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Retention Cloud Leader CleverTap Acquires Leanplum

New combined entity to significantly accelerate user engagement and retention capabilities for digital brands globally

CleverTap, the world’s No.1 retention cloud, today announced it has signed definitive agreements to fully acquire San Francisco based Leanplum, a leading multi-channel customer engagement platform, for an undisclosed amount.

This acquisition will make CleverTap a truly global company with development centers and customer-facing and success teams across North America, Europe, Latin America, India, South East Asia and the Middle East. Combining the product stack of the two organizations, this acquisition will enhance CleverTap’s capabilities and take its total customer base to over 1200 customers in more than 100 countries around the world. The deal is expected to close in Q2 of 2022.

Together CleverTap and Leanplum will work with digital brands to help increase their users’ engagement, retention and lifetime value by making every user experience hyper-personalized, relevant and contextual at scale in real time. As more businesses become digital-first, brands need to serve their users with delightful moments where they are, when they want and on their preferred channel. CleverTap and Leanplum will now bring real-time hyper-personalization, A/B testing and increased scalability to its omnichannel engagement, analytics and segmentation product lines. As a result, growth and marketing teams globally will now be able to utilize the only end-to-end user engagement and retention cloud platform, enabling them to break down user communication silos and increase the overall lifetime value of each user.

“We are seeing a seismic shift in the marketing technology landscape,” says Sunil Thomas, CleverTap Co-founder and Executive Chairman. “Users today demand to be treated as individuals, and this has forced brands to change how they engage with them. CleverTap and Leanplum have both purposely built for a mobile-centric omnichannel world.” The acquisition, he says, combines platforms and teams to deliver the best behavior analytics, segmentation, and engagement tools that will enable digital brands to build valuable, long-term relationships with their users. “Our combined strength will be a game-changing force for user engagement, retention and monetization, creating tremendous value for our customers. I am very excited to welcome Leanplum to the CleverTap family.”

“When we started Leanplum, our vision was to meet customers’ real-time needs at the cutting edge of technology,” says Momchil Kyurkchiev, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer, Leanplum. “We have succeeded in that, but as the market has matured, to fully meet the increasing demands put on brands today, we needed to bring in the best analytics, segmentation, and engagement tools, to help our customers build valuable, long-term relationships with their customers. This is why joining forces with CleverTap makes the most sense, and I am excited about the combined capabilities we will now bring to Leanplum customers worldwide.”

“I am looking forward to the journey with Leanplum. This coming together with Leanplum marks a monumental moment across the marketing technology landscape,” says Sidharth Malik, CleverTap Chief Executive Officer. “This bridges the gap created by multiple martech tools and customer data platforms and will meet the growing needs of user-obsessed digital brands in a much more efficient way. Our ‘better together’ vision is about integrating our cumulative strengths around people, process and technology to cement our position as the global leader in the user engagement and retention space. Joining forces allows us to bring advanced product and technology capabilities as brands strive to do live segmentation, anticipate user intentions and actions, automate and deploy real-time campaigns for the highest possible conversions, all from one single dashboard.”

Image: Sunil Thomas, CleverTap Co-founder and Executive Chairman
https://www.acnnewswire.com/docs/Multimedia/Low_CleverTap2022519.jpg

About CleverTap
CleverTap is the modern, integrated, retention cloud that empowers digital consumer brands to increase customer retention and lifetime value. For brands that understand and value user retention, CleverTap drives context and individualization with the help of a unified and deep data layer, AI/ML-powered insights and automation. Customers worldwide representing over 10,000 apps, including Vodafone Idea, SonyLIV, Daimler, Gojek, Carousell, and Premier League, trust CleverTap to achieve their retention and engagement goals, growing their long term revenue. Backed by leading venture capital firms, including Sequoia India, Tiger Global Management, and Accel, the company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices in Mumbai, Singapore, and Dubai. For more information, visit clevertap.com or follow on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Media Contact:
Sony Shetty
CleverTap
sony@clevertap.com

Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in this press release may represent CleverTap’s belief in connection with future events and may be forward-looking statements, or statements of future expectations based on currently available information. CleverTap cautions that such statements are naturally subject to risks and uncertainties that could amount in the actual result being absolutely different from the results anticipated by the statements mentioned in the press release. Factors such as the development of general economic conditions affecting our business, future market conditions, our ability to maintain cost advantages, uncertainty with respect to earnings, corporate actions, client concentration, reduced demand, liability or damages in our service contracts, unusual catastrophic loss events, war, political instability, changes in government policies or laws, legal restrictions impacting our business, impact of pandemic, epidemic, any natural calamity and other factors that are naturally beyond our control, changes in the capital markets and other circumstances may cause the actual events or results to be materially different, from those anticipated by such statements. CleverTap does not make any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness or updated or revised status of such statements. Therefore, in no case whatsoever will CleverTap and its affiliate companies be liable to anyone for any decision made or action taken in conjunction with the information and/or statements in this press release or any related damages.

