization’s identities to mitigate identity-related risk without slowing down the business, and how Centrify provides ...
Nov. 24, 2014 11:00 PM EST Reads: 1,108
SAP is delivering break-through innovation combined with fantastic user experience powered by the market-leading in-memory technology, SAP HANA. In his General Session at 15th Cloud Expo, Thorsten Leiduck, VP ISVs & Digital Commerce, SAP, discussed how SAP and partners provide cloud and hybrid cloud solutions as well as real-time Big Data offerings that help companies of all sizes and industries run better. SAP launched an application challenge to award the most innovative SAP HANA and SAP HANA...
Nov. 24, 2014 09:30 PM EST Reads: 1,103
"SAP had made a big transition into the cloud as we believe it has significant value for our customers, drives innovation and is easy to consume. When you look at the SAP portfolio, SAP HANA is the underlying platform and it powers all of our platforms and all of our analytics," explained Thorsten Leiduck, VP ISVs & Digital Commerce at SAP, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 15th Cloud Expo, held Nov 4-6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Nov. 24, 2014 09:15 PM EST Reads: 1,109
"We help companies that are using a lot of Software as a Service. We help companies manage and gain visibility into what people are using inside the company and decide to secure them or use standards to lock down or to embrace the adoption of SaaS inside the company," explained Scott Kriz, Co-founder and CEO of Bitium, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 15th Cloud Expo, held Nov 4–6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Nov. 24, 2014 07:15 PM EST Reads: 1,045
Explosive growth in connected devices. Enormous amounts of data for collection and analysis. Critical use of data for split-second decision making and actionable information. All three are factors in making the Internet of Things a reality. Yet, any one factor would have an IT organization pondering its infrastructure strategy. How should your organization enhance its IT framework to enable an Internet of Things implementation? In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, James Kirkland, Chief Ar...
Nov. 24, 2014 07:00 PM EST Reads: 1,559


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In an astonishing leap into the future, Sendit, the brainchild of Iconic Hearts, has announced that a whopping 1 million Gen Alpha users have embraced the future by cloning themselves using artificial intelligence. This cutting-edge feature propels the social networking app into uncharted territories, revolutionizing how we perceive and interact with each other in the digital age.
Imagine having a personal envoy in the digital world, an AI that knows your likes, dislikes, and quirks intimately. Sendit has made this a reality, offering a glimpse into a future where getting to know someone doesn’t require a deep dive into their social media history but a simple conversation with their AI counterpart. This innovation is making waves by making our interactions with friends, coworkers, and acquaintances more meaningful and less awkward.
Ever been stumped on what gift to get a friend for their birthday? Or pondered what book to recommend to a family member? Your AI clone on Sendit can take the guesswork out of these dilemmas, offering personalized suggestions that reflect the true preferences of the person you’re trying to know better. It’s like having a personal ambassador at your fingertips, ready to share your story and preferences with the world.
Hunter Rice, the visionary founder & CEO of Iconic Hearts, is excited about this new frontier. “Our goal is to transform how our community connects and understands each other,” Rice explains. He envisions a future where individual AIs, rather than generic search engines, become the go-to source for personal queries, ensuring a more authentic and controlled exchange of information.
But fear not, this isn’t about replacing human interaction with AI. On the contrary, Sendit ensures that users maintain full control over their digital clones, allowing them to verify, edit, and even delete responses, ensuring a synergy between technology and personal agency.
The ripple effect of Sendit’s AI has even caught the attention of celebrities like Bryce Hall, Anna Shumate, and Skai Jackson, who have harnessed the platform to enhance their connection with fans. Amidst the hustle and bustle of fame, these digital clones offer a way to maintain a genuine, personal touch with their communities.
Behind this revolutionary app is Iconic Hearts, Inc., a company that’s rapidly becoming synonymous with Gen Alpha’s digital landscape. With a portfolio including Noteit, Starmatch, and Locksmith, Iconic Hearts is on a mission to curate the ultimate digital rendezvous for friendship, laughter, secrets, and celebrations. Boasting over 1.4 million reviews on the App Store and more than 5 million downloads on Google Play, Sendit is not just leading the charge; it’s redefining the essence of social networking for the next generation.
Situated in Culver City, California, and founded in 2019 by Hunter Rice, Iconic Hearts is steadfast in its mission to anchor every facet of Gen Alpha’s social interactions. With Sendit’s latest achievement, it’s clear that the future of social networking isn’t just about connecting; it’s about understanding each other on a whole new level.


