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Frazer Designers has developed a flip-top hairbrush for brush manufacturer Denman. Consumers wanted the bristles to be better protected than in other brushes, says Frazer’s principal consultant, Jonathan Knight, so they are housed inside a spring-loaded handle. Frazer Designers won the brief on the basis of its previous work. The Denman Flip-Top goes on sale this month.
Kin Design has created interactive installations for the Eden Project’s new permanent show Invisible Worlds, which delves into the fascinating stories of miniscule micro-organisms, and the impact humans have made
Research shows that over half of designers have been to university, compared to a third of the UK workforce on a whole. We chat to Hilary Chittenden, senior foundation manager
The design consultancy has rebranded the alcohol subscription service, which sends its members a surprise bottle of gin plus other goodies every month.
Hunt has set up a new initiative which will see 60 objects from the V&A’s collections travel to regional museums in the Midlands and North of England, in a bid


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The popular news app News Break is announcing that it has raised $115 million in new funding.
The press release claims this round makes News Break “one of the first new unicorns of 2021,” but the startup declined to disclose its actual valuation.
Founder and CEO Jeff Zheng said that when he started the company in 2015, the goal was to differentiate itself from other news aggregation apps by focusing on local news, and to “help or empower these local content creators.”
To be clear, you can find similar stories in News Break that you’d see in other news apps (there’s a whole section for coronavirus news, for example, and this morning you’ll see plenty of headlines about yesterday’s violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol), but you’ll also see plenty stories that are highlighted specifically based on your location.
“Technology is interweaving with every aspect of the company — in how we empower local publishers and local journalists to generate content more effectively and to reach an online audience more effectively,” Zheng said. “We have AI tools to help provide all these relevant articles … We have location profiles and what you’re most interested in, which we basically match against the content.”
Image Credits: News Break
The local focus may be increasingly valuable given the broader economic challenges facing the local news business — as Zheng put it, there’s “strong user demand” for local news but “weak supply.” And the strategy seems to have paid off for News Break so far, with the app reaching the top spot in the News category of the Apple’s U.S. App Store multiple times (it’s currently ranked number four), and in Google Play as well. The startup says it’s currently reaching 12 million daily active users.
Zheng said that while News Break already shares ad revenue with publishers, he’s hopeful that the value it provides those publishers will only grow over time: “We want to give as much money back to the creators as possible.”
When I suggested that publishers and journalists may be leery about relying too much on a third-party platform to reach their audience, Zheng argued that News Break’s incentives are very different from the big internet and social media platforms.
“We are local-centric,” he said.”If local publishers are struggling, if the newspapers are diminishing every year, then sooner or later we are out of business.”
And while we’ve noted in the past that News Break has Chinese roots — Zheng previously led Yahoo Labs in Beijing and was also founding CEO at Chinese news startup Yidian Zixun, plus the startup has team members in Beijing and Shanghai — Zheng emphasized that that this is a “U.S. high tech company incorporated in Delaware, headquartered in Mountain View,” with the majority of its workforce in the United State and a focus on the U.S. market. The distinction could become important if News Break continues to grow, given the U.S. government’s current attempts to ban Chinese companies.
In a statement, Francisco Partners Principal Alan Ni said:
News Break’s breakout multi-year successes in the local news space is what first brought them to our attention. We are inspired by their mission and extremely impressed by the work they have done to bring local-news distribution into the 21st Century through cutting-edge machine learning and media savvy. We are thrilled to be partnering with News Break’s talented leadership team as they continue to drive local news innovations while also rapidly expanding their business into adjacent local verticals beyond news.
Hinge Health, the San Francisco-based company that offers a digital solution to treat chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions — such as back and joint pain — has closed a $310 million in Series D funding, according to sources.
The round is led by Coatue and Tiger Global, and values 2015-founded Hinge at $3 billion post-money, people familiar with the investment tell me. It comes off the back of a 300% increase in revenue in 2020, with investors told to expect revenue to nearly triple again in 2021 based on the company’s booked pipeline.
I also understand that Hinge’s founders — Daniel Perez and Gabriel Mecklenburg — retain voting control of the board. I’ve reached out to CEO Perez for comment and will update this post should I hear back.
Hinge’s existing investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, which backed the company’s $90 million Series C round in February, along with Lead Edge Capital, Insight Partners (which led the Series B), Atomico (which led the Series A), 11.2 Capital, Quadrille Capital and Heuristic Capital.
Originally based in London, Hinge Health primarily sells into U.S. employers and health plans, billing itself as a digital healthcare solution for chronic MSK conditions. The platform combines wearable sensors, an app and health coaching to remotely deliver physical therapy and behavioral health.
The basic premise is that there is plenty of existing research to show how best to treat chronic MSK disorders, but existing healthcare systems aren’t up to the task due to funding pressures and for other systematic reasons. The result is an over tendency to use opioid-based painkillers or surgery, with poor results and often at even greater cost. Hinge wants to reverse this through the use of technology and better data, with a focus on improving treatment adherence.
Meanwhile, Hinge’s jump in valuation is significant. According to sources, the company’s February round produced a valuation of around $420 million, so the new valuation is more than a 6x increase.
Healthcare startup Color has raised a sizable $167 million in Series D funding round, at a valuation of $1.5 billion post-money, the company announced today. This brings the total raised by Color to $278 million, with its latest large round intended to help it build on a record year of growth in 2020 with even more expansion to help put in place key health infrastructure systems across the U.S. — including those related to the “last mile” delivery of COVID-19 vaccines.
This latest investment into Color was led by General Catalyst, and by funds invested by T. Rowe Price, along with participation from Viking Global investors as well as others. Alongside the funding, the company is also bringing on a number of key senior executives, including Claire Vo (formerly of Optimizely) as chief product officer, Emily Reuter (formerly of Uber, where she played a key role in its IPO process) as VP of Strategy and Operations, and Ashley Chandler (formerly of Stripe) as VP of Marketing.
“I think with the [COVID-19] crisis, it’s really shone the light on that lack of infrastructure. We saw it multiple times, with lab testing, with antigen testing and now with vaccines,” Color CEO and co-founder Othman Laraki told me in an interview. “The model that we’ve been developing, that’s been working really well and we feel like this is the opportunity to really scale it in a very major way. I think literally what’s happening is the building of the public health infrastructure for the country that’s starting off from a technology-first model, as opposed to, what ends up happening in a lot of industries, which is you start off taking your existing logistics and assets, and add technology to them.”
Color’s 2020 was a record year for the company, thanks in part to partnerships like the one it formed with San Francisco to establish testing for healthcare workers and residents. Laraki told me they did about five-fold their prior year’s business, and while the company is already set up to grow on its own sustainably based on the revenue it pulls in from customers, its ambitions and plans for 2021 and beyond made this the right time to help it accelerate further with the addition of more capital.
Laraki described Color’s approach as one that is both cost-efficient for the company, and also significant cost-saving for the healthcare providers it works with. He likens their approach to the shift that happened in retail with the move to online sales — and the contribution of one industry heavyweight in particular.
“At some point, you build Amazon — a technology-first stack that’s optimized around access and scale,” Laraki said. “I think that’s literally what we’re seeing now with healthcare. What’s kind of getting catalyzed right now is we’ve been realizing it applies to the COVID crisis, but also, we started actually working on that for prevention and I think actually it’s going to be applying to a huge surface area in healthcare; basically all the aspects of health that are not acute care where you don’t need to show up in hospital.”
Ultimately, Color’s approach is to rethink healthcare delivery in order to “make it accessible at the edge directly in people’s lives,” with “low transaction costs,” in a way that’s “scalable, [and] doesn’t use a lot of clinical resourcing,” Laraki says. He notes that this is actually very possible once you reasses the problem without relying on a lot of accepted knowledge about the way things are done today, which result in a “heavy stack” versus what you actually need to deliver the desired outcomes.
Laraki doesn’t think the problem is easy to solve — on the contrary, he acknowledges that 2021 is likely to be even more difficult and challenging than 2020 in many ways for the healthcare industry, and we’ve already begun to see evidence of that in the many challenges already faced by vaccine distribution and delivery in its initial rollout. But he’s optimistic about Color’s ability to help address those challenges, and to build out a “last mile” delivery system for crucial care that expands accessibility, while also making sure things are done right.
“When you take a step back, doing COVID testing or COVID vaccinations … those are not complex procedures at all — they’re extremely simple procedures,” he said. “What’s hard is doing them massive scale and with a very low transaction cost to the individual and to the system. And that’s a very different tooling.”
Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, the company which spun out of Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs to fund, develop, and own the next generation of infrastructure, has unveiled its latest project — Reslia, which focuses on upgrading the efficiency and reliability of power grids.
Through a $20 million equity investment in the startup OhmConnect, and an $80 million commitment to develop a demand response program leveraging OhmConnect’s technology and services across the state of California, Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners intends to plant a flag for demand-response technologies as a key pathway to ensuring stable energy grids across the country.
‘We’re creating a virtual power plant,” said Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners co-CEO, Jonathan Winer. “With a typical power plant … it’s project finance, but for a virtual power plant… We’re basically going to subsidize the rollout of smart devices.”
The idea that people will respond to signals from the grid isn’t a new one, as Winer himself acknowledged in an interview. But the approach that Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners is taking, alongside OhmConnect, to roll out the incentives to residential customers through a combination of push notifications and payouts, is novel. “The first place people focused is on commercial and industrial buildings,” he said.
What drew Sidewalk to the OhmConnect approach was the knowledge of the end consumer that OhmConnect’s management team brought to the table The company’s chief technology officer was the former chief technology officer of Zynga, Winer noted.
“What’s cool about the OhmConnect platform is that it empowers participation,” Winer said. “Anyone can enroll in these programs. If you’re an OhmConnect user and there’s a blackout coming, we’ll give you five bucks if you turn down your thermostat for the next two hours.”
Illustration of Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners Resilia Power Plant. Image Credit: Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners
The San Francisco-based demand-response company already has 150,000 users on its platform, and has paid out something like $1 million to its customers during the brownouts and blackouts that have roiled California’s electricity grid over the past year.
The first collaboration between OhmConnect and Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners under the Resilia banner will be what the companies are calling a “Resi-Station” — a 550 megawatt capacity demand response program that will use smart devices to power targeted energy reductions.
At full scale, the companies said that the project will be the largest residential virtual power plant in the world.
“OhmConnect has shown that by linking together the savings of many individual consumers, we can reduce stress on the grid and help prevent blackouts,” said OhmConnect CEO Cisco DeVries. “This investment by SIP will allow us to bring the rewards of energy savings to hundreds of thousands of additional Californians – and at the same time build the smart energy platform of the future.”
California’s utilities need all the help they can get. Heat waves and rolling blackouts spread across the state as it confronted some of its hottest temperatures over the summer. California residents already pay among the highest residential power prices in the counry at 21 cents per kilowatt hour, versus a national average of 13 cents.
During times of peak stress earlier in the year, OhmConnect engaged its customers to reduce almost one gigawatt hour of total energy usage. That’s the equivalent of taking 600,000 homes off the grid for one hour.
If the Resilia project was rolled out at scale, the companies estimate they could provide 5 gigawatt hours of energy conservation — that’s the full amount of the energy shortfall from the year’s blackouts and the equivalent of not burning 3.8 million pounds of coal.
