Top destinations for corporate team-building trips

 

DUBLIN, Aug 28 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the "back-to-work" season approaches, companies are replacing virtual meetings with face-to-face retreats to address remote work fatigue and strengthen organizational culture.

To identify where teams can genuinely build connections, Holafly has launched the Global Team-Building Index, ranking destinations based on group activity infrastructure, accessibility, overall experience, and value.

The results identify Lisbon, Portugal as the world's leading destination, driven by its coastal activities, flight connectivity, and competitive costs.

The rise of the active corporate retreat
As hybrid and remote work become permanent, business travel is shifting toward experiential connections. Organizations are prioritizing places where employees can bond outdoors, whether that means sailing together or embarking on scavenger hunts.

The Iberian Peninsula takes the crown
Lisbon secured the number one spot: the airport sits close to the city center, while the river and coast provide a spectacular playground for sailing regattas and surfing challenges. Barcelona follows in second place with large hotel room blocks alongside high-end cultural experiences.

Eastern and Central Europe are budget-friendly champions
To maximize budget efficiency without sacrificing quality, Central Europe offers compelling alternatives. Prague and Budapest rank high, with costs for dining, accommodations, and venue up to 30% lower than Western Europe. Both offer memorable group activities like medieval castle banquets and old-town scavenger hunts.

Top 10 global destinations for team-building in 2026
1 - Lisbon, Portugal
2 - Barcelona, Spain
3 - Prague, Czech Republic
4 - Mallorca, Spain
5 - Budapest, Hungary
6 - Antalya, Turkey
7 - Athens, Greece
8 - Milan, Italy
9 - Chamonix, France
10 - Berlin, Germany

Where should Californians go for a team-building retreat?
The California Team-Building Index evaluated destinations within a 4-hour flight radius. Cabo San Lucas (Mexico) ranked first, offering direct flights, luxury resorts, and premium activities. It is followed by Denver (Colorado), which serves as an oasis for wellness retreats.

Top 10 Team-Building Destinations for Californians
1 - Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
2 - Denver, United States
3 - Mexico City, Mexico
4 - Portland, United States
5 - Vancouver, Canada
6 - Scottsdale, United States
7 - Austin, United States
8 - Jackson Hole, United States
9 - Guanajuato, Mexico
10 - Kauai, United States

Where should European companies go for their next offsite?
For British companies, Lisbon combines sunny coasts with rapid flight access. For German teams, Prague offers rail and air accessibility with budget efficiency. Spanish enterprises find their match in Lisbon, benefiting from proximity and local value.

Top 5 team-building destinations for UK companies
1 - Lisbon, Portugal
2 - Barcelona, Spain
3 - Mallorca, Spain
4 - Chamonix, France
5 - Prague, Czech Republic

Top 5 team-building destinations for German companies
1 - Prague, Czech Republic
2 - Lisbon, Portugal
3 - Barcelona, Spain
4 - Mallorca, Spain
5 - Budapest, Hungary

Top 5 team-building destinations for Spanish companies
1 - Lisbon, Portugal
2 - Prague, Czech Republic
3 - Budapest, Hungary
4 - Milan, Italy
5 - Antalya, Turkey

Media contact: press@holafly.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a87330a4-e6c3-4611-a953-322300a417ba 

SOURCE: Holafly

Sapient Intelligence Launches PRAXIST (Beta) to Accelerate a New Era of Autonomous AI-led Research and Development

• 49 gold-medal outcomes across 75 machine learning competitions from MLE-Bench achieving approximately US$3,000, versus 34 for Claude Code at US$38,000
• 
  
• Rocket-landing accuracy reached 100% within 12 hours, demonstrating a proof-of-concept capability at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3

SINGAPORE, Aug 28 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Singapore-headquartered artificial general intelligence research company Sapient Intelligence today announced the launch of PRAXIST (Beta), an autonomous AI research and development (R&D) system that takes on complex technical problems and independently tests and validates potential solutions.

While AI has rapidly accelerated productivity in content generation and other well-defined workflows, R&D remains inherently difficult to automate and scale. Breakthroughs require testing multiple hypotheses, learning from successes and failures, and continuously determining which paths to pursue. Organizations must address this all while balancing specialist expertise, time, cost, and infrastructure.

A capacity multiplier

PRAXIST addresses this challenge as an R&D capacity multiplier. Rather than executing a predefined path, it independently explores which technical approach can best achieve a measurable objective. Users define the goal, parameters, and budget; PRAXIST then autonomously experiments and evaluates the strongest solution.

The approach has demonstrated promising results in controlled internal evaluations. On 75 challenging Kaggle competitions from MLE-Bench, a benchmark designed to test how well AI systems tackle complex, real-world machine learning problems across, PRAXIST achieved the highest-level result in 49 competitions at an approximate recorded model cost of US$3,000, compared with 34 highest-level results for Claude Code at approximately US$38,000 under the same evaluation conditions.

