CITIC Telecom CPC Honored in Frost & Sullivan 2021 Best Practices Award

CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited (CITIC Telecom CPC), a wholly owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK: 1883), is honored to announce the winning of the Frost & Sullivan “2021 Best Practices Award” – “Digital Innovation Award in Greater China”. It acknowledges the company for its outstanding performance in innovation, implementation capabilities, growth strategy, and the contribution to the industry.

Frost & Sullivan’s analyst presented a quote about CITIC Telecom CPC’s winning of the award, saying that “the rapid technological development has facilitated the digitalisation, informatisation, and intelligence needs of global enterprises. The pandemic has further stimulated a leap forward the digital transformation needs. Under this circumstances, CITIC Telecom CPC continuously strengthen its ICT capabilities, and created its disruptive ICT-MiiND strategy which brings the enterprises an intelligent IT service management platform. With its motto ‘Innovation Never Stops’, CITIC Telecom CPC plays an important role in enabling enterprises’ digital transformation.”

In the era of big data, enterprises are facing challenges in data management and sophisticated infrastructure needs derived from the explosive growth of information and data. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has thus become the key solution to address the business needs, as well as facilitating the development of a digital economy. To ensure an effective digitalisation process, enterprises are looking for ICT solution providers with comprehensive offerings – high network scalability, diversified products, and professional services, all to cater for enterprises complex business and growth needs.

20 Years Innovation. Empowers Enterprises Digital Transformation
“Winning of the award this year has a different meaning to the Company. To celebrate our 20th anniversary in 2021, it is a strong recognition of CITIC Telecom CPC’s innovation and determination to achieve innovation excellence, with our ongoing commitment and motto – Innovation Never Stops,” said Esmond Li, CEO of CITIC Telecom CPC.

Since its establishment in 2001, CITIC Telecom CPC has always been maintaining a leading-edge position in the enterprise market, providing a wide range of innovative solutions, created from powerful new disruptive technologies, to empower enterprises’ digital transformation journey. As a global-local ICT solutions partner to enterprises, the Company offers a full stack of integrated ICT solutions, with strong infrastructure deployment and extensive service coverage across 160 countries. Its extensive resources poses an excellent foundation to support enterprises business expansion and digital transformation.

Embracing years of practical ICT-enablement experiences, deep industry knowhow with intelligent analysis and algorithmic capability, CITIC Telecom CPC has further created a guiding framework for the future – ICT-MiiND. By fusing innovation and intelligence, with smart learning and infrastructure resources, ICT-MiiND has integrated a full stack of services data onto CITIC Telecom CPC’s ICT platform, resulting in advanced new capabilities.

ICT-MiiND integrates latest technologies – such as Big Data, AI, AR, IoT and Blockchain, with CITIC Telecom CPC’s extensive global experience, decades of business know-how and dedicated R&D capabilities. A cutting-edge AIOps (Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations) platform has thus developed to provide different innovative and intelligent modules that integrated tailor-made and customized industry service scenarios to bring enterprises a smarter IT service management platform. Series of innovative offerings are in place to bring enterprises with more possibilities, too.

In the coming future, CITIC Telecom CPC will continue to develop more competitive innovations, helping enterprises to succeed in their digital transformation journey.

About the Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards
Frost & Sullivan’s Best Practices Awards recognize companies throughout a range of regional and global markets for superior leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development.

The Best Practices Awards – Innovation Awards acknowledges companies’ outstanding performance and achievements in innovation capability, implementation ability, growth strategy and overall contributions to the industry. Through in-depth interviews, industry analysis, and secondary research, the Frost & Sullivan team nominated a group of competitive and outstanding companies to the independent judging panel. After a rigorous review, the “2021 Digital Innovation Award in Greater China” was awarded to CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited.

For more information about CITIC Telecom CPC’s awards and recognition, visit https://www.citictel-cpc.com/EN/HK/Pages/about-us-accreditation

About CITIC Telecom CPC
We are CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited (“CITIC Telecom CPC”), a wholly owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (SEHK: 1883), serving multinational enterprises the world over by addressing their specific ICT requirements with highly scalable tailored solutions built upon our flagship technology suites, comprising TrueCONNECT(TM) private network solutions, TrustCSI(TM) information security solutions, DataHOUSE(TM) cloud data center solutions, and SmartCLOUD(TM) cloud computing solutions.

With the motto “Innovation Never Stops”, we leverage innovative technologies, embracing AI, AR, Big Data, IoT, and other cutting-edge emerging technologies to transform technical potential into business value for our customers. As enterprises’ digital transformation partner, we strive to help our customers achieve industry-leading positioning, high agility and cost-efficiency through digitalization.

Bringing our Global-Local capabilities, we are committed to providing our customers with one-stop-shop ICT solutions featuring superior quality. Having a worldwide footprint across 160 countries-including Asia, Europe and America, Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia-our global network resources connect over 160 points of presence (POPs), 18 Cloud service centers, 30+ data centers, and two dedicated 24×7 Security Operations Centers (SOCs). As one of the first managed service providers in Hong Kong to achieve multiple ICT-related certifications-including ISO 9001, 14001, 20000, 27001, and 27017-we have been offering professional local services, superior delivery capabilities, as well as exceptional customer experience and best practices, through our global presence and extensive industry know-how, becoming a leading integrated intelligent ICT service provider to enterprise customers.

