Tag Archives: ECM

After the rapid growth in Egypt, OPay Group is targeting a major expansion in North Africa and the Arab region

Forbes Middle East praises the development of OPay’s business in the region, describing it as the fastest growing and most popular financial technology company in the Egyptian market.

CAIRO, Egypt, Feb. 25, 2022 — Recently,"OPay" wins the best new POS payment service provider in Egypt for 2021 award from "The Global Economics".

According to a press report published by Forbes Middle East magazine, OPay is one of the most prominent companies that have appeared on the electronic payments scene in Egypt as a result of support followed by the Egyptian state. It is also considered one of the fastest growing companies in the Egyptian market since its first launch in Egypt at the start of 2021, OPay Group quickly gained the confidence of thousands of merchants that utilize its points of sale (POS) to collect bills and other payments.


Due to the steps taken by Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and the support provided by Tarek Amer, Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, has paved the way for the faster digital transformation of the Egyptian banking sector. The country embraces digital transformation and cashless transactions. The international "OPay" group for financial technology services and electronic payments grow fast.Under Amer’s leadership, the central bank has made the transition to cashless transactions easier, reduced the reliance on cash, and expanded the provision of mechanized services.

The report mentioned that "OPay" Group was founded in 2018, and risen to become a top financial services provider, operating in Nigeria, Egypt, and Pakistan, the company’s early success is credited to its dedication to making financial services accessible to everyone, and now the group is eyeing expansion across the rest of the Middle East and North Africa this year.

This remarkable development achieved by OPay is due to the integrated services it provides to its customers, in addition to the ease of access to them, as the registration on the application or the electronic portal is done in smooth and fast steps, OPay is also becoming a major driver of financial inclusion in Africa, managing to fast track the adoption of digital services through cashless and contactless payments while also improving financial and information security. In particular, OPay’s mobile payment service provides a convenient financial solution to the unbanked population in Africa, with 160 million active users currently generating around $3 billion in monthly transactions.

The international "OPay" group confirmed that it provides a suite of bespoke, customer-centric financial solutions that include offline and online payment options and a digital wallet service using the power of AI. Notably, OPay’s online gateway (OPay checkout) hosts a set of high-quality services, integrated solutions, and an excellent commission scheme, which enable small- and medium-sized businesses to achieve profit growth.

For customers, OPay delivers an easier way to pay bills and other expenses through an app available on iOS as well as Google Play.

OPay Group’s continued success follows a $400 million funding round last August, which increased the company’s valuation to $2 billion. The successful round motivated OPay to venture towards territories in North Africa – particularly Egypt, where the group has achieved monumental success in less than a year, delivering the best possible financial solutions for customers, merchants, and small and medium businesses, and OPay plans to expand to more territories by the end of the year, including the U.A.E. It also aims to enhance its current suite of financial services and adapt to new security standards to keep customer data safe and secure.

 

Railsbank, via subsidiary Railspay, secures AFSL to enable Australian brands to create embedded finance experiences

SYDNEY, Feb. 24, 2022 — Railspay, the wholly owned Australian subsidiary of world-leading embedded finance experience platform Railsbank, has secured an independent Australian financial services licence (AFSL) to enable more innovative consumer brands to harness the power of embedded finance experiences.

Railsbank APAC COO & Australia GM Ben Smith
Railsbank APAC COO & Australia GM Ben Smith

Embedded finance experiences offer brands a wide range of valuable benefits including increased frequency of consumer interaction, greater loyalty and spend, and deeper, data-driven, customer relationships.

The new licence, which sits alongside existing Railsbank regulatory capabilities in UK, Europe, USA and Singapore, is part of the company’s global ambition to bring embedded finance experiences to every market in the world, and make finance an amazing experience everywhere.

It offers new capabilities alongside Railsbank’s existing relationship with Volt, and follows extensive regional growth for Railsbank in APAC, with 70 local personnel hires including key senior executives in just the last 18 months.

These hires include the appointment of Paul Koopmans, who joins Railsbank as Head of Sales for APAC. Paul was previously Regional Sales Director for global fintech payment and risk management specialist AFEX.

Nigel Verdon, Railsbank CEO and co-founder, said: "It is great for my family to be in finance again in Australia as it has been over 150 years since my great-great grandfather Sir George Verdon was Treasurer of the State of Victoria and General Manager (CEO) of what is today called ANZ Bank. He commissioned the baroque building that is the head office of ANZ Bank where his original apartments are still maintained as a museum."

