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PR Newswire

Lion Announces Response to SEC Guidance Issued on April 12, 2021 Applicable to Warrants Issued by Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”)

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HONG KONG, June 12, 2021 — Lion Group Holding Ltd. ("Lion" or "the Company") (NASDAQ: LGHL), operator of an all-in-one trading platform that offers a wide spectrum of products and services with a focus on Chinese investors, announced today in a Current Report on Form 6-K, that as a result of recently issued guidance provided by the Division of Corporate Finance of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on April 12, 2021 for all SPAC-related companies regarding the classification of their warrants for accounting and reporting purposes (the "SEC Statement"), it will restate its previously issued consolidated financial statements included on the Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2020.

The restatement pertains to the accounting treatment for public and private warrants (the "Public Warrants" and "Private Warrants") issued in connection with the initial public offering of Proficient Alpha Acquisition Corp. ("PAAC") and recorded to the Company’s consolidated financial statements as a result of the Company’s merger with PAAC, a SPAC and legal predecessor of the Company, and Lion Financial Group Limited on June 16, 2020 (the "Business Combination").

Consistent with market practice among SPACs, the Company had been accounting for the Public and Private Warrants as equity. However, consistent with the recent SEC Statement, the Company intends to restate certain of its historical financial statements such that the Public and Private Warrants are accounted for as liabilities and marked-to-market each reporting period (the "restatement"). In general, under the mark-to-market accounting model, as the stock price increases, the fair value of the warrant liabilities increases, and the Company recognizes additional non-operating expense in its income statement – with the opposite effect when the stock price declines.

The Company does not anticipate the restatement to impact its previously communicated non-GAAP operating metrics for 2020.

As a result of the restatement and the decrease in the Company’s stock price over the applicable period, the Company expects to recognize incremental non-operating income of approximately $0.8 million for the period from June 16, 2020 through December 31, 2020. There will be no impact to the Company’s previously reported net cash flow.

The following provides additional detail regarding how the Company currently anticipates the restatement will impact its consolidated financial statements:

  • Opening Balance Sheet Impacts — As of the date of the Business Combination (June 16, 2020), the fair value of the Public and Private Warrants will be reflected as warrant liabilities in the balance sheet with a corresponding offset in Additional paid-in-capital in equity.
  • Income Statement Impacts — Subsequent to the close of the Business Combination, any change in the fair value of the Public and Private Warrants is recognized in the income statement below operating profit as "Change in fair value of warrant liabilities" with a corresponding amount recognized in the balance sheet. (In the Company’s case, this is recognized as warrant liabilities below current liabilities in the balance sheet).
  • Balance Sheet Impacts — As is noted above, the balance of the warrant liabilities on the balance sheet reflects the fair value of the Warrants.
  • Cash Flow Impacts — The impact of the changes in fair value of the Public and Private Warrants has no impact on net cash provided by (used for) operating activities.
  • Statement of Equity Impacts — The impact to Additional paid-in-capital as of the opening balance sheet is highlighted above.

These estimates are subject to change as management completes the restatement, and the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm has not audited or reviewed these estimates. As a result, the expected financial impact described above is preliminary and subject to change.

Finally, as of today, the Company has approximately 11.5 million Public Warrants and 5.4 million Private Warrants outstanding. No Public or Private Warrants have been exercised or redeemed since originally issued.

About Lion

Lion Group Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ: LGHL) operates an all-in-one trading platform that offers a wide spectrum of products and services with a focus on Chinese investors. Through its state-of-the-art technology, Lion offers contract-for-difference (CFD) trading, insurance brokerage, futures brokerage, and securities brokerage on its platform, which can be accessed through applications available on the iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS systems. Lion’s customers are well-educated and affluent Chinese individual investors residing both inside and outside the PRC as well as institutional clients in Hong Kong. Additional information may be found at http://ir.liongrouphl.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Lion’s actual results may differ from their expectations, estimates and projections and consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as "expect," "estimate," "project," "budget," "forecast," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "may," "will," "could," "should," "believes," "predicts," "potential," "might" and "continues," and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, Lion’s expectations with respect to future performance and anticipated financial impacts of the Business combination, the satisfaction of the closing conditions to the business combination and the timing of the completion of the business combination. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results. Most of these factors are outside the control of Lion and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (1) the inability to maintain the listing of the post-acquisition company’s ADSs on NASDAQ following the business combination; (2) the risk that the business combination disrupts current plans and operations as a result of the announcement and consummation of the transactions described herein; (3) the inability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the business combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of the combined company to grow and manage growth profitably and retain its key employees; (4) costs related to the business combination; (5) changes in applicable laws or regulations; (6) the possibility that Lion may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; and (7) other risks and uncertainties to be identified in the proxy statement/prospectus relating to the business combination, including those under "Risk Factors" therein, and in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") made by Lion. Lion cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. Lion cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Lion does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, subject to applicable law.