For more information please visit www.citictel-cpc.com
Media Contact:
Rowena Leung
CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited
(852) 2170 7536
Email: rowena.leung@citictel-cpc.com

KGiSL wins Common infrastructure for Brokers Back Office Project from Stock Exchange of Thailand

KGiSL, a global IT Products, Solutions, and Services provider, today announced the landmark contract that was won by KGiSL against significant competition from one of the largest stock exchanges in the ASEAN, The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). KGiSL will rollout Dolphin – a state of the art, cutting-edge technology back-office (BO) platform for brokers in Thailand. The platform will be hosted by SET and will be made available to brokers. The implementation is expected to be completed in the next 16 months.

KGiSL’s flagship product for Capital Markets – Dolphin, caters to 60% of the leading institutional brokers in India by supporting their back-office clearing and settlement operations. The new platform is set to become the one-stop-shop solution to the brokers of Thailand with its ability to handle multiple asset classes including Equities, Bonds, and Offshore Trading, for both retail and institutional brokers. The next generation technology platform has been tested for handling 5 million trades/ day and has the potential capability to scale vertically and horizontally, to support any increase in business volumes. Dolphin was chosen over the other leading global platforms, because it had a better fit to the requirements and also for the robustness, scalability, and automation capabilities, it offers.

Dr. Pakorn Peetathawatchai, President, The Stock Exchange of Thailand said, “This is one of our most ambitious and challenging projects to establish a common, streamlined infrastructure that will open up new possibilities for Thai brokers to revolutionize their back office business models. We strongly believe that continued support from participating brokers in providing valuable insights, along with KGiSL’s delivery capability are key ingredients to contribute the project’s success.”

On the association with SET, Prassadh Shanmugam, Director & Chief Executive Officer KGiSL said, “This is a huge win for KGiSL. Dolphin has been the undisputed market leader in India so far, but we have had limited successes in other markets. This order opens up the entire ASEAN & APAC market to create similar success stories like how we have done in India. KGiSL is poised to invest more in Dolphin’s capabilities by adding Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Business Intelligence (BI) and Analytics. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Pakorn Peetathawatchai, President of The Stock Exchange of Thailand and the rest of the management in placing their trust in KGiSL and Dolphin.”

About The Stock Exchange of Thailand: www.set.or.th

SET is the most liquid stock market in ASEAN with end-to-end services to empower seamless journey for all investors, securities brokerage companies and market participants. SET has transformed toward partnership platform by harnessing world-class technology and digital innovation to enable all parties to benefit from the Thai capital market in line with vision “To Make the Capital Market Work for Everyone”. A number of open architecture and interoperable platforms have been developed with aims at building ecosystem crucial for fundraising, wealth creation and the country’s development; widening business opportunities for operators in securities industry while offering investors convenient access to investment data, products and services.

About KGiSL: www.KGISL.com/gss

KGiSL is a global IT Products, Solutions, and Services provider in the BFSI space. KGiSL offers Software Products, Solutions and Services, Intelligent Automation, ERP (SAP), CRM, Business Intelligence and Analytics, Quality Engineering, IT Infrastructure Management and Custom Application Development. KGiSL has offices in India, US, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Thailand.

KGiSL is part of the $750 million business conglomerate KG Group with interest in Textiles, Engineering, Healthcare, Education, Real Estate, Entertainment, Software and Business Support Services. The Group employs over 25000 people and is known for its philanthropic services to the community for over 8 decades.
For further information, please contact:

KGiSL: Sampathkumar S | sampathkumar.s@KGISL.com | +91 9940069884

Adfactors PR (India):
Bhargav TS | bhargav.ts@adfactorspr.com | +91 9884883350
Shamitha Hegde | shamitha.hegde@adfactorspr.com | +91 9003107361
Adfactors PR (Singapore):
Namrata Sharma | namrata.sharma@adfactorspr.com | +65 8138 3034

Gaming platform Zupee closes Series B at over $500 Million valuation

Zupee, a leading innovator in India’s online skill-based gaming industry, has announced that it has raised $30 million at a pre-money valuation of $500 million in Series B funding round. This round of funding has been co-led by Silicon Valley based WestCap Group and Tomales Bay Capital, with participation from Matrix Partners India & Orios Venture Partners.

Dilsher Singh

This round comes within 6 months after its Series A round at a $100 million valuation, which is more than 5x increase in the company’s valuation. With total funds raised now at $49 million, Zupee is backed by some of the best in the industry – WestCap Group, Matrix Partners India, Smile Group and Orios Partners. The company has an existing user base of over 10 million users. This new round of funding will be used to enable scaling efforts through expanded product portfolio, deepening market reach and hiring global talent.

Founded in 2018 by graduates of India’s leading institution IIT Kanpur, Dilsher Singh and Siddhant Saurabh, and incubated with funding from Smile Group, Zupee innovates by reengineering time-tested games and enabling them to enhance skill, joy and hope. The company’s portfolio has innovative gaming formats of multiple popular board games. The flagship gaming app hosts live trivia quiz tournaments and has seen over 250 million gameplays.

Dilsher Singh, Founder and CEO, Zupee said, “Games inherently celebrate the journey and nurture self-expression. That’s what I am committed to building with Zupee – an organization which enables people anywhere in the world to enhance their intrinsic happiness through games. We innovate to ensure our games provide an intersection between skill and entertainment, enabling our users to earn while they play. We thank our investors for believing in our purpose and enabling us to progress on our journey to transforming it to reality. Our journey has just begun; 10 million happy users in India, billions more globally we want to touch through our innovative games.”

