Yearly Archives: 2020

PR Newswire

Chindata Group opens Asia’s largest single hyperscale data center in Shanxi

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Leading hyperscale data center solution provider in emerging Asia-Pacific markets launches an online video to take a virtual tour inside the data center

  • The largest single hyperscale data center in Asia, with an IT capacity of 50 megawatts, located in Datong, North China’s Shanxi province, went into operation on Oct. 25th, representing Chindata Group’s latest achievement in building next-generation hyperscale data centers cluster.
  • Chindata Group launches an online video to take a virtual tour inside this Asia’s largest single hyperscale data center and reproduce its building process to show those state-of-the-art sophisticated technologies applied in this campus.
  • With a dream of creating a public platform to bridge the digital divide, this data center infrastructure named Taihang Mountain Energy and Information Technology Industrial Campus of the Pan-Beijing Area is carrier-neutral with shared standards and open technology, for the benefit of every internet user.

BEIJING, Nov. 6, 2020 — Chindata Group(Nasdaq: CD) has successfully opened Asia’s largest single hyperscale data center in its Taihang Mountain Energy and Information Technology Industrial Campus of the Pan-Beijing Area, Datong, North China’s Shanxi province, on Sunday 25 October.

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The data center has a total IT capacity of 50 megawatts to support artificial intelligence-based computing delivered by global tech giants. For a single server room in this data center building, its IT capacity could be over 18 megawatts.

Amazing discovery of next-generation hyperscale data centers by Chindata Group
Amazing discovery of next-generation hyperscale data centers by Chindata Group

Chindata Group launches an online video(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjCQ3rYmwL0) to take a virtual tour inside this Asia’s largest single hyperscale data center and reproduce its construction process to show those state-of-the-art sophisticated technologies applied in this campus.

With more than 12 tailored pending or approved patents, this single data center is equipped with latest technologies, ranging from power distribution network, IT equipment, cooling system, to energy utilization, in support of the sustainable operation of this Asia’s largest single hyperscale data center.

For example, Chindata Group has initially employed one self-own 110kV cabin substation and one back-up 35kV substation plus an access to dedicated renewable energy into this campus. By advanced power system architecture and multiple independent power supply from the State Grid, this campus boasts the most reliable power distribution network in China’s data center industry in response to leading technology companies’ power demands.

Besides, one of the world’s most efficient chilled water systems self-developed by Chindata Group is put into mass application on this campus for the first time to keep a high energy efficiency by increasing the natural cooling time while adapting to 40kW per AI server rack’s working environment requirement.

As a leading hyperscale data center solution provider in emerging Asia-Pacific markets, Chindata Group strives to build a public and altruistic platform to bridge the digital divide. As a result, this newly-built data center is totally carrier-neutral with shared standards and open technology, for the benefit of every internet user.

About Chindata Group

Chindata Group(Nasdaq: CD) is a leading carrier-neutral hyperscale data center solution provider in Asia-Pacific emerging markets and a first mover in building next-generation hyperscale data centers in China, India and Southeast Asia markets, focusing on the whole life cycle of facility planning, investment, design, construction and operation of ecosystem infrastructure in the IT industry. Chindata Group provides its clients with business solutions in major countries and regions in Asia-Pacific emerging markets, including asset-heavy ecosystem chain services such as industrial bases, data centers, network and IT value-added services.

Chindata Group operates two sub-brands: "Chindata" and "Bridge Data Centres". Chindata operates hyper-density IT cluster infrastructure in the Greater Beijing Area, the Yangtze River Delta Area and the Greater Bay Area, the three key economic areas in China, and has become the engine of the regional digital economies. Bridge Data Centres, with its top international development and operation talents in the industry, owns fast deployable data center clusters in Malaysia and India, and seeks business opportunities in other Asia-Pacific emerging markets.

 

Business, Camera, News

Nikon Bids Malaysia Goodbye; Operations Cease on 1 January 2021

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When it comes to DSLRs and cameras one of the first names that you’d think of is Nikon. The company has become a staple name in the industry and there is nothing more iconic than their “I AM” campaign when it comes to photography and cameras. However, it seems like all good things must come to an end.