Contacts

Lion Group Holding
Tel: +852 2820 9011
Email: ir@liongrouphl.com 

ICR, LLC
William Zima
Tel: +1 203 682 8233
Email: ir@liongrouphl.com

Related Links :

http://www.liongrouphl.com

PR Newswire

Fragomen Acquires Nomadic to Deliver Innovative Business Visa Solution to Clients

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Nomadic’s superior short-term business visa tech platform and consular service capabilities fit perfectly with Fragomen’s unparalleled global knowledge and immigration experience

NEW YORK, June 3, 2021 — In a move that will further enhance its client-facing technology offerings, leading global immigration firm Fragomen announced today it has acquired Nomadic, a provider of technology-led, innovative solutions for short-term travel compliance. Nomadic will become an integral new component of Fragomen Technologies Inc.

By leveraging Nomadic technology, Fragomen will introduce innovative solutions to business traveler management, from pre-travel assessment through visa applications, including compliance filings in the travel destination, if necessary.

"The acquisition of Nomadic helps us meet our clients’ immigration and mobility needs while further strengthening our business over the long term," said Fragomen Chairman Austin T. Fragomen, Jr. "Our clients around the world are facing challenges at every turn. With Nomadic in the Fragomen Technologies Inc. fold, we can provide them with holistic, best-in-class solutions for their short-term travel and immigration needs."

Key features of Nomadic’s technology include:

  • Pre-travel compliance assessment that draws on Fragomen knowledge with data points from over 170 countries
  • Automated filing of online applications using Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to ensure a precise and accelerated process
  • Unique traveler profile that securely retains traveler history and data, removing the need to re-enter information
  • GPS functionality, where desired, can be enabled to monitor the traveler’s real-time location in the current immigration jurisdiction
  • API integration that can incorporate data in the tool into client systems and reporting tools
  • New post-pandemic travel requirements will be incorporated as jurisdictions emerge from the global health crisis
  • Regional enhancements will be released that address specific local compliance needs (including Posted Workers in Europe)

Together, the companies will work with clients to develop service models that complement and supplement in-house immigration functions, while ensuring the benefits of enhanced user experience, market-competitive pricing and increased efficiency.

In the pre-Covid-19 global immigration landscape, business travel and short-term movement was becoming ever more important. Although the pandemic halted most business travel in 2020, major markets are beginning to recover and travel restrictions are being lifted. As global travel opens once more, comprehensive oversight of business visits and cross-border moves will be mission critical for Fragomen’s clients.

"There is an incontrovertible link between short-term travel and workforce planning," said Lance Kaplan, Managing Partner of Fragomen’s International Practice Group. "Given the expected post-COVID climate, it’s going to be increasingly important for employers to actively manage their short-term travel programs—and know exactly where their employees are at any time. By combining Fragomen’s knowledge and experience with Nomadic’s cutting-edge technology, we’ll be able to provide a single, cost-effective solution for our clients’ needs."

"Nomadic’s alignment with a firm as strong as Fragomen gives both organizations the opportunity to provide wing-to-wing immigration services to the international business community," said Brendan Ryan, CEO of Nomadic. "The business travel market has been shifting toward increased use of short-term travel options. We are thrilled to introduce an innovative and cost-effective short-term travel solution to the market and, following our acquisition of The Visa Team in the UK and UAE, we plan to expand our footprint and end-to-end business visa execution capability. We are excited to bring Nomadic to Fragomen’s clients and the business community in general."

About Fragomen

Fragomen, a global immigration firm and member of the Am Law 100 and Am Law Global 100, is a leading firm dedicated exclusively to immigration services worldwide. The firm has more than 4,200 immigration professionals and support staff in more than 50 offices across the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific. Fragomen offers immigration support in more than 170 countries.

As a longtime leader in the immigration technology space, the firm supports all aspects of global immigration, including program management, strategic planning, quality management, compliance, government relations, case processing and program reporting. These capabilities allow Fragomen to represent a broad range of companies and organizations of all sizes as well as individuals, working in partnership with clients to facilitate the transfer of employees worldwide. For more information, please visit www.fragomen.com.

About Nomadic

Nomadic is a business focused on global short-term immigration compliance management and transactional delivery, using innovative technology solutions to reduce costs and improve service. Nomadic was founded by experienced professionals in the immigration industry who understand the importance of technology solutions in this market sector. www.gonomadic.com

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PR Newswire

uCloudlink’s GlocalMe® to Provide New Rental Service to US Customers

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NEW YORK, May 28, 2021 — GlocalMe®, a product and service brand of UCLOUDLINK GROUP INC. (NASDAQ: UCL, "uCloudlink" or "the Company"), the world’s first and leading mobile data traffic sharing marketplace, has announced its new rental service for customers in the U.S. as the world’s largest economy has seen gradual travel recovery recently.

The travel market is on its way to recovery as COVID-19 vaccinations being distributed globally. It is reported that domestic leisure travel in the U.S. is rebounding as the summer season approaches. Also, the EU has planned a summer opening for vaccinated tourists.

"Our customers have higher demands of traveling domestically or abroad than last year," said Victor Xu, Chief Sales Officer at uCloudlink. "With the new rental service, we hope to provide U.S. consumers with smooth and secure WiFi connection services, whether by owning a personal WiFi hotspot device or renting a device for a short trip. It is still a priority for them to have a superior connection to the Internet and stay informed as there is still some uncertainty. For now, we have put the US domestic market, European countries, as well as Caribbean islands on our top list of launching the new rental service."