CleverTap Appoints Honey Bajaj as SVP & Global Chief of Consumer Experience

Bajaj will lead the company’s charter to realize the “Art of Possible” and steer the launch of digital and physical centers of CX excellence

CleverTap, the world’s leading retention cloud, today added to its core leadership team with the appointment of Honey Bajaj as SVP & Global Chief of Consumer Experience. In this position, Bajaj will pioneer CleverTap’s extensive program to help companies reimagine customer experience and realize the “Art of Possible”.

CleverTap Appoints Honey Bajaj as SVP & Global Chief of Consumer Experience

Bajaj is a design strategist, an innovation leader and a social entrepreneur with extensive work in India and the U.S. Her ability to problem solve and identify patterns in human behavior has earned her multiple prestigious awards and recognition as an Innovation Global Shaper and Inventor of the Year (2016). She is also a dual degree holder with a Master’s Degree in Engineering and Management and a Master’s in Sustainability Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Design and Innovation Methodologies in the Digital World.

Before joining the CleverTap Leadership Team, Honey built an innovation pipeline for several Fortune 500 companies, including Boston Consulting Group Digital Ventures, Disney, Microsoft Research, MIT Media Lab and Tata Group, one of India’s largest and highly profitable conglomerates. There she developed detailed market segmentation frameworks based on purchase behavior to orchestrate product launches and go-to-market strategies.

Bajaj has also dedicated her talent in designing for scale and impact to serving the needs of government bodies, financial institutions and healthcare organizations. Her work, which spans over a decade, has impacted over 50 million lives.

“As we scale CleverTap into a global category creator for “Retention Cloud”, we realize that our customers are eager to co-create experiences that will fuel growth and the future of their own digital businesses. For this reason, we are expanding our leadership team with a new appointment that benefits the most important stakeholder: our customers’ customers,” Vikrant Chowdhary, CleverTap Chief Growth Officer, explains.

“From fintech to ecommerce, and from on-demand Super Apps to media and streaming services, companies need the inspiration and tangible examples of the “Art of Possible” to unleash human-centered design thinking, unlock new perspectives and drive powerful momentum and positive results for all stakeholders.” This outcome, he continues, is “inextricably linked with our customers’ abilities to realize and hyper-personalize omnichannel journeys for their customers.”

“I have always focused on designing for impact and inventing for scale by contextualizing tech for the consumers. The truth is, no matter what we think we’re doing, we are all in the customer-experience business. Before you can accomplish it, you need to envision it. The digital behavior and expectations of customers is evolving faster than most industries are able to deliver. I am looking forward to my journey with CleverTap to embed human-centered principles and design thinking into a series of initiatives and programs,” Honey Bajaj says. “These efforts will allow digital-first companies to co-create and simulate digital journeys that will fuel growth through superior customer experience and will enable CleverTap’s customers to realize their consumer journeys in a more seamless and contextual manner as the lines of the digital and omnichannel world are no longer separated.”

About CleverTap
CleverTap is a modern, integrated Retention Cloud that empowers digital consumer brands to increase customer retention and lifetime value. For brands that understand and value user retention, CleverTap drives context and individualization with the help of a unified and deep data layer, AI/ML-powered insights & automation. Customers worldwide representing over 10,000 apps, including Vodafone Idea, SonyLIV, Daimler, Gojek, Carousell, and Premier League, trust CleverTap to achieve their retention and engagement goals, growing their long term revenue.

CleverTap is backed by leading venture capital firms, including Sequoia India, Tiger Global Management, and Accel. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices in Mumbai, Singapore, and Dubai. For more information, visit clevertap.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Media Contact:
Sony Shetty
PR Director
CleverTap
sony@clevertap.com

Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in this press release may represent CleverTap’s belief in connection with future events and may be forward-looking statements, or statements of future expectations based on currently available information. CleverTap cautions that such statements are naturally subject to risks and uncertainties that could amount in the actual result being absolutely different from the results anticipated by the statements mentioned in the press release. Factors such as the development of general economic conditions affecting our business, future market conditions, our ability to maintain cost advantages, uncertainty with respect to earnings, corporate actions, client concentration, reduced demand, liability or damages in our service contracts, unusual catastrophic loss events, war, political instability, changes in government policies or laws, legal restrictions impacting our business, impact of pandemic, epidemic, any natural calamity and other factors that are naturally beyond our control, changes in the capital markets and other circumstances may cause the actual events or results to be materially different, from those anticipated by such statements. CleverTap does not make any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness or updated or revised status of such statements. Therefore, in no case whatsoever will CleverTap and its affiliate companies be liable to anyone for any decision made or action taken in conjunction with the information and/or statements in this press release or any related damages.