“Unlike general coding agents, which are built primarily to execute a specific task, PRAXIST is designed for long-horizon R&D, where the problem-solving approach itself may need to be discovered and adapted,” says William Chen, Co-Founder at Sapient Intelligence. “A conventional research team is ultimately constrained by the number of experiments its researchers can realistically run and evaluate. PRAXIST is designed to provide organizations with the ability to augment their existing teams with additional research capacity, enabling them to explore problems with a breadth and speed that would otherwise require significantly greater specialist resources.”

From autonomous research to cumulative scientific discovery

PRAXIST deploys multiple autonomous research peers to explore approaches in parallel, test hypotheses, investigate failures, and validate promising results. Unlike the tree-like search used by other similar systems, where each candidate inherits from one parent and weaker branches are pruned, PRAXIST uses a generation-layered research graph that preserves what every experiment teaches. This allows later generations to combine valuable mechanisms, evidence, and constraints across different lineages, including failed attempts. Rather than searching for the single best branch, PRAXIST constructs stronger solutions from discoveries made across branches.

Expansion and scale at speed

For organizations with limited AI or machine learning capabilities, PRAXIST can provide an AI research layer alongside existing domain expertise; for sophisticated teams, it can augment existing capabilities and increase the scale and breadth of R&D. A traditional robotics company, for example, can define problems, objectives, and constraints from an engineering perspective while PRAXIST conducts the AI research, experimentation, and validation needed to develop solutions, effectively serving as an in-house AI research team without requiring the company to build one.

Partner engineering results further illustrate this potential. In a partner-provided rocket-landing simulation, PRAXIST improved baseline to 100% within 12 hours, demonstrating a proof-of-concept capability at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3. In an industrial robotic SLAM problem, a partner team achieved 9.37cm of accumulated error after several months of development. PRAXIST reduced the error to 5.01cm within three days.

System application

PRAXIST can operate with proprietary data in private or customer-controlled environments, giving organizations greater control over their research infrastructure and sensitive intellectual property.

Initial applications are focused on sectors with intensive R&D requirements or highly measurable or simulatable optimization problems, including AI, engineering and robotics, manufacturing, finance, and health and drug discovery. Over time, Sapient Intelligence aims to extend PRAXIST beyond traditional R&D into broader business optimization, from inventory and sales to logistics and shipping.

“AI has mastered executing what we know. The next frontier is discovering what we don’t,” said Jin Li, Chief Scientist of PRAXIST. “PRAXIST is our first step toward making autonomous discovery a practical capability for organizations tackling complex problems. As we continue to develop the platform, we will look to expand beyond traditional R&D. Our ambition is to give organizations a fundamentally greater capacity to explore what is possible, enabling existing teams to pursue more experiments, approaches, and innovations while keeping human expertise and judgment at the center.”

About Sapient Intelligence

Founded and headquartered in Singapore, Sapient Intelligence is developing a new generation of AI systems that move beyond answering questions and executing predefined tasks to autonomously discover, reason, and optimize across complex problems without predefined solutions. By combining autonomous research systems with novel foundation-model architectures, Sapient Intelligence advances autonomous discovery through deeper reasoning, self-evolving capabilities, greater adaptability, and enhanced interpretability.

At the center of this vision is PRAXIST, the company’s flagship autoresearch system enabling breakthroughs in real-world R&D and business challenges. Sapient is also the creator of the Hierarchical Reasoning Model (HRM), a novel, brain-inspired foundation model architecture designed to enable deep reasoning with substantially greater training efficiency.

With a global team of more than 50 researchers and engineers operating across Singapore, Palo Alto, and Beijing, Sapient brings together experience from leading AI organizations and research institutions. The company connects foundational AI research with demanding applications in finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics, developing original AI systems for enterprises, researchers, and institutions worldwide.

Learn more about PRAXIST here.

View source version on businesswire.com:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260827080331/en/

Contact

The Hoffman Agency on behalf of Sapient Intelligence
Sapient@hoffman.com

Source : Sapient Intelligence

--BERNAMA

ARC’TERYX INTRODUCES SYSTEM 0 CIRCULAR DESIGN FRAMEWORK

Arc’teryx athlete, Craig Murray, wearing the Sperro SV, a multisport mountain-grade hardshell built with circular design principles, available September 4, 2026.

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 (Bernama) -- Arc’teryx Equipment, a global designer of technical high-performance apparel and equipment, has introduced System 0, a new framework designed to embed circularity across the product lifecycle, from design and manufacturing through use, repair and end-of-life regeneration.

The first product under the framework is the Sperro SV jacket, a mountain-grade hardshell designed for durability, repairability and disassembly for recycling at end of life. The jacket uses GORE-TEX Pro fabric with an ePE membrane, while its nylon face fabric and backer were separately designed for recyclability in partnership with Aquafil, the manufacturer of ECONYL regenerated nylon.

Available globally from Sept 4 through Arc’teryx stores and its website, the Sperro SV is positioned as the brand’s most advanced hardshell jacket and is intended to demonstrate that circular design can be integrated into technical apparel without compromising performance.

“System 0 represents a fundamental shift in how we build and scale our business with circularity front of mind. For decades, Arc’teryx has built gear that is meant to be repaired, not replaced. This is the next step forward,” said Arc’teryx Chief Executive Officer, Stuart Haselden in a statement.