GlocalMe® is updating its website and the new rental section will be exclusively available on the GlocalMe® website. For all existing users, the Company has pledged to continue offering the same and even upgraded services and data plans. Users can expect better data rates and more flexibility to use the WiFi services of GlocalMe®. GlocalMe® also has a trade-in program in place for those who would like to obtain the latest cutting-edge devices.

GlocalMe® will also offer more perks to retain users with an up to 40% off discount available to all GlocalMe® and current Roaming Man users — from May 28 to May 31— for device purchases, selected data plans and rental services, among others.

"Our main reasoning behind the upgrade lies in GlocalMe’s strategy to deliver a unified message along with consistent and flexible services for our customers. With our ‘Always Better Connected’ vision constantly in our mind’s eye, we aim to consistently improve our services for our global clients," said Xu.

The new GlocalMe® rental service reflects uCloudlink’s ambition to expand its business and better serve the U.S. market. It is also likely to bring the Company a stronger voice for its global networks. With a more unified marketing image, uCloudlink is expected to significantly benefit from the integration and reach more deals and collaborations with partners and mobile carriers to form a sound ecosystem in the industry.

This is just part of the Company’s slew of actions to expand its business. For example, it recently announced a plan to broaden its business by harnessing new applications powered by its patented CloudSIM technology to extend its offerings. As such, GlocalMe® is working to make a splash in the internet-of-things space in sectors such as cross-border trade, cold chain storage and logistics control, among others.

About UCLOUDLINK GROUP INC.

uCloudlink is the world’s first and leading mobile data traffic sharing marketplace, pioneering the sharing economy business model for the telecommunications industry. The Company’s products and services deliver unique value propositions to mobile data users, handset and smart-hardware companies, mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and mobile network operators (MNOs). Leveraging its innovative CloudSIM technology and architecture, the Company has redefined the mobile data connectivity experience by allowing users to gain access to mobile data traffic allowance shared by network operators on its marketplace, while providing reliable connectivity, high speeds and competitive pricing.

Carina Cheung
carina-pr@ucloudlink.com  

Related Links :

http://www.glocalme.com

PR Newswire

Precision Aviation Group, Inc. (PAG) acquires Keystone Turbine Services, LLC. (KTS)

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PAG expands its Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) capabilities to include the Rolls-Royce M250 Engine.

ATLANTA, May 24, 2021 — Precision Aviation Group, Inc. (PAG), a leading provider of products and value-added services to the Worldwide Aerospace and Defense industry, announced today the acquisition of Keystone Turbine Services (KTS) of Coatesville, Pennsylvania. KTS specializes in providing complete OEM-approved aftermarket Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul ("MRO") services for operators of the Rolls-Royce M250 series of gas turbine engines, along with related Honeywell and Triumph accessories plus component, spare parts, and field service support.

David Mast, President & CEO of PAG stated, "We are excited about adding KTS to the Precision Aviation Group of Companies.  The addition of KTS increases PAG’s repair stations to 12 worldwide, and further diversifies our MRO Capabilities by expanding our services into the Rolls-Royce M250 Engine.  Like PAG, KTS has a history of delivering exceptional customer service, industry leading products, and cost-effective repair solutions for its customers. Through our strategically located Repair Stations that provide a vast array of Rotary Wing specific MRO Services worldwide, our combined organizations will now be better equipped to provide Rolls-Royce M250 operators additional support."

Rob Ruck, former COO of KTS, commented, "KTS is very enthusiastic about joining PAG as they plan to further expand KTS’s product and service offerings, make significant investments towards new products, update processes, and introduce new repair capabilities. We have worked closely with PAG’s management team throughout this acquisition process and believe this partnership will provide significant benefits to our customers, vendors, and employees." 

Precision Aviation Group (PAG) is a leading provider of products and value-added services to the worldwide aerospace and defense industry. With 12 Repair Stations, and over 450,000-square-feet of sales and service facilities in the United States, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Brazil – PAG uses its distinct business units and customer-focused business model to serve aviation customers through two business functions – Aviation Supply Chain – and its trademarked Inventory Supported Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (ISMRO®). 

PAG provides MRO and Supply Chain Solutions for Fixed and Rotary-wing aircraft. PAG subsidiaries have MRO capabilities on over 32,000 products, including Accessories, Avionics, Dynamic Components, Engines, Fuel Accessories, Glass Panel Displays, Hydraulics, Instruments, Landing Gear, Starter/Generators, and Wheels/Brakes. (www.precisionaviationgroup.com ).

About Keystone Turbine Services (KTS)

With over 45 years of experience, KTS is Rolls-Royce’s second-largest certificated Authorized Maintenance Repair & Overhaul Center (AMROC) supporting all variants of the M250 Series engine, modules, accessories, and components. In addition, KTS is an FAA and EASA certificated Part 145 Repair Station and Honeywell Authorized Warranty and Repair Station (AWARS) for Overhaul, Repair and Testing of Rolls-Royce M250, Pratt & Whitney PT6A and PT6T Fuel Controls, Power Turbine Governors, and related accessories.  (www.keystoneturbines.com).

