BANKING-AS-A-PLATFORM REVENUE INCREASES TO US$49 BLN IN 2028 - JUNIPER RESEARCH

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 (Bernama) -- Global revenue from Banking-as-a-Platform (BaaP) services will increase to US$49 billion globally in 2028, from US$4 billion in 2023, according to a new study from Juniper Research. (US$1=RM4.54)

In a statement, Juniper Research said the study argued BaaP can help traditional banks regain their competitive edge against neobanks.

Through collaboration with innovative vendors, banks can offer new services from partners, including embedded insurance, lifestyle offers with leading brands, or access to human resource services for small businesses.

The study argues banks can utilise partnerships with industry leaders to build upon their core banking model, helping them compete with fintechs by offering more user-friendly services.

Compared with traditional acquisitions, BaaP partnerships are highly flexible and can be easier to integrate, as banks transition to application programming interface (API)-focused models.

By offering a wide range of services via BaaP, banks can gain a competitive edge without having to stray from their core business.

According to the report, banking marketplaces are the most effective way for banks to adapt to the digital age, helping them create financial services ecosystems that offer personalised customer experiences, without developing services themselves.

Juniper Research recommends banks evaluate which services are core, and which services can be replaced by working with innovative third parties; enabling banks to improve services being offered, while reducing costs in a difficult economic climate.

-- BERNAMA

STEPHANIE WILKINSON JOINS SIMPRO AS THEIR NEW CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER

BROOMFIELD, Colo., Aug 2 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Simpro, the leading total business management software for commercial and residential trade service businesses, today announced Stephanie Wilkinson will join the team as its new Chief Revenue Officer. This strategic addition comes as part of Simpro’s commitment to drive growth while scaling and unifying its business operations.

“I’m honored to join Simpro at such a pivotal time in their growth journey,” said Wilkinson. “This is an exciting time for the company, and I look forward to collaborating with the team to further accelerate Simpro’s global growth and customer success.”

With more than 26 years in the software technology industry, Wilkinson brings a unique perspective of technical expertise and strategic acumen to the role. Before joining Simpro, Wilkinson held executive positions at several technology companies including IBM Software Group and Magento. Most recently, she served as the VP of Growth Sales and Customer Success for Adobe’s Digital Experience business, where she drove an impressive $400 million in ARR across 5,000 customers.

“Stephanie’s experience and proven leadership in sales, support and customer success will be a strong addition to our team and I am thrilled to welcome her to Simpro,” said Gary Specter, CEO of Simpro. “With her leadership, we are confident in our ability to accelerate our growth, expand our market presence and deliver exceptional value to our customers.”

Wilkinson holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arizona and is currently an advisory board member for the Technology & Services Industry Association. 

http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=46712

Planview Reports Record Q2 and H1 2023, Continues Momentum Amid Challenging Economic Landscape

 

Strong financial performance underscores the demand for prioritization and productivity improvements across digitalization initiatives

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug 2 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Planview, the leading platform for digital connected work from portfolio planning to delivery, announced today record annual recurring revenue (ARR) and bookings in Q2, continuing strong momentum and growth in 2023. ACV Bookings for Q2 and the first half of the year were at a record high approaching 30% growth year-over-year (YoY), driven by both new customer additions and customer expansions across financial services, automotive, and healthcare. At the close of H1 2023, Planview is outpacing its forecasts on several key measures, including bookings, retention, and ARR this year. These results are driven by significant demand from customers who require data-driven insights to effectively prioritize initiatives, allocate capital and utilize resources across digital transformation efforts.

“The macroenvironment continues to pose challenges for digital transformation efforts in companies around the world. Organizations are faced with inflation, changing customer expectations, and more conservative budgets,” said Razat Gaurav, CEO at Planview. “At the same time, they must continue to drive forward transformation initiatives to adapt and achieve key business outcomes. Planview’s connected solution is uniquely positioned to give leaders and organizations the data-driven alignment, transparency, and visibility to make critical prioritization decisions, enabling companies to increase productivity, improve time-to-market, and de-risk strategic bets.”