Ben Smith, Railsbank APAC COO, said: "We fundamentally believe that consumer behaviour drives finance and from our research we know the future is all about consumers wanting to have seamless financial experiences with the brands they love, such as Amazon and Nike.

"This new licence, coupled with our Volt partnership, better-enables innovative Australian brands to offer incredible embedded finance experiences, as we have already delivered elsewhere for brands like McLaren Formula One, Wagestream, and hundreds of others.

"We are excited to partner with consumer brands to co-create amazing embedded finance experiences that strengthen their customer relationships and enjoyment. This is our next big step in delivering category-defining products and partnerships into this region."

Railsbank is headquartered in London and has offices in Singapore, Ireland, USA, Australia, Lithuania, Germany, the Philippines, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

About Railsbank

Railsbank believes that the embedded finance economy is a fundamentally different way of creating relationships between companies and consumers. It is passionate about enabling brands to build relevant finance experiences to drive customer engagement and loyalty.

Railsbank recognises that consumers want fully immersive and frictionless brand experiences, and expect retailers to deliver the best, most personalised and distinctive experiences.

Railsbank was founded in London (HQ) in 2016 and operates throughout the UK and Europe, APAC and the US.

 

JD.com Among FORTUNE 2022 World’s Most Admired Companies with Outstanding Social Responsibility Score

BEIJING, Feb. 3, 2022 — JD.com is ranked on the FORTUNE 2022 World’s Most Admired Companies list at No. 6 in the Internet Services and Retailing Category. Other companies listed in the Top 8 industry ranking include Amazon, Alphabet, Xiaomi and more.

This is the second time JD.com was named in this list, following last year. To compile this list, FORTUNE collaborated with partner Korn Ferry to survey more than 3,700 executives, directors, and analysts to measure corporate reputation and performance. Nine criteria are examined ranging from long-term investment value, social responsibility, quality of products/services, innovation, global competitiveness and more.

JD.com tops the "social responsibility" score among Chinese companies on the industry ranking. The company also demonstrated outstanding performances in the dimensions of "use of corporate assets", "long-term investment value", and "quality of products/services".

In the continued fight against COVID-19, the company has been on the frontline to donate vital medical and food supplies and leverage its nationwide warehouse and transportation resources to support local communities. Meanwhile, JD’s commitments to green supply chain and a circular economy last year, given its large scale in operation, bore meaningful fruits by clean energy using, packages reduction, second-hand products recycling and more.

Since 2020, JD has been supporting rural China to achieve RMB 320 billion yuan($50 billion) industrial output under a rural revitalization program that aims to drive more than RMB 1 trillion yuan industrial output within three years.

By continuously improving supply chain efficiency, JD achieved an inventory turnover time of 30 days by the third quarter of 2021, a world-class level in managing a pool of over 10 million self-operated SKUs, and realized the less-than-one-hour last-mile delivery service in over 300 cities across China, providing end-to-end solutions for brands and partners, and thus offering a premium shopping experience to consumers in China.

Lately, the company is making innovative moves on its international expansion. In January 2022 alone, JD opened its first robotic retail shops in the Netherlands – an unprecedented omni-channel shopping format in the world –with an attempt to explore the future of retail. A week later on Jan 18th, the company announced a strategic cooperation with Shopify on an "accelerated channel" to help foreign brands and products sell in China and the other way around.

To date, JD’s global supply chain network has covered more than 220 countries and regions in the world, with its international logistics arm operating around 80 bonded and overseas warehouses and cargo flight routes between China and the US, UK and Thailand. Together with various shipping services by air, railway, sea and trucks as well as other cross-border services, overseas orders can be delivered from door-to-door as fast as 48 hours.

In recent years, JD.com has been transforming into a leading supply chain-based technology and service provider. The company’s cutting-edge retail infrastructure seeks to enable consumers to buy whatever they want, whenever and wherever they want it. As the company’s business has grown, it has opened up its capabilities across retail, logistics and technology, empowering partners as well as industry players beyond the JD ecosystem.