In a statement posted to their Facebook page, Nikon Malaysia revealed the sad announcement that the company has decided to cease its operations. Effective 1 January 2021, Nikon will no longer have an official presence in Malaysia with 31 December, 2020 being the last day of operations. Moving forward, their sales, marketing and after sales services will be handled by appointed third parties.

Official Statement on Nikon Malaysia’s Facebook

Their appointed third parties are: Futuromic Photo AV Sdn Bhd and QES (Asia-Pacific) Sdn Bhd. These companies will now take over the distribution and sales of Nikon branded cameras in the country. Operations for the company will continue as usual in the transition phase with the final day set on 31 December, 2020.

PR Newswire

New Hero Tantu Arrives in Shadow Arena

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SEOUL, South Korea, Nov. 6, 2020 — Pearl Abyss announced today that the new Hero Tantu has arrived in Shadow Arena. Players can now throw powerful combos at enemies using this successor of an ancient civilization. 

New Hero Tantu Arrives in Shadow Arena
New Hero Tantu Arrives in Shadow Arena

A young giant, Tantu uses an Iron Buster as a main weapon, which has been forged using a long-lost technology. Armed with immense firing power, he can create advantageous combat situations by keeping opponents at a distance with his ranged attacks. 

Tantu also has the ability to switch between long-range and close-range attacks at any time to suit his situation. Depending on his skill, Tantu can load up to 4 Bullets which, when fired, will inflict a Stiffen effect upon his enemies. High damage can be inflicted by using the Aggressive Negotiations skill, which allows players to quickly grab a nearby enemy and strike them continuously. 

Moreover, Beta Season 2 has begun. To celebrate the new season, a special reward event will take place until December 12. Players can earn Battle Points by completing challenges and acquiring a certain number of points will get them a special Ticket. This Ticket will automatically enter the player into a prize draw with rewards including a Samsung Odyssey G7 gaming monitor, Logitech G560 gaming speaker, and Razer Kraken Pro Headset. 

Visit the official website, Discord, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter for more information. 

About Pearl Abyss 

Best known for the MMORPG franchise Black Desert, Pearl Abyss is a leading developer in the game industry. Established in 2010, Pearl Abyss has since developed Black Desert for PC, mobile, and console, and is developing Shadow Arena for PC and console. All of Pearl Abyss’ games are built on the company’s own proprietary engine and are renowned for their cutting-edge graphics. The company is also developing Crimson Desert, DokeV, and PLAN 8 and is poised to continue its growth through 2020 and maintain its position as one of Asia’s leaders in game development. More information about Pearl Abyss is available at: www.pearlabyss.com.

 

Related Links :

http://www.pearlabyss.com/

PR Newswire

McCoy Holdings has delved into a new business of On-Demand Enterprise Solution (ODES)

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SINGAPORE, Nov. 6, 2020 — Founded in 2004, the 16-year-old McCoy Holdings has an unprecedented track record of aiding their customers with their valuable assistance in supply chain management and IoT apps solutions. They help businesses in component manufacturing and distribution, along with business consultancy and advisory services. McCoy has made some major waves in R&D and business transformation through Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy and branding. They have a mission to help their customers maximize their business value with new technology, and digital media.

With their new services launching in On-Demand Enterprise Solution (ODES), McCoy Holdings aim to provide the customers with the highest form of virtual aid in managing their business models. ODES helps businesses to have an easier time managing essentially all of their departments. Its solution is built to keep logs and provide the right statistics at the right time when needed, with the help of a few clicks.

The information can be instilled into the mainframe for a business, and it will be assessed with efficiency and accuracy. ODES will help the companies take necessary actions when need be with little to no human assistance. The system will equip the employees to take steps on the information put in with a few simple management tools, making their jobs much less taxing and more effortless.

With ODES, All-In-One Solution, having various systems for different jobs would not be necessary, as it is all doable with a single all-inclusive solution. ODES has extensively flexible parameters and can be easily customized. It is a highly scalable software that aids businesses of all sizes and forms to incorporate and make perfect use of it easily.