Keystone Turbine Service employees work on engine parts and assemblies.
Keystone Turbine Service employees work on engine parts and assemblies.

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PR Newswire

Emeritus Expands into K12 through Acquisition of iD Tech Bringing Equitable STEM Education to Adults and Youth Globally

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The companies will bring expert instruction in STEM fields to individuals worldwide, with a shared goal of bridging the STEM opportunity gap

SINGAPORE and MUMBAI, India, May 20, 2021 — Emeritus, the global leader in making high-quality education accessible and affordable to individuals, companies, and governments around the world, announced today a definitive agreement to acquire iD Tech, the world leader in youth STEM education for $200 million. The acquisition, which is being made through Emeritus’ parent company Eruditus, marks Emeritus’ expansion into K12 STEM education, as the company grows to prepare individuals of all ages to succeed in the workforce, and positions Emeritus as one of the largest and fastest growing skilling platforms. Upon the closing of the transaction, iD Tech will operate independently, maintaining its all-star team of instructors and employees. Emeritus and iD Tech’s distinct, yet highly complementary, offerings will be scaled to support a global audience with improved learning experiences.

STEM career opportunities are projected to grow exponentially, with an estimated 3.5 million jobs in the U.S. alone that need to be filled by 2025. With offerings from both companies in coding, math, game development, robotics and more, Emeritus and iD Tech are positioned to make STEM learning more accessible, paving the way for brighter futures in STEM occupations.

"Emeritus is in the business of teaching the skills of the future like AR/VR, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, software engineering, design thinking and leadership to professionals," said Ashwin Damera, co-founder and CEO, pointing to the company’s more than 200 short courses, online degree programs, boot camps and CXO programs offered in collaboration with more than 50 of the world’s top universities. "We believe that proficiency and mastery of these skills should begin in K12, and that iD Tech will be instrumental as we jointly pursue our goal of closing STEM skills gaps globally. Their long-term learning system is a perfect complement to what we offer adult learners and will allow us to create a formidable life-long learning ecosystem. Moreover, as a female founded family company, with strong DEI initiatives and a mission-driven culture, the iD Tech team is inspiring and we’re excited to be working together."

Pete Ingram-Cauchi, CEO of iD Tech, echoed these sentiments, noting that "more and more kids are experiencing STEM touchpoints in their daily lives, whether it’s coding in their favorite video games or 3D printing mask extenders. The pandemic accelerated interest in STEM fields, and we have been ecstatic to see more interested learners exploring and mastering this space. Both iD Tech and Emeritus share the belief that such offerings will only continue to grow in interest, and we are confident that we can open access for people everywhere to our courses and instructors."

Damera explained that Emeritus’ global reach — its university partnerships and corporate clients span North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Southeast Asia, and 3x growth in emerging markets — combined with the fact that iD Tech has students from 135 countries and all 50 states in the US, makes for an unprecedented life-long learning proposition for students and professionals worldwide. It positions individuals for success, starting in elementary school and continuing throughout their professional careers. Students are supported and inspired by iD Tech’s programs with 97% of students going on to attend a four-year college (nine out of 10 of whom study STEM), and 90% saying that iD Tech impacted their long-term goals. 

Emeritus and iD Tech share a pedagogical approach rooted in positive learner outcomes. Whether delivered online or in-person, learning programs from both companies are recognized for their innovative content, hands-on instruction and mentoring initiatives, and their accessibility and affordability. While virtual courses are the present focus, both companies will also continue to expand their in-person programs, many taking place at top universities, in the US and globally in 2022.

About Emeritus
Emeritus is committed to teaching the skills of the future by making high-quality education accessible and affordable to individuals, companies, and governments around the world. It does this by collaborating with more than 50 top-tier universities across the United States, Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, India and China.  Emeritus’ short courses, degree programs, boot camps, and senior executive programs help individuals learn new skills and transform their lives, companies and organizations.  Its unique model of state-of-the-art technology, curriculum innovation, and hands-on instruction from senior faculty, mentors and coaches educates more than 100,000 students per year across 80 countries. Founded in 2015, Emeritus, part of Eruditus Learning Solutions has more than 1,000 employees globally and offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Shanghai, Singapore, Palo Alto, Mexico City, New York, Boston, London, and Dubai. The company has raised over $160 million in capital and is backed by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia India, Leeds Illuminate, and Prosus Ventures. Learn more at Emeritus.org and Emeritus LinkedIn.

About iD Tech
iD Tech is the world leader in youth STEM education and believes that all students deserve quality tech education. The family company was founded by a mother-daughter duo over 20 years ago in Silicon Valley and operates year-round online programs, in addition to summer camps at more than 150 top universities worldwide. Course topics include coding, 3D modeling, artificial intelligence, robotics, and game design. iD Tech is dedicated to bridging the digital divide and is committed to gender diversity. Since its inception, iD Tech has donated more than $6 million in life-changing educational experiences to underrepresented communities. For more information, visit www.iDTech.com.