The Sperro SV is the first product certified under TESTEX Circularity, a standard Arc’teryx said it co-developed to address gaps in existing circular product standards. The certification evaluates the jacket’s durability, repairability and ability to undergo chemical recycling.

System 0 builds on Arc’teryx’s existing ReBIRD ecosystem of washing, repair, trade-in, resale and upcycling initiatives. The company said the new framework extends these principles across design, sourcing, manufacturing, customer experience, repair and end-of-life recovery as part of an effort to make circularity a scalable operating model.

The Sperro SV has been tested by alpine professionals, including Vancouver’s North Shore Rescue. It features reinforcement at common failure points, including an easily replaceable zipper slider, and comes with three years of unlimited out-of-warranty repairs through ReBIRD.

When the jacket is no longer repairable, its fabric can undergo chemical recycling to separate the nylon from the GORE-TEX membrane. The nylon is then returned to Aquafil to be regenerated into ECONYL yarn for new products.

-- BERNAMA

TEMENOS: SACOMBANK UPGRADES CORE BANKING PLATFORM TO HYBRID CLOUD

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 (Bernama) -- Temenos announced that SACOMBANK has successfully upgraded its Temenos Core Banking platform, moving from an on-premises deployment to a hybrid cloud environment to support greater scalability, performance and faster innovation.

Temenos in a statement said the successful go-live involved the Vietnamese commercial bank upgrading to the latest Temenos Core Banking platform, deployed on Red Hat OpenShift and IBM Power infrastructure.

“As the trusted modernisation partner for banks across APAC, Temenos is proud to support SACOMBANK’s move to hybrid cloud and selection of Temenos Payments Hub, strengthening its foundation for innovation and growth,” said Temenos Managing Director – APAC, William Dale.

Meanwhile, SACOMBANK Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Luu Danh Duc said the upgrade is an important milestone in the bank’s digital transformation journey, with a scalable, high-performing and flexible foundation enabling it to accelerate innovation, deliver new services faster and continue providing secure, seamless banking experiences for customers.

The upgraded platform supports the bank’s retail and small and medium enterprise (SME) banking operations, serving millions of customers and processing 13 million transactions daily, while helping improve scalability, resilience and operational agility.

With a modern, cloud-native core banking platform, SACOMBANK is well positioned to advance real-time banking services, data-driven innovation and next-generation digital capabilities.

The upgrade enables significant gains in performance, speed and efficiency, including a 200 per cent improvement in application performance, three-times faster deployment cycles and a 50 per cent reduction in server footprint.

The bank has also selected Temenos Payments Hub to support cross-border payments, building on its long-standing relationship with Temenos and reinforcing its strategy to progressively enhance core banking and payments capabilities on a flexible, cloud-native platform.

-- BERNAMA

Hack The Box Report Finds AI Agents Used by 68% of Top 25 Cybersecurity Teams

Three-year benchmark finds median solve times dropped by more than 12 hours, while full-board completions surged from two teams in 2024 to 15 in 2026

NEW YORK, Aug 27 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Hack The Box (HTB), the cyber readiness platform for humans and AI, today released its 2026 Global Cyber Skills Benchmark Research Brief. The brief includes a three-year analysis revealing that cybersecurity teams are reaching successful solutions significantly faster, completing more of the challenge set, and increasingly incorporating AI agents into their work.

The strongest evidence of AI adoption emerged among the competition’s top performers. AI agent accounts made up just 2.7% of all registered accounts, yet 17 of the top 25 teams (68%) had one. Those agents accounted for 4.2% of submitted flags and 4.6% of points awarded. The findings do not establish that AI caused teams to perform better. They do, however, show that AI is already becoming part of the toolkit used by many of the competition’s strongest teams.

Performance across the competition has also shifted substantially over the past three years. Median recorded time-to-solve dropped from 26.1 hours in 2024 to 13.8 hours in 2026, a reduction of more than 12 hours. At the same time, the number of teams completing the entire challenge board rose from two in 2024 and three in 2025 to 15 in 2026, even as the board expanded.

The findings come as AI is changing both sides of the cybersecurity equation. Recent industry disclosures, including Hugging Face’s July 2026 incident disclosure and OWASP’s Q1 2026 GenAI exploit roundup, show how AI is creating new risks while also becoming part of both the attack surface and the defensive response. For security leaders, the challenge is not simply adopting AI, but making sure practitioners have the skills and judgment to direct, test and validate its work.

“The question for security leaders is no longer whether AI will become part of cybersecurity operations. That is already happening on both sides of the equation,” said Haris Pylarinos, Founder and CEO of Hack The Box. “What matters now is whether teams have the expertise to use it safely and effectively. Our data shows that AI is appearing most often alongside some of the strongest practitioners, not instead of them. As agents become more capable, human judgment, validation and hands-on technical skill become more important, not less.”

AI is changing how top cyber teams work

The findings build on earlier HTB research examining AI and cybersecurity performance. While the earlier controlled benchmark explored what happens when practitioners work with AI, the latest data provides a view into where AI agents appear when competitors are free to choose their own approach.