The ODES solution is there to virtually solve the workload issues in every department of a company, making it easier to manage the business without having a bigger manual workforce. It offers every department for a business on a single platform. This automated system can take care of the company’s accounting, payroll and finances, human resources, research and development, inventory ventures, supply chain management, digital transformation, and eCommerce portal. Besides that, ODES is also offering custom industry specific solutions to automate the processes and increase productivity.

With such an elaborate digitally managed system at hand for any business, the company’s management and progress virtually have no bounds. It can flourish, leaving all the worries for ODES to handle on its own.

Website: https://www.odes.com.sg, https://www.mccoy.com.sg

Related Links :

https://www.mccoy.com.sg

PR Newswire

Hytera Envisages the Future of PMR at Critical Communications World Virtual Conference

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SHENZHEN, China, Nov. 6, 2020 — Hytera, a global leading Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) solution provider, participated in Critical Communications Week (CCWeek) 2020 as a Brand Leader sponsor to showcase its latest innovations and shared perspectives on the evolution of communications technologies from 2G to 5G. CCWeek, a five-day virtual exhibition and conference on Nov. 2-6, offers a new opportunity for stakeholders of the critical communications sector to network after the Critical Communications World 2020 offline event was cancelled due to the pandemic.

On the first day of the fully packed five-day conference progromme, Simon Yin, general manager assistant of Hytera Americas, shared with attendees Hytera’s insight of how the critical communications sector is to move forward in the 5G era. Hytera believes that there is no single technology capable of fixing all problems, instead it will be "2+5+N", a hybrid and convergent way of meeting a multitude of requirements.

Simon Yin, general manager assistant of Hytera Americas, shared with attendees Hytera’s insight of how the critical communications sector is to move forward in the 5G era.
Simon Yin, general manager assistant of Hytera Americas, shared with attendees Hytera’s insight of how the critical communications sector is to move forward in the 5G era.

"2" stands for 2G technologies, such as TETRA, which provides stable and reliable voice services for critical communication users. TETRA, as the most successful PMR technology, will remain as the first choice of mission critical voice services thanks to its great availability, reliability and security. Since the technology itself keeps evolving, Hytera sees TETRA as a viable technology in years leading to 4G and 5G era.

"5" stands for 5G that supports high throughput, low latency and massive connections. In 3G/4G LTE era, in order to satisfy the increasing demand of data services, there are mainly two paths available for mission critical and industrial users. One is private LTE, the other one is Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO). One common choice for critical communication on broadband systems is Mission Critical Service (MCS), an open standard defined by 3GPP. When it comes to 5G, the two paths technologically merge and converge, since 5G from bottom up is designed for industries, which not only enables the telco to explore business opportunities into vertical sectors, but also empowers industry users with their private network in ways such as network slicing.

"N" stands for various applications based on different technologies. Numerous services and apps will be made available for industries by developers. Hytera believes the key is how to get the best out of each technology and converge them into an interconnected network. When multiple technologies and vendors are involved, the optimal situation for mission critical users is that they can choose freely from an open ecosystem and establish the critical communications infrastructure following an open protocol, which is important now and in the future.

To watch the presentation video, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g_RLsXunsU&feature=youtu.be

To find out more about Hytera’s new products, please visit https://www.hytera.com/2020/en/home

Related Links :

https://www.hytera.com

PR Newswire

Osome Raises US$3m in Funding from XA Network and AltaIR Capital

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The accounting and corporate compliance super app will use funds to further develop its engineering, product development, and marketing

SINGAPORE, Nov. 6, 2020 " — Osome, a growing super app in the accounting and corporate compliance space, has raised US$3 million in funding by XA Network and AltaIR Capital. 

Small to medium sized businesses spend on average 120 days per year on administrative tasks, making it one of the most time-consuming business activities. Osome uses AI and ML techniques combined with the experience of human experts to solve this problem, disrupting the fragmented accounting and corporate services industry. 

With Osome, entrepreneurs can forget about administrative routine and focus on the thing that really matters – on their business. The company provides online accounting services for SMEs especially those involved with E-commerce.There is also a comprehensive range of services like incorporation, payroll and corporate secretarial work. These are tedious but unavoidable tasks which entrepreneurs usually outsource.