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PR Newswire

Clubessential Holdings Announces Acquisition of Exerp, ApS

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Acquisition of Europe-based Exerp positions Clubessential Holdings, a Battery Ventures-backed investment, as clear global leader in SaaS membership solutions for enterprise fitness operators

CINCINNATI, May 15, 2021 — Clubessential Holdings, the leading provider of enterprise-membership and club-management software solutions to the private- and public-clubs, college-athletic, health and fitness, and parks and recreation markets, today announced the strategic acquisition of Exerp, the market leader in member-management systems for enterprise-fitness operators. Already a major provider of membership- and club-management SaaS solutions for boutique fitness franchisors, under its ClubReady brand, this acquisition expands Clubessential Holdings’ international presence to serving over 6,000 fitness clubs, and 7 million members, in 17 countries.

Exerp, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, specializes in providing enterprise-class membership-management software systems to large, global fitness brands, including Lifetime Fitness, SATS, Virgin Active and PureGym. 40% of the biggest fitness operators in Europe run on Exerp. The Exerp platform acts as the centralized information source and member database for payment collection, bookings reporting, business analytics and customer-relations management. It has been developed over more than 15 years in partnership with their clients and integrates a wealth of best practices from the fitness and leisure industry.

"For the past 15 years, the Exerp team has been on a mission to make the world healthier and happier by shaping the fitness industry," said Rémi Nodet, CEO & CTO, Exerp. "Our goal is to be the trusted partner helping leading health club operators enable their digital transformation. We’re very excited to have found a business partner in Clubessential Holdings that shares our vision and commitment to exceptional customer service and will help accelerate our growth around the world."

For five years, Clubessential Holdings has developed a portfolio of companies, including ClubReady, Vermont Systems, PrestoSports, foreUP and Clubessential, offering a variety of forward-thinking technology and services which help more than 10,000 customers attract members, build loyalty, enhance operational efficiency, and deliver remarkable experiences. The acquisition of Exerp, in partnership with sister company ClubReady, positions Clubessential Holdings to serve over 6,000 fitness clubs globally.

"We’re thrilled to welcome Rémi, the Exerp team and their many outstanding fitness brands to Clubessential Holdings," said Randy Eckels, CEO. "Easy access to health & fitness resources, in the palm of your hand, has never been more important to gym members than it is today. We look forward to helping Exerp expand its central position as the enterprise platform of choice for assisting leading global fitness brands in their digital transformation initiatives."

Clubessential Holdings, LLC

Clubessential Holdings is a Battery Ventures company, fulfilling its global mission of investing in and creating cutting-edge, category-defining businesses by providing a full suite of membership and club management Software as a Service solutions to private clubs, public golf courses, health & fitness clubs, military organizations, municipalities, and college athletic programs. Across five brands – Clubessential, foreUP, ClubReady, PrestoSports, and Vermont Systems – the company offers a variety of forward-thinking technology and services which help more than 10,000 customers attract, engage, and retain club and community members and fans for life. For more information, visit the Clubessential Holdings website.

Exerp

Exerp, a Danish company founded in 2003, is an enterprise-level club-management software developer and servicer for the health and fitness Industry where it has specialised in solutions to meet the scalability, governance, and automation requirements of large, multi-site gym operators. Exerp’s business platform is built around a highly configurable back-end, offering unmatched flexibility as well as functional breadth to serve more than 6 million members at many of the largest operators in North America, EMEA and Australia. The Exerp platform offers a full-fledged API for seamless differentiation on top of a functional palette with more than 50 standard modules within subscription and price management, finance and billing, activity and resource bookings, communications, online services, DWH & BI, and branded member and staff mobile apps. Exerp’s software is supplied as a service, delivered and constantly optimised by an international team of data, application and implementation consultants. For more information, please visit www.exerp.com

Battery Ventures

Battery partners with exceptional founders and management teams developing category-defining businesses in markets including software and services, enterprise infrastructure, online marketplaces, healthcare IT and industrial technology. Founded in 1983, the firm backs companies at all stages, ranging from seed and early to growth and buyout, and invests globally from six strategic locations: Boston; San Francisco and Menlo Park, Calif.; Herzliya, Israel; London; and New York. Follow the firm on Twitter @BatteryVentures, visit our website at www.battery.com and find a full list of Battery’s portfolio companies here.

CONTACT:

Marilyn Cox
Vice President of Marketing
Clubessential Holdings, LLC
513.322.4194
mcox@clubessential.com

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PR Newswire

E-commerce Aggregator, Una Brands, raises USD40 million in Seed Round from heavy hitters to acquire and scale brands in APAC

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SINGAPORE, May 6, 2021 — Singapore-based e-commerce startup, Una Brands, today announced that it has raised a USD40 million Seed Round of equity and debt financing, in one of the biggest seed funding rounds seen regionally. Una Brands will use the capital to buy and scale e-commerce brands based in APAC.

