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PR Newswire

Linq Wins Samsung Open Collaboration with LLM-Enhanced Underwriting AI Solution

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SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Linq, an AI startup, won first place in the 2023 Samsung Open Collaboration, one of the most prestigious startup competitions in South Korea. Linq showcased its AI-powered underwriting solution, which was made possible by its AI risk models and an advanced vector database management platform for large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT.

On October 26, 2023, Linq (formerly known as Wecover Platforms) emerged as the winner of the 2023 Samsung Open Collaboration, held in South Korea.
On October 26, 2023, Linq (formerly known as Wecover Platforms) emerged as the winner of the 2023 Samsung Open Collaboration, held in South Korea.

Previously known as Wecover Platforms, Linq secured its win after a 4-month collaboration with Samsung Life Insurance in October. Linq was a standout among the 14 startups that advanced to the final round from an initial pool of 317 participants. This AI Underwriting chat solution, trained and embedded over tens of thousands of pieces of data, not only allows underwriters to evaluate the risk associated with insuring a potential client for cancer insurance but can also explain the reasons behind its results—a feature that was not possible in prior AI-powered underwriting solutions.

For the first time, Linq has successfully demonstrated the combination of advanced AI, including Bayesian neural networks with LLMs. Linq has taken measures to backtrack the significant factors that determine the results in AI models, addressing a notable challenge that previous AI models faced. Their method reflects which factors overcome the limitations of prior AI models that could not explain the reasons for the results by AI. Jacob Choi, Founder and CEO of Linq, stated, “Working closely with South Korea’s leading insurance company gave us access to a wealth of high-quality data. This collaboration reinforced our belief in the power of LLMs to innovate in the underwriting sector.” He continued, “Our goal at Linq is to make it simpler for businesses to integrate their own knowledge with large language models using our advanced vector database management platform.” He also highlighted plans to incorporate multimodal embedding models to deepen the understanding of corporate documents.

About Linq:

Linq is dedicated to building a vector database management platform that empowers companies to harness large language models, unlocking the full potential of their internal knowledge. Linq’s precise and user-friendly API solution is starting to be used by leading legal and insurance firms in South Korea. In addition, it provides solutions for the technical support sector within the US market.

Contact Information:

Jacob Chanyeol Choi, Founder & CEO
jacob.choi@getlinq.com

PR Newswire

Recon Technology, Ltd Reports Financial Year Results for Fiscal Year 2023

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BEIJING, Oct. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Recon Technology, Ltd (NASDAQ: RCON) (“Recon” or the “Company”), a China-based independent solutions integrator in the oilfield service and environmental protection, electric power and coal chemical industries, today announced its financial results for fiscal year 2023.

Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2023 Financial Highlights:

–  Total revenue decreased by approximately RMB16.7 million ($2.3 million) or 19.9% to RMB67.1 million ($9.3 million) for the year ended June 30, 2023 from RMB83.8million ($12.5 million) for the same period in 2022.

–  Gross profit decreased to RMB18.9 million ($2.6 million) for the year ended June 30, 2023, from RMB19.4 million ($2.9 million) for the same period in 2022.

–  Gross margin increased to 28.1% for the year ended June 30, 2023 from 23.2% for the same period in 2022.

–  Net loss was RMB61.5 million ($8.5 million) for the year ended June 30, 2023, an increase of RMB155.8 million ($21.5 million) from net income of RMB94.3 million ($14.1 million) for the same period of 2022.

For the Years Ended

June 30,

2023

2022

Increase /(Decrease)

Percentage
Change

(in RMB millions, except
earnings per share;
differences due to rounding)

Revenue

RMB

67.1

RMB

83.8

RMB

(16.7)

(19.9)

%

Gross profit

18.9

19.4

(0.5)

(2.9)

%

Gross margin

28.1 %

23.2 %

6.0 %

——

Net income (loss)

(61.5)

94.3

(155.8)

(165.2)

%

Net earnings per share –
Basic and diluted

(1.7)

3.2

(4.9)

(154.5)

%

Management Commentary

Mr. Shenping Yin, Founder and CEO of Recon said, “Fiscal year ended 2023 was a year of change, challenge and opportunity for Recon. As a result of the impact of the outbreak and changes in the industry, our established business volume temporarily declined and recovered less than optimally, and resulting in a decline in overall revenue in fiscal year ended 2023, but our gross margins improved due to management efficiencies and the overall recovery of the industry.

We believe that China’s investment and demand in the oil industry will not decrease in the near future, and we believe that there are still many opportunities for growth in the oil industry. Recon will continue to benefit from this trend. We expect a significant increase in the volume of business in the oilfield services segment in the coming year. We are also expanding our business focus from oilfield service segment to broader energy sectors, including carbon-zero opportunities and alternative materials for primary petroleum products. We are actively exploring the chemical recycling business of low-value plastics based on waste treatment and recycling, and have reached preliminary cooperation agreements and market expansion and sales intentions with key upstream and downstream customers. Our drive has always been to maximize the long-term benefits for our company and our shareholders based on our experience and resources in the petrochemical and energy industries.”

Fiscal Year Ended 2023 Financial Results:

Revenue

Total revenues for the year ended June 30, 2023 were approximately RMB67.1 million ($9.3 million), a decrease of approximately RMB16.7 million ($2.3 million) or 19.9% from RMB83.8million ($12.5 million) for the same period in 2022. The overall decrease in revenue was mainly due to decrease from all four segments during the year ended June 30, 2023.

 –  Revenue from automation product and software decreased by RMB5.3 million ($0.7 million) or 316.6%. The decrease was mainly caused by decreased orders from JiDong oilfield as this client reduced their investment budget and oil and gas extraction activities.

 –  Revenue from equipment and accessories decreased by ¥0.9 million ($0.1 million) or 5.3% as we decided not to continue working with some oilfield client with low production levels and allocated our sales and service resources into some larger oilfield companies. We believe this was a temporary decline. Our revenue from this segment will increase in the coming year.

 –  Revenue from oilfield environmental protection decreased by RMB6.2million ($0.9 million) or 24.5%. This was mainly caused by less raw materials we could collect. As a result, our revenue decreased due to lower processing volume compared to the same period last year.

 –  Revenue from platform outsourcing services decreased by RMB4.2 million ($0.6 million) or 45.2%. The decrease was mainly due to less overall economic activities and lower refueling volumes at gas stations, and change in the method of settlement with major customers, from the original service fee based on a percentage of the volume and transaction amount to a basic fixed monthly service fee. 

Cost of revenue

Cost of revenues decreased from RMB64.4 million ($9.6 million) for the year ended June 30, 2022 to RMB48.2 million ($6.7 million) for the same period in 2023. This decrease was mainly caused by the decreased cost of revenue from automation product and software, oilfield environmental protection and platform outsourcing services segments, which was partially offset by the decreased cost of revenue from equipment and accessories segment during the year ended June 30, 2023.

Gross profit

Gross profit decreased to RMB18.9 million ($2.6 million) for the year ended June 30, 2023 from RMB19.4 million ($2.9 million) for the same period in 2022. Gross profit as a percentage of revenue increased to 28.1% for the year ended June 30, 2023 from 23.2% for the same period in 2022.

– For the years ended June 30, 2022 and 2023, our gross profit from automation product and software was approximately RMB2.1 million and RMB3.0 million ($0.4 million), respectively, representing an increase in gross profit of approximately RMB0.9 million ($0.1 million) or 42.4%. In year 2021, we mainly carried out contracts that were signed during the COVID-19 and low oil price period, during which we used a low-margin strategy to maintain our cooperation business with clients. As oil price increase in 2022, our customers recovered and contract terms were improved and our margin increased and the margin percentage will also be higher.

