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Marketing company RingRevenue has rased $4 million in venture capital financing, bringing its total financing to $7.5 million. Los Angeles-based GRP Partners and Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Rincon Venture Partners led the latest round, which will be used to bolster its customer development and support teams. Santa Barbara, Calif.-based RingRevenue develops call performance marketing technology, as well as tracking and analytics technology for advertising campaigns.
With record mobile campaign growth and third quarter call volume up more than 500 percent compared with the first quarter of this year, RingRevenue, Inc. (www.ringrevenue.com), the leader in call performance marketing, today announced the closing of a $4 million round of funding led by GRP Partners and Rincon Venture Partners, bringing the company’s total financing to $7.5 million. With more than 25,000 publishers and hundreds of call-based campaigns running for advertisers across its partner networks, RingRevenue’s technology has already driven millions in sales for advertisers and millions in commissions for publishers.
“For advertisers selling big-ticket items or more consultative products and services, pay-per-call has proven to be the best-converting channel”
“When we made our first investment in RingRevenue, we did so because of the experienced team and the size of the market opportunity they are going after,” said Mark Suster, partner at GRP Partners. “They’ve proven demand, are hitting their numbers and are poised for growth. This investment round was an easy decision, and GRP wanted to own it.”
This financing will allow RingRevenue to accelerate its growth and expansion. In addition to ensuring its platform provides all the latest advancements in voice, mobile and ad management technology, RingRevenue is also planning to rapidly expand its customer development and support teams. The company also plans to expand its presence outside of the U.S.
Having partnered with most of the leading online performance marketing networks, including Commission Junction, LinkShare, the Google Affiliate Network and ShareASale, RingRevenue is leading the way in creating a new category of performance marketing that focuses on delivering high-value calls to advertisers. Call performance marketing extends the tracking, measurement and accountability of online performance marketing to those transactions that occur over the phone. With RingRevenue’s call performance marketing platform, advertisers can manage direct call-based campaigns and leverage their existing online programs to drive high-value calls to their call centers – all without any changes to their call center or to the caller’s experience. Advertisers also benefit from increased distribution as publishers can promote advertiser offers anywhere, including online, offline and on mobile devices, and be compensated for the quality phone leads they drive.
“We’re excited about the opportunity this financing brings. It will allow us to more rapidly grow our partnerships and our team so we can deliver more value to more advertisers and publishers,” said Jason Spievak, CEO of RingRevenue. “Advertising is changing, and performance marketing is where it’s headed. Advertisers want to buy customers, not ads.” By tapping the power of the phone, RingRevenue’s call performance marketing platform is helping advertisers like Dish Network, eFax and ServiceMagic capture and convert more high-value customers. “For advertisers selling big-ticket items or more consultative products and services, pay-per-call has proven to be the best-converting channel,” Spievak continued. “Calls convert at rates of 30 to 50 percent, and the average order value of a sale that closes over the phone vs. online is about 2x.”
“RingRevenue has been leading the way in a very profitable advertising category spanning both online and offline media. While call tracking isn’t new, their technology is. And their approach to partnering with established performance marketing networks and agencies is unique,” said John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners. RingRevenue’s partners work with more than 10,000 advertisers, including many Fortune 500 brands as well as local businesses, and hundreds of thousands of publishers.
“With calls converting at such high rates and mobile devices in the hands of nearly everyone, we see call performance marketing as the new CPM,” Greathouse said.
To learn more about call performance marketing or career opportunities at RingRevenue, visit www.ringrevenue.com.
About RingRevenue, Inc.
RingRevenue improves every marketing campaign with better quality leads, higher conversions and increased ROI. By tapping the power of the phone, RingRevenue’s patent-pending call performance marketing platform captures and converts more high-value customers. RingRevenue’s comprehensive tracking and analytics consistently increase revenues from mobile, print and other “offline” media while also improving the performance of online campaigns such as search, email and display. RingRevenue powers many of the leading performance marketing networks and agencies. To learn more about RingRevenue or to request a demo, please visit ringrevenue.com or call 866-943-6426.
About GRP Partners
GRP Partners (www.grpvc.com) is a venture capital firm focused on investing in financial technology, digital content and distribution, and online business consumer services. Founded in 1996, the firm has invested approximately $1 billion on behalf of more than 150 limited partners in North America and Europe. With professionals in Los Angeles and London, GRP Partners has a global perspective on serving its portfolio companies and seeking investment opportunities across all stages of investment.
About Rincon Venture Partners
Rincon Venture Partners (www.rinconvp.com) aligns itself with extraordinary entrepreneurs and supports them as they build world-class businesses. Based in Santa Barbara, CA, Rincon invests in early stage software- and web-based businesses in Southern California with proven revenue models and capital-efficient operating plans.


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An Israeli car firm which aimed to replace petrol stations with electric battery switching stations has called it a day after just a year in operation.
Better Place pioneered the idea of switching batteries to counter the problems with electric cars. It had a network of charging points and battery switch stations in Denmark and Israel, which it says served more than 1,500 members.
Founded by software developer Shai Agassi, Better Place reportedly had more than $800 million pumped into the business and had teamed up with carmaker Renault on an electric car with an easily “switchable” battery.
But over the weekend the Israeli firm announced it has applied to be liquidated after failing to raise extra funds and struggling with “insufficient” revenues over its first year of operating commercially.
Dan Cohen, Better Place’s Chief Executive Officer said it was a “difficult day” for all involved: “From the start, Better Place was a breakthrough for the infrastructure of the electric car industry… Israel was the first place in which an electrical car could travel without limit.”
He added: “Unfortunately, after a year’s commercial operation, it was clear to us that despite many satisfied customers, the wider public take up would not be sufficient and that the support from the car producers was not forthcoming.”

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Rimac 1,900 HP Concept Two electric hypercar
Rimac has unveiled the Concept Two, a hypercar EV with an off-the-wall crazy 1,914 horsepower. That’s about 500 more than pundits were expecting, and all those ponies will accelerate it to 60 mph in 1.85 seconds and to a top speed of 258 mph, Rimac says. Yes, those figures seem carefully calculated to outdo Tesla’s upcoming next-generation Roadster, which is supposed to hit 60 mph in 1.9 seconds and top out at 250 mph. As a dose of perspective, 1,914 horsepower is 400 more than the Bugatti Chiron, currently one of the world’s fastest supercars.
If you get tired of regular cornering, the Concept Two also rocks a full “drifting mode,” letting you switch between the axles and enable your inner rally driver. At the same time, it’ll make sure that you don’t get into trouble thanks to advanced, intelligent traction control.
It’s not just about the pure horsepower. The Concept Two will have Level 4 self-driving capability, according to Rimac founder Mate Rimac, though we’ll believe that when we see it (there are currently zero road cars with that capability). To aid in that, it has eight cameras, a lidar, six radars, and twelve ultrasonic sensors.


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Ikea Responds To Evolving Shopping Patterns By Bringing Smaller Stores To More City Centers
Some Ikea shoppers may soon be able to shop the Swedish furniture giant closer to home as the company invests billions in opening stores in urban centers.
Over the next year and a half, Ikea plans to transition 30%-40% of its existing big-box suburban locations to distribution centers for online orders, while opening new, smaller stores to accommodate in-person shopping. The move — which The Wall Street Journal reports is expected to cost about $3.16B — is intended to align with evolving shopping habits.
Repurposing existing stores for fulfillment purposes has led to reduced shipping times and costs in countries like Finland, where the practice has already been implemented, per the WSJ. The move could quell some of the recent criticism by Ikea shoppers complaining of price hikes and out-of-stock items. In late December, Ikea said it raised the price of its flat-pack furniture by up to 50% due to supply chain challenges, according to the Guardian.
Tolga Öncü, retail-operations manager for Ingka Holding BV, the largest owner and operator of Ikea stores, declined to tell the WSJ how many new stores the company will open; however, he said urban centers in London, Stockholm and Toronto are among the planned locations.
Ikea has experimented with smaller format stores before, opening its first-ever scaled-back urban store on Tottenham Court Road in London in 2018. A year later, it opened its first U.S. small concept store in Manhattan.


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THE Royal Mail delivery office will remain closed until tomorrow after positive tests for coronavirus were recorded amongst staff.
The office on Pitt Street closed on Monday to undergo a deep clean.
Since then, postal deliveries in the S70, S71, S72 and S75 postcode areas has been delayed.
Special delivery and tracked items have been prioritised for delivery but may still be delayed.
A spokesperson for Royal Mail said: “Royal Mail takes the health and safety of its colleagues, its customers and the local communities in which we operate very seriously.
“Following further positive tests for coronavirus at the Barnsley Delivery office, we have taken the decision to close the office until Friday as a precautionary measure.
“During this time we will carry out an additional intense, enhanced clean of the building. We are working to keep disruption to mail deliveries to a minimum as we address the concerns of our colleagues. As part of this process, we are diverting mail to another nearby unit.”


