Tag Archives: ECM

PR Newswire

Osome Raises a $16M Series A to Expand its AI-based Accounting Platform to Global Markets

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SINGAPORE, June 18, 2021 — Osome, a super-app that digitizes accounting and compliance services for SMEs, has raised $16M in a Series A funding from a group of investors including Target Global, AltaIR Capital, Phystech Ventures, S16VC, and Peng T. Ong, an angel investor. The capital enables Osome to expand its footprint internationally, as well as to fuel product integrations. 

"Back-office operations are annoying, tedious yet mission critical for businesses, especially for SMEs. Remarkably, an average entrepreneur spends 68% of their time to deal with routine tasks vs 32% to strategize and deliver on their long term goals. Osome combines artificial intelligence software with operational excellence to automate administrative, accounting, payroll and tax-related work and help entrepreneurs focus on what they can do the best – growing their business", Victor Lysenko, co-founder and CEO of Osome, says. "We strive to build a future where small business owners can fully rely on the technology in their administrative routine".

The demand for Osome services has accelerated with COVID-19 as clients recognized the importance of automation. This has led to more than 100% YoY revenue growth and $9.5M ARR with over 6,000 happy customers in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the UK. Additionally, the company has identified a product / market fit in the fast-growing e-commerce segment and will double down on it in the next 18 months. 

Osome’s core offering is online accounting services for SMEs, especially those involved in e-commerce — аccountants take over the documents and convert them into actionable numbers, tax filings and reports, making accounting and bookkeeping service for online sellers as simple as ever.

The company also helps with business set up and provides corporate secretary services — Osome checks compliance, tracks deadlines, files documents, and answers questions in a chat at any time of the day or week. The platform categorises and stores any documents users send, so nothing is lost, and then creates and files reports on time. 

"We have supported Osome since the early days and are excited to continue our partnership in the latest round. We are especially happy about the strong growth Osome has shown in the expanding e-commerce segment. Online Sellers require unique tools and custom approaches to be serviced effectively and Osome’s mix of technology and human expertise is the perfect solution", says Mike Lobanov, GP & COO of Target Global.

Media Contact:

Safiah Alias
safiah@osome.com
+65-6589-8807

PR Newswire

Nium and Travelex launch new digital remittance offering in Hong Kong

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Travelex International Money Transfer aims to offer Hong Kong residents a faster and convenient method to transfer money overseas

HONG KONG, June 15, 2021 — Travelex, one of the market leading foreign exchange brands, alongside advanced global payments platform Nium, has today announced the launch of its new digital remittance offering ("Travelex International Money Transfer") to users in Hong Kong. Already live in Australia and Singapore, this digital remittance offering – powered by Nium’s global payment rails and real-time payment capabilities – enables Travelex users in Hong Kong to remit money to more than 50 markets across the world almost instantly[1]. 

 

Over recent years, Hong Kong has developed a diversified and inclusive payment ecosystem that enables residents to make instant domestic fund transfers via the Faster Payment System (FPS)[2]. However, cross-border payment remains to be a challenge given the long processing time and high costs involved, with the local government looking at ways to enhance and speed up its cross-border bank remittance services.

Cameron Hume, Managing Director, Travelex Asia Pacific said, "Expanding our Travelex digital suite to offer digital remittance services to users in Hong Kong is a natural next step for us. With social distancing measures still in place across the globe, we understand the growing need for customers to have access to faster and more convenient ways to transfer funds across borders. We are excited to offer this new service to Hong Kong users, providing them a seamless way to send funds abroad."

As part of this partnership, Travelex will leverage Nium’s Remittance-as-a-Service (RaaS) solution, which makes it easier for companies to become payment providers and offer remittance services on their own digital platforms. With RaaS, businesses are not required to build their own payment infrastructure. Instead, they can simply build their brand on top of an existing platform and leverage Nium’s extensive portfolio of regulatory licenses in over 40 countries. 

Prajit Nanu, Co-Founder and CEO of Nium, said, "At Nium, we understand the difficulties for businesses to introduce remittance services at scale. This is why our RaaS solution aims to make it more accessible for enterprises of all sizes to facilitate their own payment systems. With a thriving fintech scene in Hong Kong, we’re excited to introduce this remittance service to help boost the city’s status as a global financial centre."

A Travelex International Money Transfer mobile app will be launched in Hong Kong shortly. Travelex will also continue to expand its digital remittance offering to major markets in Asia Pacific in the coming months. Consumers in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia can now access Travelex International Money Transfer via their local Travelex website.

[1] In markets where Nium offers real-time services. For full details, please visit: https://www.nium.com/network/.