The Future of Video in India is Bright, as Video Becomes Increasingly Democratized and Consumers Have It All

The Asia Video Industry Association held its third Future of Video India virtual conference to much optimism as industry leaders remained bullish on India’s long-term view, after its fifth straight quarter of economic expansion, with all round economic recovery and an economic rebound that is much broader based and across multiple sectors.

Mihir Shah, Vice President, India, Media Partners Asia, opened the conference with an outlook on India’s video market, which showed a sharp rebound in the TV advertising market, after a depressed 2020. The market grew 37% last year and stood at U$S3.8 billion now. While the broader Pay TV industry continued to see a lot of pressure, Free to Air revenues have surged, and the pandemic has resulted in the rapid adoption and consumption of Connected TV especially in the urban centres. With a Total Video Market worth US$12 billion and growing at 9% CAGR in the next 5 years to US$20, the AVOD market was also predicted to remain buoyant and tripling in the next five years, with SVOD doubling as well.

This optimism for the market continued with the keynote conversation with Sunil Rayan, Head, Disney+ Hotstar India. With the mission to making the streamer as accessible to as many people as possible, Disney+ Hotstar India had made a significant shift to an SVOD offering while maintaining their freemium ad-supported model, which continued to be much larger than SVOD. “We’ve had significant growth in the SVOD side. But India is a highly price sensitive market and AVOD gives scale so we are always trying to balance the two,” said Rayan. Their content offering had also evolved into ‘cricket plus entertainment’, with a shift both in investment and quality of entertainment that is digitally native. Rayan was also of the view that the streaming market was highly vibrant, and there was certainly room for multiple operators. However, as the ecosystem developed, the content needed to be targeted at specific audiences, and while consolidation was already happening, it will continue to evolve.

Megha Tata, Managing Director, South Asia, Warner Bros. Discovery, was also positive on the outlook for both linear TV and OTT. “There are multiple scenarios which are evolving in the country each India needs to be catered to in a different way,” said Tata. This was also not just about pricing and product but also content. “It’s not an ‘either or’ market yet, but an ‘and’ market, both can survive and will survive,” added Tata. But how the share of wallet would play out continued to be an evolution every day. Gourav Rakshit, COO, Viacom18 Digital Ventures, added that the holy grail was to create habit in your consumers. “Real estate on the phone is small, real estate in the mind is even smaller,” said Rakshit. Sharing her views on the road ahead, Tata also pointed out that revenue and monetization today was still coming from linear, and funding all the investment that was needed in digital. “We need to take care of the now or there is no future,” said Tata.

The future was certainly going to be made brighter with the advent of 5G, as the session’s panellists spoke about the challenges that 5G alleviated and the opportunities it presented. Manoj Gurnani, CTO & Head of Strategy, India, Nokia, shared that a new generation of technology was going to bring more capabilities and more efficiencies. With 5G bringing on fixed wireless capabilities, it was going to be a great enabler, which would lead to the enhancement of the quality of experience. Mahendra Nath Vyas, Executive Director, Planetcast Media Services, also added that while AR/VR and gaming were the future technology that would ride on the 5G networks, there was also a huge opportunity to unlock content creation in remote areas with 5G.

However, content creation in itself had also evolved with OTT. Nimisha Pandey, Chief Content Officer, Hindi Originals, ZEE5, shared that OTT had enabled the content creators and the entire ecosystem to create content for small taste clusters, with the decision making no longer based on the mass audience. The biggest challenge faced by content creators now was the need to evolve at the pace that the audience was evolving, as audiences were evolving too fast and keeping in synch with the pace was the biggest challenge. Ultimately, Pandey also believed that it all began with a great story, and it was important to give value to both passion and craft.

Avinash Kaul, CEO, Network18, Managing Director, A+E Networks TV18, summed up the optimism for the industry in his closing keynote. With video now having been democratized, consumers have never had it better. And with the online video ecosystem having opened up, funding and content had also poured in, with money coming into the ecosystem from all sources. With a greater investment in technology and data, content was also getting shaped because of analytics and there was also a new future for data driven companies to tap into funding. All of this would have led to better content all round, and even tailored content for cohorts of audiences. From a consumer’s point of view, it was now utopian. “The future of video has always been bright and will continue to shine brighter and brighter,” said Kaul.

The Future of Video India is generously supported by Bharucha & Partners, Brightcove, Google Cloud, Netflix, Synamedia and Xandr.