Together, the findings suggest that AI is moving from experimentation to the working methods of experienced cybersecurity practitioners. At the same time, the results reinforce the importance of human expertise in directing, evaluating and validating AI-generated work.

The full 2026 Global Cyber Skills Benchmark Research Brief is available HERE.

About Hack The Box

Hack The Box is the leading cyber readiness platform for the agentic era, battle-testing and upskilling both humans and AI agents to enhance organizational cyber resilience. Trusted by the Fortune 500, government agencies, and managed security service providers (MSSPs), the platform delivers threat-informed learning paths consisting of real-world scenarios in gamified labs and live-fire simulations that build and validate offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. With a loyal community of more than 4.3 million members and more than 800 enterprise customers, Hack The Box empowers teams and intelligent systems alike to strengthen cyber defenses and reduce breach risk effectively. Learn more at www.hackthebox.com.

View source version on businesswire.com:
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Contact

Media Contacts

Hack The Box
Sofia Vourlaki
ophiv@hackthebox.com

The Nova Method
Justine Schneider
jschneider@thenovamethod.com

PRPR
Tracey Treanor
traceyt@prpr.co.uk

Source : Hack The Box

--BERNAMA

Born in Riyadh. Sold Out in Paris. stc and EWC a Winning Partnership.

 

^{Fans hold up the stc/EWC banner during the Esports World Cup 2026 grand final at the Accor Arena in Paris (Photo: AETOSWire)} 

 

• stc group was the Founding and Elite Partner of the Esports World Cup for the third consecutive year.
• EWC 2026, the largest edition of the tournament to date, brought together more than 2,000 players and 200 clubs from over 100 countries, competing across 25 tournaments and 24 game titles.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Aug 26 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- stc group, a leading digital enabler, concluded its third consecutive year as a Founding and Elite Partner of the Esports World Cup (EWC), supporting the tournament as it staged its first edition outside Saudi Arabia in Paris. The largest EWC to date brought together more than 2,000 professional players and 200 clubs from over 100 countries, competing across 25 tournaments and 24 game titles for a prize pool exceeding $75 million.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260825372468/en/ 

The move to Paris marked a new chapter for a tournament launched in Riyadh in 2024, reflecting growing international reach and the increasing profile of esports. stc’s continued partnership through that expansion reflects a broader commitment to the gaming ecosystem, supporting professional competition, amateur players, broadcast access, and the digital infrastructure behind esports events.

Throughout EWC 2026, stc maintained a prominent presence across the competition. The stc Arena hosted VALORANT, League of Legends, Counter-Strike 2, Rocket League, EA FC 26, Overwatch 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, alongside the stc Player’s Lounge and stc Contenders.

The partnership also created opportunities beyond the professional circuit. Through the Warriors Cup, more than 10,000 amateur players competed in over 200 tournaments across 16 games, giving emerging talent a pathway to participate in organized competition.

stc also extended the tournament to audiences beyond the venues through a dedicated EWC channel on stc tv. Launched on July 5, the channel delivered 10 to 12 hours of daily coverage, including live matches, highlights and analysis, and recorded more than three million plays by August 23.

Strong demand followed EWC to its conclusion in Paris. Championship Sunday was moved to Accor Arena, one of the city’s largest indoor venues, providing additional capacity for fans and a high-profile finale to the tournament’s first edition outside Saudi Arabia.

The partnership has grown alongside EWC since its inaugural edition in Riyadh. In 2024, the tournament attracted more than 500 million viewers globally, while stc supported connectivity for more than 10,000 players with 99.9% network availability. A year later, EWC welcomed more than 2,000 professional players and three million on-site visitors, as stc increased its network coverage by over 20%.

stc’s contribution to gaming has also been recognized by the Communications, Space and Technology Commission, which has named the group a Platinum Gaming Operator for ten consecutive cycles.

Three years on, the partnership has evolved alongside EWC as it has grown from its Riyadh debut to an international stage. stc continues to support growth across connectivity, broadcasting and competition, helping expand how players and audiences participate in one of the world’s fastest-growing forms of entertainment.

*Source: AETOSWire

View source version on businesswire.com:
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Contact

Mohammad Khan
STC-ME@fgsglobal.com

Source : stc group

SHAPE MEMORY MEDICAL CLOSES US$10 MLN FINANCING FOR CLINICAL TRIALS

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 (Bernama) -- Shape Memory Medical Inc, a California-based global medical device company, has closed a US$10 million convertible note financing led by new investor August Global Partners (AGP), joined by fellow new investor Taiwania Capital. (US$1=RM4.03)

The financing provides capital to support continued clinical development of the company’s aortic portfolio, including patient follow-up and data collection in the AAA-SHAPE Pivotal Trial, and advancement of the False Lumen Treatment for Prevention of Aortic Growth Using Shape Memory Polymer (FLAGSHIP) feasibility trial.

The company said it is backed by a global syndicate of healthcare investors, including HBM Healthcare Investments (Cayman) Ltd, Earlybird Venture Capital and WexMed II LLC. The financing was also supported by HEAL Venture Lab.