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CFO of the Year Winner - Roland Burns, Comstock Resources Inc.
Roland Burns was a 30-year-old CPA working for Arthur Andersen when one of his clients, a small oil and gas company, offered him a chance to become CFO.
“The company was very small when I joined it and offered me the opportunity to learn how to be a CFO as the company grew,” Burns says.
Once the young executive joined Comstock Resources, Inc., the learning curve proved to be steep.
“In the early days … we had very little resources and were too small to be able to attract capital from Wall Street,” Burns says. “I had to convince vendors to be patient to give us time to complete transactions that would allow us to pay our bills. By being very open with our vendors and keeping in constant communication about our situation, we were given time for our situation to improve.”
Two decades later, Burns’ observations reflect those of a CFO and a company that have grown up together: “Overall the most significant accomplishment of my professional career is helping build Comstock from a very small company with little capital 20 years ago into a $2 billion enterprise that is well-respected in our industry and on Wall Street.”
Some of that respect may very well come from what Burns terms the best advice he ever received: “Never burn a bridge and always treat people well. We have tried to follow that advice at Comstock and it has paid off ...”
Burns cites the creation of a spin-off partnership as one of the most rewarding projects in his two decades as CFO of Comstock. He said the new company grew out of a joint venture between Comstock and a company that operated in the Gulf of Mexico.
Burns says Comstock’s partners were great at finding oil and gas but always lacked capital and adequate size to operate in the Gulf.
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Teleflex today reported an increase in revenue, but sharply lower profits in the third quarter.
The company said third-quarter net income fell to $21.7 million, or 52 cents a share, from $43.7 million, or $1.07 a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. The reduced profit resulted from costs related to an acquisition and a loss from the company’s orthopedics business.
Excluding one-time items, Teleflex said it earned $1.04 a share in the quarter. Revenue rose 1.5 percent, to $368.1 million, from $362.7 million a year earlier. Excluding the effect of foreign currency fluctuations, third-quarter 2012 revenue rose 6.2 percent from the prior-year period.
"Teleflex's strong 6.2 percent constant currency revenue growth reflects increased volumes on a global basis, the positive contribution from recently introduced products to the marketplace and our ability to raise the average selling price of our products by over 1 percent," Teleflex chairman, president and CEO Benson Smith said in a statement.
OEM and development services’ third-quarter 2012 net revenue was $36.9 million, an increase of 11 percent from the prior-year period. Excluding the impact of foreign currency fluctuations, third-quarter 2012 revenue increased 13 percent, compared with the prior-year period. The company said the increase in revenue was attributable to higher volume, higher capacity as a result of plant expansions, new products and price increases.
“With nine months of 2012 and the completion of the LMA acquisition behind us, we are updating our guidance ranges for constant currency revenue growth and adjusted earnings per share,” Smith added. “We now expect to generate constant currency revenue growth of between 6 percent and 7 percent and adjusted earnings per share of between $4.35 and $4.40. We believe we are building momentum for a solid finish to 2012 and into 2013 and beyond."