About the Asia Video Industry Association

The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) is the trade association for the video industry and ecosystem in Asia Pacific. It serves to make the video industry stronger and healthier through promoting the common interests of its members. AVIA is the interlocutor for the industry with governments across the region, leads the fight against video piracy through its Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) and provides insight into the video industry through reports and conferences aimed to support a vibrant video industry.

For media enquiries and additional background please contact:

Charmaine Kwan
Head of Marketing and Communications
Email: charmaine@avia.org
Website: www.avia.org
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/asiavideoia
Twitter: @AsiaVideoIA

NextPlay Technologies Acquires Assets and IP of Casual Game Publisher, goGame, to Integrate its HotPlay In-Game Advertising Technology

NextPlay Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXTP), a technology solutions company building a digital business ecosystem for digital advertisers, consumers, video gamers and travelers, has completed its previously announced acquisition of gaming assets and IP from goGame, a Singapore-based mobile casual video game publisher and technology company.

The acquired assets include goPlay, a new-gen game publishing platform featuring a tournament system, chat, payment, and 37 casual games ranging from arcade to strategy. NextPlay plans to complete the integration of its HotPlay in-game advertising (IGA) technology into the 37 goPlay games by year-end.

NextPlay also acquired from goGame a perpetual license to goPay, a payment aggregator that offers game developers multiple ways to more easily collect and process user payments. This includes carrier billing, over the counter, e-voucher, bank transfer and e-wallet. The goPay technology further extends NextPlay’s existing payment services, offering access to a wider array of global payment providers.

“The key value for us in this acquisition is how the goPlay platform enables gamers to form a community within its ecosystem,” noted NextPlay co-chief executive Nithinan (Jessie) Boonyawattanapisut. “We see this providing a ready-made platform to launch our HotPlay IGA technology, with this leading to new revenue streams and expansion of our reach to users in many additional countries around the world.”

As a fully owned brand, goPlay brings Nextplay:

– Web destination for players to gather and engage in social play across a catalogue of well-crafted, hyper casual games.
– Set of new technologies and APIs, such as social graph, chat, and game tournament backend services, for integration into the company’s advertising and game services offering and delivered via its core game software development kit across web, set-top box, and mobile platforms.
– New revenue stream through goPay payments and ability to harness exciting new partnerships in key areas of NextPlay’s broader market focus, such as NFT gaming and cryptocurrency.

goPlay and goPay offer a core set of compelling features that are perfect for a wide variety of platform partners who will be able to sign up under an Open Beta this summer. The goGame offerings will become part of the NextPlay suite of customizable products that can be tailored to fit the individual needs and capabilities of B2B and B2C operators across the globe.

NextPlay also plans to introduce goPlay game users to its NextFinancial fintech-oriented products, including crypto banking, micro-lending, and potential insurance services. Across each of these offerings, NextPlay would also have full access to goGame’s payment processing gateway goPay.

For further details about the NextPlay’s asset and IP purchase from goGame, please see the NextPlay Form 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov, and also available in the nextplaytechnologies.com investor relations section.

About goGame

Go Game Pte Ltd is a game company headquartered in Singapore, with offices in Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Founded in July 2015 by industry veteran David Ng, the company first made headlines for securing major investments from gaming giant SEGA and venture capitalist Incubate Fund Japan. The 200-strong team has collaborated on projects with SEGA, Disney, Colopl and Viacom. For more information, visit gogame.net