JD deems itself as "a new type of real economy enterprise" that possesses both digital and technological capabilities, and the DNA and features of a tangible business. Such a dual characteristic enables JD with the knowledge to understand the development of traditional enterprises in different industries and provide them with the technological support accordingly that best suits their need for digital transformation.

 

Retailo Raises $36M million in Landmark Series A Round For Empowering Community Commerce in MENA Region

MENA’s fastest growing B2B start-up focusing on regional expansion and many new initiatives to carry momentum forward

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 2, 2022 — Retailo, the fastest growing startup in Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan (MENAP) which is digitizing the region’s retail supply chains, has raised $36 million in its Series A investment round which was a mix of equity and venture debt. Retailo is a regional B2B marketplace in MENAP and has raised a total investment of $45 million in less than 1.5 years of operations, a landmark for any startup in the region.

 

Retailo’s Co-founders (from L-R) Muhammad Nowkhaiz, Talha Ansari and Wahaj Ahmed.
Retailo’s Co-founders (from L-R) Muhammad Nowkhaiz, Talha Ansari and Wahaj Ahmed.

 

Retailo’s Series A round has attracted leading investors with proven track records of impactful investments. The round was led by Silicon Valley based Graphene Ventures which was an investor of tech giants Snapchat and Lyft.

For Retailo’s Series A, Graphene is joined by leading investors that include 500 Global, Agility, Aujan, Tech Invest Com and Mentor’s Fund, all of which have the relevant exposure and investments in the retail industry’s technology companies. The venture debt was raised from Nahda Fund – one of the Middle East’s first venture debt funds which is backed by IMM Investment Global, based in Hong Kong. Additionally, Shorooq Partners, Abercross Holdings, Arzan VC, AgFunder also participated in the round as repeat investors which demonstrates their continuing belief in Retailo’s successful future.

Retail in MENAP is a $500 billion industry which consists of over 10 million small businesses to serve a population of more than 700 million consumers. However, the majority of this retail industry is informal and undigitized. Small businesses have to rely on inefficient supply chains and limited financial resources while operating on impossible margins. Retailo aims to champion these small business owners by building a suite of technologies around them. The company has begun this via their B2B community commerce platform which is used by over 50,000 retailers monthly.

On Retailo’s mobile platform, small businesses can find a wide catalogue of over 5,000 SKUs which are delivered to their doorstep in less than 24 hours. They can also avail Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services, which give them flexible payment options and credit lines. By providing timely supply, competitive rates, and easy credit, Retailo is able to address the needs of retailers and significantly improve their business.

To offer a one-stop shop solution, Retailo (https://retailo.co) directly works with hundreds of leading local, regional and global brands. Retailo also optimizes end-to-end logistics in the supply chain via efficient warehousing operations and smart fleet management solutions. Leveraging its wide regional presence, Retailo has recently begun offering its sellers a cross-border distribution platform across the three biggest markets in the region: KSA, UAE and Pakistan. Retailo also provides data analytics services to sellers to help them evaluate sales performance and consumption trends.

Headquartered in Riyadh, Retailo was founded by former Careem executives Talha Ansari, Wahaj Ahmed and Mohammad Nowkhaiz in July 2020 with a unique regional launch. Growth has been quick and in only 18 months Retailo has scaled to 10+ cities in 3 countries: KSA, UAE and Pakistan. "The multi-market strategy from day one was unconventional and challenging. Covid made it even more so. But now Retailo is a scalable organization with hundreds of millions of dollars in annualized revenue and colleagues from multiple nationalities and diverse backgrounds who have left leading institutions like Amazon, Delivery Hero and Goldman Sachs to fulfil Retailo mission in building technology that empowers 10 million retailers in the region," said Himag Vaidya, Retailo’s Head of Strategy.

Nabil A. Borhanu, partner at Graphene Ventures said, "We are impressed with what Retailo has achieved in an astonishingly short time. Their vision is both ambitious and inspiring and we believe that partnering with them is a sound business investment and also a chance to truly improve the lives of millions of people."    

The Series A funding will help Retailo move into the next phase of expansion into new geographies, verticals and products. "As global supply chains come under stress pushing up commodity prices and depressing GDP growth, the value of smart supply chains becomes even more important," said Retailo’s CEO Talha Ansari. "The retail sector serves 700 million persons in MENAP, contributes almost 20% to the GDP and employs tens of millions. By providing technology solutions to this underserved market, we are not only improving lives but also uplifting the economy of the entire MENAP region."