More than 4100 companies across the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong already use Osome on a daily basis and this number is growing by 2.5 times per year. Aspiring founders can open a company fully online while existing business owners can get their routine accounting and admin work done on the platform. Client issues are solved issues on the go, without having to call or visit the office – all users need to do to request help with certain tasks is to send a text message in the chat. Osome will circle back with the answer at any time of the day or week. 

AltaIR Capital is a European VC firm boasting over $300M across its three funds that has previously invested in Miro and PandaDoc. XA Network is an investment network comprising senior executives from leading technology companies investing across Southeast Asia. Among previous investors in the company is Target Global, an investor in Rapyd and Delivery Hero. The company will use this funding to further invest in engineering, product development, and marketing across the markets that it is present in – Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom.

"We decided to invest in Osome as we have trust in the business model and see the team’s ability to scale it. The service is vital for many new enterprises and has huge growth potential," said Igor Ryabenkiy, Managing Partner of AltaIR Capital.

"Osome taps into a large and fragmented market opportunity and plays in an industry which is ripe for disruption. The company’s business model drives a step-change in both efficiency and customer satisfaction through automation, leading to a high potential for growth and profitability," said Gilberto Gaeta, XA Network’s member and Director, Southeast Asia, Google Customer Solutions.

"We’re glad that our investors believe in the future that we are creating for business owners to remove the headache of paperwork by texting it all away. We want to make it simple for our clients to go digital and acclimatise themselves to the current economy," said Victor Lysenko, founder and CEO of Osome.

The recent economic crisis and global lockdown caused by COVID-19 has pushed SMEs to accelerate the adoption of digital solutions. Osome has been at the forefront of this movement and is participating in Singapore’s Start Digital initiative alongside OCBC Bank – which is the second largest financial services group in Southeast Asia by assets. Start Digital under the SMEs Go Digital programme by the Singapore government provides grants to SMEs that take up approved solutions meant to reduce administrative workload. Osome is also enrolled under the SG:D Spark programme by the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore.

"We are pleased that Osome has closed this new round of funding; this injection of funding will lend impetus to the company’s growth. This will increasingly help Osome to continue to innovate the automation process for corporate services, thus increasing the efficiency of how SMEs operate in today’s post-Covid norms", said Mr Edwin Low, Director of Innovation & Tech Ecosystem, Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore. 

About Osome
Osome, headquartered in Singapore, was launched in January 2018 to facilitate business management for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Its suite of services includes online accounting, business registration, corporate secretary services, and payroll management. Its platform uses automation tools and AI (artificial intelligence) to increase response time and accuracy, and to lower cost. It has market presence in Singapore, United Kingdom, Hong Kong. In 2018, it raised US$2 million in funding led by Target Global, including Phystech Ventures, AdFirst funds, and several angel investors
Find out more about Osome at https://osome.com. 

About XA Network
The XA Network (formerly known as Xoogler Angels) was founded in 2018 as an investment network comprising senior executives from leading global and regional technology companies. Our mission is to provide smart capital to early-stage companies across Southeast Asia.

XA focuses on early-stage investments. Founders value our members’ distinguished backgrounds as entrepreneurs and senior business builders. Furthermore, our portfolio companies are able to tap into the collective power of deep-rooted networks and expertise across business strategy, product development, and fundraising. XA has invested in a wide variety of sectors and over 20 companies since 2018, including Tigerhall, Neuron, Pencil, and Infradigital. XA Network is also an LP in Vertex Southeast Asia and India latest fund. For more information please visit www.xanetwork.co

About AltaIR Capital
AltaIR Capital (www.altair.vc) is a venture management company investing in early-stage and growth projects with a primary focus on FinTech and SAAS Productivity Tools. Among the best fintech investments of AltaIR are Miro, Albert, Deel, Lili, Guide Financial, Socure, SplitIt, EquityBee.