Going forward, the Resilia energy efficiency and demand response platform will scale up other infrastructure innovations as energy grids shift from centralized power to distributed, decentralized generation sources, the company said. OhmConnect looks to be an integral part of that platform.
“The energy grid used to be uni-directional.. .we believe that in the near future the grid is going to be become bi-directional and responsive,” said Winer. “With our approach, this won’t be one investment. We’ll likely make multiple investments. [Vehicle-to-grid], micro-grid platforms, and generative design are going to be important.”
Marathon Venture Capital in Athens, Greece has completed the first closing of its second fund, reaching the €40m / $47M mark. Backing the new fund is the European Investment Fund, HDBI, as well as corporates, family offices and HNWIs around the world (plus many Greek founders). It plans to invest in Seed-stage startups from €1m to 1.5m initial tickets for 15-20% of equity.
Marathon’s most prominent portfolio company is Netdata, which last year raised a $17 million Series A led by Bain Capital, and later raised another $14m from Bessemer. On the success side, Uber’s pending $1.4B+ acquisition of BMW/Daimler’s mobility group was in part driven by a Marathon-backed startup, Taxibeat, which was earlier acquired by Daimler.
Highlights of Fund One’s investments include:
Tziralis tells me the majority of its next ten companies have already raised a Series A round.
Tziralis and Papadopoulos have been key players in the Greek startups scene, backing many of the first startups to emerge from the country over 13 years ago. And they were enthusiastic backers of our TechCrunch Athens meetup many years ago.
Three years ago, they launched Marathon Venture Capital to take their efforts to the next level. Fund I invested in 10 companies with the first fund, and most have raised a Series A. The portfolio as a whole has raised 4x their total invested amount and maintains an estimated total enterprise value of $350 million.
They’ve also been running the “Greeks in Tech” meetups all over the world – Berlin to London to New York to San Francisco, and many more locations in between, connecting with Greek founders.
African cross-border fintech startup Chipper Cash has raised a $30 million Series B funding round led by Ribbit Capital with participation of Bezos Expeditions — the personal VC fund of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
Chipper Cash was founded in San Francisco in 2018 by Ugandan Ham Serunjogi and Ghanaian Maijid Moujaled. The company offers mobile-based, no fee, P2P payment services in seven countries: Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa and Kenya.
Parallel to its P2P app, the startup also runs Chipper Checkout — a merchant-focused, fee-based payment product that generates the revenue to support Chipper Cash’s free mobile-money business. The company has scaled to 3 million users on its platform and processes an average of 80,000 transactions daily. In June 2020, Chipper Cash reached a monthly payments value of $100 million, according to CEO Ham Serunjogi .
As part of the Series B raise, the startup plans to expand its products and geographic scope. On the product side, that entails offering more business payment solutions, crypto-currency trading options, and investment services.
“We’ll always be a P2P financial transfer platform at our core. But we’ve had demand from our users to offer other value services…like purchasing cryptocurrency assets and making investments in stocks,” Serunjogi told TechCrunch on a call.
Image Credits: Chipper Cash
Chipper Cash has added beta dropdowns on its website and app to buy and sell Bitcoin and invest in U.S. stocks from Africa — the latter through a partnership with U.S. financial services company DriveWealth.
“We’ll launch [the stock product] in Nigeria first so Nigerians have the option to buy fractional stocks — Tesla shares, Apple shares or Amazon shares and others — through our app. We’ll expand into other countries thereafter,” said Serunjogi.
On the business financial services side, the startup plans to offer more API payments solutions. “We’ve been getting a lot of requests from people on our P2P platform, who also have business enterprises, to be able to collect payments for sale of goods,” explained Serunjogi.
Chipper Cash also plans to use its Series B financing for additional country expansion, which the company will announce by the end of 2021.
Jeff Bezos’s backing of Chipper Cash follows a recent string of events that has elevated the visibility of Africa’s startup scene. Over the past decade, the continent’s tech ecosystem has been one of the fastest growing in the world by year year-over-year expansion in venture capital and startup formation, concentrated in countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa.
Image Credits: TechCrunch/Bryce Durbin
Bringing Africa’s large unbanked population and underbanked consumers and SMEs online has factored prominently. Roughly 66% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s 1 billion people don’t have a bank account, according to World Bank data.
As such, fintech has become Africa’s highest-funded tech sector, receiving the bulk of an estimated $2 billion in VC that went to startups in 2019. Even with the rapid venture funding growth over the last decade, Africa’s tech scene had been performance light, with only one known unicorn (e-commerce venture Jumia) a handful of exits, and no major public share offerings. That changed last year.
In April 2019, Jumia — backed by investors including Goldman Sachs and Mastercard — went public in an NYSE IPO. Later in the year, Nigerian fintech company Interswitch achieved unicorn status after a $200 million investment by Visa.
One of the more significant liquidity events in African tech occurred last month, when Stripe acquired Nigerian payment gateway startup Paystack for a reported $200 million.
In an email to TechCrunch, a spokesperson for Bezos Expeditions confirmed the fund’s investment in Chipper Cash, but declined to comment on further plans to back African startups. Per Crunchbase data, the investment would be the first in Africa for the fund. It’s worth noting Bezos Expeditions is not connected to Jeff Bezo’s hallmark business venture, Amazon.
For Chipper Cash, the $30 million Series B raise caps an event-filled two years for the San Francisco-based payments company and founders Ham Serunjogi and Maijid Moujaled. The two came to America for academics, met in Iowa while studying at Grinnell College and ventured out to Silicon Valley for stints in big tech: Facebook for Serunjogi and Flickr and Yahoo! for Moujaled.
Chipper Cash founders Ham Serunjogi (R) and Maijid Moujaled; Image Credits: Chipper Cash
The startup call beckoned and after launching Chipper Cash in 2018, the duo convinced 500 Startups and Liquid 2 Ventures — co-founded by American football legend Joe Montana — to back their company with seed funds. The startup expanded into Nigeria and Southern Africa in 2019, entered a payments partnership with Visa in April and raised a $13.8 million Series A in June.
Chipper Cash founder Ham Serunjogi believes the backing of his company by a notable tech figure, such as Jeff Bezos (the world’s richest person), has benefits beyond his venture.
“It’s a big deal when a world class investor like Bezos or Ribbit goes out of their sweet spot to a new area where they previously haven’t done investments,” he said. “Ultimately, the winner of those things happening is the African tech ecosystem overall, as it will bring more investment from firms of that caliber to African startups.”
A-Frame, a Los Angeles-based developer of personal care brands supported by celebrities, has raised $2 million in a new round of funding led by Initialized Capital.
Joining Initialized in the round is the serial entrepreneur Moise Emquies, whose previous clothing lines, Ella Moss and Splendid, were acquired by the fashion holding company VFC in 2017.
A-Frame previously raised a seed round backed by cannabis dispensary Columbia Care. The company’s first product is a hand soap, Keeper. Other brands in suncare and skincare, children and babycare, and bath and body will follow, the company said.
“We partner with the investment groups at the agencies,” said company founder and chief executive, Ari Bloom. “We start interviewing different talent, speaking with their agents and their managers. We create an entity that we spin out. I wouldn’t say that we compete with the agencies.”
So far, the company has worked with CAA, UTA and WME on all of the brands in development, Bloom said. Two new brands should launch in the next couple of weeks.
As part of the round, actor, activist, and author Hill Harper has joined the company as a co-founder and as the company’s chief strategy officer. Emquies is also joining the company as its chief brand officer.
“Hill is my co-founder. He and I have worked together for a number of years. He’s with me at the holding company level. Identifying the opportunities,” said Bloom. “He’s bridging the gap between business and talent. He’s a part of the conversations when we talk to the agencies, managers and the talent. He’s a great guy that I think has a lot of respect in the agency and talent world.”
Initialized General Partner Alda Leu Dennis took point on the investment for Initialized and will take a seat on the company’s board of directors alongside Emquies. Other directors include Columbia Care chief executive, Nicholas Vita, and John D. Howard, the chief executive of Irving Place Capital.
“For us the calculus was to look at personal care and see what categories need to be reinvented because of sustainability,” said Bloom. “It was important to us once we get to a category what is the demographic opportunity. Even if categories were somewhat evolved they’re not all the way there… everything is in non-ingestible personal care. When you have a celebrity focused brand you want to focus on franchise items.”
The Keeper product is a subscription-based model for soap concentrates and cleansing hand sprays.
A serial entrepreneur, Bloom’s last business was the AR imaging company, Avametric, which was backed by Khosla Ventures and Y Combinator and wound up getting acquired by Gerber Technology in 2018. Bloom is also a founder of the Wise Sons Delicatessen in San Francisco.
“We first invested in Avametric at Initialized in 2013 and he had experience prior to that as well. From a venture perspective I think of these all around real defensibility of brand building,” said Dennis.
The investors believe that between Bloom’s software for determining market preferences, A-Frame’s roster of celebrities and the company’s structure as a brand incubator, all of the ingredients are in place for a successful direct to consumer business.
However, venture capitalists have been down this road before. The Honest Co. was an early attempt to build a sustainable brand around sustainable personal care products. Bloom said Honest provided several lessons for his young startup, one of them being a knowledge of when a company has reached the peak of its growth trajectory and created an opportunity for other, larger companies to take a business to the next level.
“Our goal is a three-to-seven year horizon that is big enough at a national scale that a global player can come in and internationally scale it,” said Bloom.
New research has found that San Francisco and London have become two of the world’s leading hubs for VC investment into tech solutions that address one or more of the 17 UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), more commonly referred to as “Impact Tech”. They are followed by Paris, Berlin, Stockholm, Shanghai and Beijing.
Tech solutions for such pressing issues as the climate crisis and social inequality have seen a 280% increase in global VC investment from 2015 to 2020, while investment in this space more than doubled in both cities over the past five years. The report was put together by London & Partners and Dealroom as part of this week’s Silicon Valley Comes to the UK virtual event. More than 5,000 startups were surveyed to create the data.
According to the research, VC investment into London-based impact tech startups has grown by almost 800% (7.8 times) since 2015, compared to 3.1 times in Europe as a whole. 2020 is set to be a record year for London’s impact tech companies, which have received $1.2 billion in VC investment from January to October, already matching 2019 levels. London’s impact firms have also secured 429 deals between 2015 and 2020, more than any other city globally.
San Francisco’s impact-based tech companies have also shown strong growth over the past five years, with the data revealing that VC investment into its impact tech companies has almost tripled (2.8 times) from 2015 to 2020. So far this year, SF-based impact tech companies attracted $1.7 billion of VC investment in 2020 — more than any other city globally. At a national level, the United States received more VC funding for impact tech companies than any other country in the past five years, with investors pumping $35.8 billion into U.S. firms since 2015, double the amount invested into China ($16.8 billion) and the United Kingdom ($6.1 billion).
The research also found that the U.K. capital has produced 241 impact startups since 2006, with 95 companies founded in San Francisco. In London, “impact unicorns” include Octopus Energy (green energy), Arrival (zero-emission, public transportation vehicles), Gousto (food) and Babylon Health (AI health tech).
Climate change and clean energy solutions have attracted the most interest from investors in both cities, making up over 50% of overall VC investment over the last five years. Funding rounds including at least one North American investor made up $234 million of VC investment so far this year in London, up from $85 million in 2018, and equating to a fifth of all VC investment into London’s impact startups.
Funding rounds for London impact companies involving North American investors in 2020 include a $118 million growth equity round into Arrival by BlackRock, an $80 million Series B round for COMPASS Pathways and a $25 million Series C funding for Tractable.
Meanwhile, impact startups are crossing the pond in both directions. Arrival is now operating in Los Angeles, while Octopus Energy launched in the U.S. market in September after closing a $360 million funding round in April and acquiring Silicon Valley-based startup Evolve Energy. And San Francisco-based Allbirds, the sustainable shoe retailer, opened its first European flagship store in London in July 2018.
Commenting, Janet Coyle, managing director for business, London & Partners said: “San Francisco and London are two of the world’s top hubs for innovation and technology. But today’s figures also show that they are leading the way in creating purpose-driven companies striving to tackle some of the most pressing environmental and social challenges.”