[2] A New Trend for Fintech – Cross-border Payment, HKMA, December 2020

About Nium

Nium is a next-generation financial services platform that enables companies around the world to unlock new revenue opportunities and improve cash flow economics. Nium is a leader in its geographical and payment service breadth, owning licenses in the world’s largest and fastest-growing economies. Our modular platform allows banks, payment providers, travel companies, and other businesses to collect and disburse funds in local currencies to over 100 countries, plus issue physical and virtual cards globally. Our proprietary set of APIs embeds financial services and can bring to life multiple B2B and B2C use cases in a matter of weeks.

Nium is part of CB Insights Fintech 250, which highlights the most promising Fintech companies globally. Today, Nium serves over 130 million customers and enables platforms to provide access to financial services to over 3 billion people across the world. For more information, visit: http://www.nium.com.

About Travelex

Founded in 1976, Travelex has grown to become one of the market leading specialist providers of foreign exchange products, solutions and services, operating across the entire value chain of the foreign exchange industry in more than 20 countries. Travelex has developed a growing network of over 900 ATMs and more than 1,100 stores in the some of the world’s top international airports and in major transport hubs, premium shopping malls, high street locations, supermarkets and city centres.

Travelex has built a growing online and mobile foreign exchange platform, and also processes and delivers foreign currency orders for major banks, travel agencies and hotels worldwide. In addition, the group sources and distributes large quantities of foreign currency banknotes for customers on a wholesale basis – including for central banks and international financial institutions. Travelex also offers a range of remittance and international money transfer products around the world.

For more information, visit:
www.travelex.com.hk 

PR Newswire

SKYWORTH Announces: Juventus stars score 100% cashback for TV

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All-new exclusive deals to celebrate the partnership with SKYWORTH fans, including the chance to win full cash back on TV orders during the European Cup

HANOI, Vietnam, June 12, 2021 — SKYWORTH proudly becomes Juventus FC’s Official Partner by bringing its own "Lead the Future" motto alongside Juventus FC’s "Live Ahead" brand ethos to life; uniting with loyal football fans from all around the globe!

This June 8th, SKYWORTH will be holding a signing ceremony with world-leading Italian Serie A football club, Juventus FC, ahead of a year-long brand partnership in Beijing, China.

The perfect collaboration stems from the all-round fit between the two brands. As leading players in their respective fields – SKYWORTH, with its "Be Innovative, Be Bold" brand spirit, alongside Juventus’ faith of "Perseverance Forever, Ambition Wherever", are both founded in the commitment to break boundaries, achieve greatness, and lead the future. The partnership will propel SKYWORTH and Juventus to excel and reach new heights.

SKYWORTH & Juventus
SKYWORTH & Juventus

In line with the theme of "Partner Together, Lead the Future", SKYWORTH and Juventus will be rolling out multiple activities to celebrate their upcoming football matches with global fans.

Launching today until the end of Lega Serie A 2022, the brand partnership is also expected to see a range of co-branded content launched across global platforms and throughout Juventus home matches. To celebrate, SKYWORTH is giving away free VIP tickets to join the Juventus team on a match tour to lucky fans. Details will be unveiled on official SKYWORTH Facebook, Twitter, Weibo, and WeChat channels.

In light of the upcoming European Cup from June 12th to July 12th, SKYWORTH will be holding large-scale activities including its "Juventus Stars Score for SKYWORTH!" , "The more people buy, the better the price"events.

SKYWORTH is now one of the world’s Top 5 TV brands. A leading global television manufacturer and pioneer in big-screen AIoT, SKYWORTH TV boasts years of experience in advanced home entertainment solutions since 1988. Today, SKYWORTH’s proprietary Swaiot™ technology seamlessly connects to an entire AIoT/IoT ecosystem; enabling users to view, control, and manage all smart-home devices from the comfort of their TV screens.

For information on how to participate, follow local SKYWORTH on Facebook.

PR Newswire

JD.com and Dada Group Jointly Publish White Paper, “Chinese On-Demand Consumption Trends Report 2021”

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Features proprietary insights into the latest on-demand economy trends in China

Highlights key growth opportunities and near-term challenges in China’s rapidly growing hyperlocal e-commerce industry

SHANGHAI, June 10, 2021 — JD.com, China’s leading technology driven e-commerce company and Dada Group ("Dada"), a leading platform of local on-demand retail and delivery in China, jointly published a white paper today titled, "Chinese On-demand Consumption Trends Report 2021." Featuring proprietary insights into the latest on-demand economy trends in China, the report highlights the key growth opportunities and near-term challenges in China’s rapidly growing on-demand and hyperlocal e-commerce industry.