PR Newswire

Dubber “Best of Breed” UCR & Voice Intelligence Cloud selected for IBM Cloud for Telecommunications Services

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  • Integrated Cloud offering to unlock efficiency and new services across Service Provider Networks globally
  • Addresses critical customer challenges in compliance, customer experience and security at scale

MELBOURNE, Australia, Nov. 6, 2020 — Dubber Corporation Limited (ASX: DUB) (Dubber), has been chosen as the recording and data capture platform for IBM Cloud for Telecommunications. Dubber’s Voice Intelligence Cloud will enable Service Providers to deliver next-generation Unified Call Recording and Voice AI Services on a unified cloud platform. IBM announced Dubber on the IBM Cloud for Telecommunications today, selecting ‘best-of-breed’ solutions proven in leading Service Provider environments, as critical elements of the solution.

The only Unified Call Recording™ (UCR) solution integrated and interoperable with IBM Cloud for Telecommunications, Dubber enables Service Providers to offer solutions critical to their customers addressing compliance mandates, improving sales and service performance and unlocking the possibilities contained within voice data.

"IBM has assembled world-class ‘best of breed’ services to form a compelling Cloud offering for Service Providers with Dubber as a core component and the only Australian based company involved in the global offering," said James Slaney, co-founder, Dubber.

Today’s announcements furthers Dubber’s leadership globally in UCR and voice data as a service, increasing its ability to offer new services to its more than 140 Service Provider customers globally – and, for IBM to do the same with its global network of Service Provider customers.

"In simple terms, IBM and Dubber enable service providers to differentiate and create value from the conversations occurring on the network by making call recording and voice data as a service ubiquitous and open. All conversations can be captured in the Cloud, and converted to AI-enriched data," added Slaney. "Dubber will make it easy to capture all calls – from traditional landlines to 5G services, and any end-point provisioned by the Service Provider."

The IBM Cloud for Telecommunications enables digital transformation today. The ability to convert the content of any communication into usable data presents an opportunity for endless use cases and for IBM to demonstrate its unparalleled capability to create value from the data using AI and machine learning. IBM and Dubber have a well-established partnership in the area of voice data.

Data, analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) now play an expansive and critical role in generating new business value, lowering costs and improving customer advocacy. Where and how calls occur have dispersed – a trend likely to be accelerated by 5G adoption – requiring new unified solutions that capture data from any end-point. Dubber on IBM Cloud for Telecommunications ushers in a new era of Unified Call Recording from any end-point with all voice data unified in one Cloud platform delivering insights, automation and compliance like never before. Dubber eliminates the need for costly hardware, services and lock-in contracts – and enables Service Providers to eliminate operating costs while boosting performance.

This ASX release has been approved for release to ASX by Steve McGovern, CEO & Managing Director.

For further information on IBM Cloud for Telecommunications visit:

https://newsroom.ibm.com/Introducing-IBM-Cloud-for-Telecommunications-with-35-Partners-Committed-to-Join-IBMs-Ecosystem-and-Help-Drive-Business-Transformation

About Dubber:

Dubber is unlocking the potential of voice data from any call or conversation. Dubber is the world’s most scalable Unified Call Recording service and Voice Intelligence Cloud adopted as core network infrastructure by multiple global leading telecommunications carriers in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Dubber allows service providers to offer call recording for compliance, business intelligence, sentiment analysis, AI and more on any phone. Dubber is a disruptive innovator in the multi-billion dollar call recording industry, its Software as a Service offering removes the need for on premise hardware, applications or costly and limited storage.

PR Newswire

Joget Announces the Launch of “Tech for Humanity” Program

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COLUMBIA, Md., Nov. 6, 2020 — Joget Inc. today announced the "Tech for Humanity" Program to help nonprofits, NGOs, community programs and charity organizations meet their digitization goals.     

The "Tech for Humanity" program stems from a commitment to put people and humanity first by enabling innovation and technology to be leveraged with agility. COVID-19 has created an unparalleled situation, but also provided an opportunity for the world to realize the importance of human centric approach. It also proves how human imagination, creativity and resourcefulness, when married with the right technology can resolve many complex challenges, can create out of the box solutions with nimbleness when most needed.    