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On a bustling street near the shiny new international airport in Ethiopia’s capital is a small coffee roastery with big dreams.
Nearly 40 Ethiopians – a third of them women – sift, roast and package prized Arabica beans for export to Europe under the Moyee brand, founded by a Dutch social entrepreneur.
The roastery, together with the innovative use of blockchain technology to ensure the supply chain is transparent, represents an attempt to keep as much of the profits as possible in Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest countries.
“It’s the world’s favourite drink. We drink over 2 billion cups a day,” said Killian Stokes, who set up the Irish branch of Moyee.
“The industry’s worth $100 billion and yet 90 percent of coffee farmers in Ethiopia live on less than $2 a day.”
That is partly because most exporters process the beans elsewhere, but also down to price fluctuations and other factors that make coffee growing a precarious business.
To make things fairer, Moyee has created unique digital identities for the 350 farmers it currently works with – meaning buyers can see exactly how much each individual grower is paid, with prices set at 20 percent above the market rate.


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Bledisloe New Zealand, the local funeral services arm of Australia's largest undertakers InvoCare [ASX: IVC], has sought antitrust clearance to buy the 70-year-old Cremation Society of Canterbury adding two crematoriums to its New Zealand network.
Auckland-based Bledisloe is seeking Commerce Commission approval to buy the company that owns Harewood Memorial Gardens & Crematorium and Woodlawn Memorial Gardens and Crematorium in Christchurch. Bledisloe already owns three Christchurch funeral parlours and a headstone maker although it has no capacity to cremate bodies in the city, the government regulator said in a statement.
ASX-listed InvoCare set up its New Zealand subsidiary in 2007 and bought Bledisloe in 2010 for an enterprise value of A$114 million. The group has been expanding its New Zealand holdings, acquiring four funeral parlours last year, bringing its total to 29 businesses across the country.
In 2013 New Zealand sales were A$32 million with a 19 percent margin although the company estimated a 1.9 percent decline in deaths during 2013, according to InvoCare's annual report. The Cremation Society is ultimately owned by a group of Christchurch-based investors, according to the Companies Office.
The Commerce Commission decision is due Friday, May 16.
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Sewell Group is once again proud to sponsor the Entrepreneur of the Year category in the Hull Live Business Awards 2021 as part of its wider commitment to supporting the region’s economic recovery post-Covid.
The category recognises local people who have had a big impact, either running their own business or working as part of one.
The launch of the awards comes off the back of Sewell Group’s recent announcement of further investment to support people across the region through tripling its investment in graduates, apprentices and trainees, alongside a summer internship programme in partnership with Humber-wide charity, Cat Zero.
Sewell Estates managing director Jo Barnes said: “For decades, investing in young people and creating a talent pipeline has been a core part of our business strategy. We strive to be a ‘home for talent’ and create empowered leaders who become economically active business ambassadors and role models in the communities we serve.
“As a group that has been fortunate to have a stable order book during the pandemic, it’s only right that we play our part in the recovery of the places where we live and work, which is why we’re proud to sponsor the Hull Live Business Awards again and inspire more entrepreneurs from across the region.”
As part of the partnership with Cat Zero, up to 20 individuals who are struggling to find employment will be given the opportunity to undertake a month of paid work across Sewell Group businesses to give them valuable experience in a bid to help them into the job market.
They will be matched with different areas of the business from facilities management to construction, accountancy, HR and administrative support and given training to help them prepare for stepping into the roles.
Pete Tighe, programme manager at Cat Zero said: "Working with Sewell Group to deliver this summer internship programme is a fantastic opportunity for the young people involved to build up their work history, add vital experience to their CV and most importantly get their foot in the door in order to help them gain confidence to take with them into future employment.”
Based in Yorkshire, Sewell Group is a multi-disciplined group of companies with a long and illustrious history dating back to 1876. Alongside its retail division, which operates 13 fuel and convenience stores across East Yorkshire, Sewell Estates is made up of Sewell Investments, Sewell Construction, Sewell Facilities Management, Illingworth & Gregory and Shared Agenda.
The group of companies recently secured a Queen’s Awards for Enterprise for promoting Opportunity and are well known for championing social mobility.
The Hull Live Business Awards are an integral part of the group’s calendar because it is not just businesses which are celebrated, but also individual talent. The awards also remind us that Hull and East Yorkshire is a great place to live, work and do business.
Nominations will be accepted until Sunday, September 26, with finalists announced in October ready for the first live glittering awards ceremony in two years at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Hull city centre.
For more details, and to enter, visitwww.HLBusinessawards.co.uk.
To find out more about Sewell Group and the opportunities it offers, click here.


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MILLINOCKET – Baxter State Park is set to reopen in just under two weeks, a welcome announcement to businesses in the Katahdin Region.
The park officially reopens to the public on June 15, though park officials say visitors have been showing up at the gate over the past month hoping to get in. Those visitors will be welcomed back with opened arms by the businesses in the surrounding gateway community, just like those in Millinocket.
“Certainly the tourism industry, the hospitality industry has taken a big hit,” said Jamie Brundrett, Katahdin Area Chamber of Commerce President. “The motels have been closed down until just recently, same thing with the campgrounds and those folks count on the summer season.”
The Katahdin region relies on tourist dollars in all four seasons. The summer is no exception.
It’s estimated that 60,000 people visit the park every year, in addition to the thousands visiting the other area attractions.
However, the 2020 numbers are not expected to be that high.
“We’re known for being socially distant up here to begin with,” said Brundrett. “Get out and enjoy the mountain and the trails, so how do we use that to our advantage.”
The busiest months of the year are yet to come for Baxter State Park, but replacing the business of the nearly 50 percent of the visitors that come from out of state will be difficult.
“We recognize that this park is very important to the gateway communities that surround it from an economic perspective,” said park director Eben Sypitkowski. “We’re glad that we can open our doors again and welcome some of that economic activity back in to this area.”
In a 2008 study, it was found that park visitors contribute around $6.8 million annually in indirect spending, a number park officials say has likely grown since then.
Mainers are encouraged to come out safely.
“During this time it is important to stay local and recreate at a lower level than you might at other times,” Sypitkowski said.