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In 2021 alone, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF is up almost 10%, making it harder to find stocks that are priced fairly. In times like these, I turn to the healthcare sector. Pharmaceutical companies can experience periods where growth is flat or even negative because of short-term pipeline issues or drug competition, to name a few causes, encouraging a lot of investors to sell their stock. The list of pharma companies that are inexpensive buys today includes GlaxoSmithKline (GSK -0.56%) and Sanofi (SNY 0.19%). Still trading off their all-time highs, here's which stock might make the better buy for 2021.
U.K.-based pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline currently sits nearly 50% off the all-time highs it set way back in 1999. Over its 300 year history , the company has been behind some of the most recognized consumer brands, including Sensodyne, AquaFresh, Polident, and Biotene. Now, with plans to spin off its consumer health segment, the company is looking to invest in its drugs pipeline, lower costs, and reinvigorate sales across its current set of products.
GlaxoSmithKline's pipeline looks underwhelming at the moment. In fact, the situation is so dire that the company has indicated that the dividend will be cut sometime in 2022 to divert capital to grow the pipeline.
The COVID-19 pandemic led the company to halt many of its clinical trials to divert resources toward creating a possible vaccine, which it's currently working on one with fellow pharma giant, Sanofi. In July, the U.S. government agreed to pay $2.1 billion, split between the two companies, for the development and production of their joint vaccine, which is currently in phase 3 trials.
Management has been looking to drive growth in its vaccine business even beyond COVID-19, submitting vaccines to both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) for consideration. GlaxoSmithKline is seeking approval to create a variety of vaccines to treat diseases like respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), HIV, and malaria. Outside of vaccines, the company's current pipeline has opportunity in treatments for certain cancers and autoimmune disorders, such as endometrial cancer and myeloma.
The company has also done a pretty decent job of growing revenue, even at a time when hospitals have been postponing a lot of surgeries and treatments due to the pandemic, which has led to lower demand for GlaxoSmithKline's procedure-related medications such as Zejula, a chemotherapy drug. The company's revenue estimate for the 2021 fiscal year is just shy of $47 billion, and analysts currently expect that number to grow to $49.23 billion for the next fiscal year.
GlaxoSmithKline is certainly in a state of transition, and is still trying to figure out a clear direction to take the company. The company has committed to investing heavily in research and development to bring new drugs and products to market. Its vaccine business brought in $9.87 billion in sales in 2020, accounting for about 20% of revenue. Due to the pandemic, management only expects non-COVID-19 vaccine revenue for 2021 to see flat to low-single-digit growth. As of now, GlaxoSmithKline is in a period of transition in its business and investors might want a bit more clarity before buying shares.
French pharmaceutical company Sanofi is poised for some great growth over the next few years. In its first-quarter 2021 earnings announcement on April 28, the company showed expansion across its various business lines.
The company's sales in Q1 were up 2.4% year over year, and earnings per share (EPS) rose by a tremendous 15% to reach 1.61 euros this quarter. One of its most successful products, Dupixent, saw sales rise by 46% year over year to 1.047 billion euros in just the first quarter of 2021. The company also boasts a very successful vaccine business. Its pertussis, polio, and haemophilus influenza (PPH) vaccine business grew by 15% year over year to 915 million euros in sales in the first quarter alone, providing a boost to the top-line. Remember that Sanofi is also in a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline to produce a COVID-19 vaccine, which is currently in phase 3 clinical trials. Hoping to make it available for wide use by the end of 2021, the companies already have a 60 million dose order from the United Kingdom. Investors will most likely only get to know the financial result from this venture in Q1 of 2022.
For 2021, Sanofi expects operating margin to be north of 30%, and high single-digit growth for EPS. The business looks to be positioned for some very good revenue expansion over the next few years. With its current products on the market as well as over 20 new patents being filed to expand the uses of some of its existing drugs, this is a great business to own for the long run.
Which is the better buy?
Both GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi are trading at very deep discounts, with forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios of 14.3 and 9.3, respectively. Considering the forward growth rates of each company, though, I would have to go with Sanofi as the better buy. Sanofi is projected to grow revenue at 5.76% while GlaxoSmithKline is expected to only grow revenue by 3.92%, with some lingering uncertainties about the future of the business.
Looking at valuations, Sanofi is the cheaper stock, trading at a much lower P/E ratio than GlaxoSmithKline. While GlaxoSmithKline boasts a higher dividend yield at 5.4% than Sanofi's 3.6%, Sanofi is still well above the S&P 500's average of under 2%. As mentioned, management has indicated that the dividend will be cut to reallocate capital to develop a greater pipeline after the spinoff of its consumer health segment.
Sanofi's current set of products and pipeline are at a much more advanced stage to position the company for greater growth over the next few years. GlaxoSmithKline is in a transitional stage, and as an investor, I would like a lot more clarity on the long-term vision of its businesses before building up a position. Both stocks offer possible upside over the long term, but I think that Sanofi is the better buy for 2021.


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Champs Sports will be creating unique shop-in-shops, dedicated strictly for NHL/Reebok men’s and women’s jerseys, apparel and headwear, focusing on the sports lifestyle category.
"The NHL is proud to partner with Champs Sports and Reebok in creating a progressive retail experience that serves our strong active young demographic,” says Jim Haskins, NHL group vice president of consumer products licensing. "This initiative celebrates the NHL brand with product that showcases the fashion and authenticity unique to the NHL fan.”
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Walmart (NYSE:WMT) may have found its stride in e-commerce -- and its namesake stores have been bringing in higher profits, too -- but its Sam's Club warehouse chain just hasn't been keeping up.
During a period when niche leader Costco (NASDAQ:COST) has been delivering steady membership and sales growth, Sam's Club has struggled, to the extent that the company announced earlier this year that it would close 63 underperforming stores.
In an effort to remedy what ails it, executives have decided they'll need to make major changes to Sam's Club's in-store shopping experience. And to field-test those, the company has been building a prototype store that will function as a sort of retail laboratory.
"There won't be another club like it," wrote Executive Vice President Jamie Iannone in a blog post. "It will be a mobile-first shopping experience powered by the new Sam's Club Now app. At its core, Sam's Club Now will be a technology lab that doubles as a live, retail club."
That club, which was announced in June, is about to launch, and it offers a number of insights into what the chain's current plans are. There's no guarantee any of these ideas will make it to your local Sam's Club, of course, but the concepts the company is testing show how it's leaders are thinking.
Making shopping better
The core bargain between warehouse clubs and their members has always been a no-frills arrangement -- management spends less on staff, merchandising, and non-essentials; customers get cheaper prices.
Sam's Club is looking to revise that standard a bit. In its Dallas-area test store, it will debut a couple of major changes to the model. The first aims to address a central problem with warehouse shopping -- customers' difficulty getting help when they need it.
"Our associates are key to bringing this experience to life, which is why we're introducing a new role called the Member Host," wrote Iannone. "Think of these associates as the concierge of the club. We'll empower them with new technology that will allow them to serve members better and faster."
In addition, Sam's Club also will test upgrades to its Scan & Go technology, which allows customers to use the chain's app to bypass the checkout line. More than 90% of members who've tried the technology have used it again, Iannone wrote. Among the features being added are:
- Smart shopping lists: The app will track your past purchase data, and compile a shopping list for users that they can easily modify.
- Wayfinding and navigation: The app will offer interactive maps to guide shoppers to the items they wish to purchase.
- Augmented reality: The AR display will offer an array of enhancements to the shopping experience, from useful ones such as showing how an item was sourced to silly ones like making your shopping cart look like a pirate ship.
- One-hour Club Pickup: Members will be able to place their orders through the app and then pick them up at the store an hour later.
Other technology will be deployed for testing at the site as well, including electronic shelf labels that will instantly update prices, and a network of cameras that will help the company track inventory.
It's a work in progress
Sam's Club doesn't have all the answers, but it's clearly trying to improve the customer experience -- something that has always been a weakness for warehouse clubs in general. Technology may offer it a lower-cost way to add some frills to the bare-bones model, which could (probably after many tweaks) give it an edge as it tries to make up some ground on Costco.
While it's impossible to guess if any of these changes will help it entice a significant number of consumers away from its rival, at the very least, some of them should help Sam's Club with member retention and satisfaction, and drive an increase in visits.


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Amazon PR has just sent out invites for a press conference next month in Santa Monica. Historically, the online retailer has held press conferences in New York for various Kindle-related launches. The event will take place at Barker Hangar, a 35,000 square foot venue that claims to be the largest stage on the Westside. Could the shift in locale and time zone signal a change in topic away from the Kindle? It’s unclear but we’ll find out in a couple of weeks.
Amazon is widely expected to launch new Kindle ereaders and the successor to the Kindle Fire. The new ereaders are likely going to be front-lit, a feature we spied in person back in April. Amazon will likely launch a new Kindle Fire at the event, too.
The Kindle Fire has been Amazon’s top-selling item since it’s late 2011 launch. But since then, new players have hit the scene including the more capable Google Nexus 7 which is available for the same price as the Kindle Fire. The Apple rumor mill also states that a new, lower-priced iPad mini could launch yet this year, providing even more competition for Amazon.
At this point, if Amazon is to get ahead of Google and Apple, the new Kindle Fires would need something special — and perhaps the location of the press conference hints that Amazon is teaming up with Hollywood.


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Gartner's list of the most comprehensive lists of the trends that CIOs and other senior executives should be paying attention to this year includes "people-centric" technologies and "smart spaces." Here's what's on tap for 2020.
The researchers at Gartner launched another gathering explaining to executives how to deal with the politics, economics, and tech on the way.
Panelists discussed cloud consolidation, security, and AI and the future of jobs, but what stood out to me was a new emphasis on "real-time computing."
The X1 Yoga comes across as the tablet version of the X1 Carbon. It is the top-performing business convertible I've seen yet.
Dell's XPS 13 2-in-1 offers a lot of power in a small footprint with a 13.4-inch display, but while Ice Lake offered superior graphics it is not as strong for high-end CPU performance.
Lenovo's laptop for execs is an improvement over past iterations, but not a radical one.
At EmTech, an MIT professor explains about quantum computing, and why quantum supremacy will be the 'Kitty Hawk" event.
Imagine if Russia, China, and Iran started to compete to see who could best disrupt the 2020 Election.
Zero Mass Water has a solar panel that can bring clean water to communities that don't have it.
Deepfake technology got a lot of attention, but I was more interested in the future directions for AI research.
The Galaxy Note 10+ has a lot of new features, including a terrific screen, great camera system, and some nifty new S Pen functions.
At Fortune Brainstorm Tech, panelists discussed ways of using data to boost farm production, increase sustainability, and personalize medicine, as well as how to use data accurately and fairly.
Intel finally announced its first 10nm processors. Here are the five things I found most interesting
At Fortune Brainstorm Tech, a number of cybersecurity organizations and the head of the FBI's cyber unit discussed threats from China, Russia and others, including private industry.
Is "Web 3.0" destined to be built on blockchain and other distributed technologies? And will that replace today's tech giants?
At Fortune Brainstorm Tech, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf focused on the benefits of 5G for operators and industry.
Walmart, Stitch Fix, and Postmates offer a different view of how commerce is evolving.
New Intel CEO Robert Swan talked about why 10nm was late and how Intel is evolving.
Thinking back on the moonshot of Apollo 11, let's remember the NASA project manager who came on after the disastrous, fatal fire of Apollo 1.