For further information, please contact:
Sibtain Naqvi
Director Strategic Communications
Retailo Technologies
Email: sibtain.naqvi@retailo.co
+923062497523

AskNicely’s Frontline Experience Summit Returns in 2022 to Help Service Businesses Make Frontline Work Awesome


Experts from people-powered businesses across marketing, operations, HR, and more share how top services brands win on customer experience by leading from the frontline.

PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 2, 2022 — AskNicely, a leader in customer experience software for service businesses, today announced the return of its Global Frontline Experience Summit, the only industry event focused on helping service-oriented businesses deliver winning customer experience (CX) through their frontline teams. Taking place virtually Wednesday, Feb 16 from 8 am – 6 pm (PST), attendees will hear from top executives – including AskNicely’s CEO Aaron Ward – who will explain how and why the standard customer experience model doesn’t work for service businesses and frontline teams, introduce new tools and processes that can fix the problem, and share real-world examples of frontline success stories. Presenters will also explore The Seven Habits of Empowered Frontline Teams, a playbook for frontline success from AskNicely that includes practical advice, as well as case studies handpicked from six years’ worth of interviews with thousands of brands worldwide.

"We are extremely excited to bring back the Global Frontline Experience Summit for our frontline community," says Ward, whose company first introduced the event in 2020. "We have a stellar lineup of leaders from people-powered companies across marketing, customer experience, operations, and HR who are setting the standard for empowering their frontline teams to serve the customer. These "Frontline First" companies will share how they win on customer experience through trusting, appreciating, and supporting their customer-facing teams while exploring a new breed of customer experience tools and processes designed for frontline success."

The Global Frontline Experience Summit will feature over 15 sessions with speakers including:

  • Dan Cockerell – Former Disney Executive VP
  • Christine McHugh – Former Starbucks Executive VP, Customer Service & Operations
  • Charles Ryan Minton – Hotelier, Marriott Hotels
  • Joe Thornton – EVP/COO of HMS Host, former COO of Jamba Juice
  • Cheryl DeSantis – Chief People & Diversity Officer of SmileDirectClub

"Top services brands win on customer experience by leading from the frontline and by trusting and empowering their frontline employees to provide awesome service," Ward adds. "They also practice a set of habits which include daily sharing of customer feedback, coaching, and recognition with each individual frontline worker. We’ve designed The Global Frontline Experience Summit to help all service businesses learn how to improve their customer experience by empowering their frontline teams because we know that those businesses providing outstanding customer experience are more profitable than their competitors. And those experiences are brought to life by motivated, inspired, and well-coached frontline service staff." 

To register for the 2022 Global Frontline Experience Summit visit: https://www.frontlinesummit.com/ 

About AskNicely

Founded in 2014, AskNicely is the Frontline Success platform pioneer, connecting the dots between employee experience, customer experience, and revenue growth for service businesses. The industry-leading mobile technology platform delivers personalized coaching and motivation for frontline workers powered by real-time customer feedback and eliminates the need for layers of middle management. AskNicely services over 1,300 companies worldwide and has offices in the United States, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.asknicely.com

 

Xinhua Silk Road: Fujian Dehua speeds up ceramics brand building with business events and policy kit

BEIJING, Jan. 30, 2022 — The first Dehua "Master IP+" product launch and business matching event recently kicked off in the China ceramics e-commerce logistics park in Dehua county of east China’s Fujian Province.

Exhibits shown at the first Dehua "Master IP+" product launch and business matching event
Exhibits shown at the first Dehua "Master IP+" product launch and business matching event

By introducing more than 300 ceramics products for the Year of the Tiger, this very first event of the newly-opened logistics park set the tone for building a "Mater IP+" business mode while enriching Dehua ceramics namecard with cultural heritage and added value.

Dehua, a ceramics manufacturing powerhouse in China, exports over 70 percent of its ceramic products to over 190 countries and regions worldwide. It was dubbed the "World Ceramics City" by the World Crafts Council in 2015.

It is noted that the output value of Dehua ceramics exceeded 45 billion yuan in 2021, with brand value reaching 108.6 billion yuan

Traditionally well-known for white porcelain, Dehua country has been actively pushing forward industrial upgrades and transformation along with brand building for improved market competitiveness and international recognition and influence. 