“With enrolment recently completed in our AAA-SHAPE Pivotal Trial and continued progress in FLAGSHIP, we are focused on generating the clinical evidence needed to support the broader adoption of our shape memory polymer technology in aortic applications,” said Shape Memory Medical President and Chief Executive Officer, Ted Ruppel.

He said the company was pleased to welcome AGP and Taiwania Capital as investors and appreciated the continued support of its existing shareholders.

The AAA‑SHAPE Pivotal Trial is evaluating the safety and effectiveness of the IMPEDE‑FX RapidFill Device when used alongside endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) to proactively manage the abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) sac.

Shape Memory Medical in a statement said the randomised, multicentre study recently completed enrolment and will follow patients for five years.

FLAGSHIP is a first-in-human clinical study evaluating the company’s investigational False Lumen Embolisation (FLE) System for treatment of aortic dissection false lumen. The study is designed to evaluate safety and preliminary signs of efficacy and will follow patients for two years.

AGP is a Singapore-based independent fund management firm investing across healthcare and advanced manufacturing, while Taiwania Capital is a venture capital firm focused on early- to growth-stage companies.

-- BERNAMA

JAPAN MARITIME DAILY TO HOST SINGAPORE SEMINAR ON EMERGING TRANSPORT DEMANDS

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20 (Bernama) -- The Japan Maritime Daily (JMD), Japan’s leading maritime newspaper, will host an international seminar in Singapore on Oct 5, focusing on “Emerging Transport Demands”.

JMD said in a statement the event supported by Singapore Exchange (SGX), will examine major shipping initiatives and the future of maritime transport through presentations and a panel discussion.

Registration is now open for “Charting the Course for the Future of Maritime” seminar, featuring senior maritime leaders from Ocean Network Express (ONE), SGX, Kpler and other international organisations.

ONE Chief Executive Officer, Till Ole Barrelet will deliver the keynote address, while SGX Group Director, Kenneth Ng will give a presentation, and Kpler Principal Heavy Distillates Analyst, Roslan Khasawneh will speak on “How Geopolitical Disruption Is Reshaping Asian Shipping”.

A panel discussion moderated by JMD Principal Editor Yohei Misaki will examine emerging transport demands and key industry challenges amid an increasingly uncertain global environment.

The panel will feature MOL Energia Managing Director, Miki Ogura; Wallem Ship Management Managing Director, Ioannis Stefanou; Tokyo Century Corporation Joint General Manager, Jigo Hayashi; and Baltic Exchange Asia Head, Cheong Jin Yu.

-- BERNAMA

Gradiant Expands US Operations with New Leadership, Office Openings, and Long-Term Services Contracts

 

^{Gradiant Expands US Operations with New Leadership, Office Openings, and Long-Term Services Contracts}


BOSTON, Aug 20 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Every microchip, data center, and megawatt of AI capacity depends on water. Today, Gradiant, the water layer of the AI economy, announced a series of milestones reinforcing its ability to solve that constraint across the United States: a new US leadership hire, three new offices, a new innovation center, and long-term services contracts, including one with a chip major.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260818449839/en/ 

Gradiant named Dr. Nish Vora as Managing Director, Americas, to accelerate its growth momentum in the region. Dr. Vora is a proven growth leader whose career spans senior leadership roles at GE Water, Suez Water Technologies, and most recently Veolia Water Technologies and Solutions. His technical and commercial leadership is an excellent fit with Gradiant’s culture of Innovation with Speed for its customers. Alongside the appointment, Gradiant opened new offices in Phoenix, Syracuse, and Philadelphia.

The company also launched its Global Innovation Center in Houston dedicated to advancing next-generation treatment technologies for North America, and grew its US headcount by 55% year to date.

Underscoring this momentum, Gradiant secured new long-term operations and maintenance (O&M) contracts, including one to run the ultrapure water (UPW) system for a chip major. Gradiant will manage water quality, reliability, and compliance, freeing the customer to focus on its core manufacturing operations.

The win draws on Gradiant's global UPW expertise, including established teams in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, bolstered by a growing local US presence – an approach the company is applying as it scales O&M capabilities nationwide. Gradiant was selected for its customer-centric approach, speed of deployment, and depth of O&M expertise.

"AI infrastructure doesn't get built without solving for water first, whether that's a fab, a data center, or a power plant," said Prakash Govindan, CEO of Gradiant. "Winning long-term O&M relationships like this one shows customers increasingly want a single accountable partner for water, not just equipment or one-off applications. That's exactly the role Gradiant is built to play as we scale across the US."

Gradiant designs, builds, and operates the water layer underpinning the AI economy, across chips, data centers, energy, and applied industries. As AI infrastructure investment accelerates globally, water availability, reliability, and reuse are becoming as strategic as power and land in determining where, and how fast, that infrastructure gets built.

“Our target is to reach US$1 billion in order book in the United States alone next year,” said Dr. Nish Vora, Managing Director, Gradiant Americas. “With the team I am inheriting and the opportunity set in the market right now – the most activity I have seen in my three decades in the water industry – I am confident we will beat that target.”