“WestCap remains a key strategic investor and operating advisor to Zupee and we are increasing our interest again as part of this most recent funding round,” commented Laurence A. Tosi, Founder and Managing Partner of WestCap and early investor in Zupee. “Dilsher and his world class team have innovated some of the most compelling and widely used mobile games of skill in India. The enduring appeal of the Zupee games brings engagement, enjoyment and empowerment to the widest audience of any gaming platform in the market. This funding will enable the Zupee team to invest further in innovation, expand its suite of games and aggressively pursue international expansion. Zupee has exponentially accelerated its growth over the last 12 months, making them one of the largest and fastest growing game companies globally.”

According to industry reports, the global online gaming industry is estimated to grow from $98 billion in 2020 to $272 billion in 2030. In 2020, the industry saw over 53 billion mobile gaming downloads worldwide, of which 17% came from India. By the end of this year itself, there will be 2.9 billion players worldwide.

About Zupee

Zupee is an online skill-based gaming platform startup based in India that is focused on innovating and creating games that engage, entertain and empower users.
More information about the company and its founder is available at https://www.zupee.global/

For further information, please contact:
Vikas Kumar – 9811054648; vikas.kumar@zupee.in
Himani Rautela – 9711306576; himani.rautela@zupee.in

The Glimpse Group Announces the Acquisition of its 10th Subsidiary Company: Auggd, an Augmented Reality Software and Services Company, and the Establishment of Glimpse Australia

  • Asset Acquisition ushers Glimpse into the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) segment and entrance into the Australian enterprise markets

The Glimpse Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRAR) (Glimpse or the Company), a diversified Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR and AR) platform company providing enterprise-focused VR and AR software & services solutions, announced today that on August 13, 2021, it acquired the assets of Augmented Reality Investments Pty Ltd, an Australia based company (Auggd).

Auggd (https://auggd.com/) provides AR software and services to the AEC industry in Australia, Europe, and the US, creating experiences that visualize buildings, bridges, roads and underground services at true scale in their real-world environments. These can result in improved building, lower construction costs, clearer planning and impactful marketing. Since its inception approximately eight years ago, Auggd has generated over $2MM in aggregate revenue and has successfully deployed hundreds of mobile AR apps across a broad range of industry sectors.

Video Link: https://player.vimeo.com/video/586889339

The acquisition was structured as an asset acquisition and no liabilities were assumed by Glimpse. The transaction is equity based only (no cash consideration) and includes an initial nominally dilutive issuance of common shares, with the majority of future equity based acquisition payments subject to the achievement of significant Auggd revenue growth milestones over the next three years. Auggd has historically been cash flow neutral-to-positive and the acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to Glimpse.

Matthias Krampe, Co-Founder and Head of Business Development at Auggd, is expected to move to the US to lead it as its General Manager under Glimpse. His focus will be to expand Auggd’s presence in the US, while simultaneously supporting and growing the existing Australian and European base.

Mr. Krampe commented, “We are thrilled to join Glimpse’s diverse and robust ecosystem of VR & AR companies. We expect to leverage Glimpse’s diverse base of top tier customers and relationships across industries to propel our growth in the AEC markets in the US. In parallel, our proprietary software and services will be integrated with Glimpse’s technology platforms, further strengthening it to the benefit of all Glimpse companies. In addition, our existing operations in Australia and customer base will form the initial base of Glimpse’s operations in Australia (“Glimpse Australia”).

Lyron Bentovim, President & CEO of The Glimpse Group said: “The AEC market represents a significant strategic market opportunity for Glimpse. We believe that Auggd is well positioned to capture an increasing share and drive adoption of these novel technologies. We welcome Matthias and his team to Glimpse and look forward to his leadership in building out Glimpse’s AEC client pipeline in the US as well as Australia and Europe.

Mr. Bentovim continued: “In addition, Auggd has built a respected reputation in Australia with clients across industries that also include automotive, consumer goods and technology, sales and marketing, and education. The acquisition represents a unique opportunity for Glimpse to enter the continent. The establishment of Glimpse Australia will allow us to introduce our plethora of enterprise focused VR/AR companies and solutions to the Australian market, which we believe is often overlooked by US companies yet has tremendous growth potential. With a base of operations in place locally, we may also seek to add other Australian VR/AR companies to Glimpse Australia over time, thereby creating a true Glimpse hub.”

About Auggd
Auggd is a specialized AR software development and services company based in Sydney, Australia. Since its inception in 2014, Auggd has been focused on developing and delivering enterprise solutions, products and services tailored specifically for the Architecture, Engineering, Construction (AEC) sector to visualize design intent to all stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle in order to reduce the costs associated with rework. For more information on Auggd, please visit https://auggd.com/

About The Glimpse Group, Inc.
The Glimpse Group (NASDAQ:VRAR) is a diversified Virtual and Augmented Reality platform company, comprised of multiple VR and AR software & services companies, and designed with the specific purpose of cultivating companies in the emerging VR/AR industry. Glimpse’s unique business model simplifies challenges faced by VR/AR companies and creates a robust ecosystem, while simultaneously providing investors an opportunity to invest directly into the emerging VR/AR industry via a diversified platform. For more information on The Glimpse Group, please visit www.theglimpsegroup.com