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As the season of breakups continues, the dissolution of yet another partnership was announced today: Roberto Cavalli and creative director Peter Dundas are parting ways.
Dundas has been with Cavalli just over a year and a half. His appointment was announced in March 2015, and according to a statement today, the spring 2017 collection presented in Milan in September was his last.
"I want to thank Roberto Cavalli and the Group for this valuable experience and I wish them the best in their future endeavors," Dundas said in a statement, WWD reports. "I am especially grateful to the ateliers and the teams who participated in this adventure."
Before taking the helm at Cavalli last year, Dundas was the artistic director of Emilio Pucci, where he started in 2008. This was not his first stint at Cavalli, however—he held the position of head designer from 2002 to 2005, working directly with founder Roberto Cavalli.
"On behalf of Roberto Cavalli and our shareholders, we thank Peter Dundas for his contribution to the brand, and we wish him well for his future," the label's CEO, Gian Giacomo Ferraris, stated. "As Roberto Cavalli goes through a period of transformation, the design team will carry on and the appointment of a new creative director will be made in due course."
Let the next round of fashion musical chairs commence.


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Retailers are facing challenging times. As we emerge from national lockdowns and brick-and-mortar retail opens up, many people are still reluctant to visit stores for fear of contracting COVID-19. On top of that, the United States is now officially in a recession. How can retailers not only survive, but thrive in the coming months?
Digitization – With physical locations now carrying a risk of disease, online shopping has become more important than ever. Retailers need to offer the same great experience online that shoppers have come to expect inside a store. They also need the infrastructure to back it up, which is why buy-online-pickup-in-store and last-mile delivery have suddenly become much more important for retailers to get right, and consequently have become a huge opportunity for a startup to dominate.
Supply Chain Improvements – The shutdowns caused by the pandemic have opened the eyes of retailers to just how fragile their supply chains can really be. Historically, innovation in supply chain has been focused on a single goal: how can we make the supply chain more efficient to cut costs? Now, retailers are investing in improving the resiliency and flexibility of the supply chain so they aren’t cut off at the knees next time a disruptive event occurs.
Re-imagining The In-Store Experience – While the online experience is becoming more important, the majority of purchases are still being made in a physical store. So how do retailers entice customers back in? Some stores are already implementing mask policies, plastic shields, and hastily taped signs encouraging customers to stay six feet apart. But these are stop-gap measures. In the longer term, retailers will need to figure out how to make customers comfortable coming into a store, whether that means self-cleaning interactive displays, making reservations for shopping so customers can zip in and out, or hyper-personalized shopping experiences customers don’t want to miss. Only time will tell how retail will emerge from this pandemic, but it has undoubtedly changed forever.


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The video game industry racked up impressive sales in 2008, pulling in more than $21 billion in sales in the United States alone. That makes for a similarly impressive marketing tab.
According to researchers at the Nielsen Company and its Monitor-Plus advertising monitoring service, the industry spent an astounding $823 million promoting its video game wares to consumers. Hey, you gotta spend money to make money, right? Surely we wouldn’t complain.
Nielsen and business intelligence and research firm EEDAR announced alongside their findings their intentions to “provide detailed analysis of historical marketing campaigns in the video game industry” as part of a long term agreement.
That means we’ll probably have solid data on whether the industry will spend the better part of a billion dollars on marketing and promotion this year, something we’d be surprised to see in the lagging economy.
That $823 million may seem like a lot, but it’s less than 4% of the industry’s total revenue for 2008. And considering how much Rockstar Games and Valve spent last year promoting Grand Theft Auto IV and Left 4 Dead, we’re wondering how the rest managed to get by.


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Subscription revenue management platform Chargebee pledged $5 billion in free processing this week to support early-stage startups. Qualifying companies will get access to Chargebee’s subscription revenue management platform and services at no cost until they have earned $100,000 in revenue, doubling the company’s previous limit through their Launch Program. With this pledge, Chargebee hopes to help 50,000 early stage startups over the next two years process $5 billion in recurring revenue.
“The post-covid economy has opened up possibilities for a new breed of startups. Traditionally ‘non-scalable’ businesses like learning, fitness, health, and more break down geographic and market barriers by moving to a digital subscription-based business model. This fund will allow these innovative startups to build and scale their revenue without impacting their current cash flow,” said Krish Subramanian, co-founder and CEO of Chargebee, in the company’s March 16 announcement.
Omar Nawaz, chief product officer, also commented on the subscription revenue management platform’s commitment to supporting early stage startups to transition to the subscription model.
“The first $100K is the most difficult phase in a startup’s journey, as it struggles to identify the right value metrics and product-market fit. This pledge gives businesses the ability to use Chargebee’s capabilities to experiment with pricing, rethink packaging, and scale revenue operations in this critical discovery phase of their business,” Nawaz said.
This new pledge builds on Chargebee’s success with their Launch Program. Since 2016, more than 10,000 early stage startups have used the Launch Program to use Chargebee’s revenue management platform for free for their first $50,000 in revenue. Cocoon, a “pandemic-ready” social and learning club for families, has been a part of Chargebee’s Launch Program.
“For many startups, it’s difficult to spend a lot on technology up-front. Chargebee’s Launch Program plan allowed us to test our billing and subscription management workflows in a risk-free proposition. Providing that for startups speaks a lot about Chargebee’s commitment to growing the ecosystem and offering founders the ability to experiment and grow,” said Karl Chong, Cocoon CEO.
Chargebee started its subscription revenue management platform business in 2011. More than 10,000 SaaS startups use Chargebee’s platform to manage subscriptions, free trials, price modeling, billing, invoicing, payments and revenue recognition. Chargebee integrates with popular applications including Zapier, Mailchimp, Slack Quickbooks, Salesforce, Hubspot, Baremetrics, ChartMogul, Pipedrive, Xero, Intercom and Avalara.
For Chargebee, this is a no brainer. They have already supported 10,000 early stage startups through their Launch Program. By expanding their commitment, they are likely to attract additional startups to try their platform. Not all companies will stay with Chargebee, but once they try it, they are unlikely to leave unless the user experience is flawed. Reaching 50,000 more businesses in two years is quite ambitious for Chargebee, but this will force them to push themselves. That goes without saying Chargebee needs to have the right infrastructure (e.g., human resources, technology, etc.) in place to support such an endeavor. Assuming they do, this is a great way for the subscription revenue management platform to grow their business while assisting others. Win, win.


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By Jean Guerrero /DJ news
El Salvador is giving thousands of coffee producers pesticides, fertilizer
and other tools to combat a coffee-eating fungus known as roya that has
spread to nearly half of the country's plantations, the Salvadoran Coffee
Council said Monday.
The council said between 40% and 50% of the country's coffee-cultivated land
is seeing an unusually aggressive roya attack, and that the government is
subsidizing productivity-boosting products to help offset some of
Roughly 5,000 of the country's 20,000 coffee producers
are expected to benefit. The council said this is the first time the
government has intervened on such a widespread level in the coffee
The Central American country still expects production during the current
2012-2013 season that began Oct. 1 and runs through September of
next year to yield 1.4 million 60-kilogram bags of coffee, up 22% from last
But in 2013-2014, production will likely drop as a result of the fungus,
which causes the leaves of coffee plants to fall, resulting in long-term
damage. The council said it is too early to emit a forecast.
7/24/2013 04:50:01 pm
Coffee got more popularity than tea around the globe and America is the largest consumer of coffee products. The facts that you shared about coffee cultivation are very informative and thank you for sharing it. Good luck and keep sharing.
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Samsung Electronics announced new V-NAND (Vertical NAND) memory solutions to address the latest requirements of data processing and storage systems.
Samsung — at the Samsung Tech Day and this year’s Flash Memory Summit — is showcasing solutions to address data processing challenges centered around the company’s latest V-NAND technology and an array of solid state drives (SSDs).
“Our new V-NAND technologies will offer smarter solutions for greater value by providing high data processing speeds, increased system scalability and ultra-low latency for today’s most demanding cloud-based applications,” said Gyoyoung Jin, head of Memory Business at Samsung Electronics.
The arrival of a 1Tb V-NAND chip next year will enable 2TB of memory in a single V-NAND package by stacking 16 1Tb dies and will represent one of the most important memory advances of the past decade.
Samsung is sampling the industry’s first 16-terabyte (TB) NGSFF SSD, which will improve the memory storage capacity and IOPS of 1U rack servers. Measuring 30.5mm x 110mm x 4.38mm, the Samsung NGSFF SSD provides hyper-scale data center servers with substantially improved space utilization and scaling options.
Utilizing the new NGSFF drive instead of M.2 drives in a 1U server can increase the storage capacity of the system by four times.
Samsung demonstrated a reference server system that delivers 576TB in a 1U rack, using 36 16TB NGSFF SSDs. The 1U reference system can process about 10 million random read IOPS, which triples the IOPS performance of a 1U server equipped with 2.5-inch SSDs. A petabyte capacity can be achieved using only two of the 576TB systems.
Samsung plans to begin mass producing its first NGSFF SSDs in the fourth quarter of this year, while working to standardize the form factor with industry partners.
Samsung also introduced its first Z-SSD product, the SZ985. Z-SSD will be used in data centers and enterprise systems dealing with extremely large, data-intensive tasks such as real-time “big data” analytics and high-performance server caching. Several of its customers will be integrating the Z-SSD in upcoming applications.
The Samsung SZ985 requires 15 microseconds of read latency time which is approximately a seventh of the read latency of an NVMe SSD. At the application level, the use of Samsung’s Z-SSDs can reduce system response time by up to 12 times, compared to using NVMe SSDs.
The latest Z-SSD will play a pivotal role in eliminating storage bottlenecks in the enterprise and in improving the total cost of ownership (TCO).


