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Recruiting platform Kula raises $12M seed funding round to make every employee a recruiter

Kula

Kula, a recruitment automation platform, has raised a $12 million seed round to make outbound recruiting seamless for founders and recruiters at SMBs and mid-market companies. The round was co-led by Sequoia Capital India and Square Peg Capital, also saw participation from existing investors – Venture Highway and Together Fund, and a handful of prominent angels. The seed fundraise comes within six months of the pre-seed announcement, taking the total funding amount to $15M before the public release of the product, displaying a strong tailwind of investor and customer confidence. “Recruitment is an absolute priority for companies across the spectrum of size, industry, and geography, and is still an underserved business function. Kula’s founding team brings an unmatched combination of substantial recruiting experience and distinguishing engineering talent - giving them the ability to understand the problem deeply and build a solution that scales with the organizations they serve.” Piruze Sabuncu, Partner at Square Peg Capital. The founding team at Kula comprises co-founders Achuthanand Ravi, ex-Stripe, Uber and Freshworks recruiter, Sathappan, engineer number 3 at Freshworks, and later an engineering leader at Grab, and Suman Kumar Dey, an early member of the Infra team at Freshworks and Grab, and Architect at Salesforce. The fresh funds will further Kula’s mission with expansion of R&D, product and GTM teams across the three offices in US, Singapore, and India. With a strong momentum of notable alpha customers, the funds will also accelerate its global customer footprint. "Almost all business functions have reinvented themselves in the past decade, except for recruiting. CEOs openly term recruitment as their competitive priority and yet the recruiters are functioning in 2022 with the tools of the 1990s," said Achuthanand Ravi, Co-founder & CEO at Kula. "I have been a recruiter all my career at places like Stripe, Uber, and Freshworks. Never have I ever enjoyed writing the same email, a couple dozen times everyday, or updating the candidate spreadsheet based on the replies to those emails or LinkedIn requests. We understand the challenges of a recruiter through first-hand experience. We want to empower them to do their best work, close more candidates, and focus on the future," added Achuthanand. Kula provides a sleek and intuitive SaaS platform for recruiters and founders to automate continual engagement with their top candidates. It seamlessly integrates with all the tools recruiters interface with in their work day including LinkedIn, GitHub Gmail, and theApplicant Tracking System (ATS). Recruiters can then create automated workflows to engage with their top of funnel candidates through emails, LinkedIn nudges and InMails. Automating outreach campaigns saves recruiters from spending endless hours on the most repetitive tasks in the hiring process. "We are seeing a tectonic shift as organizations across the spectrum are switching to outbound hiring processes as default. Achuthanand and team have unique insights in outbound recruitment gathered from their own past experiences and they are leveraging it to build a platform that replaces ad-hoc hiring processes with an automation stack. We are excited to be a part of this journey with a strong team building a SaaS product for global customers." Aakash Kapoor, VP, Sequoia Southeast Asia. A key recruiting challenge that Kula aims to solve is making referrals proactive. Most referral workflows fail in the real world because recruiters have almost no control over the process apart from nudging employees to find a good-fit candidate from their network. Kula’s Circle changes that. It brings all employee networks to one place. Recruiters can then identify the next superstar hire from first-degree connections of all employees and get an intro with a click of a button. It takes the reactive approach to referrals and makes it proactive - easier for recruiters to take action, eliminating the incessant cycle of follow-ups. “Our trust in Kula’s idea and team has only gotten stronger by witnessing the product in action. The way companies hire has shifted from inbound to outbound, and Kula brilliantly integrates itself with this new way of hiring and takes the experience a notch above. I foresee Kula being a key component of companies winning the talent war.” Priya Mohan, Partner at Venture Highway. About Kula Kula transforms the way recruitment happens today. It empowers recruiters and employees at large to leverage their entire network, reach out, and engage with top talent and turns hiring into a competitive advantage for the company. Kula is led by a strong team of recruiters, engineers, and marketers. Seasoned recruiter Achuthanand Tanjore Ravi co-founded Kula after witnessing a significant void in the recruitment stack, which was limited only to systems of records (ATS and HRMS) and no system of actions. Previously, Achu has helped hire Stripe’s executive leadership team globally, and in the past, helped build Uber’s tech organization in AMER, EMEA and India, and was the founding recruiter at Freshworks and Practo. Achuthanand, along with his past colleagues, Sathappan, engineer number 3 at Freshworks, and later an engineering leader at Grab, and Suman Kumar Dey, early member of the Infra team at Freshworks and Grab, and Architect at Salesforce, set out to replace a broken system of recruitment, hacked together with spreadsheets and mass emails, with a scalable hiring platform that saves recruiters from the proverbial recruiting hell. Contact Details Kula Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://www.kula.ai/