On Mar. 22, Dada announced that JD.com will increase its stake to 51% by investing a total of US $800 million in newly issued ordinary shares. Leveraging JD’s devoted strategic support, Dada will better fulfil demands for local on-demand retail and its delivery on JD, covering various scenarios and categories, and expand the omni-channel cooperation with JD.


The report includes detailed data on consumer demand trends and market penetration and growth rates based on the billions of orders fulfilled by JDDJ, Dada’s on-demand retail platform, and Dada Now. JDDJ, a partnership between Dada Group and JD.com, is one of China’s largest integrated digital solutions providers bringing traditionally offline retailers, such as supermarkets, flower shops, beauty brands, and other local stores, online. Dada Now is China’s leading local on-demand crowdsourcing delivery platform covering more than 2,700 cities and counties, providing customers with one-hour delivery for groceries, cosmetics, electronics, smartphones, medicines and more.

"The unprecedented growth of China’s on-demand economy in recent years, particularly its accelerated momentum through COVID, is revolutionizing consumer behaviour across China." said Huijian He, Vice President of Dada Group. "The rise of on-demand, hyperlocal one-hour delivery of goods, has transformed the retail industry and increased consumers’ expectations for a best-in-class shopping experience. With significant consumer demand in first- and second-tier cities, and large and rapidly growing demand in lower-tier cities, retailers, on-demand retail platforms and delivery services are increasingly competing for higher speed, flexibility and convenience across the on-demand economy. With millions of riders across thousands of cities and regions in China, Dada Group is actively working to meet this demand and we are excited to continue our growth as we expand to new geographies and enter new partnerships with stores, retailers and brands."

Hui Liu, Chief Data Officer at the JD Big Data Research Institute, commented, "We are excited to issue this white paper, which provides our first-hand data-driven observations and insights based on the billions of orders fulfilled each year by JDDJ and Dada Now. We look forward to leveraging this data to continue to drive innovation across our platform as we deliver the speed, flexibility and convenience that consumers are increasingly demanding and realize the numerous growth opportunities in China’s on-demand economy. JD.com and Dada Group are uniquely positioned to benefit from this recent paradigm shift in the commercial and retail landscape in China." 

The white paper’s key findings include:

On-demand consumption is here to stay

The onset of the coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home mandates drove widespread consumer adoption of technology solutions to facilitate the on-demand delivery for daily household products. While fresh food is, by far, the largest segment of the on-demand delivery, accounting for 70% of daily consumption according to a user survey by JDDJ, other areas such as electronics, beauty products, and clothes have increased dramatically in 2021, with year-on-year growth rates of:

  • Dairy: +120%
  • Personal Hygiene: +114%
  • Snacks: 91%
  • Maternity and Baby care: 90%

Millennials are still the most prevalent consumer group, making up 50% of the on-demand economy, with female consumers born after 1980 as the most dominant consumers, representing 67% of the on-demand market. That said, the market is attracting an increasingly diverse group of consumers, by both age and region. The white paper details how the number of male consumers has jumped by to 33% in 2021, up from 25% in 2018, while the proportion of middle-aged and elderly users (40+ years old) has increased to 28% in two years, up from 22% in 2019. 

In addition to the significant expansion in customer demographics, on-demand consumption is rapidly expanding to new markets, including increased penetration into lower-tier cities, particularly in the Midwestern region of China, where the local residents demand one-hour hyperlocal e-commerce delivery. In the fourth quarter of 2020, gross merchandise value (GMV) of JDDJ in lower-tier cities soared 150% year-on-year. In 2020 alone, the proportion of users in lower-tier cities increased by 26%. According to JDDJ’s sales from the 415(April 15) Anniversary Shopping Festival, which covered more than 1,500 cities and counties across China, 90% of merchants that joined JDDJ for over a year saw sales double year-on-year.

The on-demand market continues to grow exponentially across China. The top three regions in terms of on-demand consumption orders are South, North and Southwest China, accounting for nearly 70% of all orders. Orders in southwest China accounted for nearly 20%, overtaking East China to rank third. Among them, Sichuan is a major province in terms of on-demand consumption, with orders accounting for nearly 10%.

The rise of out-of-home and out-of-hour on-demand spending

Driven by easing lockdowns and an increasing focus on connecting people with a wider array of products, post-pandemic on-demand consumption in China has experienced a shift from households (74%) to workplaces (8%) and educational institutions (3%), which is further extending to recreational venues, including fairgrounds, tourist hotspots and parks. 

There is also significant demand for 24/7 on-demand services, and those businesses serving late-night (12 pm – 2 am) customers are reaping the benefits from a new wave of customers who want reliable delivery service outside of traditional business hours.