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The hit of traditional Hanfu among youth turns to big business
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At a tea party in Beijing complete with traditional music, a group of youngsters is celebrating the revival of Hanfu – a uniquely Chinese style of clothing. "Hanfu are ethnic Han Chinese clothing that build on ancient forms but are infused with modern characteristics," said Yun Dou, a Hanfu enthusiast.

(Photos: CGTN)

To some, Hanfu is a symbol of national pride. To others, a form of social capital, and to most, they simply look gorgeous. Most of these outfits are only sold online.

On Taobao, one of China's biggest e-commerce sites, the search for Hanfu has surpassed that of regular shirts. During the November 11 online shopping bonanza, over 25 million U.S. dollars worth of Hanfus were sold in one day.

The Mirror is one of many companies proud to sell them. "Our business really took off in 2018. That was when we feel the scene for traditional clothing had reached a new level," said He Yutao, partner of The Mirror.

The techniques and prices of Hanfu vary greatly. The high-end items are often handmade with refined embroidery. But the majority of Hanfus are mass produced by machine. The Mirror sells theirs for around 300 yuan, or about 43 U.S. dollars a piece.

Today the majority of Hanfu is produced with machines.

Their Hanfus are designed in their Hangzhou office in eastern China. Samples are sewn and embroidered here before they're sent to two nearby clothing factories for mass production.

Their designer finds inspiration from modern art. He tries to innovate patterns without changing their old form. There's no official model for what Hanfu should be like, but a consensus among enthusiasts is that they should not deviate from verified forms from historic artifacts.

A Hanfu designer working on the patterns.

Propelled by the massive buying power of China's new generation, Hanfu will likely become even more popular.


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Firm says its new media screens offer brands 15% average sales uplift
CONVENIENCE store retailers across the country are reaching shoppers in a whole new way following the launch of Hi!Street Digital’s new media screens.
Having undergone a year-long trial period in a number of independent stores, representing a wide range of symbol groups, the screens are now being taken to retailers across Scotland.
Managing partner Jonathan Daniels described the technology as a new and effective way for brands to target convenience shoppers, with big benefits to retailers.
“It’s designed to resonate with a shopper as they enter the store in order to increase their likelihood of purchase,” he said.
“Research shows you have 37 seconds after somebody has seen something for them to put it in their basket. After that the impact diminishes rapidly across two, three, four minutes.
“This is why screens outside of supermarkets are a lot less impactful – because you see the product when you’re 20 minutes away from the fixture.
“Across every brand we’ve worked with, every single one of them has seen an increase in sales, the average increase being 15.3%.”
The screens are installed free of charge to retailers with no monthly fee.
“Our money is made entirely through the brands on the screen,” said Jonathan.
“And we are working with serious brands that convenience retailers will stock. If we’re pushing Branston beans, say, we’ll ask retailers to stock Branston, but they don’t have to de-list Heinz.
“What we won’t do is demand they stock some new organic cat food or something that we’re pushing.
“The retailer has to stock the product, but we’re not going to stitch them up with dreadful products that they’re not going to be able to sell.”
Scott Graham, owner of McLeish in Inverurie, was fitted with a Hi!Street Digitial screen just before Christmas.
“Our store is located on a busy high street and old-school wholesaler posters just don’t offer the stand-out we need to really catch our customers’ attention, particularly on dark evenings,” he said.
“We’ve had fantastic results for promotions we are running on screen and in-store, particularly meal deals. Food to go is such an important part of our offering now, having the additional awareness has definitely contributed to more sales and is one of our biggest successes of the year so far.”


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RizePoint Integrates Bluetooth Thermocouple Instrument With Mobile Auditing App
New Feature Prevents Temperature Tampering
Salt Lake City, UT (RestaurantNews.com) RizePoint, the leading provider of brand, quality, and safety management software, today launched an integration between Mobile Auditor® and the Cooper-Atkins Blue2® Instrument that seamlessly uploads line check temperature data. This new pairing enables food safety teams to gather temperature data reliably—upholding quality standards and mitigating risk. Thermocouple integration is now available to more than 387,000 corporate and third-party auditors who use Mobile Auditor.
“Our food service clients are committed to the safety of raw and prepared foods,” said Frank Maylett, president and CEO of RizePoint. “Thermocouple integration


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Richpeace Garment Technology Improvement Training Course-Dongguan Station Open
On January 15, 2018, Richpeace clothing technology improvement training courses (clothing, embroidery CAD / CAM) - Dongguan Station started, teachers and students from institutions and key technicians from enterprises across the country of more than 50 people attended the training.
Dongguan Station began training
Courses: Clothing, Embroidery CAD / CAM Technology
Location:No. 95,Qiaotou Duan, Guantai Road, Houjie Town, Dongguan City
Teachers and students from institutions and technicians from enterprise all over the country visited Richpeace Exhibition Hall in Dongguan office, learned more about the production equipment of digital garment production from CAD plate making, intelligent cutting, laser cutting, embroidery and automatic sewing.
All of crews were enthusiastic on learning. They all agreed that the advent of the digital era has brought tremendous impact on our study, life and work. Traditional clothing production mode must be adapt to the tremendous changes that will taken happen in the trend of the times. Intelligent clothing production will surely open up a broader outlook for customers and create greater value for the needs of society.


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Amazon stockholders nix warehouse audit
Amazon shareholders have voted against a proposal calling for an independent audit of performing circumstances at the company’s warehouses.
The e-commerce company opposed the proposal and the 14 other people presented Wednesday at its once-a-year shareholders assembly. Citing preliminary voting benefits, the Seattle-centered firm said all the resolutions ended up voted down by a the greater part of shareholders.
Quite a few of them targeted on worker’s rights, and difficulties these types of as even more disclosure of the company’s lobbying and taxes. The resolutions are non binding, but they typically stress company boards to consider motion.
Shareholders also voted to approve payment offers for Amazon’s top rated executives.
VW faces substantial purchase backlog
Executives with German automaker Volkswagen say at the Entire world Financial Discussion board conference in Davos that offer chain complications exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war are easing but they’re dealing with a huge backlog of orders.
Audi board member Hildegard Wortmann suggests the VW-owned brand has its “best level of orders at the instant,” but customers are struggling with wait moments of about 12 months or additional.
Chairman Herbert Diess says Volkswagen is observing a “distinct enhancement through summertime” on the provide of microchips it wants for its vehicles.
Diess claims the automaker has no ideas to pull out of China’s Xinjiang location, exactly where it has for a long time operated a manufacturing unit and showrooms, irrespective of repeated experiences of abuses against ethnic Muslim teams there.
He states that although the firm’s Xinjiang operations are a negligible part of its over-all China organization, “we believe that we would worsen the scenario for the persons doing work in this plant and most importantly for the complete area if we would pull out.”
Diess says being existing in Xinjiang implies VW’s standards are highly regarded and it can management the situation.
Russia to pay its debt in rubles soon after US ban
Russia suggests it will fork out dollar-denominated foreign personal debt in rubles, a shift that is possible to be observed by international investors as a default.
The U.S. Treasury Section permitted a license to expire Wednesday that permitted Russia to hold paying out its debtholders by American financial institutions. The Russian Finance Ministry reported it will pay in rubles and present “the opportunity for subsequent conversion into the initial currency.”
The ministry failed to give a timeframe for that to come about. Russia has not defaulted on its international debts since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, when the Russian Empire collapsed and the Soviet Union was made.
Glencore pays $1.5 billion to close corruption claims
BERLIN — Commodities organization Glencore claims it has achieved offers with authorities in the United States, Britain and Brazil to solve corruption allegations in return for penalties totaling up to $1.5 billion.
The Anglo-Swiss enterprise stated late Tuesday that it will pay $700 million to solve a U.S. bribery probe and a even further $486 million in link with allegations of sector manipulation. Glencore stated that about $166 million in fines agreed with the U.S. authorities will be credited to a parallel investigation by the British isles Severe Fraud Business office, where it has indicated that it will plead responsible to bribery at a hearing subsequent thirty day period.
Individually, the enterprise is paying out $40 million to resolve a bribery probe in Brazil. U.S. officers named the scale of the bribery “staggering.”
— Compiled by Dave Flessner


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A new Australian system lets motorists park at meters and pay using smartphones.
A new system on Yarra Boulevard in Burnley, Victoria, Australia, is allowing motorists to scan QR codes with their smartphones in order to pay for their parking.
The new system has been established by Parkmobile, an Australian company.
The organization has been working with a number of local councils in order to set up various parking methods using mobile devices throughout Victoria and New South Wales in Australia. Though there are other locations that support the use of mobile payments through Parkmobile applications, it requires the user to input a 7-digit code to identify their locations in order to pay to park there.
The use of QR codes eliminates the need to enter a location code.
By scanning the barcode, users can pay for their parking without having to enter a location identification number. The QR codes provide that data automatically into the app.
According to a press release by Michael Doherty, the managing director of Parkmobile, “Parkmobile is very excited to launch our mobile payment parking service in Burnley.”
Doherty went on to say that “With this technology, customers no longer have to search for $9 worth of coins at the start of each workday. With the addition of QR Codes to our suite of payment options, our Pay-By-App solution continues to be an example of innovative technology that can make our lives easier and more efficient.”
Using this system entirely eliminates the need to use coins to continue to feed the meter. Instead, paying for the necessary time is simply a matter of scanning a black and quite square using a mobile device, and then confirming the information that has been automatically entered by way of the scan.
Doherty has also shared that Parkmobile intends to launch mobile parking payments by way of QR codes in locations throughout the country. It has also been testing various options using near field communication (NFC) in order to be well prepared for the launch of the iPhone 5. Rumors regarding this soon-to-be-popular device indicate that it will be capable of this technology.