August 31, 2022 09:24 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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NASDAQ: $SOPA Don't Miss This Interview with Raynauld Liang, CFO of Society Pass, Inc.

Society Pass Incorporated

Contact Details Dennis Nguyen: Founder, Chairman & CEO +1 877-440-9464 dennis@thesocietypass.com Company Website https://thesocietypass.com

August 31, 2022 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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PCMA Announces Continued Nationwide Expansion With The Addition of North Carolina To Our Lending Footprint

PCMA

PCMA, the pioneer and leading voice in Non-Bank Private Client Lending, announces the expansion of our Private Client services to the state of North Carolina – Company NMLS ID: 237710. The expansion of Private Client Lending into North Carolina highlights the extraordinary growth of PCMA and the continued growth in North Carolina’s luxury housing markets. “With both inflation and interest rates still rising, luxury real estate is an attractive hedge and a way to put your money to work”, says John R. Lynch, CEO and Founder of PCMA Private Client. “With so much in flux and all signs pointing towards a 10-year Treasury yield won’t surpass 3% by the end of 2022, luxury real estate acquisitions have become even more attractive.” PCMA Private Client understands the symbiotic relationship between wealth creations and real estate. According to a report produced The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing (ILHM), there has been an 180% increase in luxury property ownership over the past three years in North Carolina. The increase in Private Client wealth is in part due to a strong stock market, increased real estate prices and alternative lending solutions that circumvent the increasing rate environment. This has allowed Private Clients access to credit, fueling a strong real estate market across the state of North Carolina. “While the average home buyer continues to be hammered by the volatility in the mortgage rates, our Private Clients are not as impacted by the fluctuation in rates,” said Lynch. “Through asset-based lending and other bespoke lending solutions offered exclusively by PCMA, Private Clients can look past the tumultuous rate environment and focus on putting their money to work without risking long term investment strategies or paying all cash for a primary or secondary home.” PCMA’s expansion into the North Carolina market comes on the heels of both internal and external growth of the company and new subsidiaries. PCMA continues to experience an unprecedented growth of high-net-worth originations at a record pace throughout the first half of 2022 even in the face of rising interest rates. Continued growth has come with the addition of PCMA Capital Advisors and the expansion of direct and indirect origination channels. ABOUT PCMA PCMA is a vertically integrated Asset Origination and Convexity Management firm that specializes in Structured, Super Prime, Non-Agency, Private Client Credit. With its captive origination unit, PCMA has become the leading Non-Bank Private Client Lender in the U.S. What began as a linear venture has morphed into a vertical organization and industry leading incubator of ideas pushing the boundaries of innovation in high-capacity financial services. PCMA offers qualified individuals and institutions bespoke lending and advisory services across all major credit, and residential asset classes. PCMA is headquartered in Orange County, CA. Additional information is available at www.pcma.mortgage & www.pcma.us.com Forward-Looking Statements This release may contain “forward-looking statements,” which reflect the Company’s current views with respect to, among other things, its operations and financial performance. You can identify these statements by the use of words such as “outlook,” “anticipation”, “potential,” “continue,” “may,” “seek,” “approximately,” “predict,” “believe,” “expect,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate”, “preparing” and similar expressions or the negative versions of these words or comparable words, as well as future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “should,” “would” and “could.” These forward-looking statements are based on current available operating, financial, economic and other information, and are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Therefore, current plans, anticipated actions, financial results, as well as the anticipated development of the industry, may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in any forward-looking statement. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect future events or circumstances, except as required by applicable law Contact Details PCMA Private Client Jason Jepson +1 949-394-7033 jason.jepson@pcma.us.com Company Website https://pcma.partners