Safe Harbor Statement
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of offers to buy any securities of any entity. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on our current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof. Our actual results may differ materially from those stated or implied in such forward-looking statements, due to risks and uncertainties associated with our business. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and can be identified by forward-looking words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “should,” and “would” or similar words. All forecasts are provided by management in this release are based on information available at this time and management expects that internal projections and expectations may change over time. In addition, the forecasts are entirely on management’s best estimate of our future financial performance given our current contracts, current backlog of opportunities and conversations with new and existing customers about our products and services. We assume no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Company Contact:
Maydan Rothblum
CFO & COO
The Glimpse Group, Inc.
(917) 292-2685
maydan@theglimpsegroup.com

Investor Relations:
Mark Schwalenberg, CFA
Director
MZ Group – North America
312-261-6430
Glimpse@mzgroup.us
www.mzgroup.us

Top tech leaders to discuss key opportunities & challenges in Asia’s SD-WAN & SASE ecosystem

Multifunctionality businesses rely on a strong network infrastructure that can support heavy data usage. With the quality of internet connectivity and broadband speed improving drastically, enterprises are seeking to shift from legacy MPLS to SD-WAN and SASE services.

The shift in trend to cloud-based solutions combined with certain demographical advantages that APAC’s geographical positioning provides the potential for huge demand for SD-WAN and SASE services.

The inaugural edition of SD-WAN and SASE Summit will digitally converge key players and experts to help Asian countries digitize at speed and scale, on 19 August 2021.
The summit will feature eye-opening keynotes, government and enterprise use-case presentations, exciting product showcase, panel discussions and tech talk to discuss the latest challenges and explore the latest applications in SD-WAN and SASE powered solutions.

The event will focus on topics such as: Outlining possible pathways for SD-WAN evolution; Understanding SASE: The Why, What and How; Key architectural requirements of SASE; Key architectural requirements of SD-WAN; How Machine Learning changes SD-WAN; Main characteristics of the new era; and much more.

The summit will feature a groundbreaking collaboration of experts such as:
– Dr IR Ismail, Director General of Spectrum Management and Standardisation of Post and ICT, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) of Republic of Indonesia
– Vladik Arshanski, IT Communication & Infrastructure Director, NVIDIA Networking BU
– Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst, ZK Research
– Boaz Avigad, Director of Product Marketing, Cato Networks
– Shashi Kiran, Chief Marketing and Product Officer, Aryaka Networks, a Cloud-First WAN company
– Vikram Dua, Sr. Director, Head of Enterprise IT Security, Philips India Ltd
– Marlon P Sorongon, CISO, Maybank
– Mel Migrino, Chairperson & President, Women in Security Alliance(WiSAP)
– Samuel NG, Director of Cybersecurity & Analytics, Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI)
– Gabriel David, CIO, LCC Group of companies
– Bijender Mishra, CISO, Alkem Laboratories Limited
– Balram Choudhary, VP Head (IT Infra & Infosec Operation), Bob Financial Solution Ltd
– Renne Barcelona, Director and Head of IT, Global University Systems
– Subrat Kumar Kanungo, Principal Consulting Architect, Cloud, and Networking, Kyndryl; to name a few.

“In the aftermath of the pandemic, organizations are looking for effective approaches to manage hybrid work models. The need to provide consistent access and security for employees connecting from the office, home or the road is requiring solutions which are wider than just VPN or ZTNA. SASE offers a comprehensive approach which addresses these needs and offers a simpler, consistent and more secure approach to work from anywhere,” states Boaz Avigad, Director, Product Marketing at Cato Networks.

“In the era of all the challenges during the M&A process, there is a common & major question: how can companies prepare and manage the integration of IT networks in M&A to enable the combined business process and achieve the expected M&A goals’ Software-defined WAN manage services can be an efficient way to blend networks without compromising security, service degradation & time losing,” states Vladik Arshanski, IT Communication & Infrastructure Director at NVIDIA Networking BU.

Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst at ZK Research stated, “SD-WANs and SASE are at an inflection point as they are moving out of the early adopter phase and into the mainstream. The primary catalyst for the acceleration of the technologies has been the pandemic as IT and business leaders are looking to modernize the network to accommodate the shift to hybrid work. The World SD-WAN Summit Asia provides an excellent forum for people to get some practical advice on how to adopt SD-WAN and SASE without putting their businesses at risk.”

“The pandemic’s disruptions have driven firms to explore SD-WAN & SASE solutions as a means of identifying major technology trends and prioritizing those that have the greatest influence on their competitive advantage. The World SD-WAN & SASE Summit is a great place to discuss and learn about the newest strategies, challenges, and trends that are driving Asia’s SD-WAN and SASE services,” stated Mithun Shetty – CEO, Trescon.

The summit will be hosted on the virtual events platform Vmeets to help participants network and conduct business in an interactive and immersive virtual environment. Participants can also engage with the speakers during Q&A sessions and network with solution providers/sponsors at their virtual exhibition booths, private consultation rooms and meeting tables.

World SD-WAN & SASE Summit is officially sponsored by Premium Gold Sponsor – CATO Networks; Gold Sponsor – Aryaka; Bronze Sponsor – Telin.

To get your complimentary passes, visit World SD-WAN & SASE Summit (bit.ly/3AEsUvf).

About World SD-WAN & SASE Summit

World SD-WAN & SASE Summit is a thought-leadership-driven, business-focused, global series of events that takes place in strategic locations across the world.