In consideration of how the current COVID-19 pandemic situation affects nonprofit organizations, NGOs and other charity organizations, Joget Inc. has launched a "Tech for Humanity" program. Any organization that purchased or purchases enterprise licenses for the Joget DX no-code/low-code platform will be able to donate free licenses to their choice of charity/NGO or nonprofit organization along with applications like "Employee Temperature Tracking App", "Travel Advisory Tracking","Remote Organization Management with Internal Service Request" and "Student Temperature Tracking for Schools" that they can leverage from Joget Marketplace at no cost.

"In this fast changing world with accelerated digital transformation needs for every organization, it is critical for those organizations who serve our community to digitally transform and gain efficiency. We are glad to be there to help and support them," said Raveesh Dewan, CEO Joget Inc.

"If there was ever a time where technology could help humanity it is certainly now! There is so much stress in the system: The Pandemic, the economy, social and political uncertainties. We the Business and Technology Solution Providers must rise to the occasion and do what it takes to help any and all organizations that are directly providing help to humanity! We are happy and honored to fulfill our commitment and partner with Joget in this awesome endeavor," said Parminder Sethi, President and CEO of Mokxa Technologies.

"Joget DX is an excellent low code development platform. Today, almost every organization in the world is undergoing digital transformation, community programs and charity organizations also need to cater to this trend. We are pleased to see this initiative from Joget to help and support these organizations," said Sean Feng, GM of Valuprosys Technology.

Joget Inc. and its global partners hope to extend their support to the community by enabling organizations to digitally transform themselves with agile and flexible applications to meet the challenges of these difficult times. For more information please visit Tech for Humanity.

About Joget Inc.
Joget Inc. is the developer of the Joget open source low-code application platform. Joget empowers business users, non-coders or coders to create enterprise applications for digital transformation across industries and countries. With thousands of downloads a month and 12,000+ community users worldwide across various industries (including finance, manufacturing, IT, and more), Joget is a proven platform for a wide spectrum of organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to government agencies and small businesses.

Contact
Media Relations
info@joget.com
1.888.60J.OGET (1.888.605.6438)

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PR Newswire

Bitauto Announces Completion of Merger

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BEIJING, Nov. 6, 2020 — Bitauto Holdings Limited ("Bitauto" or the "Company") (NYSE: BITA), a leading provider of internet content & marketing services, and transaction services for China’s automotive industry, today announced the completion of the merger with Yiche Mergersub Limited ("Merger Sub"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Yiche Holding Limited ("Parent"), pursuant to the previously announced agreement and plan of merger, dated as of June 12, 2020 (the "Merger Agreement"), by the Company, Parent and Merger Sub. As a result of the merger, the Company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Parent and will cease to be a publicly traded company.

Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, which was approved by the Company’s shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting on October 23, 2020, each ordinary share of the Company (each a "Share") issued and outstanding  immediately prior to the effective time of the merger (the "Effective Time") has been cancelled and ceased to exist in exchange for the right to receive US$16 in cash without interest, and each outstanding American depositary share of the Company (each, an "ADS," representing one Share) represents the right to receive US$16 in cash without interest (the "Merger Consideration"), except for (a) certain Shares (including Shares represented by ADSs) owned by affiliates of Tencent Holdings Limited, an affiliate of JD.com, Inc., and Mr. Bin Li, chairman of the board of directors of the Company, which have been cancelled in exchange for newly issued shares of Parent, (b) Shares (including Shares represented by ADSs) owned by Parent, Merger Sub, the Company or any of their respective subsidiaries, (c) Shares (including Shares represented by ADSs) held by Citibank, N.A., the ADS depositary and reserved for issuance, settlement and allocation upon exercise or vesting of Company’s options and/or restricted share unit awards, and (d) Shares held by shareholders who have validly exercised and not effectively withdrawn or lost their rights to dissent from the merger pursuant to Section 238 of the Companies Law of the Cayman Islands, which have been cancelled and ceased to exist in exchange for the right to receive the payment of fair value of those dissenting shares in accordance with Section 238 of the Companies Law of the Cayman Islands.