 

Una Brands Singapore-based Co-Founders (from left to right): Tobias Heusch, Kiren Tanna and Kushal Patel
Una Brands Singapore-based Co-Founders (from left to right): Tobias Heusch, Kiren Tanna and Kushal Patel

Kiren Tanna, former CEO of Rocket Internet Asia and Founder of foodpanda and ZEN Rooms, founded Una Brands in 2020. Kiren is backed by four other Co-Founders spread across APAC, namely Adrian Johnston, Kushal Patel, Tobias Heusch and Srinivasan Shridharan.

Kiren Tanna, CEO of Una Brands sees enormous regional growth potential: "We estimate that there are more than 10 million third-party sellers on regional platforms across APAC. The COVID lockdown created a huge surge in e-commerce demand, with a peak demand increase of over 100 per cent in many cases. The lockdown encouraged many people to try shopping online for the first time and has created a behavioural shift in consumer habits."

The funding round, backed by leading global investors, includes 500 Startups, Kingsway Capital, 468 Capital, Presight Capital, Global Founders Capital amongst others. Una Brands has also secured investment from Maximilian Bittner, currently CEO of Vestiaire Collective and former CEO of Lazada.

Khailee Ng, Managing Partner at 500 Startups, believes that Kiren and the team have the technical and personal experience to make Una Brand a global leader in e-commerce. "They are experienced, mature Co-Founders with a track record in creating speed, scale and success," explained Khailee. He added, "Why we invested in Una Brands goes beyond that. Kiren and his team have the right approach, there is a huge and growing e-commerce market in APAC and there is a huge opportunity for consolidation and optimisation."

About Una Brands

Una Brands was founded by e-commerce experts, to provide a fast and fair way for e-commerce business owners to sell their companies. Una Brands buys businesses with a long-term competitive advantage and strong brands and grows them in new markets and on new platforms. Una Brands is platform agnostic, acquiring businesses across leading e-commerce platforms including Amazon, Lazada, Shopee, Shopify and more. For more information on Una Brands, visit https://www.una-brands.com.

For press inquiries, please contact:

Asia PR Werkz
Kimberley Pereira
+65 9226 0061
kimberley@asiaprwerkz.com 

Related Links :

https://www.una-brands.com

PR Newswire

InvestCloud acquires Advicent and the NaviPlan platform

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Strategic acquisition cements InvestCloud as the leader in financial planning technology, offering a unified digital experience across all wealth segments

LOS ANGELES, May 6, 2021 — InvestCloud, the global leader in cloud-based financial digital solutions, has announced a strategic acquisition of Advicent, the premier cash flow, trust and tax financial planning provider.

Advicent, a Vista Equity Partners portfolio company, provides financial planning technology for over 140,000 financial professionals across nearly 3,000 firms worldwide. Through its NaviPlan platform, Advicent creates scalable financial planning software through industry-leading APIs as well as cash flow and goal-based planning engines. It aims to help thousands of financial professionals and their clients understand and impact their financial future. Advicent’s global headquarters are in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and its European base is in the Netherlands.

InvestCloud is a global company specializing in digital platforms that enable the development of financial solutions, pre-integrated into the Cloud. It supports over $4 trillion of assets for more than 500 direct clients – including some of the world’s largest banks. The company offers on-demand client experiences and intuitive operations solutions using an ever-expanding library of modular apps, to create powerful products.

The acquisition aims to create the world’s leading financial planning solution. It does this by bridging the advisor-client communication gap by combining Advicent’s cash flow, trust and tax financial planning engines with InvestCloud’s digital client and advisor platform and existing market leading goal-based financial planning engines.

The acquisition comes as market volatility has accelerated a focus on financial planning – a market worth $52.9 billion in the US alone, and predicted to grow 3.5 percent in 2021. Advisors require connected experiences for their clients to enable seamless integration from financial plans to proposals, and on to implementation. The acquisition will give advisors a full-scope unified platform to achieve this, alongside providing client management and ongoing maintenance functions. It will offer a comprehensive digital experience across an advisor’s entire book of business, from mass affluent to ultra-high-net-worth individuals.

John Wise, Co-founder and CEO of InvestCloud, said: "InvestCloud’s planning engine will be enhanced with the combination of Advicent (NaviPlan). Advicent is a highly differentiated planning engine covering the simple goal-based assessments that most of the known financial planning engines cover; however, and importantly, Advicent also has advanced retirement income scenarios and estate/trust planning focusing on the very difficult planning aspects of tax and cash flow. This will be greatly leveraged by the market-leading InvestCloud planning solutions and platform used by advisors today. The Advicent team has created a great asset which, when combined with InvestCloud’s expertise in Digital Design, Gaming Theory, Decision Theory and Data Science, will accelerate the Advisor experience and drive better adoption and better outcomes. I’m thrilled to welcome Advicent into the InvestCloud family."

Wise continues "I’m delighted that, with the support of our Investment partners Motive Partners and Clearlake Capital, we are able to substantially grow both organically and by enabling great acquisitions such as Advicent."