As part of the world tour, this Asian edition is virtually gathering pre-qualified C-Suite IT Leaders, Data Heads, Heads of Research, Industry Practitioners, IT Decision Makers and Expert service providers in SD-WAN and SASE Technology among others from cross-industry verticals across Asia.

About Trescon

Trescon is a global business events and consulting firm that provides wide range of business services to a diversified client base that includes corporations, governments and individuals. Trescon is specialised in producing highly focused B2B events that connect businesses with opportunities through conferences, road shows, expos, demand generation, investor connect and consulting services.

For further details about the announcement, please contact:
Media, PR & Corporate Communications
+91 81059 75937
media@tresconglobal.com

TheCapitalNet appoints Privity FZ LLE to expand MENA footprint

TheCapitalNet (TCN), a SaaS company driving digital transformation in the Private Investment, Innovation, and Startup ecosystem globally, today announced that it has appointed Privity FZ LLE, an independent venture-focused advisory firm in the UAE, to bring the TheCapitalNet ecosystem to stakeholders across MENA, powered by Privity’s strong presence and understanding of the ecosystem and the region.

The MENA region is well placed on the digital transformation curve, backed by a growing investment landscape (know more about the investment landscape of MENA on TheCapitalNet TV [https://tv.thecapitalnet.com/tv/559544556]). The partnership aims to bring efficiencies and intelligence to stakeholders in the ecosystem provided for by the suite of products offered by TheCapitalNet.

Startups, Innovation, and Investment
TheCapitalNet products are used globally by Venture Capital firms, Private Equity funds, Angel Investors and networks, and family offices (TheInvestorNet); Incubators and Accelerators (TheIncubatorPro); Startups and Aspiring Entrepreneurs (TheBizPlanner) in many countries across the world, helping users attain a high degree of deal and business efficiency, with strong collaboration, secure data management and business intelligence.

“The customers TCN were seeking to target in the MENA region were precisely those that Privity interacts with, and after witnessing the power and potential of the different SaaS products and solutions, it became evident that Privity join forces with TCN to evangelize Dr Bhatia’s mission in the MENA region,” said Sleem Hasan, Founder and CEO of Privity FZ LLE.

“We are excited to partner with Privity,” said Dr Rakesh Bhatia, Founder and CEO of TheCapitalNet. “This partnership brings us a step closer to establishing a foothold in the MENA market, and exploring the innumerable possibilities that are present, and further realizing our vision of digitally enabling the stakeholders in the ecosystem here.”

“We have an ideal partner in Privity, a strong player with an exceptional understanding of the MENA market,” added Rakesh. Gain insights into the MENA innovation and investment ecosystem from Mr. Sleem Hasan on TheCapitalNet TV *.

* TheCapitalNet TV Special: Understanding the MENA startup and innovation ecosystem with Mr. Sleem Hasan –
https://tv.thecapitalnet.com/tv/580670728.

About TheCapitalNet
TheCapitalNet, with offices in Dallas TX, Silicon Valley, and Hyderabad, India, is an enterprise SaaS and knowledge media venture operating in the Private Investments, Innovation, and Startup ecosystem. TheCapitalNet products drive the digital transformation journey by enabling business processes and making them smarter and more intelligent, thus redefining business operations, decision making, and business outcomes.
– TheBizPlanner (www.thebizplanner.com)
An application for Founders/Entrepreneurs to plan their businesses and connect with the private investment and innovation ecosystem, used by 17,000+ startups across 70+ countries globally.
– TheIncubatorPro (www.theincubatorpro.com)
An end-to-end productivity suite for incubators, accelerators, and/or open/corporate innovation with 180+ incubators and accelerators spread across various countries globally.
– TheInvestorNet (www.theinvestornet.com)
An application for private investors including PE/VC/Angel Networks/Family offices/CVCs to manage the end-to-end business operations with over two dozen investments firms spread across various countries globally.
– TheCapitalNet.TV (www.thecapitalnet.tv)
A knowledge media that produces and shares global content focusing on TheCapitalNet ecosystem through knowledge sessions, news and trends, research reports, interviews and discussions with over 6 million impressions across 110+ countries.
Visit https://www.TheCapitalNet.com, Email: contact@thecapitalnet.com

About Privity
Privity FZ LLE was founded in 2004, an independent venture-focused advisory firm that seeks entrepreneurs with interesting and unique ideas and helps them to develop and grow. Privity is agnostic to geography and industry vertical, focusing on the quality of the entrepreneur and the compelling value proposition of the idea. Privity draws upon its unique methodology ‘4i’ – Ideas, Intelligence, Invention, Innovation – to deliver insightful advisory and consulting services. The 4i methodology is a result of Privity’s vast and diverse experience gathered over the years, as well as the application of highly specialized domain expertise.
Visit https://www.privitylle.com, Email: info@privitylle.com

Alphaus enters Singapore Cloud Financial Management market with Cloud Comrade win

Alphaus Inc. (https://alphaus.cloud/jp/), a prominent start up in the Cloud Financial Management space in Japan, has made a successful foray into the Singapore market in line with its strategic growth plans. The company will provide its suite of cloud financial management (CFM) solutions to the fast-growing Managed Services Provider (MSP) Cloud Comrade (https://cloudcomrade.com/). The overall value of Alphaus’ solutions and support, with the ability for bespoke integrations to the financial services system, were key considerations for Cloud Comrade to switch to Alphaus’ products as critical components for its business operations.