About NextPlay Technologies

NextPlay Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXTP) is a technology solutions company offering games, in-game advertising, crypto-banking, connected TV and travel booking services to consumers and corporations within a growing worldwide digital ecosystem. NextPlay’s engaging products and services utilize innovative AdTech, Artificial Intelligence and Fintech solutions to leverage the strengths and channels of our existing and acquired technologies. For more information about NextPlay Technologies, visit www.nextplaytechnologies.com and follow us on Twitter @NextPlayTech and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of, and within the safe harbor provided by the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements give our current expectations, opinions, beliefs or forecasts of future events and performance. A statement identified by the use of forward-looking words including “will,” “may,” “expects,” “projects,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimate,” “should,” and certain of the other foregoing statements may be deemed forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual future activities and results to be materially different from those suggested or described in this news release. Factors that may cause such a difference include risks and uncertainties related to our need for additional capital which may not be available on commercially acceptable terms, if at all, which raises questions about our ability to continue as a going concern; the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had, and is expected to continue to have, a significant material adverse impact on the travel industry and our business, operating results and liquidity; amounts owed to us by third parties which may not be paid timely, if at all; certain amounts we owe under outstanding indebtedness which are secured by substantially all of our assets and penalties we may incur in connection therewith; the fact that we have significant indebtedness, which could adversely affect our business and financial condition; uncertainty and illiquidity in credit and capital markets which may impair our ability to obtain credit and financing on acceptable terms and may adversely affect the financial strength of our business partners; the officers and directors of the Company have the ability to exercise significant influence and voting control over the Company; stockholders may be diluted significantly through our efforts to obtain financing, satisfy obligations and complete acquisitions through the issuance of additional shares of our common or preferred stock; if we are unable to adapt to changes in technology, our business could be harmed; our travel business depends substantially on property owners and managers renewing their listings; if we do not adequately protect our intellectual property, our ability to compete could be impaired; our long-term success depends, in part, on our ability to expand our property owner, manager and traveler bases outside of the United States and, as a result, our business is susceptible to risks associated with international operations; unfavorable changes in, or interpretations of, government regulations or taxation of the evolving ALR, Internet and e-commerce industries which could harm our operating results; risks associated with the operations of, the business of, and the regulation of our recent acquisitions of Longroot Holding (Thailand) Company Limited (Longroot), HotPlay Enterprise Limited (HotPlay) and NextBank International (formerly IFEB); the market in which we participate being highly competitive, and because of that we may be unable to compete successfully with our current or future competitors; our potential inability to adapt to changes in technology, which could harm our business; the volatility of our stock price; risks associated with the integration of the operations of HotPlay, Longroot and IFEB, which acquisitions we recently competed; the fact that we may be subject to liability for the activities of our property owners and managers, which could harm our reputation and increase our operating costs; and that we have incurred significant losses to date and require additional capital which may not be available on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. More information about the risks and uncertainties faced by NextPlay are detailed from time to time in NextPlay’s periodic reports filed with the SEC, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, under the headings “Risk Factors”. These reports are available at www.sec.gov. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on the Company’s future results and/or could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected. The forward-looking statements in this press release are made only as of the date hereof. The Company takes no obligation to update or correct its own forward-looking statements, except as required by law, or those prepared by third parties that are not paid for by the Company. If we update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.

Source: NextPlay Technologies, Inc.

Company Contact:
NextPlay Technologies
Richard Marshall
Director of Corporate Development
Tel (954) 888-9779
rmarshall@monakergroup.com

Personalised Health Supplements Customised from Genetic Screening Results Offered on airasia Super App

Malaysian Genomics, airasia Super App, Speedoc and Unique Remedy Join Hands to Offer Health Solutions to airasia Super App’s 51 Mil Users

Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Berhad (Bursa: MGRC, 0155), a leading genomics and biopharmaceutical company, is pleased to announce the launch of its genetic screening plus personalised health supplements solutions on the airasia Super App, the region’s leading travel & lifestyle digital platform.

Sasha Nordin, Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Berhad

Azri Azerai, Executive Director of Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Berhad

Besides airasia Super App, this unique collaboration also includes Speedoc, a virtual clinic and healthcare solutions platform that will provide consultation of test results by their doctors, and MGRC partner Unique Remedy, compounding pharmacy specialist which will produce the personalised health supplements.

All genetic screening solutions include the Dtect Wellness genetic screening test complemented with personalised supplements made based on each person’s test results. The Dtect Wellness test analyses a person’s DNA to identify relevant genetic markers that play important roles in influencing nutrition, health and wellness. Based on the test results, supplements that are deemed most important for the particular person’s health are identified, and personalised health supplements are produced.

Mr. Sasha Nordin, Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Genomics, said, “We are delighted with this collaboration to bring our range of genetic screening solutions to the public. This is the first time Malaysian Genomics is offering genetic screening together with a health supplement solution. Genetic screening tests can give insights and indicate the risks for a large range of diseases and conditions that can affect health. The knowledge from genetic screening is important as people can use it to make changes in their lifestyle and diet to lead healthier lives. Personalised health supplements are among one of the actionable steps that can be quickly taken.”

Encik Noor Azri bin Dato’ Sri Noor Azerai (Azri Azerai), Executive Director of Malaysian Genomics, said, “This collaboration will be a start to a series of exciting products and services we are offering to expand Malaysian Genomics’ suite of healthcare-related solutions that cater to different needs and groups as people become more aware of their health and want to know more as well as take action on how they can improve or enhance their health.”

Mr. Vincent Gooi, Head of airasia health, airasia Super App, said, “Our Allstars and all the super app users’ well-being are our priority, and we are excited to welcome the addition of Malaysia Genomic’s genetic screening programme to our airasia health platform. It is very important that each of us have self-awareness and learn how to take care of ourselves before we serve others. The comprehensive test results from Dtect Wellness provide very useful information and even go into details of weight management, response towards nutrition and dietary supplements and susceptibility towards injuries related to physical activities.”

Besides Dtect Wellness, other tests can be added to the solutions, including Dtect Onco that screens for hereditary cancer risks, Dtect Cardio & Metabolic, which screens for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and, Dtect PGx, which screens for risk of adverse reactions and response to prescription medications.