Angela Pecoraro, CEO of Advicent, said: "We deliberately focused on the most complex components in the functional area of financial planning. InvestCloud is functionally strong and also extremely well known for design of intuitive user experiences. We are delighted to be joining forces with InvestCloud, the world’s best and most comprehensive financial digital platform for wealth, which specializes in intuitive and empathetic digital experiences, visualizations and workflows. The opportunity we see together is massive and our team has thought this for years – how powerful a partnership would be with InvestCloud. As digital plays a more and more critical role in the advisor experience, InvestCloud’s platform will enable our clients to reduce complexities, increase flexibility, and be a game-changing power for client-to-advisor collaboration by applying behavioral science to improve client outcomes."

InvestCloud’s latest acquisition further expands its global client base in North America and Europe, while deepening its dominance within wealth management, trust and estate planning, as well as private banking. The capabilities will be immediately available to InvestCloud’s existing global client base through its Digital App Store. Clients will be able to leverage InvestCloud’s design-first approach to digital and the power of the Advicent engines to create unparalleled empathetic plans for all clients.

About InvestCloud

InvestCloud is a global company specializing in digital platforms that enable the development of financial solutions, pre-integrated into the Cloud. The company offers on-demand client experiences and intuitive operations solutions using an ever-expanding library of modular apps, resulting in powerful products. Headquartered in Los Angeles, InvestCloud has over 20 global offices including New York, London, Geneva, Singapore and Sydney, supporting trillions in assets across hundreds of diverse clients – from the largest banks in the world to wealth managers, asset managers and asset services companies.

For more information, visit InvestCloud.com.

About Advicent

Advicent is the financial planning technology provider of choice for over 140,000 financial professionals across nearly 3,000 firms worldwide, including four of the top five custodians, 15 of the top 25 broker-dealers, seven of the top 10 North American banks, and seven of the top 10 North American insurance firms. Our decades of experience empower Advicent to create scalable financial planning software; compliance workflow management solutions; fully branded client experiences through industry-leading APIs; and superior cash flow and goal-based calculations. Advicent products are designed to satisfy the needs of every investor and are used in firms of all sizes. Through our innovative product capabilities and dedicated services, we are able to help thousands of financial professionals and their clients understand and impact their financial future.

To learn more, visit advicent.com. 

InvestCloud Media Contact:
Rich Went
Metia Group
+44 (0) 7745 496 065
Rich.Went@Metia.com / InvestCloudUK@Metia.com 

Related Links :

http://www.investcloud.com

PR Newswire

IBM to Acquire Turbonomic Building Industry’s Most Comprehensive AIOps Capabilities for Hybrid Cloud

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– Addition of Turbonomic will enable businesses to assure application performance using AI and cut costs by optimizing the deployment of IT resources across development, test and production environments

– Complements IBM’s recent acquisition of Instana and launch of IBM Cloud Pak for Watson AIOps to address AI-driven automation of IT; Powered by Red Hat OpenShift to run applications on any cloud

ARMONK, N.Y., April 30, 2021 — IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Turbonomic, an Application Resource Management (ARM) and Network Performance Management (NPM) software provider based in Boston, MA. The acquisition will provide businesses with full stack application observability and management to assure performance and minimize costs using AI to optimize resources – such as containers, VMs, servers, storage, networks, and databases. This will ensure they can dynamically and more efficiently assess and manage the performance of any application, anywhere. Financial details were not disclosed.

The acquisition complements IBM’s recent acquisition of Instana for application performance monitoring (APM) and observability, and the launch of IBM Cloud Pak for Watson AIOps to automate IT Operations using AI. By acquiring Turbonomic, IBM is the only company that will be able to provide customers with AI-powered automation capabilities that span from AIOps (the use of AI to automate IT Operations) to application and infrastructure observability – all built on Red Hat OpenShift to run across any hybrid cloud environment.

"IBM continues to reshape its future as a hybrid cloud and AI company," said Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President, IBM Cloud and Data Platform. "The Turbonomic acquisition is yet another example of our commitment to making the most impactful investments to advance this strategy and ensure customers find the most innovative ways to fuel their digital transformations."

With the acquisition of Turbonomic, IBM will help companies overcome the high costs associated with managing performance and availability for multiple applications sharing an increasingly complex hybrid cloud environment. Given these challenges, organizations are seeking to adopt AIOps for full stack observability and visibility into their IT resources so they can deliver high availability and performance of applications at lower costs.

"We believe that AI-powered automation has become inevitable, helping to make all information-centric jobs more productive," said Dinesh Nirmal, General Manager, IBM Automation. "That’s why IBM continues to invest in providing our customers with a one-stop shop of AI-powered automation capabilities that spans business processes and IT. The addition of Turbonomic now takes our portfolio another major step forward by ensuring customers will have full visibility into what is going on throughout their hybrid cloud infrastructure, and across their entire enterprise."

"Businesses are looking for AI-driven software to help them manage the scale and complexity challenges of running applications cross-cloud," said Ben Nye, CEO, Turbonomic. "Turbonomic not only prescribes actions, but allows customers to take them. The combination of IBM and Turbonomic will continuously assure target application response times even during peak demand."

Turbonomic provides businesses with its ARM software that simultaneously optimizes the performance, compliance, and cost of applications in real-time. Upon close of the acquisition, IBM plans to integrate Turbonomic’s ARM software with the APM and real-time observability capabilities of Instana and the ITOps capabilities of IBM Cloud Pak for Watson AIOps to help customers assure application performance and minimize costs by driving optimization across development, test and production environments.