text: Latest News Transitions Optical Announces Winners of the 2022 Transitions Innovation Awards By Staff Wednesday, May 24, 2023 12:27 AM PINELLAS PARK, Fla.—Transitions Optical, Inc. has named the winners for its annual Transitions Innovation Awards program, which recognizes both individuals and organizations who have shown the highest level of commitment to innovating their business over the past year. “The commitment and remarkable achievements from the 2022 Transitions Innovation Award winners have not only earned them well-deserved recognition, but have also helped elevate the industry,” said Drew Smith, senior director, North America channels, Transitions Optical. “We are privileged to have them as award winners and champions of our brand, and we congratulate them on their outstanding success.”Transitions Healthy Sight AmbassadorThe Transitions Healthy Sight Ambassador award celebrates an individual who best showcases their dedication to being an influential healthy sight advocate by embodying one or more of Transitions’ values of quality, education, service, and innovation.● Winner: Camelia Hammiche, optician and district manager – Lunetterie New Look Eyewear (Montréal, Quebec)Finalists: Véronique Desrochers, optician and owner – Optique Cloutier (Châteauguay, Quebec) and Michael Frayler, founder and CEO – Austin Ryan Optika (New Paltz and Pleasant Valley, N.Y.)U.S. Eyecare Practice of the YearThe U.S. Eyecare Practice of the Year title recognizes independent eyecare practices in the U.S. that are actively promoting healthy sight to their patients and within their local communities, and who have demonstrated excellence in supporting Transitions’ values.● Winner: Sterling Optical U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Croix and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands)Finalists: Pathway Eye (Athens, Decatur, Huntsville, Madison, and Rogersville, Alabama, and Chattanooga, and Collegedale, Tennessee) and Webb Eyecare (Alliance, Bridgeport, and Scottsbluff, Nebraska)Canadian Eyecare Practice of the YearThe Canada Eyecare Practice of the Year title recognizes independent eyecare practices in Canada that are actively promoting healthy sight to their patients and within their local communities, and who have demonstrated excellence in supporting Transitions’ values.● Winner: LOPTICIEN.CA (Laval, Quebec)Finalists: Optique Cloutier (Châteauguay, Quebec) and Sun City Optics (Kamloops, British Columbia)U.S. Retailer of the YearThe U.S. Retailer of the Year title is awarded to a retailer in the United States for actively supporting Transitions’ values and demonstrating a commitment to enhancing the vision of their customers and communities.● Winner: National Vision, Inc.Finalists: Henry Ford OptimEyes and Target OpticalCanada Retailer of the YearThe Canada Retailer of the Year title is awarded to a retailer in Canada for activelysupporting Transitions’ values and demonstrating a commitment to enhancing the vision of their customers and communities.● Winner: Lunetterie New Look EyewearFinalists: Costco Optical and Vogue OpticalChannel Partner of the YearChannel Partner of the Year is awarded to an optical laboratory, Managed Vision Care company, lens manufacturer or buying group that are actively promoting healthy sight to their customers and within their local communities; and have demonstrated excellence in supporting Transitions' values.● Winner: The Optical Retail GroupFinalist: Cherry Optical LabBest in TrainingThe Best in Training award celebrates an individual, company or educator that has shown creativity in developing or offering training and education opportunities that include dispensing photochromics.● Winner: Harvey & Lewis OpticiansFinalist: Pathway EyeIndustry professionals interested in learning more about the award categories can visit TransitionsPRO.com/Awards.


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Latest Electric arcs Stories
LenoRF, a world-leading electrical accessory manufacturer, has recently announced its new collection of lightning protectors. (PRWEB) May 30, 2014 LenoRF,
Famous arrester online supplier, RFcnn.com, has released its latest gas tube surge arrester collection. (PRWEB) December 13, 2013 Famous arrester online
We have expanded Q/QRL series and it now includes three times as many ratings and values that offer higher voltage and more capacitance.
Using an experimental apparatus reminiscent of a classic Frankenstein movie, French researchers have coaxed laboratory-generated lightning into striking the same place, not just twice, but over and over.
Researchers at the University of Canterbury, in New Zealand, have developed a new, lower-voltage method of generating extra-long, lightning-like electrical arcs.
GIVAT SHMUEL, Israel, September 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- - CimatronE 9.0 Includes Enhancements That Enable Faster Creation of Electrodes and Facilitate Last Minute Changes, as Well as New Analysis Tools Cimatron Limited (Nasdaq:CIMT), a leading provider of integrated CAD/CAM solutions for mold, tool and die makers as well as manufacturers of discrete parts, released details of new enhancements for electrode design and manufacturing available in CimatronE 9.0. CimatronE...
A mercury arc valve converts high-voltage or high-current alternating current into direct current. It is an electrical rectifier often used to provide power for industrial motors, electric railways, streetcars, and electric locomotives. Peter Cooper Hewitt, in 1902, invented the mercury arc rectifier. It was further developed by researchers throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Prior to solid-state devices, mercury arc rectifiers were one of the more efficient rectifiers. Silicon diode and...
- Stoppage; cessation (of labor).
- A standing still or idling (of mills, factories, etc.).