–  For the years ended June 30, 2022 and 2023, gross profit from equipment and accessories was approximately RMB6.7 million and RMB7.3 million ($1.0 million), respectively, representing a slight increase of approximately RMB0.6 million ($0.09 million) or 9.3%. This was mainly driven by high oil price and more demands for heating furnaces with higher margin rather than accessories with lower margin.

–  For the years ended June 30, 2022 and 2023, gross profit from oilfield environmental protection was approximately RMB5.1 million and RMB5.2 million ($0.7 million), respectively, maintaining at a stable level.

–  For the years ended June 30, 2022 and 2023, gross profit from platform outsourcing services was approximately RMB5.5 million and RMB3.4 million ($0.5 million), respectively, representing a decrease of approximately RMB2.1 million ($0.3 million) or 38.6%, this was mainly because personnel expenses, which constitutes major part of our costs, reduced during the year ended June 30, 2023.

Operating expenses

Selling expenses increased by 4.8%, or RMB0.4 million ($0.07 million), from RMB10.2 million in the year ended June 30, 2022 to RMB10.6 million ($1.5 million) in the same period of 2023.

General and administrative expenses decreased by 7.8%, or RMB6.5 million ($0.9 million), from RMB83.3 million in the year ended June 30, 2022 to RMB76.8 million ($10.6 million) in the same period of 2023. 

Net recovery of credit losses of RMB0.7 million for the year ended June 30, 2022 as compared to net recovery of credit losses of RMB9.0 million ($1.2 million) for the same period in 2023. 

Research and development expenses remained relatively stable with a slight decrease by 1.8%, or RMB0.2 million ($0.02 million) from RMB9.0 million for the year ended June 30, 2022 to RMB8.8 million ($1.2 million) for the same period of 2023.

Loss from operations

Loss from operations was RMB69.3 million ($9.6 million) for the year ended June 30, 2023, compared to a loss of RMB82.3 million for the same period of 2022. This RMB13.0 million ($1.8 million) decrease in loss from operations was primarily due to the decrease in operating expense as discussed above.

Gain in fair value changes of warrant liability

The Company classified the warrants issued in connection with common share offering as liabilities at their fair value and adjusted the warrant instrument to fair value at each reporting period. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date until exercised, and any change in fair value is recognized in our statement of operations. Gain in change in fair value of warrant liability was RMB174.5 million and RMB6.1 million ($0.8 million) for the years ended June 30, 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Impairment loss on goodwill and intangible assets

In conjunction with the preparation of our consolidated financial statement for years ended June 30, 2022 and 2023, the management performed evaluation on the impairment of goodwill and intangible assets and recorded an impairment loss on goodwill and intangible assets of RMB2.3 million and RMB10.0 million ($1.4 million) for the years ended June 30, 2022 and 2023, respectively. The impairment was mainly due to the decision of the major customers to develop their own autonomous unified system and to significantly reduce the procurement of third-party services. This change has had a significant and negative impact on FGS’s business model and enterprise value. 

Interest income

Net interest income was RMB11.1 million ($1.5 million) for the year ended June 30, 2023, compared to net interest income of RMB3.8 million for the same period of 2022. The RMB.3 million ($1.0 million) increase in net interest income was primarily due to the increased interest-bearing loans to third parties and increased short-term investments we invested during the year ended June 30, 2023.

Other income (expenses), net.

Other net income was RMB0.7 million ($0.1 million) for the year ended June 30, 2023, compared to other net expenses of RMB0.1 million for the same period of 2022.

Net income (loss)

As a result of the factors described above, net loss was RMB61.5 million ($8.5 million) for the year ended June 30, 2023, an increase of RMB155.8 million ($21.5 million) from net income of RMB94.3 million for the same period of 2022.

Cash and short-term investment

As of June 30, 2023, we had cash in the amount of approximately RMB104.1 million ($14.4 million) and short-term investment in bank fixed income product of approximately RMB184.2 million ($25.4 million). As of June 30, 2022, we had cash in the amount of approximately RMB317.0 million ($47.3 million).

About Recon Technology, Ltd (“RCON”)

Recon Technology, Ltd (NASDAQ: RCON) is the People’s Republic of China’s first NASDAQ-listed non-state owned oil and gas field service company. Recon supplies China’s largest oil exploration companies, Sinopec (NYSE: SNP) and The China National Petroleum Corporation (“CNPC”), with advanced automated technologies, efficient gathering and transportation equipment and reservoir stimulation measure for increasing petroleum extraction levels, reducing impurities and lowering production costs. Through the years, RCON has taken leading positions within several segmented markets of the oil and gas filed service industry. RCON also has developed stable long-term cooperation relationship with its major clients. For additional information please visit: http://www.recon.cn/.

Forward-Looking Statements

Recon includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws throughout this press release. A reader can identify forward-looking statements because they are not limited to historical fact or they use words such as “scheduled,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “project,” “plan,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “goal,” “objective,” “committed,” “intend,” “continue,” or “will likely result,” and similar expressions that concern Recon’s strategy, plans, intentions or beliefs about future occurrences or results. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may change at any time and may cause actual results to differ materially from those that Recon expected. Many of these statements are derived from Recon’s operating budgets and forecasts, which are based on many detailed assumptions that Recon believes are reasonable, or are based on various assumptions about certain plans, activities or events which we expect will or may occur in the future. However, it is very difficult to predict the effect of known factors, and Recon cannot anticipate all factors that could affect actual results that may be important to an investor. All forward-looking information should be evaluated in the context of these risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those factors disclosed under “Risk Factors” in Recon’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F and any subsequent half-year financial filings on Form 6-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements that Recon makes from time to time in its SEC filings and public communications. Recon cannot assure the reader that it will realize the results or developments Recon anticipates, or, even if substantially realized, that they will result in the consequences or affect Recon or its operations in the way Recon expects. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made. Recon undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances arising after the date on which they were made, except as otherwise required by law. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements included herein or that may be made elsewhere from time to time by, or on behalf of, Recon.

RECON TECHNOLOGY, LTD

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

As of June 30

As of June 30

As of June 30

2022

2023

2023

RMB

RMB

U.S. Dollars

ASSETS

Current assets

Cash

¥

316,974,857

¥

104,125,800

$

14,359,604

Restricted cash

723,560

731,545

100,885

Short-term investments

—

184,184,455

25,400,198

Notes receivable

10,828,308

3,742,390

516,099

Accounts receivable, net

22,577,980

27,453,415

3,785,999

Inventories, net

3,894,369

6,330,701

873,044

Other receivables, net

5,501,833

2,185,733

301,427

Loans to third parties

50,383,822

123,055,874

16,970,181

Purchase advances, net

178,208

2,680,456

369,652

Contract costs, net

33,858,820

49,572,685

6,836,386

Prepaid expenses

420,284

350,119

48,284

Prepaid expenses- related parties

275,000

—

—

Total current assets

445,617,041

504,413,173

69,561,759

Property and equipment, net

25,474,162

24,752,864

3,413,576

Construction in progress

239,739

—

—

Intangible assets, net

5,950,000

—

—

Long-term other receivables, net

1,564,381

3,640

502

Goodwill

4,730,002

—

—

Operating lease right-of-use assets (including ¥765,241 and ¥335,976 ($46,333) from a related party as of June 30, 2022 and
2023, respectively)