August 31, 2022 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Top Cyber Talent from Around the World to Convene in San Antonio, Texas, to Combat Shared Threats

Port San Antonio / Cyber Future Foundation

In the face of increasing threats against the information networks essential to the global economy and the security of nations, over a thousand leading experts from around the world will come together in the Alamo City this fall. Together, they are part of a growing collaboration that is establishing best practices, developing human talent and identifying innovative state-of-the-art technologies to defend factories, transportation networks, power grids, government operations and other critical assets from cyberattacks launched by rogue individuals, criminal enterprises or hostile nation states. The exploitation of networks, ransomware and malware are among the most common and growing threats that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the top cybersecurity agency in the U.S., tracks on an ongoing basis. And these are among the types of cyberattacks that warrant a united front where allies can share intelligence, human talent and innovations in a joint effort to ensure the well-being of billions of people around the world whose daily lives depend on the proper functioning of digital technologies. Now in its seventh year, the Cyber Future Summit, an annual event hosted by the Dallas-based Cyber Future Foundation (CFF), will bring together a cross-section of public and private sector leaders to discuss shared priorities and showcase the diversity of innovations being developed nationally and internationally. Representatives from around the world will be present at the upcoming event, including Canada, the United States, Mexico, Israel, Estonia, Germany, Italy and Romania. This year’s summit—from October 26 to 28—is the foundation’s most ambitious yet. See here for the most current speakers, agenda and other event details. (This information is being updated on an ongoing basis.) CFF selected San Antonio as the host community given its national standing as “Cyber City, USA” – home to one of the largest and fastest-growing hubs of information technology operations and innovation in the world. The venue for the event, which will include over 40 main stage presentations and additional tracks, is Tech Port Center + Arena —a state-of-the-art facility launched earlier this year in the heart of the community’s innovation hub, Port San Antonio. The Port’s vast campus is itself home to leading cybersecurity operations, including the Sixteenth Air Force (Air Forces Cyber) headquarters and marquee industry names. The Port also houses the Alamo Regional Security Operations Center (ARSOC ) – a first-of-its-kind facility in the United States that consolidates information security operations from municipalities and other area public entities into a single hub. And in just a few months, work will be completed on a new facility on the Port campus to house the Cybersecurity Manufacturing and Innovation Institute’s (CyManII) Texas Manufacturing x Transformation Hub. That enterprise will accelerate training and collaborations that safeguard installations and transportation assets operated by U.S. public- and private-sector partners. In addition to national and international participants, San Antonio-based experts who will be represented at the upcoming summit include presentations by the University of Texas at San Antonio’s National Security Collaboration Center (NSCC), CyManII and the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce’s Cybersecurity Council. Other local partners supporting Cyber Summit 2022 include greater:SATX, the Cyber Texas Foundation, Capital Factory, BioMedSA and Visit San Antonio. “The concentration of cyber expertise and innovation in the San Antonio community, our partnership with the Port and other local industry leaders and the outstanding and multi-faceted platform at Tech Port Center and Arena will make for a comprehensive event that will be of tremendous value to participants,” said Valmiki ‘Val’ Mukherjee, Chairman and Founder of the Cyber Future Foundation. “As bad actors try to exploit and harm essential digital assets, there is unparalleled strength in coming together to defend against a common threat to ensure that our critical infrastructure and new technologies that are making the world a safer and more productive place—from medicine to communications to transportation and more—are duly protected,” he added. “Our upcoming event in San Antonio will do just that: connect cybersecurity with an array of other industries and disciplines so that the whole will be much larger, and much more resilient, than the sum of its parts.” “Our focus has been to grow our campus as a unique community that brings people together from throughout our region, around the nation and across the world with a shared objective to create a better world,” said Port San Antonio President and CEO Jim Perschbach. “We are honored that the Cyber Future Foundation has selected our campus and our newest facility to do just that: Spur conversations and collaborations that will build the resiliency of our digital infrastructure in within the U.S. and our allies,” he added. “The upcoming event reinforces our core belief at the Port that, in an increasingly connected world, it is essential that we also connect and work more closely than ever with the people who are responsible for safeguarding our critical infrastructure assets.” MEDIA ATTENDANCE: Media are invited to join the conference at no charge. Advance pre-registration and credentials are required by contacting Katherine Thompson, CFF Head of Ecosystems, at kthompson@cyberfuturefoundation.org or by calling (647) 202-0624. While the majority of the conference will be open to the press, some sessions could be closed and/or require separate credentials at the discretion of presenters. These details will be indicated on the event agenda as it is updated with individual sessions. Contact Details CYBER FUTURE FOUNDATION Katherine Thompson +1 647-202-0624 kthompson@cyberfuturefoundation.org PORT SAN ANTONIO Paco Felici +1 210-260-3218 paco.felici@portsanantonio.us Stephanie Garcia +1 210-238-8657 stephanie.garcia@portsanantonio.us