About Gradiant

Gradiant is the Water Layer of the AI Economy. Founded at MIT and headquartered in Boston, Gradiant builds the water and wastewater infrastructure behind AI's build-out, from chips and data centers to the energy and industries that depend on them. As AI demand accelerates, water is becoming the resource that determines what can be built. Gradiant's technologies reduce what industry withdraws, reclaim what it would waste, and renew clean water to nature, with more than 3,000 treatment plants built across 92 countries. Learn more at gradiant.com.

View source version on businesswire.com:
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Contact

Corporate Contact
Felix Wang
Gradiant, Global Head of Marketing
fwang@gradiant.com

Source : Gradiant

AM Best Withdraws Zhibao Re Credit Ratings Amid Investor Transition

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 (Bernama) -- Global credit rating agency, AM Best has withdrawn the credit ratings of Malaysia’s Zhibao Labuan Reinsurance Company Limited (Zhibao Re), as the company has chosen not to participate in AM Best’s interactive rating process for the time being, in light of an investor transition.

AM Best in a statement said it has placed Zhibao Re’s financial strength rating of B+ (Good) and long-term issuer credit rating of “bbb-” (Good) under review with developing implications.

The status reflects the anticipated change in ownership at Zhibao Technology Inc (Zhibao Technology), Zhibao Re’s ultimate parent, following the announcement of a definitive Securities Purchase Agreement on July 31, under which Zhibao Technology agreed to issue new securities to a group of investors.

The transaction is expected to close in August 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and required regulatory and exchange approvals. Upon completion, the credit rating agency expects the new investors to obtain majority ownership and control of Zhibao Technology.

AM Best said the under review with developing implications status reflects uncertainties in Zhibao Re’s strategic role, the financial condition of the new investors, as well as the parental influence of Zhibao Technology on Zhibao Re.

-- BERNAMA

GMO GLOBALSIGN EXPANDS TLS CONNECT TO APAC, MIDDLE EAST

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- GMO GlobalSign Inc, a global Certificate Authority, has expanded the availability of TLS Connect by GMO to businesses in the Asia Pacific (APAC) and Middle East, following its initial launch in Western markets in April.

TLS Connect is a Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM) tool designed for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), automating the deployment and renewal of public trust Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificates to help strengthen security, maintain regulatory compliance and reduce business risk.

GMO GlobalSign said TLS Connect is designed to address the needs of SMEs that rely on TLS certificates but may lack in-house Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) expertise or a straightforward way to implement a CLM solution.

The company said the expansion comes as businesses face a series of reductions in TLS certificate validity periods. The first reduction took effect on March 15, 2026, shortening certificate lifespans from 398 to 200 days, while further reductions to 100 days and 47 days are scheduled for March 15, 2027, and March 15, 2029, respectively.

In a statement, GMO GlobalSign Head of Business Unit for TLS & CLM CA Division, Aditya Anand said shrinking certificate lifespans mean SMEs face greater risks of missed renewals and unexpected outages, often without the tools to manage certificates efficiently.

He said TLS Connect provides automated certificate lifecycle management specifically for smaller enterprises and offers a simple and affordable way for businesses in APAC and the Middle East to manage changing certificate requirements.

The solution is particularly relevant in APAC and the Middle East, where SMEs account for a significant share of businesses, including approximately 94 per cent in the United Arab Emirates, 97 per cent in Australia, and 99 per cent in Singapore and the Philippines.

According to GMO GlobalSign, cybersecurity regulations in these markets are also increasing the management and oversight requirements for SMEs, while a shortage of cybersecurity professionals is adding to the challenge.

The company said TLS Connect includes certificate discovery, a centralised interface and automated certificate management, and can be deployed on premises for centralised management across endpoints.

-- BERNAMA

ABNORMAL AI SECURES IMDA ACCREDITATION FOR GOVERNMENT, ENTERPRISE ADOPTION

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- Abnormal AI, a behavioural artificial intelligence (AI) security platform, has been accredited by the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) and recognised as a trusted solution for government and enterprise adoption.

The accreditation status, effective July 1, positions Abnormal to pursue expanded engagement with Singapore government agencies and enterprises through IMDA's streamlined procurement process and market access channels.

Abnormal Regional Director, ASEAN, Sebastian Murphy said the accreditation reflected that the company’s platform has undergone IMDA’s robust evaluation process, giving Singaporean agencies and enterprises a validated path to adopt behavioural AI security.

“It reflects the investment we have made in this region over the past several years. We are looking forward to deepening our work with IMDA and the customers and partners we serve here,” added Murphy in a statement.

The IMDA Accreditation programme helps enterprise technology companies scale in the region. IMDA-accredited companies undergo independent evaluation across business and operations, technical capability and financial standing, giving government agencies and large enterprises confidence to adopt their solutions.

Being enrolled in the programme also gives companies access to IMDA's "Greenlane" procurement track, which is designed to substantially shorten typical government procurement timelines, as well as introductions to government decision-makers through IMDA's ecosystem.