6,666,759

2,654,900

366,127

Total Assets

¥

490,242,084

¥

531,824,577

$

73,341,964

LIABILITIES AND EQUITY

Current liabilities

Short-term bank loans

¥

10,000,000

¥

12,451,481

$

1,717,138

Accounts payable

16,739,989

10,791,721

1,488,246

Other payables

3,533,918

5,819,010

802,478

Other payable- related parties

2,240,135

2,592,395

357,508

Contract liabilities

2,001,277

2,748,365

379,017

Accrued payroll and employees’ welfare

2,250,547

2,382,516

328,564

Taxes payable

2,210,958

1,163,006

160,386

Short-term borrowings – related parties

9,009,156

20,018,222

2,760,639

Long-term borrowings – related party – current portion

999,530

—

—

Operating lease liabilities – current (including ¥429,265 and ¥335,976 ($46,333) from a related party as of June 30, 2022 and
2023, respectively)

3,892,774

3,066,146

422,841

Total Current Liabilities

52,878,284

61,032,862

8,416,817

Operating lease liabilities – non-current (including ¥335,976 and ¥nil ($nil) from a related party as of June 30, 2022 and 2023,
respectively)

2,184,635

25,144

3,468

Long-term borrowings – related party

5,511,076

—

—

Contract liabilities – non-current

106,000

—

—

Warrant liability

16,677,328

31,615,668

4,360,000

Total Liabilities

77,357,323

92,673,674

12,780,285

Commitments and Contingencies

Equity

Class A ordinary shares, $0.0925 U.S. dollar par value, 150,000,000 shares authorized; 29,700,718 shares and 40,528,218 shares
issued and outstanding as of June 30, 2022 and 2023, respectively

18,001,670

24,912,822

3,435,635

Class B ordinary shares, $0.0925 U.S. dollar par value, 20,000,000 shares authorized; 4,100,000 shares and 7,100,000 shares
issued and outstanding as of June 30, 2022 and 2023, respectively

2,408,498

4,340,731

598,614

Additional paid-in capital

496,038,696

551,118,133

76,002,666

Statutory reserve

4,148,929

4,148,929

572,163

Accumulated deficit

(111,273,525)

(170,440,826)

(23,504,865)

Accumulated other comprehensive income

11,307,461

35,127,173

4,844,259

Total shareholders’ equity

420,631,729

449,206,962

61,948,472

Non-controlling interests

(7,746,968)

(10,056,059)

(1,386,793)

Total equity

412,884,761

439,150,903

60,561,679

Total Liabilities and Equity

¥

490,242,084

¥

531,824,577

$

73,341,964

 *The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

RECON TECHNOLOGY, LTD

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)

For the years ended

June 30, 

2021

2022

2023

2023

RMB

RMB

RMB

USD

Revenue

Revenue – third parties

¥

47,852,918

¥

83,777,571

¥

67,114,378

$

9,255,496

Revenue – related party

85,657

—

—

—

Revenue

47,938,575

83,777,571

67,114,378

9,255,496

Cost of revenue

Cost of revenue – third parties

40,723,547

64,352,834

48,247,395

6,653,620

Cost of revenue

40,723,547

64,352,834

48,247,395

6,653,620

Gross profit

7,215,028

19,424,737

18,866,983

2,601,876

Selling and distribution expenses

8,038,965

10,150,802

10,638,978

1,467,182

General and administrative expenses

45,949,157

83,281,958

76,784,396

10,589,052

Allowance for (net recovery of) credit losses

8,191,247

(658,823)

(9,038,985)

(1,246,533)

Impairment loss of property and equipment and other long-lived assets

768,312

—

1,009,124

139,165

Research and development expenses

5,846,295

8,964,217

8,806,205

1,214,431

Operating expenses

68,793,976

101,738,154

88,199,718

12,163,297

Loss from operations

(61,578,948)

(82,313,417)

(69,332,735)

(9,561,421)

Other income (expenses)

Subsidy income

355,667

11,993

325,425

44,878

Interest income

918,629

5,367,979

13,603,487

1,876,007

Interest expense

(2,210,005)

(1,522,526)

(2,514,850)

(346,814)

Income (loss) from investment in unconsolidated entity

(266,707)

15,411

—

—

Gain in fair value changes of warrants liability

35,365,792

174,485,575

6,116,000

843,435

Remeasurement gain of previously held equity interests in connection with step acquisition

979,254

—

—

—

Foreign exchange transaction gain (loss)

(146,898)

(118,456)

241,652

33,325

Impairment loss on goodwill and intangible assets

—

(2,266,893)

(9,980,002)

(1,376,305)

Other income

192,137

15,855

82,970

11,442

Other income, net

35,187,869

175,988,938

7,874,682

1,085,968

Income (loss) before income tax

(26,391,079)

93,675,521

(61,458,053)

(8,475,453)

Income tax expenses (benefit)

(524,251)

(613,874)

18,339

2,529

Net income (loss)

(25,866,828)

94,289,395

(61,476,392)

(8,477,982)

Less: Net loss attributable to non-controlling interests

(3,034,094)

(1,297,400)

(2,309,091)

(318,438)

Net income (loss) attributable to Recon Technology, Ltd

¥

(22,832,734)

¥

95,586,795

¥

(59,167,301)

$

(8,159,544)

Comprehensive income (loss)

Net income (loss)

(25,866,828)

94,289,395

(61,476,392)

(8,477,982)

Foreign currency translation adjustment

(850,895)

9,332,625

23,819,712

3,284,889

Comprehensive income (loss)

(26,717,723)

103,622,020

(37,656,680)

(5,193,093)

Less: Comprehensive loss attributable to non- controlling interests

(3,034,094)

(1,297,400)

(2,309,091)

(318,438)

Comprehensive income (loss) attributable to Recon Technology, Ltd

¥

(23,683,629)

¥

104,919,420

¥

(35,347,589)

$

(4,874,655)

Earnings (loss) per share – basic and diluted

¥

(1.80)

¥

3.19

¥

(1.74)

$

(0.24)

Weighted – average shares -basic and diluted

12,697,024

30,002,452

33,923,112

33,923,112

*The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

RECON TECHNOLOGY, LTD

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

For the years ended June 30,

2021

2022

2023

2023

RMB

RMB

RMB

U.S. Dollars

Cash flows from operating activities:

Net income (loss)

¥

(25,866,828)

¥

94,289,395

¥

(61,476,393)

$

(8,477,982)

Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash used in operating activities:

Depreciation and amortization

3,150,789

3,339,868

3,683,586

507,990

Loss (gain) from disposal of equipment

19,590

48,628

(12,782)

(1,763)

Gain in fair value changes of warrants liability

(35,365,792)

(174,485,575)

(6,116,000)

(843,435)

Amortization of offering cost of warrants

12,584,024

—

1,483,306

204,557

Allowance for (net recovery of) credit losses

8,191,247

(658,823)

(9,038,985)

(1,246,533)

Allowance for slow moving inventories

654,673

266,285

484,644

66,835

Impairment loss of property and equipment and other long-lived assets

768,312

—

1,009,124

139,165

Impairment loss on goodwill and intangible assets

—

2,266,893

9,980,002

1,376,305

Amortization of right of use assets

1,866,803

3,138,518

3,252,066

448,480

Restricted shares issued for management and employees

6,140,037

39,263,485

26,191,707

3,612,002

Restricted shares issued for services

—

8,935,919

7,306,822

1,007,657

Remeasurement gain of previously held equity interests in connection with step acquisition

(979,254)

—

—

—

Loss (income) from investment in unconsolidated entity

266,707

(15,411)