Omnichannel retailing on the next level

China is leading the way in omnichannel retailing. A new wave of transformational change of omnichannel retailing is underway, fuelled by the integration between traditional e-commerce, offline retailers and on-demand retail platforms to meet the customer demands for a more diversified shopping experience. 

In the era of hyperlocal e-commerce, one-hour delivery has become the new normal and it is quickly emerging as a major channel for supermarkets and grocery chains to win business. Leveraging the highly efficient logistics networks of on-demand retail platforms, a growing number of offline retailers and brand owners are cooperating closely with on-demand platforms like JDDJ and Dada Now to establish delivery channels for their customers, while benefiting from their enormous online traffic pool to increase foot traffic in brick-and-mortar stores.

On-demand Services

Service consumption in China is steadily increasing and on-demand retail platforms are partnering with brick-and-mortar stores to offer consumers value-added on-demand services. JDDJ is the first platform in the industry to create a nationwide credible delivery service, providing delivery services for high-value orders. Many on-demand platforms have started bringing mobile phone trade-in services to the customers’ doorstep, saving the time and effort of visiting a retail store.

"Minutes-level" delivery is on its way

The digital neighborhood stores will give birth to so-called "minute-level" delivery. This allows users to choose a nearby store to place an order at based on their GPS location, after which the delivery rider will pick up and deliver the goods within the user’s neighborhood. The entire hyperlocal e-commerce process is completed within a few short minutes.

Dada is pioneering one-hour delivery services in China, available to consumers in more than 2,700 cities and counties across the country. With its extensive logistics networks and delivery infrastructure, Dada works in tandem with JDDJ to shorten delivery times. As a result of this joint effort, the average delivery time of on-demand orders has been reduced by 17% compared with 2019, with the fastest deliveries taking less than 10 minutes.

Related Links :

http://imdada.cn

PR Newswire

CellPoint Digital to disrupt payments in new sectors following outstanding success with Airlines

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Payment orchestration leader will boost digital revenues in retail, online gaming, online education and entertainment & media.

LONDON, June 9, 2021 — CellPoint Digital, a fintech leader in payment orchestration for travel, today announces it is now offering its market leading platform to new markets, including retail, online gaming, online education, and entertainment & media to boost digital revenues through an optimised payment service.

CellPoint Digital will capitalise on increased demand for payment orchestration from these verticals by partnering with rapidly expanding brands to deliver better, more frictionless payment experiences for customers through its Velocity Payment Orchestration Platform. The platform is uniquely suited to address the changing needs of modern merchants, allowing for dynamic transaction routing to reduce costs and minimise rejection rates, and offering access to a global payment eco-system of about 500 payment options, including acquirers, Payment Service Providers and payment methods through a single integration point. As retail, online gaming and education or content streaming markets continue to develop, CellPoint Digital aims to export these efficiencies to these new sectors. On average, this means merchants can expect 10% increased digital revenue, 20% decreased payment costs and 75% faster time to market to roll-out a new payment method or feature.

The move comes after several years of expansion and innovation in the travel sector and a series of successes in 2020, despite the pandemic, which saw CellPoint Digital achieve a record volume of Apple Pay transactions for Southwest Airlines and deliver its unique Payment Orchestration Platform to Cebu Pacific. CellPoint Digital was also recently chosen by the Latin American travel brand, Avianca – the world’s oldest commercial airline – to manage its entire Payment Orchestration Platform – a project that is being referred to as the most ambitious of its kind in the industry to date.

As more customers embrace digital payments, sectors such as retail, online gaming and entertainment will face a challenge in having to meet the growing demands from consumers for better, more flexible payment options. Figures from finder, for example, revealed that Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services have grown 39% year on year.

CellPoint Digital CEO, Kristian Gjerding is excited to bring their experience in the airline sector to help merchants in new verticals: "At its heart, our mission is to make payments easier for merchants and their customers. From cross-border transactions to rolling out proliferating alternative payment methods, we know from experience that international brands like global airlines face critical payment challenges to grow their digital profits. Our experience working with international airlines, probably the most complex retailers, means that we know how to help merchants quickly and affordably expand into new markets while optimising all their payments and streamlining their payment operations. This know-how will be invaluable as brands in growing sectors such as retail, subscription entertainment and online gaming look to expand into new international markets.

"Simultaneously, we look forward to supporting the rebound of the travel and hospitality sectors – those that have been hardest hit by the pandemic – as they will emerge from global lockdown with the roll-out of the vaccination. As the travel markets are reopening, CellPoint Digital’s leading payment orchestration platform will be on hand to facilitate the adaptation to new travel routes and ultimately best serve their customers in their selected destinations."