The county government has released series of measures such as giving support for ceramics related shows and exhibitions, ceramic design and technique competitions, exploring marketing channels, as well as developing ceramic cultural and creative products.

Eyeing on the goal of "small county with large e-commerce vision and whole business ecology", Dehua county is also working on building and improving the service platform for artistic ceramics, hosting product fairs and new product launch while helping to bridge masters and enterprises. 

See the original link: https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/326300.html

Boqii Holding Limited Receives NYSE Non-Compliance Letter Regarding ADS Trading Price

SHANGHAI, Jan. 29, 2022 — Boqii Holding Limited ("Boqii" or the "Company") (NYSE: BQ), a leading pet-focused platform in China, today announced that it has received a letter from the New York Stock Exchange (the "NYSE") dated January 26, 2022, notifying the Company that it is below the compliance criteria due to the trading price of the Company’s American depositary shares (the "ADSs").

Pursuant to NYSE Rule 802.01C, a company is considered to be below compliance criteria if the average closing price of a security as reported on the consolidated tape is less than US$1.00 over a consecutive 30 trading-day period. Once notified, the company must bring its share price and average share price back above US$1.00 within six months following receipt of the notification. The company can regain compliance at any time during the six-month cure period if on the last trading day of any calendar month during the cure period the company has a closing share price of at least US$1.00 and an average closing share price of at least US$1.00 over the 30 trading-day period ending on the last trading day of that month. In the event that at the expiration of the six-month cure period, both a US$1.00 closing share price on the last trading day of the cure period and a US$1.00 average closing share price over the 30 trading-day period ending on the last trading day of the cure period are not attained, the NYSE will commence suspension and delisting procedures.

To address this issue, the Company intends to continuously monitor the market conditions of its ADSs and is considering its options to regain compliance.

About Boqii Holding Limited

Boqii Holding Limited (NYSE: BQ) is a leading pet-focused platform in China. We are the leading online destination for pet products and supplies in China with our broad selection of high-quality products including global leading brands, local emerging brands, and our own private label, Yoken and Mocare, offered at competitive prices. Our online sales platforms, including Boqii Mall and our flagship stores on third-party e-commerce platforms, provide customers with convenient access to a wide selection of high-quality pet products and an engaging and personalized shopping experience. Our Boqii Community provides an informative and interactive content platform for users to share their knowledge and love for pets.

For more information, please visit: http://ir.boqii.com/.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "may," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "target," "aim," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "potential," "continue," "is/are likely to" or other similar expressions. The Company may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Further information regarding such risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company’s filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

Boqii Holding Limited
Investor Relations
Tel: +86-21-6882-6051
Email: 
ir@boqii.com

DLK Advisory Limited
Tel: +852-2857-7101
Email: 
ir@dlkadvisory.com

Yunji’s Private Label Food Brands Are a Hit With Members During 2022 Online Lunar New Year Shopping Festival

HANGZHOU, China, Jan. 28, 2022 — Yunji Inc. ("Yunji" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: YJ), a leading membership-based social e-commerce platform, announced that it will continue to provide its e-commerce service to its platform members during the China Ministry of Commerce’s 2022 Online Lunar New Year Shopping Festival event ("the Event") and related holiday shopping campaigns.

Yunji’s theme for this year’s Event is food. Among Yunji’s private label food products, Li Batian’s sausage, Mars Chef’s beef, Baiyueshan’s wolfberry puree, and autumn pear grease were all heavily promoted by the Company and successfully satisfied user demand for Lunar New Year gifts for relatives and friends. The high repurchase rate for products in the food category demonstrates the popularity of the Company’s private label products.

During the event, platform members utilized Yunji’s platform, app, and WeChat mini-program to not only purchase household goods for their own families, but also to send holiday gifts to their friends and families. Yunji further extended its merchandise selection by launching Lunar New Year gift boxes and saver packs that were well-received by its members. Although Yunji’s Event was themed around food, other product categories such as beauty and health care, maternity and childcare, home furnishing, digital devices, and apparel also proved popular with members.

In the year since they were launched, Yunji’s private label food brands have sold extremely well. Baiyueshan wolfberry puree is one of the Company’s private label food brands and was launched less than six months ago. The popularity of the puree is shown by the fact that half of the members who bought the product have since repurchased it. Within the food category, members in the "mothers" user segment are some of the most enthusiastic repurchasers of Yunji’s private label brands.