—

—

Deferred tax benefit

(425,913)

(624,087)

—

—

Interest expenses related to convertible notes

430,416

—

—

—

Accrued interest income from loans to third parties

—

(270,563)

(7,997,961)

(1,102,969)

Accrued interest income from short-term investment

—

—

(2,901,955)

(400,198)

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:

Notes receivable

(2,124,748)

(4,522,674)

7,085,918

977,193

Accounts receivable

18,326,410

3,811,866

(495,784)

(68,372)

Accounts receivable-related party

3,409,912

—

—

—

Inventories

(2,502,263)

(689,291)

(2,373,013)

(327,253)

Other receivables

(338,468)

285,786

(1,307,694)

(180,339)

Other receivables-related parties

—

—

(64,122)

(8,843)

Purchase advances

(899,371)

865,430

(2,575,198)

(355,136)

Contract costs

(21,944,876)

15,422,513

(14,236,539)

(1,963,309)

Prepaid expense

143,354

(274,215)

70,164

9,676

Prepaid expense – related parties

(433,000)

158,000

275,000

37,924

Operating lease liabilities

(2,762,949)

(1,594,702)

(3,061,303)

(422,173)

Accounts payable

(2,109,944)

(5,523,938)

(1,710,898)

(235,944)

Other payables

5,685,188

(6,329,042)

2,270,104

313,062

Other payables-related parties

(2,577,610)

969,468

352,260

48,579

Contract liabilities

4,160,456

(5,578,999)

641,087

88,410

Accrued payroll and employees’ welfare

(1,593,822)

296,065

131,971

18,200

Taxes payable

76,452

961,964

(1,036,483)

(142,938)

Net cash used in operating activities

(34,050,468)

(26,247,237)

(51,688,331)

(7,128,147)

Cash flows from investing activities:

Purchases of property and equipment

(522,416)

(692,206)

(940,673)

(129,725)

Proceeds from disposal of equipment

—

—

31,950

4,406

Repayments of loans to third parties

5,150,377

171,435,032

40,113,311

5,531,879

Payments made for loans to third parties

(51,638,458)

(171,071,510)

(103,146,761)

(14,224,589)

Payments for short-term investments

—

—

(290,051,964)

(39,999,995)

Redemption of short-term investments

—

—

108,769,464

14,999,995

Step acquisition of FGS, net of cash

471,843

—

—

—

Net cash used in investing activities

(46,538,654)

(328,684)

(245,224,673)

(33,818,029)

Cash flows from financing activities:

Proceeds from short-term bank loans

16,020,000

10,000,000

13,491,481

1,860,560

Repayments of short-term bank loans

(10,540,000)

(15,000,000)

(11,040,000)

(1,522,486)

Proceeds from short-term borrowings

3,660,000

—

—

—

Repayments of short-term borrowings

(3,360,000)

(530,000)

—

—

Proceeds from short-term borrowings-related parties

18,400,000

11,100,000

15,013,115

2,070,403

Repayments of short-term borrowings-related parties

(15,950,000)

(14,770,000)

(9,000,000)

(1,241,157)

Proceeds from long-term borrowings-related party

—

—

—

—

Repayments of long-term borrowings-related party

(816,952)

(892,701)

(1,499,667)

(206,813)

Proceeds from warrants issued with common stock

212,051,414

—

17,493,069

2,412,405

Proceeds from sale of ordinary shares, net of issuance costs

81,091,141

—

28,174,993

3,885,509

Proceeds from sale of prefunded warrants, net of issuance costs

30,276,569

93,321

3,750,282

517,188

Proceeds from stock issuance for warrants exercised

21,130,035

Proceeds from issuance of convertible notes

42,014,616

—

—

—

Refund of capital contribution by a non-controlling shareholder

—

—

—

—

Capital contribution by non-controlling shareholders

50,000

—

—

—

Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities

394,026,823

(9,999,380)

56,383,273

7,775,609

Effect of exchange rate fluctuation on cash and restricted cash

224,365

10,275,148

27,688,659

3,818,441

Net increase (decrease) in cash and restricted cash

313,662,066

(26,300,153)

(212,841,072)

(29,352,126)

Cash and restricted cash at beginning of year

30,336,504

343,998,570

317,698,417

43,812,615

Cash and restricted cash at end of year

¥

343,998,570

¥

317,698,417

¥

104,857,345

$

14,460,489

Supplemental cash flow information

Cash paid during the year for interest

¥

1,682,863

¥

1,427,174

¥

1,200,699

$

165,584

Cash paid during the year for taxes

¥

(98,338)

¥

10,214

¥

18,339

$

2,529

Reconciliation of cash and restricted cash, beginning of year

Cash  

¥

30,336,504

¥

343,998,570

¥

316,974,857

¥

43,712,832

Restricted cash

—

—

723,560

99,783

Cash and restricted cash, beginning of year

¥

30,336,504

¥

343,998,570

¥

317,698,417

$

43,812,615

Reconciliation of cash and restricted cash, end of year

Cash  

¥

343,998,570

¥

316,974,857

¥

104,125,800

¥

14,359,604

Restricted cash

—

723,560

731,545

100,885

Cash and restricted cash, end of year

¥

343,998,570

¥

317,698,417

¥

104,857,345

$

14,460,489

Non-cash investing and financing activities

Issuance of common stock in exchange of shares of FGS, net of issuance costs

¥

1,689,807

¥

—

¥

—

$

—

Cancellation of common stock issued prior years in exchange of shares of FGS , net of issuance costs

¥

(1,689,807)

¥

—

¥

—

$

—

Issuance of common stock in exchange of shares of Starry, net of issuance costs

27,675,450

¥

—

¥

—

$

—

Cancellation of shares issued to Starry Lab

¥

—

¥

(27,675,450)

¥

—

$

—

Conversion of convertible notes to 9,225,338 shares of ordinary shares

¥

42,435,669

¥

—

¥

—

$

—

Right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for operating lease obligations

¥

7,242,819

¥

937,672

¥

75,182

$

10,368

Reduction of right-of-use assets and operating lease obligations due to early termination of lease agreement

¥

—

¥

—

¥

62,357

$

10,368

Inventories transferred to and used as fixed assets

¥

302,795

¥

—

¥

(65,456)

$

8,599

Receivable for disposal of property and equipment

¥

—

¥

3,000

¥

—

$

(9,027)

Capital contribution receivable due from non-controlling Interest

¥

50,000,000

¥

—

¥

—

$

—

Other payable due to non-controlling interest converted into capital contribution

¥

—

¥

1,130,000

¥

—

$

—

*The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.

PR Newswire

STL develops 160-micron fibre, the world’s slimmest fibre and cable technology

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–  Unveiled by Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology & Railways, at IMC 2023

NEW DELHI, LONDON and COLUMBIA, S.C., Oct. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — In a proud achievement for India’s R&D capability, STL [NSE: STLTECH], a leading optical and digital solutions company, today announced that it has developed the world’s slimmest fibre for telecommunications – 160-micron Optical Fibre. Commending the technology innovations which are Designed in India and Made in India, Mr Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology & Railways, unveiled this world-leading product at STL’s booth in IMC 2023. Post unveiling the 160-micron Fibre, the H’onable minister ‘spliced’ or ‘joined’ two strands of optical fibre – a highly calibrated process of perfectly connecting the cores of two hair-thin optical fibres.