Andy Waroma and Hajime Hirose

Signing Cloud Comrade- the first Singapore-headquartered AWS Premier Consulting Partner that is also a Google Premier Partner and Microsoft Gold Cloud Platform partner- as a client gives Alphaus great impetus in achieving its strategic goals for the Southeast region. Its growing Global Delivery Centre in Kuala Lumpur, established last year, is a testament to the company’s commitment to provide dedicated support for the unique needs of a diverse clientele across various countries and industries in this high-potential region.

Solving cloud financial management challenges

Cliched as it sounds, the ‘New Normal’ is upon us with increasing clarity that it is in the cloud. According to a study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in 2020, the Asia Pacific- including India and Australia- is leading this charge as the adoption of the public cloud in the region outpaces that in the US and Western Europe. From a modest 3 percent of their IT spend on the public cloud in 2016, businesses in APAC are projected to spend over 10% of the IT budget on the public cloud by 2023.

Despite the promising growth and outlook for migration to the cloud, the complexity and lack of adequate clarity into the costs of cloud infrastructure deployment present a serious challenge for businesses making or facilitating such a transition. This was highlighted in a survey of over 100 companies in Malaysia carried out last year. In the recent past, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has also highlighted this problem while recommending that companies take appropriate steps for CFM. ‘Cloud waste’ or sub-optimal utilization of cloud resources is another major pain point, preventing businesses from deriving maximum ROI on their cloud spend.

Alphaus precisely addresses these challenges, expanding its footprint in APAC as a pioneer in simplifying billing/spend management and tackling cloud waste for companies. Its suite of user-friendly and feature-rich Software-as-a-Service products – Wave* and Ripple** — is serving as a catalyst to faster, greater, and better adoption and use of the cloud.

Helping Cloud Comrade in its growth journey

Cloud Comrade is one of the many companies experiencing the value of Aphaus’ solutions. The company had been on the lookout for a more effective solution and a reliable partner who could help navigate the dynamic future of cloud management to jointly deliver even greater value and a better cloud experience for their customers.

“As a cloud Managed Services Provider, we enable several large organizations in the region with their digital transformation and migration to the cloud. It is a critical success factor for both our clients and us that we not only have complete clarity on all the costs associated with the cloud infrastructure but are also making optimum utilization of any cloud resources deployed. The SaaS solutions from Alphaus for billing management and cloud cost optimization provide us with the requisite tools, information, and intelligence to achieve these seamlessly. These tools are integral to our operations and in use 24/7. Alphaus’ Wave and Ripple go a long way in helping maximize ROI, one of the key value propositions for moving to the cloud,” said Andy Waroma, Co-Founder & Co-Managing Director of Cloud Comrade.

“We are thrilled to have a leader like Cloud Comrade as a client and help it deliver better customer service with bespoke integrations to its financial services system,” said Hajime Hirose, CEO of Alphaus Inc. “The APAC is a digital hub that is at the cusp of unprecedented use of cloud services. Our goal is to enable every business to fully realize the value of migrating their IT infrastructure to the cloud. All change does not have to be painful. This belief explains our relentless focus on simplifying billing/spend management, helping companies realize cost and time savings, optimizing resources and consequently, directly impacting their bottom line. We are committed to continually introduce features that fulfill these objectives for our partners and clients; our strong presence and expansion in the APAC market manifests this commitment.”

*Wave- Cloud Cost Optimization and Management
Manages multiple AWS cloud accounts in one place, analyzes organizations’ cost and optimizes budget easily. Wave helps organizations get a clear picture of the cost of cloud infrastructure, discover wasted resources and excessive costs.

**Ripple- Billing Management Solution for MSPs and resellers
Recalculates AWS invoices and reallocates Reserved Instances (RIs) only to linked accounts they belong to, helping the former to accurately charge their customers. Ripple helps service providers save significant time and hassle in complex accounting and billing. Service providers can also use Ripple to plan their RI procurement strategy for maximum ROI.

About Alphaus Inc.

Alphaus, a VC-backed tech start-up on a mission to simplify cloud computing for everyone specializes in Cloud Financial Management (CFM) solutions. The company is focused on enabling its cloud services partners and clients to understand, manage and optimize complicated cloud spend, billings and resource allocation for maximizing ROI on their investments in the cloud. An AWS Advanced Technology Partner, Alphaus provides a suite of Software-as-a-Service solutions for multi-cloud management supporting AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Founded in 2015, Alphaus Inc. is backed by reputed investors like DNX Ventures, NTT DoCoMo Ventures, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Archetype Ventures, Accord Ventures and 500 Startups. The company’s roster of clients includes NTT Data, Nomura Research Institute (NRI), and ISI-Dentsu. Headquartered in Japan, Alphaus has a rapidly growing Global Delivery Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia comprising 10 team members to support its rapid expansion in the Asia Pacific and Oceania regions.

Media Contact
Rishanty Navaratnam, People & Administration Lead
Tel: +60 12 952 2655
E-mail: rishanty@alphaus.cloud

Singapore’s Kris Infotech acquires majority stake in AGS Tek Partners, plans major US expansion

Leading Singapore-headquartered IT consulting and advisory services company Kris Infotech has acquired a 60% stake in the Colorado-based IT consultancy and staffing company AGS Tek Partners. The acquisition follows Kris Infotech’s strategic roadmap for growth, tapping into the enormous opportunities and immense potential of the dynamic US market.