Abnormal's accreditation status comes as organisations across Singapore and the broader ASEAN region contend with a rise in AI-generated social engineering, business email compromise, and identity-based attacks that typically bypass traditional, rules-based defences.

By establishing per-entity baselines across identities and environments, the company’s platform is designed to detect and stop sophisticated attacks, including many that have not been seen before, without relying on static rules or threat signatures.

Abnormal intends to continue evaluating opportunities to grow its presence in Singapore and across ASEAN, with additional investment in local go-to-market resources and government engagement expected in the near term.

-- BERNAMA

CROSSBOW NAMED AS GEAR MEMBER, CONTRIBUTING PAYMENT SECURITY EXPERTISE

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 (Bernama) -- Crossbow Enterprise Cybersecurity, an enterprise cybersecurity partner, has been selected to serve on the PCI Security Standards Council’s (PCI SSC) 2026–2028 Global Executive Assessor Roundtable (GEAR) for its third consecutive term.

The roundtable is a direct channel between payment security assessors and PCI SSC leadership, and Crossbow is one of 33 organisations selected for the 2026–2028 term, according to a statement.

“Continuing as a GEAR member for a third consecutive term is a meaningful milestone for Crossbow and reflects our ongoing engagement with the global payment security community,” said Crossbow Enterprise Cybersecurity Head of GRC Operations, Sabeena Job.

Meanwhile, PCI Security Standards Council Executive Director, Gina Gobeyn said GEAR brings together experienced industry leaders whose expertise and perspectives help guide the continued evolution of PCI security standards and programmes.

“We look forward to working with Crossbow Enterprise Cybersecurity as we continue advancing our shared mission of helping organisations protect payment data around the world,” added Gobeyn.

Crossbow’s continued role on GEAR enables it to contribute practical perspectives on evolving payment technologies and global compliance standards, helping support security frameworks that remain effective and relevant.

The company brings nearly 12 years of experience across cybersecurity consulting, payment security, assessment, compliance and advisory services, spanning India, Asia Pacific, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.

-- BERNAMA

SBC MEDICAL REPORTS 13 PCT RISE IN Q2 REVENUE, NET INCOME JUMPS 335 PCT

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 (Bernama) -- SBC Medical Group Holdings Inc (SBC Medical) reported a 13 per cent year-on-year (yoy) increase in consolidated revenue to US$49 million for the second quarter (Q2) of fiscal 2026 ended June 30. (US$1 = RM4.08)

Net income attributable to SBC Medical surged 335 per cent yoy to US$11 million, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 32 per cent to US$20 million.

Basic earnings per share jumped 400 per cent year-on-year to US$0.10, while net income margin increased 16 percentage points to 22 per cent and adjusted EBITDA margin climbed six percentage points to 41 per cent.

In a statement, SBC Medical Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Yoshiyuki Aikawa said the company was increasingly confident that its growth reacceleration reflected strengthening underlying fundamentals, with the convergence of healthcare and artificial intelligence (AI) becoming a source of competitive advantage.

He said the company is leveraging more than 26 years of accumulated management data to develop AI-enabled services, including AI-powered call centres, AI-driven marketing and AI-assisted site selection for new clinics.

The company said the quarter marked a reacceleration in growth, supported by the expansion of its points business following a change in operating policy and higher service fees driven by enhanced AI-enabled support capabilities.

The medical corporations supported by SBC Medical also continued to expand, with the number of locations increasing by 34 yoy to 287 as of end-June. Last-12-month patient visits reached 6.9 million, up 10 per cent yoy, while average spending per visit rose nine per cent to US$287.

The company said fee revisions for call centre services provided to five affiliated medical corporations, together with separate fee revisions reflecting expanded support for Rize Clinic and Gorilla Clinic, are expected to increase annual service fees by approximately US$15 million if their impact is realised for a full year.

Looking ahead, SBC Medical said it will deepen its multi-brand strategy in aesthetic dermatology in Japan, expand its non-aesthetic business and accelerate international growth through its collaboration with OrangeTwist in the United States and expansion in Southeast Asia, anchored in Thailand. The company also plans to enter the longevity market.

-- BERNAMA

Bitget Institutional Launches $300 Million Project Archimedes to Back Quant Firms and Asset Managers

The initiative will boost institutional trading firms' scale strategies, improve capital efficiency and access emerging opportunities across digital assets and tokenized markets.


VICTORIA, Seychelles, Aug 14 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bitget, the world's largest Universal Exchange (UEX), has launched Project Archimedes, a $300 million institutional capital program for quantitative trading firms, asset managers and market makers.

With the vision of backing minds that move markets, Project Archimedes will support firms at different stages of growth through two programs:

• Capital Provider Program ($100 million): Allocated to accelerate emerging and growing quantitative firms running market-neutral strategies. Bitget will provide capital, with returns shared under an agreed structure and risk framework.
• Interest-Free Lending Program ($200 million): Available to established institutions with mature strategies and existing trading scale. Eligible firms can access interest-free capital by meeting defined trading volume or position requirements, reducing funding costs while increasing the capital available to their strategies.