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In the most recent years, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), also called bring your own technology (BYOT), has become a trend and common practice in the business and education market. BYOD is a policy that permits employees to use their own mobile devices such as smartphones, personal computers and laptops to work and access data in their companies.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC cited a 57 percent drop in its second-quarter net income following the attacks on Nigerian operations and a drastic reduction on the worth of its shale oil fields in North America.
Citizens of Apeldoorn and surroundings, want to establish a cooperative bank because they are disillusioned by the mores in the current banking system. The Financial Cooperation begins today with the recruiting among citizens that want to support the bank 'new style'.
The idea of the founders of The Financial Cooperation is based on NewB, the cooperative bank that is being set up since this spring in Belgium.
Emirates has announced that it will be launching a second daily continuous flight between Dubai and Amsterdam in December.
The profit of advertising site Marktplaats (Market Place) has for years been kept deliberately low, and therefore hardly had to pay tax, reports Yahoo!News based on requested annual reports.
The annual reports show that eBay, owner of Marktplaats, has set up a special structure in 2005. That structure has apparently been set up, according to experts, to lower earnings in the Netherlands, so that less (profit) tax has to be paid. Marktplaats avoided in this way to pay a larger amount on tax. The special construction is allowed, by the way.
American multinational financial services corporation Citi is growing its liquidity management network by setting up a Notional Pooling in Amsterdam.
Ambassador of the Netherlands to Pakistan H Gajus Scheltema has encouraged Pakistan to promote trade partnerships with India to improve trade and market. He also responded to the issue of cutting support to Pakistan.
The weekend box office ended with Despicable Me 2 stolen from the no. 1 spot.
Italian automaker Fiat-Chrysler could move to the Netherlands, CEO Sergio Marchionne told Reuters.
EU members have already shared their views on the Scottish government’s plan to reduce alcohol prices.
800 guests were present at the Sea Owl’s delivery party in Amsterdam. The gathering featured the 62-meter Feadship Sea Owl being delivered to its owners held at the Maritime Museum.
If the temperature rises above 28 degrees, the terraces in the center of Amsterdam may be allowed to expand.
As the high heat continues, Amsterdam's center district operates under a tropical weather scenario. This provides restaurants and cafes with a permit for a terrace the opportunity to add more tables and chairs to their patio from 10am onwards.
New electric buses from a Chinese manufacturer will roll onto Schiphol tarmac in about a year.
Second quarter profit at Amsterdam-based electronics manufacturer Philips more than tripled in 2013 compared to 2012
For the first time, Turkey will export 40 tons of tulip bulbs to the Netherlands.
The Netherlands will grant a €6 million aid to support the development of IT exports in four countries including Bangladesh.
State Secretary of Finance Minister Frans Weekers said the government is assessing its double taxation treaties with developing countries to decide if they are inequitable and if they need revisions on the terms.
On July 10, New York City and Amsterdam proclaimed a City-to-City partnership to promote and boost travel of both cities.
On Tuesday, Dutch engineering company Grontmij announced that it has decided to sell its French monitoring & testing business for €67 million.
Retail turnover in May decreased to 0.6 percent from the same period last year. Retail volume was reduced by 3.0 percent while retail costs increased by 2.5 percent.
Corporate financing firm W. P. Carey Inc. has obtained the new European Innovation Center of Royal FrieslandCampina in the Netherlands for €31 million.
Spending on luxurious items like electronics has dropped in the Netherlands due to lack of consumer assurance, according to Euromonitor International’s report.
Dutch construction and engineering firm Ballast Nedam confirmed the construction of its pioneer 700-bar hydrogen fuel station in the Netherlands, the Hydrogen Fuel News reports.


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The protein industry is set to be disrupted in 2020 according to the 2019 Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return (FAIRR) Index, and if the sudden rise of "Beyond Meat" and other copycat start-ups is anything to go by, the disruption is already here. The FAIRR Index looks at food companies' resilience to challenges such as antibiotic use, food safety, sustainable proteins, and animal welfare. And Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL) is one company that is already embracing alternative raw materials.
The risks facing food producers in 2020 and beyond
The main takeaway from the FAIRR Index is that the best food sector investments will be in companies that recognize the growing demand for sustainable practices. Such companies are expected to face less risk because they will mitigate their exposure to environmental and associated economic threats.
For example, whether or not you agree with climate change experts, new research shows that food companies' bottom lines are being affected by changing weather patterns. These patterns affect crop yields and market prices. Cal-Maine Foods reported a 30% decline in revenues in the last quarter of the year alone, which the company attributes to extreme weather.
According to Peter Van der Werf , engagement specialist and sustainability expert for Coller Capital, the goal for sustainability and continued profits is for producers and investors to avoid meat and fish as protein sources as much as possible.
Already, meat alternatives are one of the fastest growing plant-based segment categories with vibrant activity from both start-ups and established food companies. In 2018, plant-based meats sales grew by 20% compared to an increase of just 8% in 2017, according to Nielsen data.
The dramatic uptick in growth in the demand for alternative meats is evident, and Hormel is responding to that demand.
Hormel continues to produce niche products
The 2019 Coller FAIRR Protein Producer Index 2019 highlighted Hormel for best practices for water usage and the only company that has established a sustainable agricultural policy that extends to feed-grain growers. In early September, Hormel launched a plant-based alternative Happy Little Plants™ brand at Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference.
Hormel has been ahead of the curve on the alternative protein front as The Happy Little Plants brand builds on blended protein innovations that started back in 2014. Almost six years ago, the food producer launched the Hormel Fuse burger in the company's foodservice business. After the success of the Fuse burger, Hormel expanded is plant-based offerings to include pizza toppings and the Applegate Blend Burger. Little Plants products will be distributed to select retail outlets with expansion planned shortly.
A look at the company's press releases shows a company with a strong pipeline of new and exciting products to keep the consumer interested. From squeeze-pouch peanut butter to pumpkin spice flavor SPAM (yes, you read that right), the ideas keep coming.
No debt, no problem
With a low debt load, Hormel's financials show sustainability and resilience, funnily enough. The company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $560.2 million and long-term debt of $250 million.
Despite suffering from the effects of African Swine Fever and high avocado prices, Hormel Foods was pleased with its third-quarter earnings performance. The company confirmed its outlook for fiscal 2019 with expected net sales of $9.5 to $10 billion. Further, earnings are anticipated to be $1.71 to 1.85 per share.
Quarterly earnings of 37 cents per share came ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 35 cents. However, the bottom line fell nearly 5% year over year due to the increased effective tax rate.
According to Zacks Rank, Hormel stock has gained nearly 12% in the past three months compared with overall industry growth of 31.3%
A confident Hormel also repurchased 2.7 million shares for nearly $107 million during the quarter, indicating that the food giant might consider its stock undervalued.
With a low debt load and with consumers keen to try its new products, Hormel has plenty of leeway to invest in its future. That future looks to be full of stock returns, alternative proteins, but I'm guessing perhaps less of the pumpkin spam.
10 stocks we like better than Hormel Foods
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BMW will recall Toyota Supra sports cars in the USAOctober 1, 2019
Testimonials and service campaigns are quite common practice in the automotive industry, although, of course, in the vast majority of cases, the title maker announces service shares. This time, at first glance, something went wrong: Toyota was concerned about the safety of Toyota sports cars in Munich.
However, in reality there is nothing incomprehensible in the situation. The American National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and BMW have announced that seven Toyota Coupe coupes may have problems with seat belts. It is alleged that the fastening of the belt loop on these sports cars could have been incorrectly welded, which in the event of an accident would increase the risk of injury.
According to Motor1, only three of these seven coupes have already been handed over to customers, and the invitation to visit the dealership is addressed mainly to them. If the problem with the fastening of the seat belt is confirmed, they will not repair the sports car: the whole car will be replaced.
As for the reason that the recall of the three-doors was announced not by Toyota itself, but by their Bavarian colleagues, the company said in a letter to the American editorial office of Motor1 that the situation was simply explained. The reason is that the Supra and BMW cars are assembled at the same Magna Steyr plant in Austrian Graz.
- Drag racing: new Audi RS3 vs old Mitsubishi Evo 8
- The network has an image of the updated Nissan Rogue Sport
- Hypercar Mercedes-AMG One will receive more than 1200 horsepower
- US enthusiasts have made a unique car out of a GMC Sierra pickup
- Low-mileage Cadillac XLR-V goes on sale


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Each week, Benzinga conducts a survey to collect sentiment on what traders are most interested in, interested in or thinking about as they manage and build their personal portfolios.
This week we asked visitors to Benzinga the following question: By 2023, will Dogecoin reach $1?
For starters, Dogecoin was introduced as a joke in 2013 to help raise public awareness of the capabilities of blockchain technology. Although the Shiba Inu-based cryptocurrency was originally a joke, it gained momentum in 2021 thanks to its passionate online community.
People most familiar with Dogecoin over the past year know very well how cryptocurrency price action is related to celebrity influence, including but not limited to tweets from Tesla Corporation (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk.
Here are the full results of this week’s poll:
- Yes, Dogecoin will reach $1 by 2023: 60.3%
- No, Dogecoin will not reach $1 by 2023: 39.7%
This sentiment study was conducted amid an active trading week that saw the cryptocurrency meme surge 20%.
As of press time, Dogecoin is trading at $0.1888, ranked as the 11th best cryptocurrency by market cap.
See also: Dogecoin Vs. Shiba Inu
This survey was conducted by Benzinga in January 2022 and included responses from a diverse group of adults 18 and older.
Participation in the survey was entirely voluntary, with no incentives offered to potential respondents. The study mirrors the findings of more than 1,000 adults.