Shri Ashwini Vaishnav at STL's booth at IMC 2023
Shri Ashwini Vaishnav at STL’s booth at IMC 2023

Cable made with STL’s 160-micron fibre can pack 3X more capacity than traditional 250-micron fibre. This has been conceptualised and developed indigenously at STL’s Centre of Excellence in Maharashtra, making STL among the first companies globally to develop and patent this industry-leading technology.

As India becomes the fastest-growing digital economy in the world, there’s a need for densely fiberised networks, both in backhaul and closer to customers. Laying ducts account for ~60% of the entire fibre deployment cost, making duct space a precious asset. Network builders all over the globe are in a continued quest to reduce fibre size to pack in more and more capacity in the available duct space.

By packing more capacity in limited duct space with a reduced diameter cable of 6.4mm (~32% reduction compared to 250-micron fibre), STL’s 160-micron fibre will revolutionise deployment, bandwidth capacity and green quotient of the networks. The at-scale impact of this innovation on India’s broadband landscape can be immense. For example – In a large-scale project like Bharatnet, where India needs to deploy ~20 Million fibre km cable by 2025, using 160-micron fibre instead of the standard 250-micron fibre can potentially reduce the deployment time by ~15%. This enables the use of ducts with a smaller diameter, thereby reducing the plastic footprint in the ground by ~30%.

“This slimmest fibre is a noteworthy development and depicts our commitment to innovation and continuous R&D efforts in photonics and materials science,” said Dr Badri Gomatam, Group CTO, STL.

Incremental reduction in fibre size is an incredibly challenging feat which has captured the imagination of optical experts across the world. Some of the key challenges in reducing fibre size below 250-micron include enhanced sensitivity towards micro-bending and increased complexity in the fibre drawing process.

Talking about solving these challenges, Dr Badri added, “Through highly calibrated process and material engineering, we have achieved a breakthrough in manufacturing processes and glass compositions to realise micro bend insensitivity. ”

This product meets telecom-grade optical performance standards and complies with the ITU G.657A2 standard. This announcement comes after a series of innovations by our R&D experts, including India’s first multicore fibre with 4X capacity and 180-micron fibre.

“This groundbreaking innovation exemplifies our passion to put Indian technology and R&D on the world map. I am extremely excited to imagine the future of India’s digital networks with this disruptive fibre design,” said Ankit Agarwal, Managing Director, STL.

About STL – Sterlite Technologies Ltd:

STL is a leading global optical and digital solutions company providing advanced offerings to build 5G, Rural, FTTx, Enterprise and Data Centre networks. Read more, Contact us, stl.tech | Twitter | LinkedIn| YouTube

Shri Ashwini Vaishnav unveils 160 micron - the slimmest fibre at IMC 2023
Shri Ashwini Vaishnav unveils 160 micron – the slimmest fibre at IMC 2023
PR Newswire

Montage Technology Leads in Trial Production of 3rd-Gen DDR5 RCDs

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SHANGHAI, Oct. 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Montage Technology, a leading data processing and interconnect IC company, today announced it has taken the lead in trial production of the 3rd-generation DDR5 Registering Clock Driver (RCD03) designed for use in DDR5 RDIMMs.

Montage Technology's 3rd-Gen DDR5 Registering Clock Driver (RCD03)
Montage Technology’s 3rd-Gen DDR5 Registering Clock Driver (RCD03)

With its blazingly fast 6400 MT/s data rate, the RCD03 sets a new bar for DDR5 memory performance in upcoming server platforms. It unlocks dramatic capacity, bandwidth, and latency improvements to meet the growing demands of data center, cloud, and AI applications.

The RCD03 marks a major advancement in Montage’s continued role as an innovator driving rapid DDR5 developments. This chip achieves a 14.3% speed increase over the 2nd-gen DDR5 RCD and a 33.3% increase over the 1st–-gen, making it one of the fastest DDR5 memory interface solutions available today.

Leveraging enhancements like a dual-channel architecture and lower power supplies (1.1V VDD and 1.0V VDDIO), the RCD03 significantly improves the latency while reducing the power consumption as compared to DDR4 RCDs. Another key benefit is its support for up to 256 GB DRAM per module, quadrupling the capacity of modules in DDR4 generation.

“We are proud to spearhead the production of DDR5 RCD03 and deliver cutting-edge RCD technology to the market. Montage will continue to work closely with major CPU and DRAM manufacturers to propel DDR5 technology towards widespread application,” said Stephen Tai, President at Montage Technology.

“Intel has been at the forefront of driving DDR5 memory technology and enabling a strong ecosystem, in support of reliable and scalable industry standards. We are pleased to see Montage make further progress with the latest-generation memory interface chips, which can be used with Intel’s future Performance-core and Efficient-core Xeon® CPUs, to push the boundaries of performance to new heights,” said Dr. Dimitrios Ziakas, VP of Memory & IO Technologies at Intel.

“Samsung has been committed to enabling advanced memory products to meet the rapidly growing demands for data-intensive applications. Our collaborative engineering work with Montage has contributed to ongoing DDR5 roadmap advancement. As Montage scales production on this 3rd-gen DDR5 solution, we hope to see expanded ecosystem availability,” said Yongcheol Bae, Executive Vice President of Memory Product Planning Team at Samsung Electronics.

In addition to its RCD portfolio, Montage provides a comprehensive lineup of DDR5 infrastructure solutions including SPD EEPROM with Hubs, Temperature Sensors, and Power Management ICs, which are essential in complete DDR5 module designs optimized for performance, reliability and power efficiency.

Availability

Montage’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd-gen DDR5 Registering Clock Drivers are available for sale. The part numbers are M88DR5RCD01, M88DR5RCD02 and M88DR5RCD03 respectively. For more details, please contact Montage’s sales team at globalsales@montage-tech.com or dial +86 21 54679038.

To learn more about Montage’s memory interface products, please click https://www.montage-tech.com/Memory_Interface.

PR Newswire

Qorvo® QSPICE™ Revolutionizes Circuit Simulation for Power and Analog Designers

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GREENSBORO, NC, Oct. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Qorvo® (Nasdaq: QRVO), a leading global provider of connectivity and power solutions, recently announced the release of QSPICE™, a new generation of circuit simulation software that provides power and analog designers significantly higher levels of design productivity through improved simulation speed, functionality and reliability.

In addition to advancing the state of the art in analog simulation technology, QSPICE allows designers to simulate complex digital circuits and algorithms. Its unique combination of modern schematic capture and fast mixed-mode simulation make it the ideal tool to solve the increasingly complex hardware and software challenges faced by today’s system designers.


“QSPICE enables an entirely new generation of mixed-mode circuit simulation,” said Jeff Strang, general manager for Qorvo’s Power Management business. “In the past, power designers relied on analog circuits and silicon power switches. Today, digital control and compound semiconductors are common elements of advanced power designs. Whether an engineer is developing AI algorithms for EV battery charging, optimizing a Qorvo pulsed-radar power supply or evaluating the newest silicon carbide FETs, QSPICE is the perfect platform for innovation.”

Qorvo’s QSPICE is available free of charge and offers numerous enhancements over legacy analog modeling tools. These improvements include:

  • Complete support for advanced analog and digital system simulations, such as those used in AI and machine-learning applications.
  • An upgraded simulation engine that uses advanced numerical methods and is optimized for modern computing hardware, including a GPU-rendered user interface and SSD-aware memory management, to provide dramatically higher speed and accuracy.
  • Reduced overall runtimes and a 100% completion rate, based on Qorvo benchmark tests with a suite of challenging test circuits. This compares to a failure rate of up to 15% with these same test circuits using other popular SPICE simulators.
  • Availability of a regularly updated QSPICE model library featuring Qorvo’s silicon carbide and advanced power management solutions, making it easy for customers to evaluate and design with Qorvo power.