August 31, 2022 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Introducing Aquamorphic Design: the creative and human-centric design behind the new OPPO ColorOS 13

OPPO

“A good design is about initiate dialogues amongst modern civilisations, and responding to people’s needs. The ultimate goal of any piece of product design is to relieve people of their difficulties and to enhance our quality of life.” - Xi Zheng, Director of Software Design, OPPO SHENZHEN, CHINA - Media OutReach - 31 August 2022 - In the modern digital age, people have long become used to gaining easy access to vast amounts of information through various technological devices. As people’s reliance on smart devices increases, and with the costs of device usage and maintenance keeps on surging, technology has not only brought more about convenience to our live, it also inevitably gives rise to anxiety. The over-abundance of information is drowning out people’s capacity to reflect, at the same time forcing them to live in the fear of missing out. Aquamorphic Design of OPPO ColorOS 13 That’s not all. Social instability, the deterioration of our natural environment, and the global pandemic have all forced us to adapt and evolve to the ever-changing external environment, and to thrive in a future of uncertainty. As the spearhead to our future, designers are tasked with critically tackling the uncertainties to reassess our potential to thrive and to make contributions to the world around us. ColorOS is a highly-customized, efficient, intelligent, and richly designed Android based OS from OPPO, with over 500 million global monthly active users. In the latest version of its ColorOS, OPPO hopes to adapt to people’s needs through constantly exploring the interactions between technological devices and modern users, as well as understanding the spiritual relationship between the nature and human beings. The OPPO ColorOS provides users with the right solutions, the convenience, and the naturalness of integration between technology and humans, reaching an impeccable synthesis of innovative technology and modernistic aesthetics. In August 2022, ColorOS welcomed a new chapter in its history with ColorOS 13, introducing the brand-new, human-oriented Aquamorphic Design. Aquamorphic Design on the ColorOS 13 aims to deliver a highly popular aesthetics through its organic and minimalistic interpretation, with a functional goal to solve our everyday problems in this information-booming era. With ColorOS 13, we encourage users to live a vibrant and gratifying lifestyle, looking forward into uncertainties with optimism, courage and determinism. Echoing with the modern aesthetics: the Aquamorphic Design Nature breeds all life, and water is the essence of life on earth. Through the exploration and expression of the laws of nature, OPPO has weaved its vitality into technology with Aquamorphic Design on ColorOS 13. It took more than 100 engineers over half a year to perfect the Aquamorphic Design — a concept which aims to give ColorOS 13 unlimited possibilities by enabling it to adapt itself to any environment. This concept takes inspiration from the multifariousness, compactability, and openness to interactions in the unlimited physical possibilities of water molecules – from its ubiquitous vapourous form to its sharp, tough ice-like rigidity. Like water, ColorOS 13 represents OPPO’s root determination for innovation, adaptability to changes, and intrinsic simplicity. We aim to sense and adapt to different devices and user habits, and redefine the relationships between people and the digital world with ColorOS 13. All the while, users interacting with ColorOS 13 are required no additional effort to learn. ColorOS 13 inconspicuously and gently bearing the weight to assist users for an accommodating, personal, and intuitive experience. To counteract the feeling of fatigue brought by the pandemic, the first port of call in bringing this natural vitality to ColorOS 13 was to completely overhaul the visual elements in the OS. ColorOS 13’s color theme is inspired by the hue transition on the skyline between sunrise and sunset. From the sapphire of a sunrise to the orange of a sunset, this color gradient is applied to the system space and icons, bringing users a sense of vitality and inclusiveness. This evolving color is anchored around a central shade of blue, which not only reflects the OS’s aqueous theme, but also induces the feeling of serenity and reliability. In a similar way, the icons, windows, cards, and input boxes in ColorOS 13 all feature more rounded and organically gentle contours to mirror the flow of water and symbolize the endless vitality of life. Typography and Card-Styled