To drive its ambitious expansion plans in the US and across North America, Kris Infotech is deputing IT industry veteran, Mr. Barani Kumaresan, from Singapore. As Senior Vice President, Mr. Kumaresan will be responsible for making all operational decisions for AGS Tek Partners, executing the company’s strategy and scaling up operations of AGS Tek Partners.

“We are thrilled to add AGS Tek Partners into our fold. Their expertise and experience in delivering IT resourcing and training services in the US over many years is immensely valuable and will serve as a launchpad for our own growth plans. Together, we look forward to delivering our suite of IT services to a lot more companies across the US and North America and enabling them to get maximum value from their investments in Information Technology and digitalization/digital transformation,” said Ms. Reem D’Souza, Head of Business Strategy and Investor Relations at Kris Infotech. “I am confident that Kumaresan’s extensive experience in the IT services sector and his presence in the US to run our operation are critical to fast track our plans for this important market.”

Kris Infotech was seed funded in 2006 by Mr. Rajeev Srivastava, the Founder & Executive Chairman of Basil Technology Partners, which closed a US$171 million institutional fund in 2018. Mr. Srivastava has over 30 years of successful investing and operations experience in the technology services sector across Asia, the US and Europe, having invested in 14 niche global technology companies.

Commenting on being acquired by Kris Infotech, Mr. Dave Malhotra, Founder & CEO of AGS Tek Partners, said, “We are excited by the next stage of our corporate journey as a part of Kris Infotech. Not only does this acquisition add several complementary competencies, but there is also a great synergy in our visions for how we can add value to our customers. With the backing and support of Kris Infotech, we are even better equipped to delight more customers in multiple domains. We look forward to being the one-stop, end-to-end IT solutions provider for our clients.” Mr. Malhotra is an experienced investor with a successful track record in the information technology and services industry. His expertise spans the realms of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Business Intelligence, Integration, Enterprise Software, and Enterprise Architecture.

About Kris Infotech

Kris Infotech (http://kris.sg/) is a Singapore-headquartered IT solutions company, providing a wide range of IT services from technology consulting and advisory in emerging tech to IT talent solutions. Established in 2006 by Rajeev Srivastava, the co-founder of APAR Infotech, the company currently employs over 150 professionals with operations in Singapore, Malaysia, India, Thailand, and the US, while also supporting customers in Vietnam, Philippines, and Australia. New offices in Vietnam and Indonesia are scheduled to commence operations in Q4, 2021. Kris Infotech expertise includes Cyber Security, Data & Artificial Intelligence (AI), DevOps & AIOps, SCM (SAP-APO/IBP, Anaplan, Kinaxis), Blockchain and RPA. The company also offers professional services in IT Contracting, Executive Search/ Permanent Placements and RPO.

About AGS Tek Partners

Colorado-based AGS Tek Partners (http://www.agstek.com/) is a provider of state-of-the-art IT services and solutions that address the modern-day business challenges of most organizations. The company has been delivering on-demand technology consulting, technology resourcing (both on-demand on-site staffing as well as permanent placements) and software training services for more than five years.

Media Contact
Mr Dave Malhotra
AGS Tek Partners
Tel: +1 303 638 3505
E-mail: Sales@agstek.com

Manoj Aravindakshan
On Target Media
Tel: +65-90261492
E-mail: manoj@ontarget-media.com

Tata Communications IZO Financial Cloud: A purpose-built community cloud for banking, financial and fintech enterprises discussed with tech leaders

Today, an established technology such as the cloud is driving global corporate development and expansion. To stay competitive, organisations are investing in both private and numerous public cloud systems.

Speaking at the Big BFSI Future Tech Show – India, Sridhar S, Vice President, Managed Services – Cloud, Hosting & Security, Tata Communications Ltd discussed the current landscape of the Indian BFSI sector and how it has got accentuated in this current pandemic situation. He also spoke about the change in way of doing business in the new normal in the BFSI industry, and technology that the banks should implement to create a robust core for the business. In his insightful session, he introduced the audience to the TATA Communications secured platform to host BFSI workloads known as IZO Financial Cloud.

In his tech talk, he stated, “AI, ML is being very easily used these days, but the impact that it can create with the newer technology utilization in customer management is immense. It is going to make customer understanding a lot better and it is going to enable banking companies to provide far more focused service to customers. A very well-orchestrated open banking platform which is API-driven is an extremely important enabler for the future of banking operations.”

Rajesh Awasthi, Global Head of Cloud and MHS at Tata Communications was part of a panel on the topic ‘Cloud Banking: Cloud & Data Centers Take Center Stage’ where the panellist discussed the best cloud deployment model for BFSI in terms of Public or Hybrid or Multi-Cloud, the challenges faced when moving into the cloud and the future off data centres and cloud and much more.

The panellists who joined him in the session included Shiju Rawther – Chief Information & Technology Officer, CARE Ratings Limited; Kirti Patil – Joint President & CTO, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Co. Ltd.; Amit Saxena – Global Dy. CTO, SBI; Dr Suresh A Shan – Head, Innovation & Future Technologies Business Information Technology Solutions (BITS), Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Limited and Murari Sridharan – CTO, Bankbazaar.

“Tata Communication’s ability to implement Hybrid and Multi-cloud solutions, underpinned by their global network infrastructure and guarded by their security solutions, enables them to provide companies with a seamless Cloud transition path,” stated Mithun Shetty, CEO, Trescon.