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NEW YORK Feb 13 Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
Ltd may face legal losses of up to $2.07 billion
resolving a case related to its sale of a generic version of a
Pfizer Inc drug Protonix.
Teva said in a regulatory filing that it recorded a
provision of $670 million in its financial statements for this
matter because of a "legal development in the third quarter of
2012 in an unrelated case" pertaining to one of its patent
It estimated that "the ultimate resolution of this matter
could result in a loss of up to $1.4 billion in excess of the
amount accrued," in its annual report filed at the Securities
and Exchange Commission on Feb. 12.
Teva said earlier this month that it expects 2013 revenue of
$19.5 billion to $20.5 billion.


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TopShop is fashion's most social brand
TopShop has been revealed as fashion's most social media savvy high street brand, according to a London Fashion Week study by Salesforce.
TopShop: London Fashion Week activity
The report looked at River Island, TopShop and Whistles. While TopShop was by far the most social brand it was River Island and its celebrity hook-up with Rihanna that ensured it accounted for three times more buzz than rival TopShop.
This was despite TopShop's far larger social media presence overall. The brand has four times as many followers on Twitter and more than 10 times the number of followers on LinkedIn.
Rihanna's tweets around her new River Island collection were a key driving force for the brand's social engagement. However, 27% of River Island posts were negative, compared to 3% from TopShop overall, while negative posts about TopShop and Whistles were negligible.Read more on this story on The Wall.
Latest jobs Jobs web feed
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- Senior Account Manager Ice (London) Ltd Competitive Salary dependent on experience, Windsor, Berkshire
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- Junior Art Director Major Players £25000 - £30000 per annum, City of London
- Marketing Assistant, Maidstone, £21k Blue Skies Marketing Recruitment £20000 - £21000 per annum, Benefits: +Fantastic benefits, Maidstone


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The euro flirted with one-week lows today following reports that the ECB is considering buying corporate bonds on the secondary market, expanding upon its private-sector asset-buying program which it began on Monday.
The euro briefly fell to $1.2706 its lowest level since Thursday and last stood at $1.2715.
U.S. CPI data due at 8:30 p.m. ET is expected to reveal a flat annual core CPI inflation at 1.7% in September, but a softer reading could undermine the dollar by adding to speculation that the Fed could wait longer before raising rates.
The NHTSA has expanded its warning about faulty airbags made by Takata (OTCPK:TKTDY) to 6.1M U.S. vehicles.
"The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration urges owners of certain Toyota (NYSE:TM), Honda (NYSE:HMC), Mazda (OTCPK:MZDAY), BMW (OTCPK:BAMXY), Nissan (OTCPK:NSANY), Mitsubishi (OTC:MMTOY), Subaru (OTCPK:FUJHY), Chrysler (NYSE:FCAU), Ford (NYSE:F) and General Motors (NYSE:GM) vehicles to act immediately on recall notices to replace defective Takata airbags," it said in a statement.
The previous warning, issued on Monday, covered 4.7M vehicles.
Sony (NYSE:SNE) is considering cutting its smartphone sales target again, from the current goal of 43M for the 12 months to the end of March 2015. The move would mark the second downward revision this year, which previously had a goal of 50M.
Sony continues to struggle due to fierce smartphone competition especially in emerging markets, against Chinese makers of cheap handsets and market leaders such as Apple and Samsung.
Last month, Sony announced a ¥180B ($1.68B) write down of the smartphone segment’s business value and lowered the earnings forecast for the current business year to a ¥230B net loss, almost 5x what it said previously.
Bloomberg reports EMC plans to announce tomorrow it's buying out much of Cisco's (NASDAQ:CSCO) stake in the companies' VCE JV, which sells high-end integrated server/storage/networking systems (the Vblock line). EMC owns 58% of VCE, and Cisco 35%.
The report shortly follows a statement from EMC that the company will be announcing a "new business development" tomorrow, to go with its Q3 report.
Taking a larger stake in VCE would allow EMC to recognize the fast-growing unit's sales in its quarterly results at a time when its standalone storage hardware sales remain pressured by high-end weakness. In May, VCE predicted its sales would rise 80% in 2014 to $1.8B.
Cisco stated in July it had invested $716M in VCE, and recorded $644M in losses related to it, since the JV's 2010 founding. CRN reported two weeks ago Cisco is thinking of "ending further financial investment in VCE."
Letting EMC take control of VCE would leave Cisco's server efforts focused on its UCS blade/rack server line (leveraged by VCE), which has been growing quickly itself and is now on a $3B/year run rate. Cisco recently added an integrated system to its UCS lineup (the UCS Mini), albeit one less powerful than VCE's systems.
EMC is now only up 1.1% AH. Shares were previously higher on hopes the "new business development" would be a VMware (NYSE:VMW) spinoff. VMware, meanwhile, is now only down 1.4% AH after providing light Q4 guidance.
BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) reports Q3 production numbers showing the iron ore and coking coal divisions performed as well as or better than expected, as overall production rose 9% Y/Y with records achieved for eight operations and four commodities.
The 62M metric tons produced by BHP's Pilbara iron ore division means the business is ahead of schedule on its target to produce 245M metric tons in FY 2015.
Produced a better than expected 13M tons of met coal, a 25% increase, as Queensland Coal achieved record quarterly production and sales volumes.
Petroleum production gained 7% to 67.4M boe, as onshore U.S. liquids volumes jumped 49% to a record 11.5M boe.
Full year production guidance remained in line with prior guidance for iron ore, copper, petroleum and both types of coal.
In a deal that GT Advanced (NASDAQ:GTAT) lawyer Luc Despins calls an "amicable parting of the ways," Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and GT have agreed to wind down Apple's Mesa, AZ plant, once expected to provide sapphire that would be used to protect millions of Apple device screens..
The plant's sapphire furnaces (owned/operated by GT) will be sold - Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports 2,039 will be unloaded - and some of the proceeds used to pay down GT's debt to Apple. Apple made $440M worth of prepayments to GT that were structured as secured debt.
The deal suggests Apple will be turning to 3rd-party sapphire suppliers to obtain cover glass for the Apple Watch, which is set to ship in early 2015. The regular Apple Watch and the high-end Apple Watch Edition use sapphire cover glass; the Apple Watch Sport doesn't.
As part of the deal, GT is seeking to have the original court docs (currently sealed) that explained its bankruptcy filing struck from the public record. However, its lawyers state GT will be able to disclose most of the information that's pertinent to its bankruptcy.
Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR) +3% AH after Q3 earnings rose 26% Y/Y and beat Wall Street estimates, thanks to higher activity in the Bakken shale field in North Dakota and Permian Basin in Texas.
Total revenue rose 17%, its highest increase in nine quarters, to $1.81B; sales in the completion and production services business, which handles the post-drilling processes used to extract oil and gas, rose 19% to $612M despite two Pacific hurricanes crossing into Texas during the quarter.
NBR says the recent fall in oil prices could affect customer spending, but that it is "much better positioned to weather and potentially capitalize upon any significant downturn in industry activity" because of steps taken to improve financial flexibility, streamline operations and improve cost structure.
Onshore drillers such as NBR should be less affected by falling oil prices than offshore drillers, whose customers need higher prices to break even.


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U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) ramped up in the final months of 2021, with still-solid consumer spending helping stoke growth and offset early negative impacts from the Omicron variant’s spread.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its first estimate of fourth-quarter GDP on Thursday. Here were the main metrics from the print, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
GDP quarter-over-quarter, annualized: 6.9% vs. 5.5% expected, 2.3% in Q3
Personal consumption: 3.3% vs. 3.4% expected, 2.0% in Q3
Core personal consumption expenditures, quarter-over-quarter: 4.9% vs. 4.9% expected, 4.6% in Q3
Growth in the fourth quarter rebounded more than expected from the third quarter’s disappointing rate of expansion, when GDP rose at a 2.3% annualized rate — its slowest since mid-2020.
But despite the brief deceleration in third-quarter GDP, economic growth throughout 2021 had been robust as vaccinations picked up across the country and stay-in-place behaviors began to abate. For the full-year 2021, GDP grew at a 5.7% rate, marking the fastest since 1984. And this marked a sharp reversal from the contraction seen in the economy in 2020, when GDP shrank by 3.4%.
A jump in consumer spending during this year’s record holiday shopping season helped contribute to the headline gain in the fourth quarter. As consumers attempted to get ahead of supply chain delays and out-of-stocks, spending was pulled forward from the typical holiday period of November and December to October. This helped to lift overall fourth-quarter consumption for the final three months of the year to a rate well above that from the third quarter, even as retail sales in December pulled back on a month-over-month basis.
But even more notable during the quarter was the jump in private inventories, as companies worked to replenish supplies drawn down in the early phase of the reopening as demand soared. The build in private inventories contributed 4.9 percentage points to the headline 6.9% jump in GDP, and was led in turn by inventory investment by motor vehicle dealers, the BEA said in its report
Other areas of the economy, however, served as drags to GDP. Government consumption expenditures subtracted about half of a percentage point from headline GDP, reflecting a “decrease in defense spending on intermediate goods. and services,” the BEA said. And government assistance payments also decreased during the second half of the year relative to the first, as COVID-related relief programs tapered off.
Net trade had a net neutral impact on GDP following five consecutive quarters of negative contribution, as a surge in imports — which subtracts from GDP — was offset by a rise in exports during the quarter.
Embedded in the report was also yet another sign of soaring inflation, with widespread supply shortages and elevated consumer demand pushing up prices. The GDP price index soared by 6.9% — the most since 1981 — to exceed consensus estimates for a 6.0% gain. And core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) accelerated to reach a 4.9% quarter-over-quarter pace, compared to the third quarter’s 4.6% clip.
And as usual, the latest quarterly GDP report serves as a backwards-looking indicator capturing the economic momentum heading into the first quarter of 2022. Given that the Omicron variant first discovered in the U.S. only very late in November, notable impacts from the virus were likely not reflected in the latest GDP print.
Many economists are expecting to see the data reflect a deceleration in growth for the start of this year, as the further spread of Omicron dampened activity and compounded with other drags to the economy. Just earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its forecast for U.S. and global growth this year, citing ongoing supply chain challenges, lower expected fiscal stimulus after the collapse of President Joe Biden’s sweeping Build Back Better package, and the pullback of highly accommodative monetary policies from the Federal Reserve.
“The pace of economic momentum has slowed in recent weeks due to the impact from the Omicron variant,” Sam Bullard, Wells Fargo managing director and senior economist, wrote in a note ahead of Thursday’s report. “Add on the expiration of the monthly Child Tax Credit and ongoing challenges to the supply chain (labor, material and transportation), first quarter GDP growth looks to have decelerated substantially — our call 2.9%.”
Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter
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Electronic Arts is promoting Laura Miele, director of studios, to director of operations, the company said Thursday. The change is a big promotion for Miele, who already had significant leadership within the company overseeing 25 different studios. The new role will give Miele more oversight over the company and arguably make her the most powerful woman in the game, an industry where there are few female executives, fewer in the C-sequel, and where these executives of the C suite are often in charge of HR or finance rather than the company’s products.
Ubisoft made Virginie Hass its chief operating officer of the studios last August, following scandals related to a toxic culture, including the sexual harassment and misconduct that have reached the ranks of the C-suites.
Miele joined EA in 1996 and has served as Studio Director since April 2018. The edge spoke with Miele in July, where she explained how the pandemic has changed development at EA. Miele will take office in the next few months, according to an SEC filing (PDF).
EA also announced that CFO Blake Jorgensen will be leaving the company. He is expected to leave in 2022, and a search to replace him “will begin immediately.” Chris Bruzzo, who was previously Executive Vice President of Marketing, Commerce and Company Positive Play, will become the Director of Company Experience.