H1 2023 Highlights

• Strong ACV bookings growth for the first half of 2023, approaching 30% growth YoY
• Significant improvements to Retention through first half of 2023, +100bps improvement to Net Retention YoY
• Recurring Revenue grew 13% during the first half of 2023 YoY
• Added over 126 net new customers
• Grew total active users for University of Planview by 29% quarter-over-quarter

Strong New Logo and Customer Momentum

Planview’s outperformance and profitable growth has been driven by new customer wins and expansions. New and notable customers who partnered or significantly expanded their footprint with Planview include AT&T, Axcelis Technologies, Bausch + Lomb, Baylor Scott & White Health, CellCarta, ChristianaCare, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Corewell Health, Ecopetrol Group, Foodstuffs, Ford Motor Company, Inland Empire Health Plan, LandSure Systems, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, New York Life Insurance Company, Omnicell, OneSavings Bank, PagoNxt, Pladis Global, Schaeffler Group, Schwab, Sherwin-Williams, Sun Life Financial, Transport for NSW, Tronox Holdings, Vanguard Group, Vonage, and Voya.

Industry Leadership & Product Innovation

Key milestones that support continued customer success and the company's strong growth:

• Showcased new Generative AI based assistant at the Reuters Momentum AI Summit.
• Released the landmark 2023 Project to Product State of the Industry Report, which revealed that 40% of Digital Innovation work is being wasted today.
• Recognized for the second consecutive year as a leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Strategic Portfolio Management. The company was positioned furthest for Completeness of Vision.
• Expanded its global footprint with growing teams in North America, EMEA, Israel and India, with a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Science, R&D, Premium Support, Managed Services, InfoSec, and Partners/Strategic Alliances.
• Increased its global partner ecosystem with the additions of UiPath and NTT Data, focused on delivering Value Stream Management capabilities.
• Dramatically expanded its partnership with AWS, including achievement of AWS ISV Accelerate Program membership and the launch of five Planview solutions in the AWS Marketplace.
• Increased in monthly active users by 15% YoY for leading products.

Planview is continuing to invest heavily in product innovation, customer success and go-to-market, building a foundation for continued customer satisfaction and growth in 2023 and beyond.

About Planview

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work, from ideas to impact. Planview helps organizations accelerate the achievement of what matters most, supporting our customers from need to speed, from passion to progress, and from overhead to optimization. Our connected platform of solutions underpins the business and digital transformations of more than 4,500 customers globally, including 59 of the Fortune 100. Planview empowers enterprises to improve time-to-market and predictability, increase efficiency to unlock capacity, and ensure their most strategic initiatives deliver the desired business outcomes. Learn more about our portfolio at planview.com, and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.


View source version on businesswire.com: 
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Contact

Media Relations for Planview
Natalie Reina
Director of Corp Comms
956-878-9176
natalie.reina@planview.com

Source : Planview

CONAGEN, SUMITOMO CHEMICAL PARTNER TO DEVELOP RENEWABLE CARBON MATERIALS

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 (Bernama) -- Conagen and Sumitomo Chemical, Japan's leading chemical company, have announced to jointly develop p-hydroxystyrene (HS) and its polymer, poly p-hydroxystyrene (PHS), using a combination of biosynthesis, chemosynthesis and polymerisation.

In a statement, Conagen, the bioplatform innovator and biomanufacturer said the monomer and the polymer are 100 per cent renewable carbon, marking a new era of sustainable production.

Conagen Vice President of chemical applications, J. McNamara said the partnership represented a significant step forward in pursuing green chemicals for sustainable material production.

“Our commitment is a testament to the power of collaboration and the potential of combining our technologies with synthetic and polymer chemistries to create innovative, sustainable solutions that can significantly reduce petroleum-based products in the environment,” added McNamara.

Efforts to reduce reliance on petroleum and transition towards renewable and sustainable alternatives have gained momentum in recent years and the partnership is in the lead position of active global initiatives to reduce petroleum-based products' consumption and environmental impact.

This partnership represents a significant milestone in developing sustainable materials, and this approach to PHS production is expected to reduce the carbon footprint associated with traditional chemical synthesis methods.