Shanglue Xiao, Founder and CEO of Yunji, commented, "We are delighted to see how popular our private label food brand products are with our platform members. Yunji is the go-to platform for nutritious and high-quality food at a reasonable price, especially during the Lunar New Year Shopping Festival. We are dedicated to further developing our membership-based social e-commerce model and our private label food brands, thus further promoting repeat purchases by our platform members."

Safe Harbor Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "aims," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident," "potential," "continue" or other similar expressions. Among other things, the quotations from management in this announcement, as well as Yunji’s strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. Yunji may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including but not limited to statements about Yunji’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: Yunji’s growth strategies; its future business development, results of operations and financial condition; its ability to understand buyer needs and provide products and services to attract and retain buyers; its ability to maintain and enhance the recognition and reputation of its brand; its ability to rely on merchants and third-party logistics service providers to provide delivery services to buyers; its ability to maintain and improve quality control policies and measures; its ability to establish and maintain relationships with merchants; trends and competition in China’s e-commerce market; changes in its revenues and certain cost or expense items; the expected growth of China’s e-commerce market; PRC governmental policies and regulations relating to Yunji’s industry, and general economic and business conditions globally and in China and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Yunji’s filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and Yunji undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

About Yunji Inc.

Yunji Inc. is a leading social e-commerce platform in China that has pioneered a unique, membership-based model to leverage the power of social interactions. The Company’s e-commerce platform offers high-quality products at attractive prices across a wide variety of categories catering to the day-to-day needs of Chinese consumers. In addition, the Company uses advanced technologies including big data and artificial intelligence to optimize user experience and incentivize members to promote the platform as well as share products with their social contacts. Through deliberate product curation, centralized merchandise sourcing, and efficient supply chain management, Yunji has established itself as a trustworthy e-commerce platform with high-quality products and exclusive membership benefits, including discounted prices.

For more information, please visit https://investor.yunjiglobal.com/

Investor Relations Contact

Yunji Inc.
Investor Relations
Email: Yunji.IR@icrinc.com
Phone: +1 (646) 224-6957

ICR, LLC.
Robin Yang
Email: Yunji.IR@icrinc.com
Phone: +1 (646) 224-6957

Happiness Development Announces $10 Million Private Placement to Support Its International Expansion

NANPING, China, Jan. 21, 2022 — Happiness Development Group Limited ("HAPP" or the "Company"), (NASDAQ: HAPP) a China-based company engaging in the business of production of nutraceutical and dietary supplements, providing e-commerce sales and e-commerce marketing solutions, and the sales of automobile today announced it has entered into certain securities purchase agreement with several non-U.S. strategic investors to sell total 12,500,000 Class A ordinary shares at a per share purchase price of $0.80, with over 45% premium to the market price of its Class A ordinary shares.

The Company intends to use the gross proceeds to expand its international e-commerce sales for its current products and potential addition of new products overseas as well as for working capital and general corporate use.

"We are very grateful to these strategic investors for their support to our international expansion, especially with a premium price. We look forward the expertise and resources in the international market these investors will bring to our Company. We have successfully exported about US$2 million of Lucidum products in 2021, which gives us great confidence to expand our international sales. In 2022, we will further expand and seek development and breakthroughs in international business. At the same time, we will further increase the scope of export products and will not rule out the possibility of overseas acquisition or participation in planting and R&D of new products. As a NASDAQ listed company, we will seek to further internationalize the company and make our products accessible to people all over the world. We believe with the contribution of the strategic capital from investors, this process will be greatly accelerated," Mr. Xuezhu Wang, CEO of the Company, commented.