About CellPoint digital 

CellPoint Digital makes payments easier™ for airlines, travel companies and other international merchants and their customers. 

CellPoint Digital is a fintech leader in payment orchestration. Our main solution is a powerful omni-channel Payment Orchestration Platform that optimises digital payment transactions, from cards or alternative payment methods, and accelerates the deployment of new payment options. Merchants can easily scale their own payment eco-system across the world, unify the customer payment experience across their website, mobile apps and other channels, optimize the routing of each transaction, increase conversion rate and minimise payment costs. CellPoint Digital also provides an end-to-end digital commerce platform to airlines that masters the entire customer sales cycle and maximises the conversion rate.

CellPoint Digital has offices in Copenhagen, Dallas, Dubai, London, Miami, Pune and Singapore. Visit www.cellpointdigital.com to learn more. 

 

Related Links :

http://www.cellpointdigital.com

PR Newswire

PingPong Payments launches new PLN and SEK currency exchange services

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FinTech unicorn PingPong Payments now enables marketplace sellers, SMBs & larger enterprise traders to access Europe’s hottest markets through expanded currency capabilities

NEW YORK, June 8, 2021 — Global payments and e-commerce services provider PingPong Payments, today announces expanded payments processing and currency exchange services for both the Polish (PLN) and Swedish (SEK) currencies, allowing access to these growing markets for U.S. and international products and services sellers.

Both PLN and SEK are the latest currencies to be added to PingPong Payments’ global payments solutions, which now offers merchants and online sellers, over Amazon and other platforms, the most currency conversion service options and widest international market access for payments transactions. PingPong Payments is currently the only Amazon Payment Service Provider that offers the Polish currency.

Sweden and Poland are two of Europe’s fastest-growing e-commerce markets. Poland has seen unprecedented growth in online sales due to Covid-19, with nearly 80 percent of internet users in Poland making online purchases. Leading Polish e-commerce platform Allegro reports that 20m clients visit its website every month. Similarly, in Sweden, revenue in the e-commerce market amounted to US$11,211m in 2020 and is expected to grow by 5.2% annually, resulting in a market volume of US$13,729m by 2024.

Kenny Tsang, Managing Director at PingPong Payments, comments: "During a year that saw many traditional businesses disrupted by Covid-19, PingPong has been able to successfully support a surging e-commerce market and achieve global growth. Our ability to now offer both Polish and Swedish currency exchange services will provide U.S. and international merchants with access to two of the fastest-growing, richest e-commerce markets in Europe."

With the addition of PLN and SEK currency conversion services, PingPong Payments now offers marketplace sellers in the U.S. and other geographies support with: the U.S dollar (USD), Canadian dollar (CAD), Australian dollar (AUD), Japanese yen (JPY), Arab Emirates dollar (AED), Euro (EUR), British pound (GBP), Chinese yuan (CNH), Hong Kong dollar (HKD) and Singapore dollar (SGD). 

In addition to cross-border payments processing and currency exchange services, PingPong Payments supports U.S. and international seller growth in overseas markets via additional services including lending, payroll and virtual account solutions. This includes tax and customs registration, supplier validation and payment, market intelligence, and marketing and sales support services.

Kenny continues: "Our innovative payment services have enabled us to become the chosen multidimensional partner of growth to hundreds of thousands of professional sellers, who wish to expand sales internationally. We support our merchants in a way the banking system was not built to, by beating traditional rates and reducing cross-border payment friction through our unique virtual accounts, which mitigate anti money laundering challenges."

Kenny concludes: "Merchants should be strengthening their supply chains for year-round international sales instead of waiting for peak seasons. By partnering with the right network of cross-border payment services, e-commerce merchants can instantly collect, convert and transfer money from all corners of the world, and set their sights on global domination post pandemic. We save cross-border merchants both time and money through innovative services such as VAT processing and opening local bank accounts – allowing them to keep more of their hard-earned profits."   

About PingPong Payments
PingPong Payments was founded in 2015 with the mission of helping global e-commerce sellers keep more of their profits by beating the rates traditional banks offer. Today, the company acts as a multi-dimensional growth partner to more than 750,000 online sellers worldwide, has processed more than 90 billion in cross-border payments for e-commerce merchants to-date, and transfers more than 150 million per day for international e-commerce sellers. Global merchants around the world trust PingPong Payments to help them save on cross-border payments, VAT & supplier payments, and more. PingPong works with reputable brands such as Citibank, J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo that have won licenses to operate efficiently and are subject to strong regulatory and supervisory frameworks across the U.S., Europe and Asia.