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Since the iPad was launched in 2010, tablets have become an important product for companies such as Apple, Samsung and Microsoft. Tablets have proved extremely versatile – so much so that they have replaced many of the laptop’s roles and arguably provide a superior user experience in many cases. Games, movies, email, web browsing and social media all feel natural and easy to use on a 10″ screen, so it’s no surprise that consumers have flocked to buy them in droves.
Now that tablets have become ubiquitous, analysts expected that sales would follow the same ‘hockey stick’ upward trajectory of smartphones. Unfortunately, growth in the tablet market has stagnated, leading many to question whether consumers are losing interest.
In this post we explore tablet sales trends, and discuss how we think the market might evolve during the next few years.
Tablets suffer a slump in sales
According to ABI Research, global sales of tablets grew by just 2.5% in 2014. While there is still growth, this rise was much smaller than expected. NPD DisplaySearch claims that growth was even lower at just 2%, and that it will remain in single digit figures through to 2018. Is that a plateau or a flatline?
Unfortunately, this 2.5% rise is much lower than expected – 6 months earlier in the year, IDC estimated that the total tablet market (which includes 2-in-1 devices such as the Asus transformer range) was forecast to grow by a more respectable 19.4%. So what went wrong? From a predicated 19.4% to an actual 2.5% in 6 months – clearly earlier estimates were way off target.
The story across the major retail outlets confirms the trend – tablet sales are down and consumers are unwilling to replace their tablet every year.
“The tablets boomed and now are crashing.” – Hubert Joly, Best Buy (USA) CEO
Looking at the market leaders – Apple and Samsung, iPad sales fell 13% in the first half of 2014 while Samsung increased by 26%. Together, these two companies have a combined 70% of the market. But while overall tablet sales are on the rise there are definite signs they have reached a plateau.
Worldwide tablet shipments reached just 49.3 million units in Q2 of this year, considerably less than the holiday quarter in 2013. While Christmas obviously helped achieve those 76.9 million sales, between Q1 2013 and Q2 of this year shipments have remained decidedly unremarkable.
Can Apple maintain it’s lead in tablet sales?
As the current market leader, it’s worth examining Apple’s tablet figures in more detail as we’d expect Apple’s tablet slowdown to be reflected by the dozens of other tablet brands.
Over the last quarter, Apple generated $5.9 billion from iPad sales. That’s more than Amazon, Microsoft and Google have achieved from all of their tablet sales ever. However, Apple sold fewer iPads than in the year-ago quarter representing its second quarterly drop from last year.
In the March 2014 quarter, Apple sold 3.1 million fewer (16.1 percent) tablets year-over-year (falling from 19.5 million to 16.4 million), and in the June quarter iPads fell gain by 9.3 percent (down 1.3 million units, from 14.6 million to 13.3 million).
Apple’s CFO Luca Maestri stated in a recent earnings call, “iPad sales grew overall in the developing markets with particularly strong year-over-year growth in the Middle-East, where iPad sales were up 64%, in China where they grew 51%, and in India, where they were up 45%.” He added, “This growth was more than offset by lower sales in more mature markets”.
So at least publicly, Apple is shrugging off its uninspiring iPad sales. In fact, the slowdown was partially attributed to the overlap between screen sizes for tablets, notebooks and smartphones.
It’s true that ‘phablet’ style devices (which have screens over 6 inches) could be cannibalising tablet sales. This might be true to an extent, but if so that will only worsen with the introduction of the iPhone 6 Plus. On the upside, Apple would no doubt be happy if that device cannibalises sales of the 7.9″ iPad Mini, because profit margins on the iPhone are much higher.
In terms of Apple’s product mix today, the situation is very different than it was 7 or 8 years ago before the iPhone became such a massive success story. Back then the iPod was the company’s most important product. But today iPod sales have nearly dried up and its two iOS based devices are its most popular products: the iPad accounted for 16.67% of Apple’s revenue in Q2 2014 and the iPhone more than 50%.
It’s not all doom and gloom for Apple however. Historically, its biggest sales by far have been generated in the Christmas holiday season, and it may be able to tempt users to the refreshed iPad lineup later this month – they are expected to include the Touch ID fingerprint sensor and the latest A8 CPU.
Furthermore, there are currently 12.3 million iPad users in the UK – just over 19% of the country’s total population and 50% of UK tablet users. Those users are likely to upgrade at some point; once you are hooked into the Apple ecosystem, it can be hard to escape…
Apple’s forthcoming October event (which, according to Re/code, will held be on Thursday 16th) is expected to confirm the existence of an iPad Pro with a 12 inch screen and more memory (2 GB) – this would improve the iPad’s ability run all those productivity apps that enterprise users love so much, and a rumoured side-by-side app view would please those that laud the same capability in Microsoft’s Surface tablet and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab range.
Mimicking the trends that have emerged in the smartphone industry, Apple’s dominance in tablets is steadily being eroded on all sides by Samsung and cheaper Android alternatives. But to use my favourite fast food analogy – just because McDonalds sells the most hamburgers in the world doesn’t make them the best hamburger.
Why are tablets declining in popularity?
At least for Apple, declining tablet popularity can’t be attributed to customer dissatisfaction with the devices – the iPad Air and iPad Mini consistently achieve the highest customer satisfaction ratings of any tablet in surveys conducted by companies such as JD Power. Additionally, the iPad holds around 85% of the US education market – so clearly consumers are happy with the iPad’s capabilities and are using it in all sorts of ways.
Another sign that people are actually using their iPads (rather than letting them gather dust) is highlighted by the iPad’s share of web traffic:
So what are the reasons tablet sales are on the wane?
1) No incentive to upgrade
All the major manufacturers update their flagship smartphones at least once a year. Despite tablets receiving frequent updates to more powerful hardware, the incentive to upgrade every year isn’t as strong. How many people do you know that are willing to buy a new phone every year but only update their tablet every 2 years or even longer?
Another clue is that many smartphone owners are locked into two-year contracts, so there’s an incentive to upgrade only at the end of the contract. This means that every year there are millions of people who can obtain the latest device for a relatively minor outlay. This doesn’t apply to tablets, where the full cost is normally borne by the consumer.
2) Lack of subsidies
Unlike smartphones, mobile operators tend not to subsidise the purchase of tablets. Additionally, most people are happy to use their tablet on WiFi only; but even those with cellular data contracts don’t generate as much income for operators as smartphones do – they are more likely to pay for a low tariff or just use them at home. Due to this lack of subsidy tablets are, perhaps unfairly, perceived as expensive luxuries.
Paying a few hundred pounds every 2 years for a new smartphone doesn’t seem like a big deal, but paying several times that amount for a tablet is cost sensitive issue for many people.
3) Laptops making a comeback
PC sales have certainly slumped over the last few years, and the manufacturers like Dell and HP have suffered in the general downturn. Perhaps surprisingly, the PC market is starting to show signs of growth – cheaper laptops that run Chrome OS and reduced OEM licensing costs for Windows has resulted in a greater choice of powerful budget computers that sell for just a few hundred pounds.
Consumers that may have opted for a tablet are now spoilt for choice when it comes to laptops and PCs, and it’s hard to argue against a physical keyboard for getting any real work done…
What’s the outlook for tablets?
Tablets have become a daily part of our lives. But with much longer replacement cycles and expectations in terms of what you can actually do on a tablet, we shouldn’t expect the same kind of unlimited growth that smartphones have experienced. The market for tablets is still in its infancy, and it remains to be seen whether hybrid and 2-in-1 devices will eventually become the preferred form factor.
“Are tablets going away? Absolutely not. That’s just a function of the lifecycle. Tablets are going to become more important” – Rafe Blandford, All About Windows Phone
With companies like Tesco producing affordable and relatively powerful tablets such as the Hudl, there is still ample room for expansion. It seems unlikely that tablets as we know them are going away any time soon, but it’s up to the manufacturers to produce more innovative and versatile designs if they truly want to replace the laptop.
But for now, tablets are still the perfect coffee-table Internet devices and for me at least, the honeymoon is still going strong…
You can also listen to a heated and very entertaining debate about the death of tablets over at the 361 Degrees Podcast.