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mcePharma participated in the biggest pharmaceutical exhibition in Gulf region Arab Health 2018 which took place from the 29th January to 1st of February in Dubai, UAE.
- Colostrum products in sticks, powders, drinks or capsules
- new line of advanced food supplements for diabetes, cardiovascular system, urinal prevention and sleeping
- line of baby milk
- Colostrum cosmetics
- luxury line of chocolate food supplements
- functional chocolates
and other products from our standard production.
Looking forward to meet at Arab Health also next year!


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Apple has accidentally leaked images of the new 2018 iPhones that will be announced during its upcoming September 12 keynote, and those images were shared by 9to5Mac, giving us our first official look at Apple’s upcoming iPhones.
Once Steve Jobs Said, “iPhone Users Would Never Need A Stylus”
“Who wants a stylus?” Steve Jobs famously asked when he unveiled the original iPhone in 2007, implying that the answer was “no one.” Now, 11 years later, analysts believe that a new premium 2018 iPhone will support Apple Pencil. 😍
Apple’s support for a digital pen could bolster Samsung’s bragging rights over innovation, and also popularize the digital stylus at the time we expect to see Samsung’s next stylus-wielding phone, presumed to be the


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South-Korean battery supplier Nice to build plant in Hungary
Nice LMS Hungary Kft is reportedly setting up a production plant in Vác, adding 60 jobs to its Hungarian workforce.
Nice LMS Hungary KFT started its operation in Hungary in 2019, in Gödöllö, a report from the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) reads.
The company, said to be a ”key supplier of battery components” to Samsung SDI and LG Chemical, will invest 14,4 million euro in a plant measuring around 6’000 sqm.
The project, HIPA continutes, is to improve to meet needs of clients not only in the field of battery production, but also in automotive, defense, ICT as well as sports and leisure product manufacturing.


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Apple is reportedly preparing a new MacBook Pro is equipped with Intel’s Haswell and will be introduced at the WWDC 2013, 10-14 June 2013 in the U.S..
Never heard about Intel Haswell? This is the latest generation of Intel processors, which will [...]
Toshiba Singapore Digital Products and Service Group (DS) today introduced the Canvio Portable Hard Drive Slim, with a capacity of 500GB.
In a press release received TechBoom, Saturday (2/2), Canvio Slim is one external 2.5-inch hard drive form factor [...]
According to previous reports in which 40 percent of the 70 thousand applications available for BlackBerry 10 is the result of the Android port, apparently Skype is one of them.
Quoted from Neowin, Friday (2/8), the Skype application on the BlackBerry [...]
The wait is over, this month, the new Bluetooth device is finally released, so what can we expect from this new device ? Well, as for the design, the new Divoom Voombox outdoor as the name suggests is specifically designed for outdoor uses. It also comes [...]
Japanese game producer, Sega, has released one of the legendary game, Sonic the Hedgehog, for the Android platform.
Quoted from Ubergizmo, Friday (17/5), this game is available on Google Play for $2.99 U.S. dollars.
Taking into classic version is, of [...]
Hewlett Packard (HP) as one of the printer manufacturers claim the new printer, the HP Officejet Pro X Series X476 and X451 Color MFP, the fastest printer in the world.
Recorded in the Guinness World Records, the printer is capable of printing 70 pages [...]
Apacer Technologi Inc., as one of the manufacturers of SSD products, digital consumer products and memory modules, Thursday (10/04) launches a USB 3.0 flash drive AH450.
One thing that most enjoy is the speed of data transmission is very high up to 140 [...]
Microsoft said it will display the Xbox 720 or Durango on 21 May. Durango is the next generation of the Xbox 360.
As written on the website Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Campus in Redmond, Washington, United States (U.S.), will be the location of the emergence [...]
Although the majority of smartphone users prefer to communicate via messenger applications, many of them are also fond of making phone calls.
Some of the applications are available both on the iPhone, Android, or BlackBerry can be used for free calling [...]
Yahoo ranked third under Hotmail.
Based on data released by comScore (a website traffic monitoring agency world) in October 2012, which is a Gmail email service owned by internet giant Google, is expressed as the number one email service in the world.
The latest report from future games console from Microsoft, Xbox 720, likely will have features similar to Siri.
Yes, this means that the Xbox 720 can be controlled via voice commands.
Excerpted from The Verge, Friday (2/8), this information comes from [...]


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In this photo gallery, we feature a range of new brands, products and design revamps that we encountered at the 2015 NACS Show, as culled from our Instagram feed.
SOS, which also comes in a berry-flavored offering, is a powdered drink mix that was designed to provide advanced hydration through increased electrolytes.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, demands that the Forest Service put an end to operations transporting water from the forest’s Strawberry Canyon to a Nestlé bottling facility via a four-mile long pipeline.
In a call with BevNET, Spindrift founder Bill Creelman said the addition of a CMO position comes “at the right time for the business,” as it aims to increase and expand the communication of its brand story, one surrounding its use of local, fresh ingredients.
Just acquired in full by on-premise player Peet's Coffee, Stumptown's president, Joth Ricci, will give a look into the work a company with a high-quality reputation must undertake to maintain its brand image as it transforms, as well as insights into the rapidly-expanding RTD coffee category.
This year’s NACS show features nearly 100 beverage companies and for attendees, we’ve compiled a handy list help you navigate the show.
At last month's 2015 Natural Products Expo East, Health-Ade introduced a new sub-line of "Super-Teas," which are infused with a range of functional ingredients, as well as a holiday-themed variety. From our perspective, the new products well-formulated, and a nice extension of the brand.
The discontinuation of the concentrate formula comes as part of a greater revamp for the brand, which ZICO’s parent company, Coca-Cola, revealed in a press release Wednesday when previewing its participation at the National Association for Convenience Stores trade show in Las Vegas next week.
In an increasingly crowded field for cold brew coffee, Mojo is a super-premium offering that founder Ann Brainard views as differentiated by its taste -- she compares it to “melted coffee ice cream” -- and formulation, which utilizes a recipe cultivated by her New Orleans restaurateur family.
With its tagline of “Drink and Be Beautiful,” H2Rose is a product that features rose water and saffron powder as its key functional ingredients. The product, which is 20 percent juice and clocks in at 80 calories and 20g of sugar per 12 oz. bottle, also features sugar, peach juice, stevia, flavors, and malic acid.
Peet’s is likely to lean on Stumptown’s proficiency in production and distribution of cold-brew coffee with an eye on launching its own ready-to-drink offering.
Brain Juice is a hybrid energy and cognitive shot that’s billed as being “nutrients and energy for your brain.” The product, which is distributed at Whole Foods, has a clean list of ingredients that includes alpha GPC, green tea extract, blueberry, acai, chia gold seed extract, vitamins, amino acids and L-theanine.
Today AriZona Beverages announced the launch of a new line of energy drinks, infusing four of the brand’s existing flavors - Arnold Palmer, Watermelon, Fruit Punch and Mucho Mango - with 120 mg of natural caffeine via a blend of guarana, green and white tea and green coffee extract.
On display at the Baltimore Convention Center were a handful of seasonal items, which despite limited runs on shelves, still require a great deal of development and resources to come to market.


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A Chinese company has invested in Australian research to turn seaweed into high-value products including cosmetics, agricultural chemicals, food and medicine.
The Gather Great Ocean Group (GGOG), based in Shandong Province, will provide $450,000 over three years to further the research at Adelaide's Flinders University.
The university marine products development director Wei Zhang said a new macroalgae research laboratory would develop sustainable technologies to convert beach-cast seaweed in South Australia into a range of products.
"The southern waters of South Australia have a huge diversity of macroalgae types that are a rich source of food and chemicals," Professor Zhang said.
"This sustainable natural resource is unique to Southern Australian waters.
"Each year, storms wash up these seaweeds along our shorelines by the millions of tonnes.
"So our aim is to sustainably convert some of this biomass into high-value products to meet global market demand."
Prof Zhang said researchers would identify seaweed species with commercial potential and apply energy-efficient and sustainable advanced manufacturing technologies to increase product diversity, volume and yields.
The laboratory was also expected to attract significant international investment, creating new jobs in regional SA.
Science Minister Grace Portolesi said the partnership between Flinders and GGOG would help position South Australia as a key player in macroalgae research, an industry estimated to be worth more than $2 billion in the Asia-Pacific.
© AAP 2018