These genetic screening test solutions are available for purchase on AirAsia’s The Asean Super App.

Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Berhad: http://www.mgrc.com.my/
Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre Berhad: 0155 / [BURSA: MGRC] [RIC: MGRC:KL] [BBG: MGRC:MK]

Planet Ark Launches Collaborative ACE Hub Portal to Accelerate Australia’s Transition to Circular Economy

Planet Ark, an environmental non-profit organization, chooses Hivebrite’s community management and engagement platform to connect circular economy stakeholders to drive change.

Established in 1992, Planet Ark is one of Australia’s most respected and trusted environmental organizations. It is focused on solutions and making positive environmental actions accessible to everyone.

The non-profit organization created the Australian Circular Economy Hub (ACE Hub) to facilitate and accelerate the transition to a circular economy in Australia.

Supporting and Spurring Collective Action

The ACE Hub aims to be the focal point for all things circular in Australia – a platform for sharing information and inspiration and celebrating the efforts of all those contributing to this vital movement.

“You can’t have a circular economy without collaboration. The transformation to a circular economy will require one of the greatest collaboration efforts ever undertaken by humanity.” Paul Klymenko, co-CEO, Planet Ark Environmental Foundation.

“We knew that change-makers around the country were launching impressive initiatives to advance circular economy. We wanted to bring together all these individuals – from governments and industries through to business owners and consumers – in a digital space to facilitate connections and collaborations to maximize the impact of their work throughout Australia.” Chelsea McLean, ACE Hub Portal Community Coordinator, Planet Ark Environmental Foundation.

Scaling Impact Through Specialized Groups

Using Hivebrite’s Group feature, the ACE Hub team has created over 12 subgroups within the global online community to empower members to collaborate around specific interests related to circular economy.

Group leaders can post news, organize events, share resources, and create forum discussions specific to their group. The ACE Hub team can share events and content from the different groups in the broader community to enhance reach and engagement.

Sparking Conversations to Drive Change

Connecting professionals and encouraging collaborations are facilitated by the community’s interactive directory that allows members to search for peers based on expertise and location. Members can send direct messages to others to grow their network and exchange ideas.

The hub’s forum offers a space for members to start and join discussions, particularly after new initiatives, tools, and approaches have been presented at an event or conference.

Most importantly, the community turns individual experiences into guidance and shared learnings to accelerate circular economy transformation. Members can access valuable information, training materials, and regional and topic-specific advice via the hub’s resource center.

Members are also provided with a fully branded mobile application, available through the Apple Store and Google Play, to more conveniently connect to the community, facilitate deeper engagement, and enhance brand recognition.

“We are proud to partner with this extraordinary community. With Hivebrite’s community management and engagement platform, Planet Ark unites and connects trailblazers with each other and essential resources to spur collective action to support and accelerate the circular economy movement in Australia.” Dilianna C. Bustillos, Senior Director of Customer Success, Hivebrite.

About Hivebrite

Hivebrite is an all-in-one community management and engagement platform.

It empowers organizations to launch, manage, and grow fully branded private communities. Hivebrite is completely customizable and provides all the tools needed to strengthen community engagement.

Over 800 organizations worldwide, including American Heart Association, JA Worldwide, Earthwatch, the University of Notre Dame, and NYSE, use Hivebrite to create and engage vibrant communities.

Press contact
Kathryn Bird
kathryn@hivebrite.com
https://hivebrite.com/

SOURCE: Hivebrite

OTT Summit Ends with Much Optimism for Growth in Asia and a Strong Focus on Content and the Consumer

The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) hosted over 850 delegates and featured over 80 industry leaders at the recent OTT Summit, with conversations revolving a lot on the subject of growth, from subscriber and revenue growth to increased local content investment and an intense focus on the customer.

In discussing the outlook for the video industry in Asia, Vivek Couto, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Media Partners Asia (MPA), indicated there remained a lot of room for growth. With most markets having an SVOD household penetration of less than 50%, there was certainly an upside for Southeast Asia and some parts of North Asia as well. However, while the region remained bullish on growth, the Average Revenue Per User remained low, particularly in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and India. As such, some tiers and price increases would be introduced along the way, especially when premium sport started to be added to the platforms.

The adage of “Content is King” was very much heard throughout the summit. In MPA’s review of share of first-title consumption, premium local content was a key driver for customer acquisition, particularly in Indonesia and Thailand, with local content that showed some travelability, and as expected, with Korean content traveling very well, and some Japanese content as well.

This focus on content continued through to the fireside chat with Catherine Park, SVP, Head of Office & Streaming for Asia, Paramount Global, where she reiterated that their “mission is to unleash the power of the content with the belief that content is king.” With different go-to-market strategies to unlock maximum value, Paramount Plus planned to launch first in Korea with CJ ENM, then Japan as the next market followed by Southeast Asia in 2023. Park also shared Paramount’s “glocal” strategy – to have global vision but with local execution.