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BEDFORD, OH (WOIO) - Walmart announced Friday it is closing 154 U.S. stores, according to a company press release, including the company's 102 Walmart Express stores, the smallest format stores.
The closures will affect more than 10,000 employees worldwide.
The Walmart Supercenter in Bedford is on the list to close Jan. 28.
The Bentonville, AR, big-box giant garnered a fiscal year 2015 revenue of $485.7 billion and employs about 2.2 million associates worldwide.
Download the Cleveland 19 News app.


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PRIMARK are selling a £14 pair of studded hells that are almost identical to a pair from Valentino - but they're £620 cheaper.
The budget retailer will soon be selling the strappy shoes that come in either grey, nude or leopard print.
They are adorned with studded details and will hit shelves in the high street store from next month.
But already fashion fans have noticed that they are very similar to the designer Valentino rockstud heels.
They too come in a grey and nude colour and also feature a large heel and and studs around the strappy fastening.
A small difference is that the Valentino heels are slingbacks while the Primark version have a covered back.
But a big difference is the price, with the designer pair being sold on luxury fashion website Net-a-Porter for £650.
And one fan of the heels wrote on Instagram: "Who needs Valentino when Primark will always have your back?"
However, it isn't the first time that Primark have taken inspiration from the Italian fashion brand.
Earlier this year, they also unveiled a pair of pointed pumps with a nude pink strap that appeared to be a take on the Valentino rockstud ballerinas.
But there was a catch, as they are only available in Europe and the US at the moment, and it is unclear if they will be coming to the UK.
BLOOMING LOVELY Primark is selling a rose-printed tracksuit for MEN... but it's female shoppers who are obsessed with it
Previously we told you how Primark is launching a HUGE Halloween collection with haunting homeware and spooky costumes.
We also revealed how the retailer is selling hooded unicorn blankets with mittens for £14… and shoppers are going wild for them.


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BRANTFORD — Williams Fresh Café is helping Canadians with their new year’s resolutions to trim down, by introducing new low calorie meals, as part of the café’s Healthy Resolutions program.
Williams now offers two new ‘Perfect Portions,’ which contain less than 600 calories each and are priced under $10.
As an added bonus, a free pedometer comes with each new portion, allowing guests to track their personal fitness habits while staying true to their new year’s resolution to get fit. Guests can choose a chicken or tuna ‘compac wrap,’ soup, apple, choice of green tea or water, and a pedometer.
Lauren McColeman, field marketing manager, Williams Fresh Café, says the Healthy Resolutions program is linked to social media channels, where guests can enter to win a trip to the Caribbean. “In addition to more fresh food choices, guests can take advantage of the opportunity to enter to win a trip for two to Turks and Caicos by ‘liking’ us on Facebook.”
The new program is part of the chain’s promise to provide healthier menu options. Corey Dalton, CEO Williams Fresh Café, says, “We’re proud to be evolving, with some future changes to include reducing sodium, offering gluten-free items and purchasing local and seasonal ingredients.”
Williams Fresh Cafe is a privately owned restaurant group headquartered in Ontario, operating in the fast casual segment of the restaurant industry.


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VisitLangkawi.net launched at Pata’s annual Travel Mart taking place in destination this week Continue reading
New website to put Langkawi ‘on the map’ by tapping into Travelindex global network
The Malaysian island of Langkawi has joined one of the world’s largest content marketing platforms by launching a new website developed by Travelindex.
VisitLangkawi.net was launched at the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s annual Travel Mart which was taking place in the destination this week.
TravelIndex has teamed up with social media marketing experts Snap Pro on the website which includes aims to become a vital source of information for travellers to Langkawi.
Bernard Metzger, founder of Travelindex, said: “Travelindex has a global travel network and we believe that this website will enhance not only travellers wanting to visit the island but will definitely boost the Langkawi travel industry players as well.
“We deliver the web’s most concentrated audience to aims to inspire travellers and buyers at every stage of the purchase cycle.”
The website is mobile responsive and includes rich content like photos and videos to maximise its impact. It also offers the ability to respond to trending topics and news.
As part of the Travelindex platform it joins an ecosystem if 80 travel-related websites which combined help to give local advertisers increased visibility and reach to global markets.
Combined with social media Travelindex claims to be able to reach over 11 million travellers and decision makers in the travel industry monthly.
The website hosts business profile pages and can be searched by users according to key criteria. Current news and announcements will be distributed to relevant websites and social media networks like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Sasha Aru, managing director of Snap Pro, said: “VisitLangkawi.net aims to become the most innovative, trusted travel guide and reference source on Langkawi which is currently lacking for the island unfortunately.
“Especially now that we are living in an age where there is a constant need to provide data, the website will serve as a platform for travellers and business owners alike. The strategy is to build something that will benefit the local industry players as well.”
Bernard added: “With this strong synergy between Snap Pro and Travelindex we hope to bring a fresh, creative and resourceful website for the magical island of Langkawi.”


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Ripple’s Creator Fund Launches NFT Projects On XRP Ledger• February 21, 2023 10:36 pm • Comments
It looks like Ripple has once again made an accurate prediction on the trends that are happening within the blockchain and crypto industry.
One of the focuses that Ripple has had for the past couple of years is the potential growth of utility based NFTs which the company expected to grow significantly in 2023.
Ripple CTO, David Schwartz, commented that NFTs will start to have real world utilities in the near future where they could be used for things such as concert tickets or having exclusive access to content.
As a result, the company is looking to take advantage of this new wave by enabling a bunch of NFT projects on the XRP ledger.
The projects have been made possible through Ripple’s Creator Fund which has support NFT creators to develop content within its ecosystem.
Meet the Creator Fund wave 3 recipients who are bringing phygital #NFTs to the #XRPL, blending physical and digital experiences with real-world utility to grow their business in the world of web3. https://t.co/qlaN3cT61W
— Ripple (@Ripple) February 16, 2023
Last October, Ripple brought a wave of NFT creators transforming the entertainment and media industry—specifically music—through its Creator Fund.
Today, Ripple is unlocking new tokenization use cases on the XRP Ledger with creators focused on blending physical and digital experiences with real-world utility.
Since XLS-20 hit Mainnet, the XRP Ledger saw hundreds of projects benefit from the XRP Ledger’s low-cost, carbon-neutral, instant settlement, and built in royalty structures—maximizing value for NFT creators and their communities to consume content.
Ripple has continued to invest in functional NFT projects through its Creator Fund, a $250 million commitment to foster innovation in tokenization. The Creator Fund provides financial, creative and technical support to help NFT creators bring their projects to life on the XRPL, stretch the bounds of what’s possible and explore new use cases for NFTs.
The type of NFT projects that the Creator Fund has made possible span across many different industries and unique use cases.
Many of them focus on giving users exclusive access to artists or other types of content creators which indicates that this is a very popular use cases.
If the industry starts to realize that content creators that utilize these NFTs are able to gain more popularity and monetize their content, it could very well influence other creators to do the same.
If this trend takes off, its possible that the use of NFTs for the creator space could become mainstream and Ripple would be in a perfect position to take advantage of that growth.
As always, the company is finding alternative ways to continue its growth and expanding the XRP ecosystem despite the current lawsuit with the SEC.
Ripple's Creator Fund invests $250M in phygital #NFTs, paving the way for real-world asset tokenization in #Web3. The investment supports the movement towards tokenized assets and innovation in asset tokenization, benefiting #phygital NFT creators and developers pic.twitter.com/1N0bvkOnqP
— #MiamiNFTWeek (@MiamiNFTweek) February 20, 2023
It’s exciting to hear firsthand from these visionary creators how they plan to leverage NFTs on the XRPL. As Romain Lohezic of TraumAmnesia says, “The arrival of NFTs is a total game changer for creators.
The speed of transfer, carbon neutrality and simplicity of the XRPL are major pluses. As an artist, I’m very happy to participate in the development of this use case at scale.”
The Creator Fund today has attracted over 5,000+ applications to-date to realize the value and benefits of the XRP Ledger for tokenized assets.
Throughout the remainder of 2023, Ripple will double down on this year’s previously announced winners to bring their projects to life.
Breaking: #Ripple has announced its third batch of creator fund support, including two projects and five artists.#MTA #CryptoNews #Web3 #NFT #ETH #BTC #Bitcoin #BNB #Miner #asicminer #BullMarket #Crypto #asics #Binance #cryptocurrencies #OpenAI #DeFi pic.twitter.com/Qk39faRXZZ
— Minetheasic (@MINETHEASIC) February 17, 2023
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A 20% rise during the last four months of last year to $1.41 billion dollars beat expectations
and meant a much happier end to 2019 for ASOS,
which had been bogged down with operational and warehouse issues, leading to a profit warning last July.
The encouraging signs come despite poor Christmas numbers for traditional high street retailers.
Many of whom including John Lewis and Marks and Spencer struggled as consumers steered away from major purchases amid the UK's recent political and economic uncertainty.
ASOS Chief Executive Nick Beighton said he was "encouraged by the progress." ASOS had made.
Shares jumped 11% on Thursday morning before falling back
with the company - which targets the 20-something market - saying its outlook for 2020 remains unchanged.
ASOS still trails someway behind its main UK rival Boohoo.
it lifted its own full-year guidance last week
and over the past year has seen a share rise of 70%.