Each registered shareholder immediately prior to the Effective Time who are entitled to the Merger Consideration will receive from the paying agent a letter of transmittal and instructions on how to surrender their Shares in exchange for the Merger Consideration in respect of each Share held thereby, and should wait to receive the letter of transmittal before surrendering their Shares. Payment of the Merger Consideration (less an ADS cash distribution fee of US$0.05 per ADS), without interest and net of any applicable withholding taxes, will be made to holders of ADSs in respect of each ADS held thereby as soon as practicable after Citibank, N.A., the ADS depositary, receives the aggregate Merger Consideration payable to holders of ADSs from the paying agent.

The Company requested that trading of its ADSs on the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") be suspended as of 9:00 a.m. (New York time) on November 5, 2020. The Company requested that the NYSE file a Form 25 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") notifying the SEC of the delisting of its ADSs on the NYSE and the deregistration of the Company’s registered securities. The Company intends to suspend its reporting obligations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, by promptly filing a Form 15 with the SEC. The Company’s obligation to file with the SEC certain reports and forms, including Form 20-F and Form 6-K, will be suspended immediately as of the filing date of the Form 15 and will cease once the deregistration becomes effective.

In connection with the merger, Duff & Phelps, LLC and Duff & Phelps Securities, LLC are serving as financial advisor to the special committee of the board of directors of the Company (the "Special Committee"). Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is serving as U.S. legal counsel to the Special Committee.

BofA Securities is serving as financial advisor to the investor consortium. Latham & Watkins LLP and Kirkland & Ellis are serving as U.S. legal counsel and Hong Kong legal counsel to the investor consortium, respectively.

About Bitauto Holdings Limited

Bitauto Holdings Limited (NYSE: BITA) is a leading provider of internet content & marketing services, and transaction services for China’s automotive industry. Bitauto’s business consists of three segments: advertising and subscription business, transaction services business and digital marketing solutions business.

Bitauto’s advertising and subscription business provides a variety of advertising services to automakers through the bitauto.com website and corresponding mobile apps which provide consumers with up-to-date automobile pricing and promotional information, specifications, reviews and consumer feedback. Bitauto also provides transaction-focused online advertisements and services for promotional activities to its business partners, including automakers, automobile dealers, auto finance partners and insurance companies. Bitauto offers subscription services via its SaaS platform, which provides web-based and mobile-based integrated digital marketing solutions to new car automobile dealers in China. The SaaS platform enables automobile dealer subscribers to create their own online showrooms, list pricing and promotional information, provide automobile dealer contact information, place advertisements and manage customer relationships to help them reach a broad set of purchase-minded customers and effectively market their automobiles to consumers online.

Bitauto’s transaction services business is primarily conducted by its controlled subsidiary, Yixin Group Limited (SEHK: 2858), a leading online automobile finance transaction platform in China, which provides transaction platform services as well as self-operated financing services.

Bitauto’s digital marketing solutions business provides automakers with one-stop digital marketing solutions, including website creation and maintenance, online public relations, online marketing campaigns, advertising agent services, big data applications and digital image creation.

For more information, please visit ir.bitauto.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains statements that express the Company’s current opinions, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or projections regarding future events or future results and therefore are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "if," "will," "expected" and similar statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include: uncertainties as to how the Company’s shareholders will vote at the meeting of shareholders; the possibility that competing offers will be made; the possibility that financing may not be available; the possibility that various closing conditions for the transaction may not be satisfied or waived; and other risks and uncertainties discussed in documents filed with the SEC by the Company, as well as the Schedule 13E-3 transaction statement and the proxy statement filed by the Company. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s expectations as of the date of this press release. You should not rely upon these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

For more information, please contact:
Suki Li
Bitauto Holdings Limited
Phone: +86-10-6849-2145
ir@bitauto.com

Philip Lisio
Foote Group
Phone: +86-10-8429-9544
bitauto@thefootegroup.com

Related Links :

http://ir.bitauto.com

PR Newswire

Agara and Sherpa Join Hands to Make Global Travel Safe and Hassle-Free in the COVID-Hit World

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NEW YORK, Nov. 6, 2020 — Two innovative global startups, Sherpa and Agara, have joined forces to bring forth a "virtual travel advisor". The solution aims to provide a seamless, worry-free, and safe travel experience to global travelers, as economies re-open and international travel steadily resumes in a post-COVID world. The solution combines Sherpa’s reliable travel and cross-border information delivery system and Agara’s next-generation autonomous Voice AI technology.