The importance of being local was also echoed by many panellists, as Asia could not be seen as one homogenous market. Sagar Pandit, Associate Director, Business Development, Asia Pacific, Discovery, Inc., said, “When you gun for growth, especially in Asia, it’s about tailoring your approach for every region but keeping your consumer at the front and centre of whatever you are doing.”

And with increasing fragmentation in Asia, customer obsession became a key part of the strategy, as more platforms leveraged technology to deliver personalised experiences. For Parminder Singh, Chief Commercial and Digital Officer, Mediacorp, the three things a customer looked for were highly personalized and relevant content, and new virtual interactive experiences, all built into one single experience, with the use of technology that would allow you to bring all of this to the customer. “If you are only delivering a straightforward service, you are going to be left behind,” added Akash Saxena, Head of Technology, Disney+ Hotstar India.

However, the challenge to integrate it all into an operator’s platform for a seamless experience very much remained, calling for perhaps greater aggregation and bundling for the OTT industry, as we started to see some fatigue from consumers working with multiple services to meet their content needs.

Closing off the summit with Bold Predictions for the Future of Streaming, Gourav Rakshit, COO, Viacom18 Digital Ventures, remained very optimistic, sharing that a large bet that platforms had not fully capitalised on was the area of media becoming social, with the opportunity to build communities. “We’ve really made rapid strides in the last five years . . . the next five will be focusing a lot more on delivering consumer delight,” said Rakshit.

The OTT Summit is generously supported by Gold Sponsors Brightcove, Lumen Technologies, Synamedia, TV5MONDE, Xandr and Silver Sponsors Akamai, Amagi, Broadpeak, BytePlus, Discovery, Encoding.com, Endeavor Streaming, Irdeto, Magnite, Mediacorp, Mirada, NAGRA, Nielsen, PubMatic and Vindicia.

About the Asia Video Industry Association

For media enquiries and additional background please contact:
Charmaine Kwan
Head of Marketing and Communications
Email: charmaine@avia.org
Website: www.avia.org
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/asiavideoia
Twitter: @AsiaVideoIA

Brawijaya Student Start-up makes Forbes 30 Under 30 List

Chickin Indonesia agricultural start-up by students from Brawijaya University

An agricultural start-up initiated by three students from Malang’s Brawijaya University whose app, Chickin, has been downloaded by a thousand farmers across Indonesia, has made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. According to the founders, the application uses Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the productivity of farmers by up to 25 percent.

Universitas Brawijaya (UB) in Malang, East Java, Indonesia (ANTARA/ HO/ Universitas Brawijaya)

Chickin, hatched at UB/U.Brawijaya by founders Ashab, Tubagus and Ahmad (Chicken.ID Website / Malang, Indonesia)

The app was developed by agrotechnology student Ashab Alkahfi, who is serving as the President of Chickin, Tubagus Syailendra from international relations, who is serving as CEO/Chief Executive Officer, and Ahmad Syaifullah from information systems, serving as the CTO/Chief Technology Officer.

“Based on initial research, we developed the app in Klaten, Central Java. We built poultry coops as farmers and began our poultry business where we found a number of challenges faced by local farmers. From there, we tried to solve these challenges by means of technology,” Alkahfi explained.

The application allows farmers to control the micro-climate inside chicken coops from a distance. Through the technology, farmers can input data, including daily, sales, and production data, to enhance performance and make it more measurable and at the same time, minimize risks through preventive measures.

The app also offers a number of features for management of the poultry farm, including data and IoT configuration adaptable to climate, temperature and humidity, as well as recording the age of each poultry. Aside from partnering with 14 poultry farms, Chickin has established cooperation with 100 poultry suppliers in the food industry.

Alkahfi said he hopes the app will bring ease to farmers and have a positive impact on them, adding that the farming modernization technology was developed free of charge under Brawijaya University’s Entrepreneur Incubator.

Chickin has seen 22-fold growth in the last 10 months and closed a funding round of Rp35 billion with three global investors. The company is targeting to increase revenue to Rp500 billion by the end of 2022.

So far, Chickin Indonesia is not only assiting one thousand farmers across the nation, but the company is committed to developing the technology to minimize the use of antibiotics for organic chicken through coop micro-climate control and providing training to poultry farmers free of charge to modernize Indonesian poultry farms.