PR Newswire

Meituan Launches Green Tech Fund, and Other Initiatives on World Environment Day

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HONG KONG, June 5, 2021 — Meituan (HKG: 3690) (the "Company"), China’s leading e-commerce platform for services, today announced the launch of the Meituan Green Tech Fund and a series of green initiatives to celebrate World Environment Day.

Meituan is allocating an initial amount of RMB 500 million for the Meituan Green Tech Fund to drive low-carbon green development together with industry organizations, researchers and scientists. In response to China’s carbon neutral efforts as a whole, this particular initiative aims to support the research and application of green technologies through charitable causes. 

The United Nations has designated June 5th as World Environment Day, with this year’s theme: "Reimagine.Recreate.Restore." While this day has been celebrated since 1972, recent challenges caused by climate change and COVID-19 have brought environmental issues into focus with a greater sense of urgency. Meituan’s efforts strongly align with the United Nations’ goal of ecosystem restoration, and this new fund furthers the Company’s existing sustainability commitments.

The fund will focus on two initiatives, the Meituan Green Tech Award and a demonstration project. The Meituan Green Tech Award will support emerging researchers’ and scientists’ studies on fundamental technologies that support China’s low-carbon and circular development strategy. The demonstration project will encourage innovative applications in eco-friendly packaging, recycling, and smart supply chain operations.

This year, the Meituan Green Tech Award plans to support 10 researchers who focus on green and low-carbon packaging, carbon capture and utilization, low-carbon transport and energy storage studies, allocating a one million RMB award to each of them. The demonstration project will consist of 10 entities that deploy innovative applications in food delivery green packaging, plastics recycling, and big data supply chain developments, with a one to three million RMB fund designated for each of them.

Applications for both the tech award and the demonstration project will officially open for registration in late August, 2021.

Meituan is also launching a "carbon account" for its delivery merchants and users. Starting June 9th, merchants will be able to log and track their environmental protection efforts in their merchant app, including data on their reduction of disposable products and use of recycled packaging. Users can now track their carbon footprints in the Meituan app, by monitoring their "no-disposable cutlery" order history and eco-friendly transportation mileage data, which is accumulated through shared Meituan Bikes rides.

Meituan launched the Blue Mountain Project (青山计划) in August 2017 to drive sustainability efforts in the food delivery industry, bringing together merchants and users to participate in environmental protection initiatives. As part of its green life cycle management philosophy, Meituan Bikes recycles disposed polyurethane tires from its shared bikes and electric mopeds, using the material to build running tracks and sports grounds for people in remote areas. As of today, Meituan has created 10 such sports grounds in provinces such as Sichuan and Guizhou, benefiting over 5,000 students and residents. The Company plans to donate an additional 10 sports grounds by 2022.

A sports ground donated to a rural primary school in Sichuan province, created with recycled materials from 3,500 Meituan Bikes tires
A sports ground donated to a rural primary school in Sichuan province, created with recycled materials from 3,500 Meituan Bikes tires

About Meituan

Meituan (HKG: 3690) (the "Company") is China’s leading e-commerce platform for services. With the mission of "We help people eat better, live better," the Company’s platform uses technology to connect consumers and merchants. Service offerings on the platform address people’s daily needs for food, and extend further to broad lifestyle and travel services. Meituan is the world’s leading on-demand food delivery service provider and China’s leading e-commerce platform for in-store dining services. Meituan helps consumers discover merchant information, make informed decisions, complete online and offline transactions and enjoy on-demand delivery. The Company currently owns several household brands in China, including Meituan, China’s leading online marketplace for services, Dianping, China’s leading online destination for discovering local services, Meituan Waimai for on-demand delivery services, and Meituan Bikes for bike-sharing services. Meituan has 569.3 million Annual Transacting Users and 7.1 million Annual Active Merchants as of March 31, 2021. The Company operates in over 2,800 cities and counties in China.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Meituan
pr.global@meituan.com

Edmond Lococo
ICR Inc.
Email: Edmond.Lococo@icrinc.com
Tel: +86 138-1079-1408

Related Links :

https://www.meituan.com/

PR Newswire

MessageMedia announces new integration for HubSpot for integrated text messaging

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The partnership delivers the only five-star certified SMS app to the HubSpot sales and marketing community

DENVER, June 4, 2021 — Global business messaging provider MessageMedia (www.messagemedia.com) has launched SMS for HubSpot (https://ecosystem.hubspot.com/marketplace/apps/marketing/marketing-automation/messagemedia-218459), an integration with the leading CRM platform for scaling companies and has joined HubSpot’s App Partner Program as an app partner with a certified integration.