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Coinbase Global Inc. shares slumped about 3% in post-market trading after the biggest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange cautioned that trading volume will decline in the first quarter.
The disappointment comes even after the company reported revenue jumped to $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with a $2 billion average estimate by analysts.
The closely-watched metric of monthly transacting users was 11.4 million, beating the average analyst estimate of 9.8 million and up from 7.4 million in the third quarter.
“We believe that retail monthly transacting users and total trading volume will be lower” in first quarter compared with the fourth quarter, Coinbase wrote in an investor letter. The exchange has already seen a decline in crypto asset volatility and prices so far in the current quarter.
Coinbase increased its own corporate crypto investment by nearly $350 million “in the last few weeks,” Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas said on the earnings conference call, without specifying the coins it bought.
Coinbase’s shares have mirrored the moves of Bitcoin since the company went public last April. The stock has dropped about 30% this year amid a retreat in cryptocurrency prices. Coinbase slumped to around $172.02 in after-hours trading.
For the full year, Coinbase expects average transaction revenue per user to fall to “pre-2021 levels.” It forecasts a wide range of annual average retail monthly transacting users of 5 to 15 million.
“It’s too early to call,” Haas said in an interview. “We continue to not see any pricing pressure on our core retail products,” reiterating the company’s earlier message that there will be fee compression “over the long term.”
Investors have been concerned about a potential crypto winter, which could dampen enthusiasm from retail traders. Crypto has been caught in a risk-off trade due to macroeconomic conditions such as concerns about inflation, interest rate hikes and geopolitical instability, but “we are very experienced in our ability to execute through volatility,” Haas said.
Most of the company’s revenue comes from trading, especially by individuals. Coinbase has been diversifying revenue streams through subscriptions and services such as custody. It’s preparing to launch an NFT marketplace and entered a partnership to allow users to make purchases through Mastercard Inc. cards. The company is not providing a launch date for the platform yet.
The exchange said that so-called altcoins — tokens other than Bitcoin and Ethereum — made up 68% of trading volume in the fourth quarter, the highest percentage reported.
Coinbase has been laying the groundwork to expand into derivatives. In January, it acquired futures exchange FairX, a regulated entity, in its biggest step yet toward expanding into crypto derivatives. Exchanges outside the U.S. such as Binance and OKEx have the lion’s share of the derivatives market. FTX.US, one of Coinbase’s U.S. competitors, also offers derivatives trading through its acquisition of LedgerX LLC.
Read full story on Bloomberg


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Apple Restores Remaining Developer Services, Offers One Month Credit for Downtime
The company, which has been gradually bringing back various services, said on Saturday it will extend all developer memberships by one month.
“We are pleased to let you know that all our developer program services are now online,” Apple said in an email to developers. “Your patience during this time was sincerely appreciated.”
It apologized to developers who may have seen their work interrupted.
“We understand that the downtime was significant and apologize for any issues it may have caused in your app development,” Apple said. “To help offset this disruption, we are extending the membership of all developer teams by one month.”


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Tandem Bank has reportedly acquired consumer lending platform Oplo.
The strategic acquisition has formed a combined business with £1.2 billion of total assets, £1 billion of funding and 171,000 clients being serviced by a UK-headquartered team of 500 professionals.
Tandem was established back in 2014 as one of the United Kingdom’s first digital banking challengers. Over the years, the firm has undergone several key changes in order to establish a profitable business model. The firm acquired Harrods Bank back in 2018, closing down its credit card business in 2020 and repositioning itself as a “green” lender with the acquisition of Allium Lending Group a few years back.
The acquisition of Manchester’s Oplo will aim to widen Tandem’s product and services offering across an extensive range of consumer lending solutions such as first and second charge mortgages, home improvement loans, auto finance as well as personal lending.
Oplo was founded in 2009, offering credit to UK borrowers who are underserved by traditional high street banks. The company has offered £915 million in loans to clients since inception.
Under this particular deal, Tandem’s Chief Executive Susie Aliker will be responsible for leading the combined business entity, which will be supported by Oplo founder, Alex Mollart, as deputy CEO .
Ex- Credit Suisse executive Aliker was appointed as CEO by Tandem investor Pollen Street Capital in May 2021, taking over the role from company founder Ricky Knox.
“The two businesses are a great fit, bringing together a complementary range of lending and savings products, with a shared common purposet. With our flexible digital platform, new enlarged scale and strong profitability, Tandem is fantastically well positioned to become one of the UK’s leading digital banks.”
As covered last year, Mambu had announced that Tandem Bank went live on its software-as-a-service (SaaS) banking platform. Mambu reported nearly a year after signing, the implementation was officially finalized, followed by a four-month beta in late 2020 and a full rollout in early February 2021.
Tandem chose to move to Mambu to achieve the following improvements:
- Provide the digital-only bank’s demographic a more curated customer experience
- Create more agile operations when launching new products
- Helps it stay true to its green goals as all work done with Mambu was done virtually, without travel or environmental impact