QSPICE is available now at www.qspice.com and is actively supported by Qorvo as well as a robust user community through Qorvo’s QSPICE forum at forum.qorvo.com.

About Qorvo
Qorvo (Nasdaq: QRVO) supplies innovative semiconductor solutions that make a better world possible. We combine product and technology leadership, systems-level expertise and global manufacturing scale to quickly solve our customers’ most complex technical challenges. Qorvo serves diverse high-growth segments of large global markets, including consumer electronics, smart home/IoT, automotive, EVs, battery-powered appliances, network infrastructure, healthcare and aerospace/defense. Visit www.qorvo.com to learn how our diverse and innovative team is helping connect, protect and power our planet.

Click here to read Qorvo’s forward-looking statements：https://www.qorvo.com/newsroom/news/2023/qorvo-qspice-revolutionizes-circuit-simulation-for-power-and-analog-designers

PR Newswire

Appian Launches Connected Underwriting for Life Insurance in Partnership with Swiss Re

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New workbench enables holistic underwriting automation and workload management to improve operational efficiency and underwriter experience.

MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Appian (Nasdaq: APPN) today announced the availability of the Connected Underwriting Life Workbench to help insurers unify workflows and data in an automated, end-to-end process. The solution makes underwriters’ lives easier by giving them a single interface to evaluate and classify risk, handle exceptions, and make case decisions.

Appian announces the availability of the Connected Underwriting Life Workbench to help insurers unify workflows and data in an automated, end-to-end process.
Appian announces the availability of the Connected Underwriting Life Workbench to help insurers unify workflows and data in an automated, end-to-end process.

The Connected Underwriting Life Workbench is a streamlined underwriting solution that is prebuilt on the Appian Platform. It is designed to drive speed to market with reduced IT effort for implementation. Its data fabric capabilities enable quick data and integration connectivity, coupled with AI-led automation that supports change management and optimized processes. Appian’s AI architecture, which includes generative AI capabilities, allows insurers to process content at scale and automate repetitive tasks, such as classifying emails and extracting data from documents. This allows Appian customers to facilitate faster benefit realization and enhance their competitiveness with a better underwriting experience. Life Workbench improves the quality, consistency and procedural adherence of cases. Additionally, the system allows 24/7 real-time monitoring and data extraction from various sources, seamless integration with third-party tools, and augmented decision-making with a complete audit trail.

Life Workbench offers a prebuilt integration with Swiss Re’s Magnum Pure, an influential automated underwriting solution powered by Swiss Re’s Life Guide. This integration empowers underwriters to overcome the complexities of multiple systems used to underwrite a case by bringing together all the relevant data, images, and human system interactions. Underwriters can better evaluate and classify risk, handle exceptions, and make critical case decisions rather than focusing on the procedural and administrative steps, transactions, and keystrokes. This partnership combines Appian’s expertise in AI, automation, data fabric, and case management with Swiss Re’s industry-leading automated underwriting engine, Magnum Pure, to simplify the underwriting process. The Swiss Re Magnum Pure solution must be purchased separately from the Appian Platform to enable the integration.

Key Benefits of Appian Connected Underwriting Life Workbench include:

  • Easier, more complete access to data. With Appian and Swiss Re’s Magnum Pure, underwriters have access to a best-in-class underwriting experience that provides a comprehensive, single-pane-of-glass view by surfacing relevant data from dispersed systems.
  • More efficient exception handling. Case management capabilities allow underwriters to spend less time collecting information and reduce the time it takes to handle exceptions, minimizing and in some cases eliminating manual processes and paperwork.
  • Process monitoring and optimization. Dashboards and KPIs help individuals, teams, and managers monitor underwriting processes and provide valuable insights about performance that can be used to optimize and improve case workflow, including initial review, case priority, and logic-based auto-assignment.

“Today’s customers demand seamless digital experiences, and insurers can’t afford to be held back by sluggish underwriting processes and data silos. Appian Connected Underwriting Life Workbench is a game-changer. It combines automation, data fabric, and plug-and-play integrations to accelerate underwriting, helping insurers avoid unprofitable risks and ensuring a superior experience for both customers and underwriters,” said Jacob Sloan, Industry Vice President, Global Insurance, Appian.

“This offering is powered by Magnum, Swiss Re’s automated underwriting solution and allows business users to render point of sale underwriting decisions faster and more seamlessly, ultimately improving the experience for the end consumer. We are delighted to utilize our product innovation expertise to help bring this offering to market,” said Jason Render, Head Magnum Americas, Life & Health Solutions, Swiss Re.

The Appian Platform modernizes underwriting with generative AI to minimize risk, increase efficiency, improve auditability, and ensure a positive customer experience. Key architectural components make it easy to leverage AI, including Appian’s data fabric architecture, Automated APS draft, Open AI natural language correspondence through AI Copilot, and private AI strategy for faster delivery of powerful and secure end-to-end process automation solutions.

Appian is trusted by leading insurance organizations such as Aon, Aviva, and Pacific Life to connect and automate data, equipping insurers to make informed, data-backed decisions. To learn more, visit https://appian.com/insurance.

About Appian

Appian is a software company that automates business processes. The Appian AI Process Platform includes everything you need to design, automate, and optimize even the most complex processes, from start to finish. The world’s most innovative organizations trust Appian to improve their workflows, unify data, and optimize operations—resulting in better growth and superior customer experiences. For more information, visit appian.com. [Nasdaq: APPN]

Follow Appian: Twitter, LinkedIn.

Follow Appian UK: Twitter, LinkedIn.

About Swiss Re

The Swiss Re Group is one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance, insurance and other forms of insurance-based risk transfer, working to make the world more resilient. It anticipates and manages risk – from natural catastrophes to climate change, from ageing populations to cyber crime. The aim of the Swiss Re Group is to enable society to thrive and progress, creating new opportunities and solutions for its clients. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, where it was founded in 1863, the Swiss Re Group operates through a network of around 80 offices globally.

Photo – https://techent.tv/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/appian-launches-connected-underwriting-for-life-insurance-in-partnership-with-swiss-re.jpg

Logo – https://techent.tv/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/appian-launches-connected-underwriting-for-life-insurance-in-partnership-with-swiss-re-1.jpg

PR Newswire

Agora Makes Livestream Shopping Technology Widely Available

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Agora’s live commerce capabilities help retail brands and platforms like CommentSold interact with customers in new ways

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Agora, Inc. (NASDAQ: API), a pioneer and leading platform for real-time engagement APIs, has announced the wide availability of its technology to power livestream shopping experiences. As the US market for live video shopping continues to rapidly expand, many well-known brands are investing in these capabilities to provide more engaging content and boost conversion rates. Agora’s solution helps brands, marketplaces, and platforms seize the livestream shopping opportunity by building live shoppable live streaming experiences with ease.

In addition to shoppable livestreams, Agora’s solution supports live auctions, personal shopper experiences, and e-commerce-related video chat for customer service. CommentSold, the leading fashion live selling platform for retailers, recently began working with Agora to provide its customers with multi-source live stream shopping. The new functionality allows sellers to invite external participants into their shows by simply sending them a link or QR code. This makes it easy for sellers to invite celebrity guests or VIP customers to join the live shopping session via video while maintaining complete control over guests’ video and audio streams.