The show was hosted on the virtual events platform Vmeets to help participants network and conduct business in an interactive and immersive virtual environment. Participants could also engage with speakers in Q&A sessions and network with solution providers in virtual exhibition booths, private consultation rooms and private networking rooms.

About IZO Financial Cloud.

IZO Financial Cloud is a secure and scalable managed community cloud. It’s purpose-built with BFSI institutions in mind and designed to support the evolution of next-generation banking services – all from a foundation that’s absolutely resilient and conformant. Founded on a high-performing, private cloud platform, IZO Financial Cloud ensures business continuity and the smooth transition of legacy workloads, as well as supporting the easy development and fast deployment of new technologies and app modernisation. It offers all-round assurance, embedded security and visibility across your entire estate via integrated and unified controls, making it easy to stay compliant.

About TATA Communications Limited

Tata Communications Limited is a digital ecosystem enabler that powers today’s fast-growing digital economy. With its solutions-orientated approach, proven managed service capabilities and cutting-edge infrastructure, Tata Communications Limited drives the next level of intelligence powered by cloud, mobility, Internet of Things (IoT), collaboration, security and network services.

Tata Communications Limited is committed to enabling Industry leaders in this New World of Communications, with our unique promise of delivering secure connected digital experiences.

About Big BFSI Future Tech Show

Big BFSI Future Tech Show is a thought-leadership-driven, business-focused initiative that provides a platform for tech leaders who are looking to explore and adopt new-age future-tech within their organization.

The show is virtually hosting tech leaders from across India, who will meet, network, learn and engage with some of the world’s renowned technology thought-leaders, subject matter experts and technology innovators in a constructive, open-dialogue environment to find solutions for issues hindering their operations and services.

For further details, please contact:
Monith M Shetty
Corporate Communication Executive
marketing@tresconglobal.com

Close to half of Manufacturing & Supply Chain Professionals in Southeast Asia Perceive their Companies to be Lagging the Industry in Digital Transformation

Almost half of the respondents, around 46.6%, believed that their own companies fell behind the industry average when it comes to utilising digital tools as part of business processes, according to a survey conducted by AIBP and Oracle from March to April. The survey counted 193 professionals*, mainly from IT, innovation & business backgrounds in manufacturing and supply chain companies across the largest economies in Southeast Asia: Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines & Vietnam.

The manufacturing industry plays a significant role in local economies of Southeast Asian countries, contributing more than 20% of Gross Domestic Products in markets like Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Recent US-China trade tensions have also increased expectations of how manufacturing can contribute to markets like Indonesia and Vietnam. Concurrently, local governments are focused on uplifting local manufacturing capabilities by implementing policies to encourage and support initiatives towards Industry 4.0

The survey also found that 46.6% of respondents believed that the top priority of implementing digital solutions should be to drive operational efficiency in a bid to reduce costs, while 16.6% feel that it should be used to increase or create revenue opportunities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen supply chain disruptions across industries – while some companies struggled to come to terms with unusual fluctuations in supply and demand, other companies were better prepared. Thossaporn Petporee, SVP and part of Charoen Pokphand Foods digital committee outlined how Charoen Pokphand Foods have been ahead of the curve when it comes to digital transformation because of their experiences navigating past disruptions like the African swine fever and Avian Influenza. “Each time a pandemic hit, we prepared ourselves better. In our farms, we have the highest level of biosecurity and AI to identify animals across the farm and sales areas. We do well because we keep up to date, keep challenging ourselves.” The recent pandemic has led them to develop innovative online solutions like Vet Online and chatbots which are made available to the farms across their network to allow for diagnosis of animal diseases remotely. Charoen Pokphand Foods saw a net profit increase of 41% in 2020.

Companies from the Manufacturing and Supply Chain industries continue to innovate. In 2020, 3 out of 10 winners of the annual ASEAN Enterprise Innovation Awards were from the Manufacturing and Supply Chain industries, including Kalbe Farma and Astra International. Both companies embarked on digital transformation projects which involved integration of their ERP across business units to allow for a more connected supply chains; enabling real time feedback from across the entire value chain.

“There is an urgent need to reorganize one’s supply chains in the wake of 2020 and the recent Suez Canal blockage, and manufacturers in the region are rightly realising that what they have in-house is not enough when creating robust and resilient logistics processes that keep the business moving efficiently,” said Michael Lim, GTM Leader, ERP & Digital Supply Chain, Oracle. “With new capabilities upgraded onto Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain Management each quarter, we are helping our customers streamline logistics to fulfil orders faster, cheaper and more sustainably to deliver the operational excellence they desire.”

*The survey was sent to professionals working in 1,600 publicly listed companies and/or subsidiaries of MNCs in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam & Singapore. These companies represent the following sectors: Consumer Durables, Non-Durables, Electronic Technology, Process Industries & Producer Manufacturing.

About AIBP

AIBP serves as an avenue for public and private organisations in Southeast Asia to access and exchange information about growth and innovation within the B2B space. With a current network of over 30,000 stakeholders in Southeast Asia, AIBP continues to develop ecosystems by engaging in activities which create value-adding information for our stakeholders seeking to make transformative impacts within their organisations. AIBP is a business unit of Industry Platform, a growth consulting firm based in Singapore.

About Industry Platform Pte Ltd

We work with public and private organisations to develop value-adding partnerships within the industries and markets which we serve. Our consulting framework advocates pursuing an integrated approach in assisting our clients in their growth and development initiatives. This includes market research, and access through business development strategy formulation and execution.