With an increasing rise in email clutter and marketing noise, SMS cuts through with 90% read within 90 seconds (http://www.oracle.com/us/dm/omc-wp-mme-mobilemktg-15-4121699.pdf). There is a growing demand for hyper-personalized communications received in real-time, that truly engages.

The SMS for HubSpot integration, available globally, provides marketers with the ability to gain a single view of their customers through personalized cross-channel campaigns, all from within HubSpot’s CRM platform. HubSpot users can seamlessly add the cut-through of SMS reminders, confirmations, promotions and more to extend the effectiveness of their communications and marketing strategies.

Paul Perrett, Chief Executive Officer at MessageMedia said, "The need for businesses to be agile and adjust to changing customer behavior and preferences is greater than ever.

"We’re thrilled to launch SMS for HubSpot and to have our integration certified in their App Partner Program as we continue to help businesses around the world drive greater ROI, strengthen customer relationships, and increase referrals while saving time and money," said Mr Perrett.

To become a certified integration, integrations are required to meet specific criteria from HubSpot to successfully service and manage clients using the platform. SMS for HubSpot has also been featured as part of HubSpot’s exclusive Workflows app collection.

"At HubSpot, we’re always looking for innovative companies to bring into the HubSpot ecosystem," said Scott Brinker, VP of platform ecosystem at HubSpot. "We’re excited to have MessageMedia as a member of our App Partner Program and are confident they’ll bring meaningful value to our customers."

Last year, leading ecommerce retailer Vinomofo started using the MessageMedia and HubSpot integration to win back customers who had stopped purchasing wine for up to 12 months. Previously, they had used email campaigns but wanted to avoid relying solely on one form of customer communication. They decided to streamline and integrate all marketing and communication tools and processes into a single solution – HubSpot’s all-in-one connected platform.

Using SMS for HubSpot, Vinomofo was able to create automated workflows that segmented their customer base based on their last purchase dates, then send and track SMS activity within the one platform. Adding text messaging to their marketing toolkit achieved greater cut-through and re-engagement with customers they hadn’t been able to reach before. This resulted in a 50% increase in recovered customers, 21% more customer conversations, and 120x return on investment.

"We chose SMS in addition to email to help reduce churn because it allows us to reach more customers which creates better cut-through and engagement for our campaigns," said Mariano Favia, Head of Marketing at Vinomofo.

About MessageMedia

MessageMedia (www.messagemedia.com) is a global messaging provider that helps businesses of all sizes — from SMBs to enterprise-level — better connect with customers. With 90 per cent of messages read within 90 seconds and more than 65,000 customers worldwide, MessageMedia drives business success by creating engaging mobile experiences that customers love. With offices across the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, and New Zealand, MessageMedia is the number one choice for easy and engaging global business messaging.

Related Links :

http://www.messagemedia.com

PR Newswire

JDDJ Kicks off 6.18: “One-Hour Delivery” Accelerates Mid-Year Shopping Festival

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SHANGHAI, June 1, 2021 — Dada Group (Nasdaq: DADA) ("Dada"), China’s leading local on-demand delivery and retail platform, today announced that JDDJ, Dada’s on-demand retail platform, has officially launched 6.18 Mid-Year Shopping Festival. Leveraging JDDJ’s capacities for online and offline integration and Dada Now’s on-demand delivery network, the on-demand shopping experience of "online ordering and home delivery within one hour" would become a new driving force for this year’s festival.

JDDJ Launched 6.18 Mid-Year Shopping Festival
JDDJ Launched 6.18 Mid-Year Shopping Festival

This year’s JDDJ 6.18 Mid-Year Shopping Festival, called Better Life Festival, begins from June 1st to June 20th. The festival features faster delivery service and more product categories. And one-hour shopping and home delivery service has covered a variety of categories such as fresh food, FMCG, mobile phones and digital products, maternal and baby products, medicine, personal care and cosmetics, as well as summer and seasonal goods.

Moreover, Dada Group has further deepened strategic cooperation with JD.com in this March and it will better fulfill demands for local on-demand retail and its delivery on JD. In the 6.18 Grand Promotion, JD.com built the special omni-channel section based on its citywide shopping and JD Supermarket one-hour delivery service. JDDJ and JD.com collaborated with offline stores and brand owners to create a "one-hour shopping ecosystem", covering 1,400 counties and cities in China, so that more consumers can enjoy the online shopping carnival.