“We are absolutely thrilled to enable a paradigm shift in live selling with these features which will open up new ways for CommentSold sellers to gamify live selling shows and drive engagement,” said Andrew Chen, Chief Product Officer at CommentSold. “Now sellers can leverage professional hosts, celebrities and creators to co-host or host their live stream shopping events. Additionally, they can invite VIP customers to their live shows, further boosting interactivity, which eventually translates to higher sales for our sellers.”

Live commerce is an exciting new trend in the world of e-commerce, where customers can make purchases during live streaming video events. This new way of shopping is already hugely popular in Asia and is starting to gain traction in the US. According to McKinsey & Company, live-commerce-initiated sales could account for 20% of all e-commerce by 2026, and the US livestream shopping market is estimated to be worth $35 billion by 2024.

Livestream shopping has become increasingly popular as consumers continue to seek out new ways to shop online. With the help of Agora’s real-time engagement technology – recently highlighted in Gartner’s Market Guide for Live Commerce in Retail – brands can now provide a more immersive and engaging shopping experience to their customers.

“We’re thrilled to be at the forefront of the rapidly growing livestream shopping market and to have such a trusted partner in this exciting venture,” said Tony Zhao, CEO of Agora. “Our technology allows platforms like CommentSold to easily integrate interactive live video shopping experiences that create a more personal and engaging shopping experience for customers, while driving higher revenue for sellers.”

For more information about Agora’s livestream shopping capabilities, please visit:

https://www.agora.io/en/solutions/live-shopping/ 

For more information about CommentSold’s multi-source live stream shopping, please visit: https://try.commentsold.com/features/multi-source/

Agora just wrapped its RTE Live Shopping webinar series, which featured insights from e-commerce leaders on everything marketplaces and retailers need to know about live commerce. On-demand recordings of all 4 sessions can be found here.

About Agora

Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Agora is a pioneer and global leader in Real-Time Engagement Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), providing developers with simple, flexible, and powerful application programming interfaces, or APIs, to embed real-time voice, video, interactive live-streaming, chat, whiteboard, and artificial intelligence capabilities into their applications.

About CommentSold 

CommentSold is the North American leader in live selling technology (ranked by G2), having empowered over 7,000 small to mid-sized retailers with live selling tools, generating over 166 million items sold with $3.8 billion in lifetime GMV. The platform continues to provide businesses and creators of all sizes with best-in-class solutions for delivering engaging live video commerce experiences across multiple sales channels simultaneously. In 2022, CommentSold expanded its offerings through the acquisition of Popshoplive, a community-driven livestream shopping marketplace app. The platform’s innovations include Videeo, a lightweight video commerce plugin technology, enabling retailers and brands to seamlessly integrate and go live with engaging, branded live video commerce experiences.

Source: Agora, Inc.

PR Newswire

Veritas Names Microsoft as First Veritas 360 Defense Partner to Achieve REDLab Validation for Security Solutions

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Solutions reduce time to safe recovery by rapidly discovering last known good data

SINGAPORE, Oct. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Veritas Technologies, the leader in secure multi-cloud data management, today announced that Microsoft has become the first Veritas 360 Defense partner to achieve Veritas REDLab Validation for its security solutions. After testing Microsoft Defender with real-world malware in its REDLab isolated test laboratory, Veritas has certified the solution for secure integration into the Veritas Alta cloud data management platform and NetBackup family of products. Together, Veritas and Microsoft can rapidly identify the last known good copy of data following a ransomware attack to ensure a clean recovery to get organizations fully operational fast.

Veritas 360 Defense unveiled by Veritas today, offers organizations a blueprint on how to safeguard their data estate against the continually growing spectre of ransomware. Veritas 360 Defense brings together solutions from the Veritas portfolio, including Veritas Alta, the industry’s most complete secure multi-cloud data management platform, and those from leading security and cloud infrastructure vendors, such as Microsoft, to deliver a turnkey solution for secure cloud-native cyber resiliency. Customers will soon be able to access a library of reference designs, validated by the Veritas REDLab, to guide them on best practices for secure implementation of jointly deployed solutions.

Lawrence Wong, senior vice president of product management and chief strategy officer at Veritas, said: “When customers buy from Veritas and Microsoft, our solutions are not just sold together, they really work together. That is the value of our REDLab validation. Partners, like Microsoft, are able to add layers of security to our cyber resiliency solutions that ensure Veritas customers get a better experience from a comprehensive approach to protecting their businesses.”

Integration between Veritas Alta Data Protection and Microsoft Defender enables customers to scan backup data on inert, immutable, optimized storage to identify the last known good data copy. In doing so, the solution protects organizations from restoring any backup data corrupted by malware, preventing reinfection, and allowing them to bounce back faster.

Eric Burkholder, senior program manager, Microsoft Sentinel, said: “The evolving threat landscape means that enterprises constantly face new and challenging cybersecurity problems. The Microsoft portfolio of security solutions can be integrated with third-party offerings, such as the Veritas Alta cloud data management platform, to ensure that customers can rapidly achieve their security and protection goals and stay one step ahead of bad actors.”

Veritas REDLab Validation marks the latest step in a lasting strategic relationship between Veritas and Microsoft. Deep and established integration between the companies’ products and go-to-market strategies enables them to help customers build their zero trust security models and be cyber resilient. Together, they help to protect against downtime, data loss and regulatory penalties, and to provide the reassurance of recovery at scale, in the cloud and across their data estates.

Previous collaboration highlights between Veritas and Microsoft include:

  • Veritas delivered a simple UI-based integration with Microsoft Sentinel, ensuring all user audit trails, data anomalies and malware detected in the backup infrastructure are shared with the Security Operations (SecOps) team.
  • Veritas Alta Data protection is integrated with Microsoft Azure, which was also the launch partner for Veritas Alta Recovery Vault, Veritas’ cloud cyber-secure recovery data isolation vault with virtual air-gap controls that ensure a backup copy is always indelible, immutable and available for recovery.
  • Veritas Alta SaaS Protection was one of the first data protection solutions, hosted on Microsoft Azure, to be SOC2 and IRAP certified. Veritas Alta SaaS Protection was also one of the first data protection solutions to offer a private tenant architecture for SaaS protection based on Microsoft Azure, ensuring dedicated resources to eliminate conflicts and ensure data sovereignty.
  • Veritas Alta Data Compliance is deployed exclusively on Microsoft Azure around the world. This tight integration allows Veritas to extend its datacenter footprint to accommodate needs for data sovereignty in different regions of the world, in as little as three weeks.

Gabriel Muñoz, information technology director at Alestra, said: “Evaluating security and cyber resiliency solutions from multiple vendors in different proof-of-concept evaluations is time consuming and frustrating. Knowing that we can select products from Veritas and Microsoft that have been pre-tested and validated will free us from that burden and allow us to cut to the chase, so we’re protected faster from emerging cyber-resiliency threats.” 

Veritas is also a member of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA), which is an ecosystem of independent software vendors and managed security service providers that have integrated their solutions to better defend against a world of increasing cyber threats. Currently, Veritas Alta and NetBackup are validated as part of MISA.

About Veritas 
Veritas Technologies is the leader in secure multi-cloud data management. Over 80,000 customers—including 91% of the Fortune 100—rely on Veritas to help ensure the protection, recoverability, and compliance of their data. Veritas has a reputation for reliability at scale, which delivers the resilience its customers need against the disruptions threatened by cyberattacks, like ransomware. No other vendor is able to match Veritas’ ability to execute, with support for 800+ data sources, 100+ operating systems and 1,400+ storage targets through a single, unified approach. Powered by Cloud Scale Technology, Veritas is delivering today on its strategy for Autonomous Data Management that reduces operational overhead while delivering greater value. Learn more at veritas.com. Follow us on X at @veritastechllc. 