For more information, Chickin Indonesia is online at https://chickin.id/.
Written by: Aria Cindyara, Editor: Rahmad Nasution (c) ANTARA 2022

Amazfit Celebrates Ramadan by Unleashing Passions and Spirits through Smart Devices

Ramadan deals up for grabs for those wanting to stay healthy and active

Amazfit, a premium smart wearable hardware brand owned by Zepp Health Corporation (Zepp Health), is going to “Up Your Game” by harnessing the power of technology and science to free more people to live their passions and express their active spirits with its series of smart hardware designed for a healthy and sporting lifestyle.

Powered by the Zepp operating system, Amazfit connects smart devices, big data as well as sports and health management service to provide multiple personalised wearable and user experiences. Its smart devices are catered for daily or outdoor use related to health and sports, including true wireless stereo sports earbuds, smart treadmills, smart body composition scales and sports gear.

Jacob Jin, Director of Amazfit Southeast Asia, said, “Amazfit is one of the most preferred brands of young people around the world who pursue an active and positive lifestyle at the cutting edge of fashion and technology. We now have over 100 million active users of our products that include watches, bands, earbuds, fitness gear and other accessories.”

“We are excited to launch Amazfit special Ramadan deals in April for our smart watches, where AI engines embedded in these smart devices can monitor heartbeat, exercise modes, blood-oxygen saturation levels, sleep status and breathing while sleeping, giving a better insight on how the body performs while active or at rest.”

Amazfit is offering special Ramadan deals in April for its smart watches that are applicable on these specific dates: 4 April, 5 April, 18 April and 25 April 2022. Purchasers who buy the T-Rex Pro on these dates will get a free Amazfit mask, those who purchase the GTS 3 and GTR 3 series of smart watches will get free hair bands and mask while those purchasing GTR 3 Pro will get free hair band, mask and bottle. Gifts are available while stocks last.

The T-Rex Pro is designed for those who pursue an active outdoor lifestyle as it supports four Global Navigation Satellite Systems, 10 ATM water-resistance, a blood-oxygen saturation measurement system, a weather tracker, a sunrise and sunset monitor, a current moon phase display, a compass and barometric altimeter, ultra-long 18-day battery life with typical use, and over 100 different sports modes.

Amazfit’s other smart watch models include the Bip U Pro catered for those seeking a healthier and more active lifestyle to keep fit or stay in shape. The Bip U Pro come with 50 watch faces to suit mood and outfit or users can upload their photos for a more personalised watch face. Those wanting to stay fashionable and at the same time enjoy sports can go with the GTS 2 mini smart watch with its ultra-slim and light design. It also comes with over 60 built-in sports modes for a complete indoor or outdoor sports experience.

To know more of the Ramadan offers, please go to www.amazfit.com/en or to Amazfit’s e-commerce partner platforms http://bit.ly/Amazfit-MY-SHOPEE and https://bit.ly/Amazfit-MY-Lazada.

Amazfit: www.amazfit.com/en

CAP Consumer Survey Shows the Benefits of Site Blocking

The Coalition Against Piracy’s (CAP’s) most recent YouGov consumer surveys show that while piracy continues to be a major concern around the Asia Pacific region, particularly in Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines where 61% of consumers admit to accessing pirate services in each country, site blocking, and in particular government regulatory blocking, is having a noticeable effect in stopping consumers accessing pirated content online.

Countries around the region that implement site-blocking showed a change in consumer behaviour to stop accessing piracy services due to sites being blocked and the change was most notable in those countries that used regulatory blocking. In Indonesia, more than 50% of consumers say that they have stopped or rarely access pirate services as a result of blocking, as do nearly 50% of consumers in Vietnam and 45% in Malaysia.

Encouragingly, the surveys show that regular site-blocking not only stops consumers accessing pirated content online, but also drives them towards legitimate sources, with more than 48% of consumers around the region stating they would subscribe to paid online services if the content they wanted to watch was not available via a pirate source.

Matthew Cheetham, General Manager of CAP, noted, “It is now clearly evident that site blocking, particularly regulatory blocking, is effective. The benefits are multi-fold, not only are consumers being directed towards legitimate content, but in being blocked from accessing pirate sites, they are also protected from the serious risks that previous CAP studies have proven are inherent in accessing pirate sites.” The surveys also illustrated the growing migration of consumption of pirate content via social media and messaging platforms. “However, the surveys also show the benefits of consumer education with a growing awareness amongst consumers of the negative consequences of piracy, most particularly via illicit profiteering and malware,” added Cheetham.

For the first time, CAP’s YouGov consumer surveys were undertaken across several countries simultaneously. The surveys will be repeated across the same countries annually, and in doing so, will enable longitudinal analysis of consumer behavioural trends towards piracy and enforcement measures around the region.

About the Asia Video Industry Association

For media enquiries and additional background please contact:

Charmaine Kwan
Head of Marketing and Communications
Email: charmaine@avia.org
Website: www.avia.org
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/asiavideoia
Twitter: @AsiaVideoIA