JDDJ first piloted its One-Hour Livestreaming E-commerce service in 2020 and has expanded its service to JD’s livestreaming channel since this year. During the 6.18 festival, the platform would partner with nearly 50 supermarket chains such as CR Vanguard and Huaguan, and leading FMCG brands such as P&G, Yihai Kerry, Yili, and Liby, to launch nearly 100 local livestreaming events, covering over 10,000 offline stores. On June 16th, the seventh anniversary of Dada Group, JDDJ will invite famous TV hosts and celebrities to its broadcasting room, and launch a six-hour livestreaming show with a full-category promotion.

As JDDJ extended its service to more lower-tier cities in China, more users would enjoy on-demand shopping experience at this year’s event. Lower-tier market has become a key growth driver in sales for JDDJ and "City Strategy" is an exclusive marketing campaign hosted by JDDJ for the lower-tier cities. In the 6.18 promotion, "City Strategy" will launch in 35 cities, including Baotou in Inner Mongolia, Qujing in Yunnan, and Zunyi in Guizhou. While bringing online users to offline stores through targeted marketing, it promotes on-demand consumption and sales growth in the lower-tier market.

Meanwhile, Dada Now, the on-demand delivery platform of Dada Group, takes advantage of its efficient and flexible delivery network to help e-commerce platforms including JD.com fulfill demands for delivery during the promotion periods. The platform provides JDDJ and retailers with efficient, stable, and professional on-demand delivery services, covering various scenarios and categories. Besides, to cope with the hot season in June, Dada Now has deepened cooperation with offline stores and brands in rider stations, which are equipped with seats, drinking water, heatstroke drugs, anti-epidemic materials, and phone chargers, especially for the delivery riders. Rider caring activities such as high-temperature care, rider stations, and offline seminars, would be held by Dada Now in support of delivery service during the grand promotion.

About Dada Group

Dada Group is a leading platform of local on-demand retail and delivery in China. It operates JDDJ, one of China’s largest local on-demand retail platforms for retailers and brand owners, and Dada Now, a leading local on-demand delivery platform open to merchants and individual senders across various industries and product categories. The Company’s two platforms are inter-connected and mutually beneficial. The Dada Now platform enables improved delivery experience for participants on the JDDJ platform through its readily accessible fulfillment solutions and strong on-demand delivery infrastructure. Meanwhile, the vast volume of on-demand delivery orders from the JDDJ platform increases order volume and density for the Dada Now platform. In June 2020, Dada Group began trading on the Nasdaq Global Market, under the ticker symbol "DADA."

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OPAS: A Game-Changer in Post Covid-19 Landscape

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PORTLAND, Ore., May 31, 2021 — We believe that it’s safe to say that Covid-19 will likely be one of the defining events of 2021, and it will further have implications that will keep surfacing for years to come.

The situation is drastically changing, and the amount of people that are deemed safe to gather in a place has reduced from thousands to hundreds to ten. Movie theaters, bars, restaurants, and gyms in most major cities are shutting down. And that’s not all; many office workers are facing new challenges that involve working from home.

Post Covid-19 and the changing trends of online shopping

People are coming to terms with the realities of the post-Covid-19 world, and they understand how difficult it will be for things to go back to normal. To say that we’re living in an unprecedented time feels like an understatement.

One of the main responses we’ve seen to how people are approaching this period of uncertainty and isolation is in severe overnight changes to their shopping behaviors, and that’s not all; the latest travel restrictions have also stopped person-to-person exchanges. From bulk buying to online shopping, people are changing what they’re buying how and when.

Amid this uncertainty, OPAS has emerged as a one-stop shop for all your shopping needs, no matter where you’re living in the world.

What can OPAS do for you?

The post-Covid-19 landscape doesn’t leave much room for international shipping. The main reason for this is the new healthcare regulations. Stores that are operating on a smaller scale don’t have the personnel or experience needed to handle post-Covid-19 international shipping.

OPAS will make sure that you get what you want, no matter where you live. Shopping from the US amid the pandemic has never been easier, thanks to OPAS. OPAS will provide you your own US address so your purchases can get shipped there. Once you have everything you want in your virtual mailbox, you can easily log into your account and request to have your items shipped to your original address in your native country.

No Sales Tax? YES – OPAS can do that for you

Almost every package forwarding company will charge you Sales Tax. Therefore, on every purchase, you will be charged sales tax. OPAS can get you your favorite products without having to pay any sales tax. How is that possible? OPAS is located in the state of Oregon, which has NO SALES TAX. So any product that you’ve shipped to your OPAS address will have no sales tax. This will allow you to save almost 7% to 10% on your purchases compared to other package forwarding companies.

OPAS has emerged as a game-changer for industries and individuals who aren’t willing to compromise on the things they want. OPAS will hand pack each of your products, making sure that they will stay in perfect shape when it reaches your doorstep.