By integrating Turbonomic ARM with Instana’s APM capabilities, a user will now be able to automate actions to optimize their underlying IT infrastructure and assure performance across applications. The Turbonomic ARM integration with IBM Cloud Pak for Watson AIOps will enrich the ITOps experience in cross-cloud management by bridging an application’s topology to the resources on which it runs. This ensures customers can deliver quicker resolution of incidents or, if resourcing actions are automated, automatically absorb demand spikes with no degradation to end user response time.

Another major benefit for customers is the potential for sustainability improvements related to lower server, facilities and carbon usage afforded by Turbonomic’s ability to continually right size resources, without compromising application performance.

As 5G adoption continues to grow, enterprises are also looking to move workloads to the edge. This is driving networking to be an integral component of the application deployment strategy.  With this acquisition, IBM plans to leverage Turbonomic’s NPM products and strong presence in the telecommunications industry to complement its own offerings and expertise in this area, helping customers intelligently optimize applications running in 5G environments. 

Turbonomic has built and maintains an OEM relationship with Cisco through Cisco Intersight Workload Optimizer.  The acquisition also builds on IBM’s growing investment in its ecosystem of business partners such as Cisco to help customers accelerate their journey to hybrid cloud and AI.

Today’s news underscores IBM’s continued focus on providing organizations with a one-stop shop of AI-powered automation capabilities for business and IT all built on Red Hat OpenShift, helping to automate their entire enterprise, from robotic process automation (RPA), to AIOps, ARM and process mining. This is the latest move in a series of recent IBM acquisitions – including myInvenio, Instana and WDG Automation; ecosystem partnerships; organic R&D – including the launch of Cloud Pak for Watson AIOps; and customer adoption by leading brands -including CaixaBank, PNC Financial Services and Banco Popular.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. It is anticipated the transaction will close in the second quarter of 2021.

For more information on today’s announcement, please visit: www.ibm.com/cloud/blog/ibm-to-acquire-turbonomic 

To learn more about IBM AI-powered Automation, please visit: https://www.ibm.com/automation

Media Contact:
Faye Abloeser
IBM Media Relations
abloeser@us.ibm.com

Sarah Murphy
IBM Media Relations
srmurphy@us.ibm.com 

Related Links :

http://www.ibm.com

PR Newswire

Atome Financial finalises acquisition of financing company amid rapid business expansion in Indonesia

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JAKARTA, Indonesia, March 31, 2021 — Atome Financial has completed its acquisition of local financing company PT Mega Finadana Finance in Indonesia. The acquisition will allow Atome Financial to expand its business in Indonesia through especially consumer financing. Following the acquisition, PT Mega Finadana Finance changed its name to PT Atome Finance Indonesia.

"The acquisition of this licence is testament to our commitment to growing our Indonesia business, and will allow us to better serve our partners and consumers through a range of tailored financing and lending options," said Atome Financial Indonesia CEO Wawan Salum, who explained the strategy to get a licence as a financing company will facilitate expansion across business lines.

"As a group, Atome Financial has emerged from COVID-19 pandemic strongly and is now in a unique position to rapidly expand our services in Indonesia and accelerate financial inclusion among underbanked and underserved segments of the population. Since 2017, Atome Financial has partnered some of the world’s most respected financial institutions who provide over $200 million in funding and credit facilities to propel financial inclusion. Cumulatively, we have served over 5 million users and provided over USD 1 billion of credit to empower merchants and consumers. This licence will not only accelerate our rapid business expansion, but also contributes to a stronger and healthier national lending and financing ecosystem in Indonesia," he added. 

Atome Financial consists of two main business units, Atome and Kredit Pintar. Atome partners some of Indonesia’s largest retailers and e–commerce platforms such as MAP Group (which includes Sephora, Zara, Mango, Pull&Bear, Marks & Spencer, Food Hall and more), JD.ID and iStyle to offer installment payment options with 0% interest over 3 or 6 months across fashion, beauty, lifestyle and health and fitness categories during the checkout transaction. Meanwhile, Kredit Pintar is among Indonesia’s top digital lending apps licensed by OJK, with over 10 million mobile app downloads and a 4.8-star rating on Google Play Store. It was also recently awarded Top Brand Award 2021 by Frontier Group and Majalah Marketing.

Atome Financial’s media kit can be found here.

About Atome Financial

Founded in 2017, Atome Financial is a leading tech company working to break down barriers of traditional banking and promote financial inclusivity through artificial intelligence technology. It consists of two main business lines: Atome, which partners merchant retailers to offer "buy now pay later" options during checkout and is available in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam and mainland China, and Kredit Pintar, one of Indonesia’s top digital lending apps licensed by OJK. In 2019, Atome Financial was named the most trusted technology company in digital payment by the Indonesia Quality Award committee. Atome Financial is headquartered in Singapore with additional offices in Indonesia and China.

Media Contact:

Michael de Waal Montgomery
michael@ellerton.sg