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Windows phone enthusiasts and critics know that Microsoft's commitment to smartphones was wanting. That reluctance to fully commit echoed through Microsoft's former CEO Steve Ballmer's infamous dismissal of the iPhone in 2007. The 2010 three-year-too-late introduction of Microsoft's modern smartphone platform Windows Phone. To a lackadaisical commitment to development for the platform (the world's leading software company could have aggressively and creatively modeled Windows phone app development), to CEO Satya Nadella's failure "to make Windows Phones if no one else makes them" promise.
Microsoft's brand is strong. Surface is succeeding. Azure is generating billions of dollars in revenue and growing profoundly. HoloLens 2 is inspiring. Microsoft Teams is beating Slack. Office, Dynamics and Microsoft 365 are expanding and Xbox and game streaming are potentially positioned to win big (if all goes well) in the next evolution of gaming.
Still, Microsoft's spectacular failure in smartphones, a computing platform that (re)defined mobile computing and birthed an ecosystem of apps, developers, carrier relationships, ambient computing and more may negatively impact folding PCs as part of Microsoft's always-connected PC vison. Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates gave this indictment in a recent interview:
The impact of this failure is already affecting Microsoft's non-phone efforts and the ripple effects may continue.
Unfolding Microsoft's problem in an always-connected world
Folding PCs (just like Surface Pro and Surface Go) are equal part laptop and tablet PC. If always-connected, expectations for the user experience in both configurations would be understandably high. The ability to access anything, and use any app anywhere is the appeal of an always-connected PC, tablet, or 2-in-1. And the potential versatility of folding PCs, particularly if always connected, is profound though the technology has barely scratched the surface. Sadly, Microsoft's smartphone failings and poor tablet UI have already impacted the user experience of Surface Pro, Surface Go, and other Windows 10 2-in-1s in tablet mode. Microsoft's app ecosystem falls short of the competition and Windows 10 on a tablet is crude compared to iOS on the iPad. This is a direct result of the ripple effects of Microsoft's dubious commitment to mobile.
Microsoft is committed to mobile, just not Windows-based smartphones. The company's always-connected PC investments, Project Centaurus, previous investments in Project Andromeda pocket PC, its support of 5G and push for edge computing with partners like ATT and Qualcomm reflect a commitment to making cellular PCs of various form factors computing's next step.
Smartphone enthusiasts may overlook this commitment, but mobile computing is a broad and evolving landscape of which smartphones are an important — but an increasingly less exclusive — part. Still, Microsoft failed to realize how important smartphones are to the success of its mobile vision, and to the evolution of the broader mobile computing landscape in which its rivals are investing.
Mobile OS origins have an advantage in a mobile future
Apple and Google are aggressively moving forward with smartphone (iOS and Android) and browser-based (Chrome) platforms that are becoming more powerful. These platforms have morphed into tablet and, to varying degrees, laptop-scenario operating systems. Conversely, Microsoft let Windows-on-phone languish. Consequently, the derivative app ecosystem, user interface, developers, carrier and consumers relationships and more that support touch-friendly mobile computing on non-phone form factors also suffered. Windows 10 on the desktop remains unmatched, but the increasingly important elements of mobile computing for context-sensitive, connected devices like Windows 10 2-in-1s and coming folding PCs are lacking.
Microsoft's phoneless mobile efforts are moving forward. The company continues populating iOS and Android with Microsoft apps and integrates them into its ecosystem via Azure, Your Phone, Microsoft Graph, Cortana and more. Partnerships with companies like Qualcomm and PC manufacturers bring PCs of various shapes, sizes and form factors to the cellular roadmap as always-connected PCs; and as such, the company inevitably ventures into territory dominated by our "always-connected-phones."
Following the breadcrumbs to convergence
Microsoft's smartphone failures can have a long-term impact on potential innovative and new always-connected mobile form factors. This is unfortunate since the company's commitment to ARM and cellular connectivity development made clear that it had a vision for mobile beyond smartphones. And even with current size differences, the lines are progressively blurring between what a smartphone does and what always-connected tablets or PCs do. As always-connected PC tech advances and smartphones become more powerful, companies are also bringing folding designs and category-crossing dimensions to PCs and phones that seem to point toward an eventual convergence of the two.
Samsung's Galaxy Fold and Huawei's Mate X unfold to become larger always-connected android "tablets" while Lenovo's folding PC foreshadows a future where Windows PCs may fold and unfold into always-connected Windows tablets. As more smartphones cross into the bigger tablet category and PCs potentially become just as connected as smartphones and OEMs inevitably pioneer smaller versions of folding ACPCs, the converging we see happening between phones and PCs now may become more complete.
Simply put, when both phones and PCs are on the cellular roadmap, the differences between the two platforms are less clear. I am not predicting that this convergence of sorts will happen, but I'm considering the possibilities of where this technology may lead. We already see folding phones and PCs. And there is already a precedent of companies making smaller versions of larger computing devices.
The Surface Go is a miniature Surface Pro, GPD Pocket is a pocketable PC, Intel's Tiger Rapids concept PC is specifically intended to inspire OEMs to make nearly pocketable PCs. It seems inevitable that OEMs will apply the same logic used here to make smaller versions of folding Always Connected PCs. Sadly, if they do, the impact of Microsoft's smartphone failures may continue, as they have on Windows 2-in-1 tablets, to hamper the mobile experience of those future devices including potentially pocketable folding PCs.
Mobile is growing up
Apple, via numerous upgrades and the addition of mouse support, has made iOS on the iPad a more powerful PC rival. Combined with unrivaled developer support, analyst Jeff Lin's rumors of a folding iPad as an ACPC contender may have the superior tablet advantages iPads have over Windows devices today and offer a "laptop" experience good enough for most people.
Android tablets, though plagued with an inferior tablet experience than iOS, still have an app advantage over Windows tablet experience that make them a better tablet for many users.
We just announced support for foldables at #AndroidDevSummit, a new form factor coming next year from Android partners.
Android apps run seamlessly as the device folds, achieving this form factor's chief feature: screen continuity. pic.twitter.com/NAfOmCOY26We just announced support for foldables at #AndroidDevSummit, a new form factor coming next year from Android partners.
Android apps run seamlessly as the device folds, achieving this form factor's chief feature: screen continuity. pic.twitter.com/NAfOmCOY26— Android Developers (@AndroidDev) November 7, 2018November 7, 2018
Thus, as mobile computing matures and broadens and Android and iOS-based phones and tablets continue their path toward convergence, they do so with the inherent advantages afforded them by the success of their smartphone platforms. Conversely, Microsoft may continue to reap the consequences of its smartphone failures though it and manufacturing partners may embrace mobile's evolution and move forward with new mobile form factors.
Windows Lite, PWAs and fighting for mobile
Windows Core OS, or Windows Lite, with an adaptable UI for different device types or device states (a folding PC in laptop mode or tablet mode), is expected to be the solution to Microsoft's tablet mode woes. Microsoft is betting on Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), which are hybrid app and website properties to address some of its app challenges in a connected world. This process is going slower than hoped. Furthermore, AI digital assistants like Cortana and bots on the intelligent edge, in conjunction with 5G, and ambient computing via a variety of embedded and intelligent devices is projected to replace some of the things we now turn to apps to accomplish.
Before these advances to our computing experiences come to pass — if they come to pass — the future of folding PCs is looming on the horizon, and unfolding before us. And that future will have to contend with Microsoft's past choices regarding smartphones. Bill Gates made the long-term impact of Microsoft's smartphone failures abundantly clear:
Folding PCs will likely be very versatile, powerful and offer some surprise applications that make them very appealing as desktop computing, notetaking, gaming and creative devices for art, music, teaching, and more. Still, in tablet mode as always-connected devices on an evolving mobile landscape, or as smartphones and PCs converge Microsoft's "app-less" smartphone legacy may keep folding PCs, big and small, from reaching their full potential.
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Jason L Ward is a columnist at Windows Central. He provides unique big picture analysis of the complex world of Microsoft. Jason takes the small clues and gives you an insightful big picture perspective through storytelling that you won't find *anywhere* else. Seriously, this dude thinks outside the box. Follow him on Twitter at @JLTechWord. He's doing the "write" thing!


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- Send a tip on music that inspired your travels to win a £200 holiday prize
- Cruise: Best river cruise for 2020 holidays revealed – but which company came bottom?
- UK holidays: British campervan owners can rent out their vehicles for money – here’s how
- Major airline dumps Aussie flights
- Camping, caravan & staycations: Center Parcs, Butlins, Parkdean & Haven holiday updates


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A more circular economy can help us hit SDG12 and many of the UN goals, argues Joss Bleriot from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Consumers goods giant claims 300 million cleaning bottles will be made from recycled plastic in Europe from early 2020
World's largest asset manager promises to work with Ellen MacArthur Foundation to explore how investment flows can drive circular economy
Gap, H&M, Lee, Mud Jeans, Tommy Hilfiger, and Reformation are among fashion giants to sign up to new circular principles for denim design
Nestle, Veolia, Walkers, PepsiCo, and Terracycle to the fore with announcements to mark Global Recycling Day
Unilever, Nestle, P&G, PepsiCo, and many others join with TerraCycle to launch Loop, a service enabling household collection of empty packaging for refill or recycle
New paper from Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Google suggests AI could save billions of dollars across the food and consumer electronics industries
New global commitment to eradicate plastic waste and pollution at source signed by global governments and 250 organisations
Firms are under pressure to tackle the scourge of plastic waste, but are their new strategies credible and could they prove counterproductive?
Major new global initiative draws some of the biggest clothing brands together to promote vision of a zero waste fashion industry
ASDA, Lidl, Tesco and Waitrose among more than 40 of the UK's biggest food and drink firms backing new pledge to eliminate unnecessary single-use plastics
Just a fraction of global resources are re-used according to new research - but can we close the loop in time?
Ethical fashion figurehead and circular economy pioneer call for bold action on throwaway fashion, as new data reveals less than one per cent of clothing is recycled into new garments
M&S, PepsiCo and Unilever among 150 organisations calling for ban on oxo-degradable plastics, which are thought to be a major cause of microplastic pollution
Recycling Association lists everyday products which are hardest to recycle due to complexity of their packaging
ING Bank report argues closed loop systems in global water industry could provide cheaper and more eco-friendly alternative to desalination


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The dealer principal of Renault dealership Mitchells in Lowestoft has taken ownership of the business.
The site on Long Road has been bought for an undisclosed sum by Matthew Huke-Jenner from the Pullum family who have run the company since the mid-1960s. Lee Pullum, son of the now deceased founder Alfred, sold the business.
Huke-Jenner has been with the company for 24 years after starting his career there as a trainee sales executive.
The company was started before World War II at Pakefield, taking on the Renault franchise in 1974 and moving to its present location in 1979.
Last year, the site was refurbished which made it bigger with more parking for customers and a new look. It offers new and used car sales, all-makes servicing and repair, trade parts sales, Rapide bodycare and is a Motability dealer.
Huke-Jenner said: “I’m delighted that Lee will remain on the board as a vital part of the running of Mitchells. It’s a pleasure to play a part in the continued success of this family business which owes its longevity to strong community ties and the customer service ethos.”
Mitchells also has a Renault Minute centre in Great Yarmouth offering car sales and fast fit service which it will retain.
Pullum said: “The reason for the sale is due to the matter of lacking a successor. I have been retired for 10 years and, while having no involvement in the running of the business, we do meet regularly which gives me the opportunity to discuss ideas.”