Veritas and the Veritas Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Veritas Technologies LLC or its affiliates in the US and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. 

PR Newswire

New GenAI Capabilities Announced at Deltek ProjectCon 2023

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Deltek gave attendees a deep dive on its purposeful AI-fueled innovation to help power its customers’ project success

HERNDON, Va., Oct. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Deltek, the leading global provider of software and solutions for project-based businesses, unveiled its latest product innovations to a live audience at Deltek ProjectCon. Deltek wrapped up its annual customer conference with resounding success, held October 16-18 in Orlando, Florida. Deltek gathered over 3,400 customers, product experts, employees, sponsors, partners and analysts for the 3-day event.

Taking center stage, Deltek executives and product experts presented attendees with a deeper look into Deltek’s capabilities and the benefit of adding elements of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) to its solutions to fuel purposeful capabilities. These advancements are part of Deltek’s ongoing commitment to deliver solutions that connect and automate the project lifecycle for customers.

Warren Linscott, Deltek’s Chief Product Officer, and Dinakar Hituvalli, Deltek’s Chief Technology Officer, shared that over the past 18 months, as GenAI technology has evolved, Deltek has been exploring its capabilities to generate content, inform decisions, and automate action. The company’s focus remains on developing smarter project lifecycle imperatives and enabling project-based businesses to be more informed, productive, and profitable.

Deltek is evolving its solutions to leverage GenAI to:

  • Organize high volumes of data and distill it into concise insights in the form of executive summaries.
  • Introduce predictive capabilities into everyday processes including predicting resource needs for faster project staffing and hiring.
  • Leverage a Deltek Digital Assistant to help users explore information, perform tasks, and educate themselves through natural language interactions.

Announcements at Deltek ProjectCon

At the event, Deltek showcased some of the GenAI features that have been released or are coming soon to its solutions, such as:

  • GovWin IQ Smart Summaries: GovWin IQ has over 1,100 Federal Agency profiles and 100,000+ SLED Government Profiles that contain a rich set of data about spending, contractors, and other characteristics. Smart Summaries leverage GenAI to create an executive summary of these profiles in real-time saving hours versus creating this information manually.  This feature is currently available in GovWin IQ.
  • Vantagepoint Client Summaries: Client Smart Summary leverages GenAI to provide an all-encompassing snapshot of a client’s status and history right at their fingertips. It includes an executive summary with general information about a client. This feature has been released in the latest version of Vantagepoint for licensed Vantagepoint CRM customers.
  • Costpoint Predictive Labor Forecasting: Many organizations have the challenge of predicting what resources they will need for which project and when based on opportunities that may close and current work. Predictive Labor Forecasting will predict the anticipated needs of the workforce and help to automate planning tasks. This feature is currently planned for release in 2024.
  • PM Compass Narrative Smart Score: PPM’s first GenAI powered feature, the PM Compass Narrative Smart Score, will help assess the quality and completeness of variance narratives before submission for review. Variance reporting is time consuming and challenging for contractors that must comply with EVM. The PM Compass Narrative Smart Score will dramatically improve the quality of variation narratives. This feature is currently planned for release in 2024.
  • Talent Management: Talent Management’s GenAI for Job Requisitions will assist in the creation of a job requisition when one does not yet exist and provide updated suggestions to existing requisitions to reflect current job market trends. This enhancement will help to streamline recruitment tasks and make recruiter actions more efficient. This feature is currently planned for release in 2024.
  • Deltek Digital Assistant for Costpoint and Vantagepoint: Deltek introduced Hey Deltek several years ago using NLP (Natural Language Processing). Hey Deltek is evolving to our new GenAI Deltek Digital Assistant – a single user facing solution that will be able to answer “how to” questions about product usage and about data entities like contracts or projects and carry out simple tasks like sending an email to a project manager with overdue tasks.

“Generative AI is a powerful tool that will revolutionize how project-based businesses operate. By harnessing the capabilities of artificial intelligence, we aim to empower our customers with smarter, more data-driven insights and decision-making tools. We are committed to purposeful innovation and incorporating emerging technology for our customers and we’re continuously evaluating those trends to make our products easier to use and add features and functionality that help our customers achieve greater business efficiency and productivity,” said Linscott.

To learn more about Deltek’s GenAI capabilities and other product information, visit Deltek.com.

About Deltek

Better software means better projects. Deltek is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for project-based businesses. More than 30,000 organizations and millions of users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek for superior levels of project intelligence, management, and collaboration. Our industry-focused expertise powers project success by helping firms achieve performance that maximizes productivity and revenue. www.deltek.com

Deltek Contact
Media Relations Team
press@deltek.com

PR Newswire

TIER IV certified in Level 4 autonomous driving: Sharing its design and process with partners

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TOKYO, Oct. 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — TIER IV, a pioneer in open-source autonomous driving (AD) technology, proudly announces its successful Level 4*1 certification for “AI Pilot*2,” an AD system operating without a human driver at the GLP ALFALINK Sagamihara, a large-scale logistics campus in Greater Tokyo, in accordance with the Road Transport Vehicle Act. Roads within the GLP ALFALINK Sagamihara are regulated by the Road Traffic Act, and used by pedestrians and vehicles. This is the first case for a system that conducts perception, prediction and planning using the AD systems, without any dependence on road infrastructure, to obtain the Level 4 certification in such an environment. Following the guidelines for customizing Level 4 commercial autonomous vehicles published in June 2023, TIER IV commits to sharing the process and design for this certification as a solution for its partners that aim to develop AD systems, contributing significantly to the realization of autonomous driving.

This project is positioned as the first effort toward the Japanese government’s goal of the national autonomous driving project, and the certification has been granted for “AI Pilot”, an AD system that is developed by TIER IV. “AI Pilot” consists of open-source software, “Autoware*3,” alongside a sensor system, a computer system, and an in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) system, which can be equipped with various vehicle models.

Through continued research and development as well as evaluation and verification, TIER IV aims to further advance functions and performance of AD systems. Building upon the Level 4 certification obtained under the Road Transport Vehicle Act, TIER IV is poised to utilize its knowledge for the mass production and development of electric vehicles (EVs). Pursuing Level 4 certifications in urban areas nationwide in Japan, TIER IV is taking the lead in the deployment of AD systems towards the government’s goal of establishing over 50 locations with driverless services in Japan by 2025, and over 100 locations by 2027.

*1 In Japan, Level 4 is considered to be fully driverless autonomous driving, which means that a vehicle can handle most driving situations independently, under specific conditions, on public roads.

*2 AI Pilot is a registered trademark of TIER IV.

*3 Autoware is a registered trademark of the Autoware Foundation.

About TIER IV

TIER IV, the creator of Autoware, the world’s first and widely acclaimed open-source autonomous driving (AD) software, is at the forefront of the research and development of AD technology. The company provides cutting-edge technology solutions, including software and hardware across multiple platforms, that enable the safe and efficient development of autonomous driving. TIER IV is committed to the societal implementation of AD technology, driven by their vision of “the art of open source – reimagine intelligent vehicles”.

As a founding member of the Autoware Foundation (AWF), TIER IV leverages Autoware’s capabilities and collaborates with partners worldwide. Through the ecosystem powered by Autoware, the company aims to expand the potential of AD technology, involving individuals, organizations, and all stakeholders, as they strive for the realization of a better society.

Media Contact
pr@tier4.jp

Business Inquires
l4ride@tier4.jp