The Conagen-Sumitomo partnership leverages Conagen's expertise in microbial strain design and development with Sumitomo Chemical's proficiency in chemical production and commercialisation.

The collaboration aims to create a platform that enables the production of sustainable chemicals to replace petrochemicals in an extended range of many applications.

-- BERNAMA

PubMatic Introduces Unified Self-service Advertising Platform For Commerce Media

KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 (Bernama) -- PubMatic, an independent technology company delivering digital advertising’s supply chain of the future, has launched Convert, a unified self-service advertising platform for commerce media.

Built on PubMatic's global cloud infrastructure, Convert is tailored for commerce media networks and their advertisers, enabling both onsite and offsite monetisation, including sponsored listing ads and connected TV (CTV).

According to PubMatic in a statement, Convert helps commerce media networks leverage their valuable first-party data for audience extension at scale across the open internet.

“Data access, monetisation, and control are critical for commerce media networks and their advertisers, and PubMatic has a strong history of leadership and innovation in these areas.

“By making substantial investments in developing customised technology with Convert, we are confident in our ability to continue to drive increased value for our customers,” said PubMatic Vice President of Addressability and Commerce Media, Peter Barry.

Leading industry brands, retailers, and advertisers such as IPG Mediabrands, Coles 360, dentsu, Lyft Media, MiQ and Wallapop have joined PubMatic as partners in the development and announcement of its commerce media platform.

The new offering is built for both traditional retailers as well as a wide variety of transaction-based businesses such as transportation or food delivery providers, travel companies, or any scaled Internet company that processes transactions.

Empowering commerce media networks with a single, self-service platform that streamlines the complex and fragmented commerce media marketplace, Convert brings together essential monetisation and optimisation capabilities across sponsored listings, CTV, video and display ad formats.

An unbiased, privacy-centric full-stack solution, Convert ensures transparency in fee and pricing structures along with automation and scalability for commerce media networks and advertisers.

The new platform complements PubMatic’s existing commerce media capabilities offered via Connect, the omnichannel addressability solution launched in 2022 that enables data access and control on the sell-side, closer to the consumer.

-- BERNAMA

WISTAR-LED TEAM AWARDED MORE THAN $12 MILLION GRANT FROM THE NCI TO INVESTIGATE LINK BETWEEN EPSTEIN-BARR VIRUS AND CARCINOMAS

PHILADELPHIA, PA, July 27 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- It’s been known since the 1960s that Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) causes a variety of cancers, but research has overwhelmingly focused on its connection to lymphomas. Now, a multidisciplinary team of scientists led by The Wistar Institute has been awarded a more than $12 million National Cancer Institute (NCI) Program Project Grant (P01), a highly competitive five-year grant that includes a crosssection of researchers from various disciplines and institutions throughout the country. The multidisciplinary team led by Wistar scientists is exploring the role of Epstein-Barr Virus in epithelial cancers. Epithethelial cells form functional structures in organ tissue throughout the human body; they are often the site for solid organ cancers, including the most common cancers, which are known as carcinomas.

The new research will focus on basic questions about how EBV infection of normal epithelial cells transforms them into cancer-cells. Scientists also intend to build on this research to identify better and more selective therapeutic targets.
 
“We are investigating unexplored aspects of EBV and malignancies, potentially uncovering unique characteristics or pathways that can be targeted for therapeutic intervention,” said Italo Tempera, Ph.D., associate professor of the Gene Expression & Regulation Program of the Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center at The Wistar Institute. “This fresh perspective could lead to groundbreaking discoveries and innovative treatment strategies for EBV and epithelial malignancies.”

The project brings together scientists from The Wistar Institute and Harvard University, including experts in epigenetics, metabolomics and drug discovery. It’s the first time researchers from this variety of disciplines have combined their efforts to focus entirely on the EBV-epithelial cancer link.

“We’ve put together a new strategy, a new way of attacking the problem,” said Paul Lieberman, Ph.D., Hilary Koprowski, M.D., Endowed Professor and director of the Center for Chemical Biology and Translational Medicine at Wistar. “By working together across different modalities, there’s an opportunity for each of us to learn from the synergy and expertise of the other investigators.”