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Manila Standard will soon launch its refreshed and improved website, www.manilastandard.net, after signing a development contract with Neitiviti Studios, a full-stack multimedia solution agency.
Signing the deal were Standard publisher Rolando Estabillo and treasury manager Anita Grefal with Neitiviti Studios president Kier Labrador and marketing director Priscilla Joyce Pardo.
The website update also allows the Standard to enhance its online reporting and boost its social media presence, while catering more to the tech-savvy and youth who are constantly on the Web.
Neitiviti Studios is a multimedia solutions start-up that focuses on creating solutions for any size of business. Their services include mobile and web applications development, website design and development, system development, and video production.
Since setting up in 2016 as a freelance business, the company has grown to become a multi-skilled team of young individuals with expertise in IT Development, Design, and Marketing.
Neitiviti is a wordplay for Native Creativity and the word “nativity” or the process of being born.
Neitiviti Studios aims to extend its services to international clients and showcase the native creative talent of Filipinos on the global stage in the next 3 to 5 years.


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A report from digital consultancy Kepler made harsh reading for media agencies. It involved over 150 senior marketers from leading brands across FMCG, automotive, retail and finance.
Over half of marketers surveyed cited one of their key challenges as managing and optimizing relationships with tech platforms such as Facebook and Google. Yet a third don’t believe their media agencies have strong enough relationships with the major tech platforms.
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In the Age of iTunes and Spotify, Ely Buendia Makes a Brave Bet on Vinyl
Ely Buendia is perhaps best-known as the frontman of seminal OPM band the Eraserheads, but these days, he’s wearing a different hat. The fortysomething singer-songwriter-record producer is now a bona fide record executive after he and a few business partners set up indie label Offshore Music.
The label has actually been in existence for just a little over two years already, but Buendia and his cohorts, which include Derick Villarino, Philip Florendo and Patricia Sarabia, only officially launched it last month.
“It took a while for us to get going,” he said. “We had very little resources at our disposal. But we felt this was the right time because we have a few things coming up.”
At the launch, Buendia half-jokingly referenced the limited investment—which he says is less than Php1 million—the founders put into the startup.
“Who in their right minds would start a record company at the height of the music apocalypse?” he said. “We blew our capital on our first music video. We only had Php400,000, and it went down to Php350,000 after this presscon.”
But Buendia said they had good reasons for going ahead with the plan.
One of the talents signed under Offshore Music is veteran guitarist Jun Lopito
“We don’t know anything about running a business, and we hardly know anything about supporting artists, except provide them help so they can be what they want to be without selling their souls,” he said. “Our dream was just too beautiful to let go.”
Two of Offshore Music’s founding partners have already called it quits, according to Buendia, but they’ve since been replaced by new ones. Buendia, who sits as the label’s chairman, named Dr. Eric Yapjuangco of Icon Clinic as one of them.
Offshore Music’s lineup of artists currently includes guitarist Jun Lopito, bands The Late Isabel, Eyedress, One Click Straight and EB x IW, which is a collaboration between Buendia and the Itchyworms, and Apartel, Buendia’s own soul and R&B project with Sarabia. Apartel is Offshore Music’s flagship band.
The label also worked with indie folk group The Ransom Collective to release their debut album Traces on vinyl.
According to the founders, Offshore Music intends to make money through the records they produce for their stable of artists. Although current music trends dictate that artists release their music on digital and streaming services like iTunes and Spotify, the fledgling label is bucking the trend and plans to also release their albums on vinyl.
In fact, in addition to Traces, all of Offshore Music’s releases so far have been on vinyl, which makes it one of the very few labels in the industry to do so. This includes the EB x IW singles “Pariwara” and “Lutang,” Apartel’s debut Inner Play and upcoming albums from Lopito and One Click Straight.
“I learned a lot in the past year,” Buendia says. “I learned to be more conservative with money and make smarter business decisions. I’m also studying more to become a better businessman. I’ve been watching shows like Shark Tank.
“We’re slowly gaining traction,” he added. “I know it’s about our love for music but you also have to use your brain. It has to be sustainable.”
This story originally appeared on Entrepreneur.com.ph.
* Minor edits have been made by the Esquiremag.ph editors.


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The latest competition to Apple's iPad is called Surface. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who did the unveiling in Hollywood this afternoon, says it's part of a new family of devices - and the company seems to be pushing Surface's ability to handle chores still reserved mostly for laptops. The 9.3 millimeter thick tablet comes with a kickstand to hold it upright and keyboard that is part of the cover. It weighs under 1.5 pounds (similar to the iPad). No pricing information was immediately available. From WSJ blog:
Microsoft slyly slams the tablet computers on the market today, including the iPad and devices such as the Kindle Fire, because Microsoft says those devices aren't useful for writing documents or doing some other kinds of activities we've gotten used to on traditional computers. Microsoft executives from CEO Steve Ballmer on down repeatedly use the words "no compromises" to describe the tablet computers they envision running Windows 8. In the Microsoft world, "compromises" are when buyers of iPads or other rival tablets relinquishing features they might want -- Microsoft Office spreadsheets and online videos in Flash and other features and functions available on PCs.
From the NYT:
The tablet has a built-in "kickstand" that will allow users to prop it up for watching movies, and a detachable cover that will serve double duty as a keyboard. The Surface tablet will run a variation of Windows 8, a forthcoming version of Microsoft's flagship operating system. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive, said the product was part of a long-running effort by Microsoft to create hardware, like computer mice, that show off innovations in its software.


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Another round of stimulus checks helped to bolster last month’s retail sales.
Sotheby’s appoints new jewelry division chairman
Sotheby’s has named David Bennett to the newly created role of worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s International Jewelry Division.
New York--Sotheby’s has named David Bennett to the newly created role of worldwide chairman of Sotheby’s International Jewelry Division.
In his new position, Bennett will be responsible for designing and implementing a strategy for the expansion and development of the business’s jewelry category.
He has more than 40 years of experience with Sotheby’s, most recently leading the European and Middle Eastern jewelry divisions.
During his time at Sotheby’s, Bennett has overseen many of the record-breaking sales at the auction house, including the sale of the “Graff Pink,” which set the record for any diamond or jewel when it went for $46.2 million in 2010, and seven other diamonds weighing more than 100 carats each.
In addition, he helped present some of Sotheby’s most iconic auctions, including the Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor in 1987, the Princely Collections of Thurn and Taxis in 1992, and the collections of Ava Gardner, Maria Callas, and more recently, Dimitri Mavrommatis.
Bennett also is the co-author with Daniela Mascetti of two books--Understanding Jewellery and Celebrating Jewellery.
Last year, Sotheby’s jewelry division--which the company has noted is one of its fastest-growing--saw more than $600 million in sales, marking the highest total annual in the auction house’s history for the category and the third year in a row of record jewelry sales.
Colorful gems enliven a classic celestial motif.
Learn how to increase customer loyalty and revenue by making JM™ Care Plan a cornerstone of your business plan.
All six styles are priced under $2,000.
After months of pandemic-driven social distancing, restrictions and lock-downs, consumers will be excited to visit your store. Now is the time to ensure you have the right inventory on-hand to capitalize on that excitement!


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Lightning eMotors is expanding to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles from commercial and government fleets.
Three and a half years ago, Lightning eMotors moved its headquarters, manufacturing, and research and development into the nearly one-million-square-foot campus that was formerly used by Hewlett-Packard/Agilent in southwest Loveland, Colorado. Early last year, the company took over the entire building on the campus located at Southwest 14th Street and Taft Avenue, expanding its square footage from 45,000 to 124,000. Now it is adding another 107,000 square feet in an adjacent building, for a total of 231,000 square feet of space for its operations. Lightning has first right of acceptance on more than 500,000 square feet of additional manufacturing space if it determines customer demand requires the additional space.
“The new space will initially be used for our development efforts around advanced motorcoach electrification and fuel cell electric vehicles of all classes,” said Tim Reeser, CEO of Lightning eMotors. “The second phase will support additional production capacity, important for ensuring we can support our 3,000 vehicle production plans for 2022.”
“The additional space helps us to accommodate the increased number of electric van and truck projects that are contracted for 2021, as well as our work on charging infrastructure for fleets and electric motorcoach repowers,” said Keith Lehmeier, director of research and development for Lightning eMotors. “Importantly, the expansion will enable our team to work both faster and smarter, with more testing equipment and automation. As we hire engineers, it gives us room to have top-notch facilities for them to work.”
During the summer and fall of 2020, the company ramped up production by more than 600 percent and continues to increase production as its orders increase. In addition, the company recently doubled its workforce and expects to double it again this year.
“Lightning eMotors is a strong example of the economic impact of sustainable, environmentally friendly businesses,” said Betsy Markey, executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. “Renewable energy is a pillar of the Polis administration because caring for the environment today creates enduring business models and high-quality jobs. It’s good for business and good for Colorado. We congratulate Lightning eMotors for this important milestone in their growth.”
As a part of the expansion, Lightning eMotors has added technology and automation, including CNC laser cutting and powder-coating equipment. “These additions to our in-house production capabilities allow us to produce all of our own framework in-house, better enabling us to control quality, accelerate development and production, and reduce costs,” Lehmeier said. “Combined, the expansion and new equipment ensures that we’re ready for continually increasing demand and the growth of the business.”
Lightning eMotors offers a full range of medium-duty battery-electric and fuel cell commercial electric vehicles, as well as electric motorcoaches for North American vehicle operators. In addition to its commercial EV business, the company offers charging technologies and energy as a service (EaaS) to commercial and government fleets via its Lightning Energy division.