About Happiness Development Group Limited

Headquartered in Nanping, China, Happiness Development Group Limited currently has three business lines: nutraceutical and dietary supplements, e-commerce and automobile sales. The nutrition and dietary supplements business is focusing on the research, development, manufacture and marketing of various products made from Chinese herbal extracts and other ingredients. Over the past 17 years, we have established a product portfolio consisting of 23 PRC National Medical Products Administration registered "Blue-Cap" SKUs of nutraceutical and dietary supplements products. Our e-commerce business focuses on offering e-commerce solutions, including advertising and information technology services to small and medium-sized enterprises in China. We also run our online stores which carries our products of dietary supplements and other selected products sourced from the small and medium-sized enterprises in China. Our mission for the e-commerce business is to enable small and medium-sized enterprises to fully leverage the power of e-commerce to grow rapidly. Our automobile sales adopts the B2B business model and is committed to optimizing the auto supply chain by connecting car dealers on our online automobile sales platform and offering the overall services for purchasing automobiles. For more information, please visit: www.happ.org.cn

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements that are other than statements of historical facts. When the Company uses words such as "may, "will, "intend," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "estimate" or similar expressions that do not relate solely to historical matters, it is making forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results to differ materially from the Company’s expectations discussed in the forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to uncertainties and risks including, but not limited to, the following:  the Company’s goals and strategies; the Company’s future business development; product and service demand and acceptance; changes in technology; economic conditions; reputation and brand; the impact of competition and pricing; government regulations; fluctuations in general economic and business conditions in China, the COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on our operations and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing and other risks contained in reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For these reasons, among others, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements in this press release. Additional factors are discussed in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available for review at www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date hereof.

Leading E-commerce Logistics and Fulfillment Brand NextSmartShip Partners with B2B Medical E-commerce Giant LyncMed

——NextSmartShip Solution for B2B E-commerce Platforms to Extend Global Reach

SHENZHEN, China, Jan. 13, 2022NextSmartShip, a world-leading fulfillment service provider for global e-commerce sellers, signed a strategic partnership agreement with LyncMed, a major global e-commerce platform for medical instruments.

Under this partnership, NextSmartShip will empower LyncMed during its global expansion with industry-leading logistics and fulfillment expertise and the next-gen proprietary SaaS platform – Fulfillship.

Global e-commerce has seen exceptional growth since the pandemic. Besides traditional industry giants like Amazon, new e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, Walmart, and other vertical platforms were also propelled into a higher growth trajectory. Fulfillment companies played a fundamental role during this.

NextSmartShip has been the fulfillment partner for many of these platforms and is becoming the best and only option for more e-commerce, especially B2B platforms for their fulfillment solution, thanks to its comprehensive and innovative capabilities as a fully equipped provider throughout all supply chain stages and the in-depth experience serving 1000+ international DTC brands. Featuring:

  • 97% global coverage with 70+ top international carrier partners;
  • Next-gen SaaS platform offering smart functions like routes recommendation, fee estimation, smart inventory distribution, seamless tracking updates etc;
  • Open API kits that allow easy integration into B2B platforms;
  • Dedicated servers which ensure fast, stable, and secure data transmission;
  • Top of the line value-added services, e.g., product assembling and kitting;
  • One-stop experience: pick up at the door of your thousands of vendors (within China) and deliver globally;
  • A seamless payment experience supporting flexible billing models;
  • Highly-rated customer service.

As one of the leading B2B players in a vertical field, LyncMed is committed to bridging different sectors and improving the efficiency of the whole value chain for the medical device industry. Through this new partnership, LyncMed hopes to meet more global requirements with a stable, efficient, complete yet flexible logistic solution powered by NextSmartShip.

"Relying on our advantages in the global fulfillment industry, our innovative solution can help LyncMed build a robust platform that truly empowers global businesses in the medical device industry."

"We have been chosen and recommended as the overall fulfillment solution provider for nearly ten similar supply chain e-commerce platforms globally, including some industry giants. This proves the scarcity of the ‘NextSmartShip Solution’," said William Yu, CEO and founder of NextSmartShip.

"We are much grateful to all our partners for their trust and recognition of our services and solution. We hope to provide a much more seamless and comfortable logistics experience for both sellers and their buyers on these e-commerce platforms so that sellers can truly focus on scaling their business through product development and supply chain management, which are their core advantages."

To view more details, please visit: http://www.nextsmartship.com 

About NextSmartShip

NextSmartShip is a tech-centered GLOCAL logistics powerhouse that strives to help DTC brands of different sizes to elevate their e-commerce business into the next big thing.

With a short history from 2019, the company has been helping thousands of global DTC brands to gain exceptional growth via its professional, stable, and affordable fulfillment services. It now delivers over a million packages per year to international destinations.

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For media inquiries, please contact: Jackie.Jiang@nextsmartship.com