EBV is one of the most common human viruses, infecting an estimated 95% of people by the time they reach adulthood. Symptoms are usually mild, and most people recover within a few weeks. However, the virus can remain latent in the human body for years or even decades, and it causes some people to develop cancer later in life. 

While research has historically focused on lymphomas, EBV-linked epithelial cancers are both more common and more deadly. Epithelial cancers represent 75% of the 200,000 EBV-related cancer cases diagnosed each year, and these cancers also have higher mortality rates and treatment failures. 

“This grant put together a team that is now focused on this type of cancer that has been neglected, even though it’s the most common form of EBV cancers,” Lieberman said. The grant will fund three main research projects. The first will look at how EBV establishes a long-term infection within epithelial cells. The second will study how it causes genetic and metabolic changes to trigger cancer growth. Finally, researchers will use these findings to investigate new therapeutic strategies. 

The research builds on past work by Lieberman’s lab, which has focused on developing small molecule inhibitors targeting EBV. He said the new project would focus on studying drugs that are already in development, and looking for ways to make them more targeted or use them in combination with other therapies. 

Tempera said the group’s integrated approach sets it apart.“Our project will study both metabolic and epigenetic vulnerabilities simultaneously,” he said. “Combining these two aspects can provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of EBV infection in cancer and its underlying mechanisms, leading to unique insights and therapeutic opportunities.” 

Co-authors: Ben Gewurz of Harvard; Joseph Salvino, Samantha Soldan, Andrew Kossenkov, Louise Showe, and Qin Liu of Wistar.

Darien Sutton
The Wistar Institute
215-870-2048
dsutton@wistar.org

SOURCE : The Wistar Institute

LYNK DEMONSTRATES FIRST-EVER TWO-WAY STANDARD PHONE VOICE CALLS BY SATELLITE

Publishes video proof of technology for voice calls through Lynk’s sat2phone service


FALLS CHURCH, Va., July 26 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Lynk Global, Inc., the world’s leading sat2phone telecoms provider, today released the first-ever video of a series of two-way voice calls between standard-mobile-phones connected via satellite. The video shows multiple voice calls using standard mobile phones connected via Lynk’s existing satellite-cell-towers in orbit.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230725726683/en/

Charles Miller, CEO and co-founder of Lynk, stated, “Carl Sagan once remarked ‘Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.’ The video we release today underscores Lynk’s commitment to a higher standard.” Miller continued, “When Lynk completed the first-ever connection from a satellite to a standard phone on Earth in March 2020, we shared video to demonstrate our results to the world. Today we are doing the same for two-way voice calls.”

“Today’s news goes to the heart of our mission to connect everyone, everywhere,” noted Tyghe Speidel, CTO and co-founder at Lynk. “With initial service now underway in Palau for SMS messaging, and with other countries to follow this year, the Lynk team is thrilled to demonstrate voice call capabilities. While we continue to prioritize SMS texting service for our MNO partners in the near term, these initial voice call results highlight advancements in our technology and move us a step closer to delivering on our mission,” he continued.

To watch the video of Lynk’s successful two-way voice call, click here.

About Lynk

Lynk is the world’s only patented, proven, and commercially-licensed satellite-direct-to-standard-mobile-phone system. Our service has been demonstrated, and is currently being deployed, in more than 20 countries with >30 MNO commercial service contracts covering >50 countries. Lynk's network, currently providing cell broadcast (emergency) alerts, and two-way SMS messaging, is compatible with every existing mobile phone on the planet. In the future, Lynk will launch voice and mobile broadband services. By partnering with Lynk via a simple roaming agreement, a mobile network operator opens the door to new revenue in untapped markets, gives subscribers peace of mind with ubiquitous connectivity, and provides a pathway to economic prosperity for billions of the world’s citizens. For more information, visit www.lynk.world or follow @lynktheworld.

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Contact

Tony DeTora
tdetora@lynk.world

Source : Lynk Global, Inc.