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Rockstar Games has officially confirmed the release date of the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI as December 5th. This announcement has generated significant excitement among fans of the series who have been eagerly awaiting updates.
The trailer release date was announced by the company on social media. The accompanying tweet featured an image of palm trees against a sunset backdrop, hinting at a return to Vice City, the iconic city from previous installments of the series.
It appears that the new game will be set in a city inspired by Miami, bringing fans back to the much-loved Vice City. This has sparked a lot of discussion and speculation within the gaming community.
The trailer is scheduled to be released at 9 AM Eastern Time (ET), which corresponds to 5 PM Moscow time. This timing was chosen to cater to a broad global audience.
While the details of the storyline and gameplay of GTA VI remain unknown, the game is expected to bring innovations and fresh ideas to the series, while maintaining its classic style and spirit of adventure.


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The surge in sports betting platforms and states where it is legal has created a huge market opportunity for companies that operate in the growing sector. One such company will test the public markets with an IPO scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 14.
The Sportradar IPO: Sportradar SRAD is seeking to sell 19 million shares at a price point of $25 to $28. The company will be valued at $8.3 billion based on the mid-point of the IPO pricing range.
Company founder and CEO Carsten Koerl owns 34.1% of the company and will own 81.8% of voting power after the IPO.
Sportradar was previously a rumored SPAC merger candidate with a reported deal between the company and Horizon Acquisition II Corp HZON.
About Sportradar: The company is a leading technology platform and the number one provider of business-to-business solutions for the global sports betting industry.
Genius Sports Ltd GENI, which went public via SPAC, is a competitor to Sportradar and the two companies operate a near duopoly with exclusive rights to the top sports leagues around the world owned by one of the two companies.
The company has more than 900 sports betting customers and covers over 750,000 events annually for 83 sports. Live data is provided for more than 600,000 events across 37 sports. Sportradar also counts more than 350 media companies as customers providing products and services.
Investors in the company include Canada Pension Plan Investment, Michael Jordan and Mark Cuban. The National Football League owns a stake in the company via its 32 Equity Venture arm, giving each NFL team a stake in the company.
Todd Boehly, who tried to take the company public with HZON, is investing in the company as part of the public offering.
The Thing Behind The Thing: Sportradar is number one for revenue and data provided in the U.S. market. The company provides data to 85% of all sports betting companies in the U.S., according to the IPO filing.
Sportradar offers pre-match data and odds, live data and odds and audiovisual content.
In 2020, Sportradar was responsible for more than 1.9 billion betting tickets and processed over 21 billion betting odds changes from partners.
Sportradar has partnerships with Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League. Some deals are exclusive and many of them include media data rights. A deal signed in 2021 with the National Hockey League will give the league an ownership stake.
The company counts Bet365; Caesars and William Hill, both owned by Caesars Entertainment CZR; Draftkings Inc DKNG; FanDuel, owned by Flutter Entertainment PDYPY; and Entain ADR GMVHY as sports betting customers.
Other customers for sports data include Apple Inc AAPL; Facebook, Inc. FB; Alphabet Inc GOOGGOOGL; Twitter Inc TWTR; Yahoo Sports; CBS Sports, owned by ViacomCBS VIAC; Fox Sports, owned by Fox Corp FOXA; NBC Sports, owned by Comcast Corporation CMCSA; and Walt Disney Co. DIS owned ESPN.
Growth Ahead: Growth of sports betting legalization on a state-by-state basis could help a company like Sportradar as it will provide more data to additional betting platforms and apps.
Sportradar lists global expansion, expanding its business-to-business products, adding alternative content and services to its growth plans.
The company lost an exclusive NFL deal to rival Genius and will need to grow other items to potentially make up for the big loss.
Financials: From 2016 through 2020, Sportradar had compounded annual growth of 25%. Revenue in fiscal 2020 was $477.8 million.
The company reported six-month revenue of $321.0 million for the first six months of 2021, up 42% year-over-year.
Genius Sports had six-month revenue of $109.6 million, a year-over-year increase of 76%.
Sportradar posted a net income of $26.1 million in fiscal 2020 and had a net income of $29.9 million in the first six months of 2021.
© 2022 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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Image via Konami
Over the past number of years, Konami has released many Yu-Gi-Oh! games, including Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist, Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links on mobile devices, consoles, and PC. However, those titles have not reflected the ever-changing number of cards in the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe, or the look and feel of the actual TCG. That’s scheduled to change with Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, a new game from Konami, coming to consoles, mobile devices, and PC.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel will align with the current field layouts of the TCG, while also provide players with over 10,000 cards to choose from. So, when will Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel release? Here’s what we know so far.
At the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) 2021 program, Konami announced that Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel will release in Winter 2021. No definite release date was revealed at the event, however.
Yu-Gi-Oh! fans and players will need to wait for the exact release date information to be made available. Konami has released several trailers for the game, including one that was featured during Gamescom 2021 and TGS 2021. When it does release, Master Duel will be available for both old and next-gen Xbox and PlayStation consoles, plus PC, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices.
On January 18, the title appeared on online marketplaces for the platforms listed above. Master Duel can now be downloaded for said devices.


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Black Friday, that infamous day after Thanksgiving when stores give great deals, dawns earlier and earlier every year. For some retailers, it starts on Thanksgiving, forcing retail workers from their family tables to check-out counter as overfed shoppers determined not to miss a deal tear through the aisles.
The good news is that not all retailers force their employees to leave their families and turkey dinners. Several stores shutter their doors on Thanksgiving, including Costco, Patagonia, Home Depot, Lowes, and Target.
REI is closed on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. In 2015, the retailer chose to stay closed on Black Friday and has made it a permanent policy.
“The thing that is powerful to me is this clearly is not a financially self-serving act,” REI President and CEO Jerry Stritzke told USAToday.
“It’s an act where we’re really making a very clear statement about a set of values.”
REI closes all of its 153 stores for Black Friday, does not process any online payments, and pays its employees to spend time with family and friends. The outdoor lifestyle retailer started an online movement in 2014 with the hashtag #OptOutside. Since then, 15 million people and over 700 organizations have joined the #OptOutside movement.
There is a good reason why REI pays its employees not to work on Black Friday. The company states on its website, “We pay our employees to OptOutside and invite the world to join.” Getting people outside is important to REI. Stritzke said the “best data” reveals that “in any given year, 150 million Americans don’t spend any time outside.” Or half the country. REI wants to increase the number of Americans who spend some time outside.
“We’re asking people this year to reevaluate that picture of themselves,” Stritzke explained.
“To see technology as the starting point to a journey outside, not the destination. And to go explore the world with someone they love – on Black Friday and every day.”
REI noticed that “consumerism was spinning out of control,” as REI chief customer officer Ben Steele told Fast Company. “It feels like the cultural context has changed,” he said. The reason is that people are talking about choices. “Choice in terms of the notion of our relationship with technology,” he added.
While REI is the only major retailer closed on Black Friday, its rival Patagonia promotes a similar message, encouraging customers to spend time in nature instead of in a mall.
Consumerism is indeed out of control, as the number of stores opening on Thanksgiving proves. But business can play a role in helping stop the tide of hyper-consumerism. As Stritzke asked during his keynote address at the 2017 Conscious Capitalism conference, “Who’s going to change the world if business doesn’t step up to the plate?”
REI made a courageous decision by encouraging their customers to trade time shopping for time outdoors, even if it is only to go on a walk to notice nature’s changing season.
We can all be courageous by resisting the advertising onslaught and not buying something on Black Friday. There is a beautiful world outside your doors. Take some time to experience it this season.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons


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The BFC Vogue Designer Fashion Fund competition opens
Won last year by Peter Pilotto
The award will mark the sixth year in a row that just one talented designer or brand will be given the £200,000 prize to help grow their business, creatively and commercially – plus a bespoke 12-month mentoring programme.
Entrants must have a focus on creating a global brand; and send a copy of their business plan and portfolio ahead of the October 17 deadline, before a winner is selected by a judging panel that includes British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman and CEO of the BFC Caroline Rush.
"Vogue and the BFC are committed to continuing to help the best emerging fashion talent," said Shulman. "This prize has been life-changing for the previous winners and the opportunities presented by both winning it and being shortlisted are not to be missed."