Institutional trading is entering a period where access to capital, execution quality and risk control increasingly determine which strategies can scale. Arbitrage returns across established crypto markets have tightened as competition has increased, leading quantitative firms to explore market structures such as basis spreads, funding-rate differences and tokenized assets.

"Strong strategies often reach a point where talent is no longer the constraint but capital might," said Gracy Chen, CEO at Bitget. "Project Archimedes gives capable teams the acceleration it needs to scale, while aligning capital, risk and execution around sustainable performance. Our goal is to boost over fifty projects in the next six months with this capital."

The program takes its name from Archimedes’ principle that the right fulcrum can move the world. For institutional trading firms, capital provides that fulcrum, while product structure and infrastructure determine how effectively it can be used.

Tokenized US stocks offer one example. Arbitrage opportunities can arise from differences in basis and funding rates across spot and derivative markets. These strategies typically require firms to maintain positions on both sides of a trade, which can tie up margin across separate accounts.

Under Bitget’s Unified Account, eligible rToken spot positions can serve as collateral for derivatives trading without requiring transfers between accounts. This structure allows institutions to maintain tokenized stock exposure while deploying related contract strategies through the same account, improving the use of available capital. Weekend collateral valuation follows the underlying stock’s Friday closing price, providing a fixed reference while traditional US markets are closed.

Project Archimedes will focus initially on market-neutral strategies with established operating histories and measurable risk controls. Participating institutions will undergo strategy assessment, due diligence and drawdown reviews.

The program is structured as a long-term capital cooperation framework with rolling admissions and phased deployment. Bitget Institutional plans to disclose program developments over time, including participation figures, deployed capital and strategy distribution. Product specifications, market-structure research and institutional case studies will provide further insight into how participating firms use capital and trading infrastructure.

Project Archimedes also supports Bitget Institutional's broader role as a capital partner with market insight, connecting firms with liquidity, unified trading infrastructure and an international institutional network. Through capital allocation and interest-free lending, the program aims to help emerging teams establish stronger foundations and enable mature institutions to convert proven strategies into greater trading scale.

About Bitget

Bitget is the world's largest Universal Exchange (UEX), serving over 125 million users and offering access to over 2M crypto tokens, 500+ tokenized stocks, ETFs, commodities, FX, and precious metals such as gold. The ecosystem is committed to helping users trade smarter with its AI agent, which co-pilots trade execution. Bitget is driving crypto adoption through strategic partnerships such as MotoGP™. Aligned with its global impact strategy, Bitget has joined hands with UNICEF to support blockchain education for 1.1 million people by 2027. Bitget currently leads in the tokenized TradFi market, providing the industry's lowest fees and highest liquidity across 150 regions worldwide.

For more information, visit: Website | X | Telegram | LinkedIn | Discord

For media inquiries, please contact: media@bitget.com

Risk Warning: Digital asset prices are subject to fluctuation and may experience significant volatility. Investors are advised to only allocate funds they can afford to lose. The value of any investment may be impacted, and there is a possibility that financial objectives may not be met, nor the principal investment recovered. Independent financial advice should always be sought, and personal financial experience and standing carefully considered. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Bitget accepts no liability for any potential losses incurred. Nothing contained herein should be construed as financial advice. For further information, please refer to our Terms of Use.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0a56e2e0-f1de-4548-9f53-2892bb7af7ca 

SOURCE: Bitget Limited

DISCLAIMER: BERNAMA MREM are not accountable for any causes of website defacement, misuse, or illegal activities connected to cryptocurrency, blockchain, tokenisation, or bitcoin. This material should not be considered as guidance or an opinion, as it does not constitute financial or investment advice. Use this information at your own risk; we are not liable for any losses or damages caused by the republication of this article.

IHERB MARKS 30TH ANNIVERSARY WITH GLOBAL SALE, PLATFORM EXPANSION

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 (Bernama) -- iHerb, a global eCommerce retailer of vitamins, minerals, supplements and health and wellness products, is celebrating its 30th anniversary with its biggest sales event of the year and the addition of 10 newly supported languages to its shopping platform.

In a statement, the company said the milestone comes as it serves well over 16 million customers across approximately 180 countries, reflecting growing consumer interest in proactive health and wellness.

The anniversary promotions will begin on Aug 19 ahead of the company's September anniversary, offering discounts of up to 30 per cent across more than 600 brands, alongside daily flash deals and other customer rewards.

iHerb Chief Executive Officer, Emun Zabihi said the company's 30-year milestone reflects the growth of its customers and team members, adding that it remains focused on improving the customer experience and investing in trust, access and convenience.

The platform's newly supported languages include European Spanish, European Portuguese, Georgian, Bosnian, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Armenian, Farsi, Hindi and Cantonese, bringing its total language offerings to 46.

iHerb said each language experience is localised to enable customers across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia to browse products and complete purchases in their preferred language.

Founded in 1996, iHerb has grown from selling its first supplement online from an apartment in Pasadena, California, into a global direct-to-consumer wellness platform, supported by a logistics network of climate-controlled and GMP and/or ISO-compliant facilities.

-- BERNAMA