The integrated solution aims to empower airlines and travel companies to guide customers during transit and cross-border travel and assist with visa and health regulations, which are being enforced by the governments the world over.

While working with a global airline company together, the two companies sensed the need to provide customers with reliable and up-to-date information at every stage of their journey. Anxious customers call during the pre-booking stage to seek guidance on visa, travel restriction, quarantine needs, PPE requirements or even inquire about how they could reach their destination. In the post-booking scenario, customers typically call to reschedule their booking or change their destination, which in today’s scenario spells new restrictions and travel regulations, based on nationality, cross-border readiness, travel documents, and so on.

Sherpa’s vision is to help customers "move freely", and its technology enables this by using embeddable widgets, intuitive APIs, or white-label solutions to guide travelers through the post-COVID travel landscape by providing information they need and the documentation they require.

For customers, reaching out to the call center is the preferred choice of a quick resolution. With the spike in the number of calls to airline call centers across the world, airlines across the world are realizing the need to make information available to customers over voice in a self-service mode. With Agara’s deep learning-based autonomous voicebot, airlines can recognize the travelers’ specific query and need and understand them in the context of their current booking or reservation.

Additionally, Agara’s patented conversational capabilities help decide the next best voice response, with the goal to offer instant, on-demand customer service. With travel restrictions and regulations changing every day across the world, Agara also enables airlines and travel companies to be responsive, and enforce new policy and compliance needs in their customer communication plans.

Airlines are experiencing a 96% jump in their overall conversation volume since mid-February, owing to the pandemic. This has led to customers waiting over the phone line for hours to reschedule or cancel their flights. To that end, Sherpa and Agara’s integrated, highly scalable, real-time, and Voice AI-powered "virtual travel advisor" empowers travel organizations to help their customers with hassle-free travel. Armed with the most updated information and by providing an elevated experience, brands in the travel industry can ensure that they win customer loyalty during these extremely unpredictable times. 

"Our goal is to reduce stress and confusion for travelers as travel reopens globally, and we are excited about working with Agara to provide an innovative way to reduce the burden on airlines, OTA’s and corporate travel partners to notify their customers of travel requirements that are changing on a daily basis," said Max Tremaine, Sherpa Co-Founder, and CEO.

"Agara and Sherpa together bring the power of Voice AI and access to reliable information in real-time for travelers across the world. We imagine this as the prerequisite for passengers in the next normal, to move freely and feel confident about access to information any time, anywhere, in the globe. The Solution will provide instant information to customers and at the same time deliver operational efficiencies to the travel sector," said Abhimanyu, Co-Founder & CEO of Agara.

About Agara:

Founded in 2017 by Abhimanyu and Arjun Maheswaran, Agara’s mission is to drive autonomous business-to-consumer communication experiences over voice using advanced Real-time Voice AI. It is contextualized and pre-trained to deliver natural conversations without human assistance. Some of the largest and most respected brands globally use Agara to streamline their customer care, drive significant cost efficiencies, and improve customer experience. Agara is backed by several top-notch names in venture capital including Kleiner Perkins, Blume Ventures, and RTP Global. Visit agara.ai

Contact: Vimal, vimal@agaralabs.com

About Sherpa:

Founded in 2015 by Max Tremaine and Ivan Sharko, Sherpa is the leading global provider of travel identification requirements for the travel industry. Passionate about the freedom of movement because it is fundamental to providing people with the opportunity to connect and fulfill their ambitions, Sherpa’s vision is to provide every traveler with the information they need and documentation they require to move confidently and securely across borders. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Sherpa partners with the world’s leading travel providers in over 50 countries and is trusted by brands such as British Airways, Icelandair, Star Alliance, Kiwi.com, and G Adventures. Sherpa is backed by True Ventures, Relay Ventures, Globalive Capital, N49P, Erik Blatchford, and Stuart Macdonald, who sits on the company’s board of directors. To learn more, visit https://www.joinsherpa.com

Contact: Kait Schneider, pr@joinsherpa.com