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The following video is brought to you courtesy of the Forbes YouTube Channel. Click the video below to watch it now.
While Musk and Bezos compete for top spot, they are both more than $30 billion richer than the world’s third-wealthiest person, French luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault. He is now worth $150.5 billion, Forbes estimates.
While Bezos was the world’s richest person for much of 2020, Musk has closed the gap over the past year, with his fortune growing at an unprecedented rate. His net worth has risen by some $160 billion since March 2020, when he was worth $24.6 billion. Musk’s fortune has grown in tandem with Tesla’s skyrocketing stock price, which rose by more than 720% in 2020.
Read the full profile on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/billionaire-timeline/#1746927e7955
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How did the Tazreen factory fire start?
Exactly five years ago, in November 2012, a fire in the Tazreen Fashions factory in Bangladesh killed at least 112 workers. Probably caused by a short circuit on the ground floor of the building, the fire rapidly spread up the nine floors where garment workers were trapped due to narrow or blocked fire escapes.
What happened at the Tazreen factory fire?
On 24 November 2012 a fire broke out in the Tazreen Fashions garment factory in Bangladesh. Exits to the outside were locked, which left workers trapped inside the building. The only way out was through windows on the upper floors, while the lower windows were barred.
Why did the Bangladesh factory fire happen?
The blaze broke out on Thursday night at Hashem Food and Beverage factory in Rupganj, an industrial town near the capital Dhaka. Authorities told AP news agency the fire took hold because of chemicals and plastics stored inside the building.
Where is tazreen?
The factory is Tazreen Fashions in Savar, Bangladesh, an industrial town just outside the capital city of Dhaka. Its parent company is Tuba Group, which operates several factories in the area.
What happened at the Tazreen Fashions factory?
The 2012 Dhaka garment factory fire broke out on 24 November 2012, in the Tazreen Fashion factory in the Ashulia district on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. At least 117 people were confirmed dead in the fire, and over 200 were injured, making it the deadliest factory fire in the nation’s history.
How long did the Dhaka fire last?
At least 200 people were working in the building when the fire broke out, the police said. The fire, at a seven-story building where fruit drinks and plastic packaging were made, burned for nearly 24 hours, filling the air with thick plumes of black smoke, until it was extinguished on Friday afternoon.
What caused the Kader toy factory fire?
The Kader Industrial (Thailand) Co. Ltd. was first registered on 27 January 1989, but the company’s licence was suspended on 21 November 1989, after a fire on 16 August 1989 destroyed the new plant. This fire was attributed to the ignition of polyester fabric used in the manufacture of dolls in a spinning machine.
Why are garment factories vulnerable to fires?
Flammable materials are stored in the factory without considering the danger of fire and this reason was mentioned by 37.14 percent workers. Transformer explosion became one of the major causes of fire in the factory which was reported by 24.29 percent workers.
How much were families paid as compensation for a lost family member in the Bangladesh fire?
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said it would pay $1,300 in initial compensation to the families of the dead and would then give them their deceased relative’s monthly salary for at least 10 years.
Did Zara Use Rana Plaza?
Rana Plaza was a building that contained multiple clothing factories. Items were manufactured for the likes of Benetton, Bonmarché, The Children’s Place, Joe Fresh, Monsoon, Accessorize, Mango, Matalan, Primark, Walmart, and Zara. The lower portions of the building also contained shops, a bank, and some apartments.


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Our Generation's Smoot-Hawley (Cap and Trade Legislation)
House Chamber, Washington, D.C. June 26, 2009. Madam Speaker: When we discuss Herbert Hoover’s mishandling of the recession of 1929, the first thing that economists point to is the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act that imposed new taxes on over 20,000 imported products.
The Waxman-Markey Bill is our generation’s Smoot-Hawley. It imposes new taxes on an infinitely larger number of domestic products on a scale that utterly dwarfs Smoot-Hawley.
At least Hoover could argue that Smoot Hawley made domestic products more competitive with imports. Waxman-Markey disadvantages American products.
When California adopted similar restrictions three years ago, we, too, were promised an explosion of green jobs. Instead, California’s unemployment rate has skyrocketed to one of the highest in the country.
If this bill becomes law, I believe history guarantees us two things.
One: the planet will continue to warm and cool as it has been doing for billions of years.
And two: Congress will have just delivered a staggering blow to our nation’s economy just at the moment when it’s the most vulnerable.


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SURPRISE! ‘Evil Creampies’ Cumming Today from @EvilAngelVideo
SURPRISE! ‘Evil Creampies’ Cumming Today
LOS ANGELES, March 14, 2017 — Climaxing a surprise marketing campaign, Evil Angel will today launch director Jonni Darkko’s “Evil Creampies.” It’s the first internal cum shot movie the edgy, artistic studio has ever offered on the DVD, VOD or EvilAngel.com platforms. The release date is appropriate — “Evil Creampies” comes on March 14, giving “Pi Day” (3.14) a spunky, new meaning.
“I really like shooting creampies because it’s been so many years of facial cum shots,” says Darkko. “I really dig watching girls eat cum out of pussy. It’s one of the hottest things ever.”
Evil Angel has promoted “Evil Creampies” with a surprise marketing campaign, to create mystery and buzz before revealing the splashy new product on the day of release. “It’s likely the first time this has ever been done in porn,” according to Chris Gentile, Evil Angel’s Vice President of Product. “This is a new tactic used in the music industry, where artists like Beyonce and Drake release surprise albums with no advance promotion.
“In pre-release promotional materials on the Internet, we temporarily titled the release, ‘Secret Darkko Project.’ People noticed — anticipation got so high that some fans went on fact-finding missions to figure out what the secret project is. A few figured it out, and then in the last week, somebody leaked the movie itself.” (When it comes to internal cum shots, leakage is part of the charm.)
Evil Angel VP of Sales and Marketing Alexandra Kelley thinks the surprise campaign is working. “Pre-orders are higher than usual, and the movie title wasn’t even announced.” She adds that, “Every year, creampies are the number-one request from fans on our EvilAngel.com survey.”
“Evil Creampies” features a superstar cast led by AVN 2017 Female Performer Of The Year Adriana Chechik. Ms. Chechik gets soaked in a graphic foursome with blonde Natalia Starr, stud Markus Dupree and Darkko. Wallowing in more “Evil Creampies” are naturally voluptuous Italian stunner Valentina Nappi and curvy, impudent Keisha Grey. Tattooed Anna Bell Peaks and exotic Eden Sin do a juicy interracial foursome with Moe “The Monster” Johnson and Slimpoke.
After years of lobbying, Darkko’s passion for internal cum shots convinced Evil Angel to green-light a creampie movie. “To be able to shoot creampies is awesome. The next few months, I will be rolling out some creampie-specific movies. I have some nasty ideas — you can expect to see felching. This is some big, new fun that so needs to happen.” But Darkko says he still likes cumming on glamorous faces. “I won’t forget my facial fans either.”
Check out the trailer at EvilAngelVideo.com: The secret has been leaked, and it’s an orgasmic blast!
Domestic DVD Sales & Operations
Rick Porras, [email protected] / (818) 787-1414, ext 104
Alexandra Kelley, [email protected] / +1818.787.1414 ext 106
Brian Gross / BSG PR, [email protected] / (818) 340-4422
For more information about Evil Angel Wholesale, visit their B2B site EvilDistributor.com
Evil Angel marketing site: EvilAngelVideo.com
03-14-2017 05:52 AM


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Take a virtual tour of CU Direct's new Innovation Lab in Irvine, Calif., and hear insights from CU Direct executives.
The new Innovation Lab in Irvine, Calif., will serve as a collaborative work and product testing space.
CU Direct says car sales will fall this year, providing new opportunities and challenges for credit unions.
Credit unions, dealers and the CU Direct team have an official place to test and prototype lending technology ideas.
Price alone won’t be enough to gain share in a tightening market, CU Direct analyst warns.
Prepare your credit union for what is widely considered the biggest change in the financial services industry in recent memory.
Six credit unions and CU Direct announce personnel moves this week.
Credit unions employing CU Direct represent the nation's third-largest auto lender based on originations.
Belaney, known for serving as the first full-time PR director for a credit union, passes at 89.
CU Direct reports leases accounted for 32% of new vehicles so far this year, compared to 27% in 2015.


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Successfully passed the anti-monopoly review in China and South Korea, SK hynix officially acquired Key Foundry for KRW 575.8 billion
SK Hynix, the world's second-largest memory chip maker, said in October 2021 that it would acquire South Korean foundry Key Foundry. Yesterday, SK Hynix officially completed the acquisition.
According to The Korea Herald, SK hynix announced yesterday that it has passed the antitrust review in China and South Korea, successfully completed the acquisition of Key Foundry at a price of 575.8 billion won, and obtained from private equity firms Alchemist Capital Partners and Gravity Private Equity. the entire equity of the company.
A company that produces power management IC chips, display driver IC chips and microcontroller units, Key Foundry managed to turn around a loss in 2020 with an operating profit of 51 billion won in 2021. In addition, Key Foundry's revenue in 2021 reached 616 billion won, a nearly four-fold increase in 2021 compared to 2020's revenue.
Currently, SK hynix is 200mm foundry by subsidiary System IC, which was spun off from SK hynix in 2017. SK Hynix said that Lee Dong-jae, CEO of System IC, will lead Key Foundry.
It is worth mentioning that SK Hynix completed the acquisition of the first phase of Intel's solid-state drive business and NAND flash memory related assets in Dalian, China in December last year, and plans to acquire Intel's remaining NAND flash memory assets as early as 2025. In addition, SK Hynix Chairman Chey Tae-won announced in July that it would invest $15 billion in semiconductor development in the United States.
SK Hynix expects the acquisition to double its current 8-inch foundry capacity. During the anti-monopoly review, the Korean review agency stated in March this year that the combined market share of SK Hynix's foundry division and Key Foundry was only about 5%, which would not lead to the risk of hindering competition.
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