Layout The OPPO Sans font in ColorOS 12 recentely won a Red Dot Design Award — has also received an update in ColorOS 13. The font features slightly wider text for a more stable appearance, while the text layout has been updated to create a more stereoscopic present that accentuates clarity, improves readability and visual comfort on a variety of screen display sizes. Creating a systematic and convenient user experience in the often disorderly and complex information system is also central to us. We came up with a new solution to avoid information overload — the Card-Styled Layout. It classifies and intergrates scattered information to simplified interface presentation, enlarging the most important information and re-arranging it in an easy-to-read layout. This new design enables users to quickly get hold of the desired information they need most with the least amount of effort, all without noticing the magic of the design working tirelessly away in the background, mirroring the inconspicuous and gentle appearance of water in nature – being important, yet appearing weightless. During the refinement process to the Control Center, controls have also been grouped and classified using the Card-Styled Layout to create a clearer information hierarchy, amplify commonly used information, and group similar information all in one accessible place. The soft Aquamorphic Effect from of Aquamorphic Design in ColorOS 13 allows every interaction to feel completely natural and fluid, while providing a soothing sensation that brings the user closer to nature. For example, the Fingerprint Unlock and Optimize functions are accompanied by an animated ripple effect. When the device is charging, water droplets converge to the middle of the screen. When switching between interfaces, a Gaussian blur effect creates the realistic visual sensation of looking at the bottom of a lake through the water, with the background image appearing faintly below. On top of these design touches, the Shadow Reflective Clock mimics the transistions of the sun’s rays from dawn till dusk, and the shadows casted by moonlight. The automatic shifts between lights and shadows of the clock adjust gradually depending on the time of day and night by the use of device, creating a vivid reminder to the beauty in the passage of life. ColorOS 13 includes an upgraded Quantum Animation Engine with improved animative details and the simulations of mechanical trajectory movements and stationary states of virtual objects. This makes the animations feel even more lifelike and connected to the natural world, reducing the sense of detechment between the the digitial world and the reality. Behavioral Predictions has also been added to process multi-gesture operations and provide intelligent, accurate, and rapid visual responses. For example, if a user slides up on the screen to exit an app and to abort a previous instruction to open the app, the system would respond immediately by suspending the previous opening instruction and to proceed directly to the real-time aborting response. Color OS 13 provides a cutting-edge technology to promote the operating fluency to a new level. Meeting the needs of today: new functions built on the latest technology The pandemic has completely changed the way we live our lives, introducing us with a novel remote-working mode that requires the simultaneous use of multiple devices has placed fresh demands on user experience. ColorOS 13 has been upgraded to address the users’ evolved demands by introducing a series of intelligent functions designed for the needs of today. As more smart devices are introduced into our lives, the demand for a reliable central OS that operate in tandem with the variety of hardware is vital for users to make the most out of their devices. When concurrently working on a computer, smartphone, or tablet, ColorOS 13’s upgraded Multi-Screen Connect improves multitasking by enabling users to switch between devices in a more seamless and natural manner, therby increasing work efficiency. Meanwhile, the Adaptive Layouts of the ColorOS 13 ensure that users can enjoy the same familiar and consistent experiences on devices with different screen sizes, such as mobile phones and tablets, without any additional learning. ColorOS 13 also inherits the Red Dot Award-winning Two-Finger Split Screen function from ColorOS 12, which offers more flexibility and efficiency for multitasking on larger screens. After addressing the core and universal needs of most users, ColorOS 13 is also designed to provide a more personalized and customized experience. Users can choose from a variety of design elements and theme colors in the system according to their own preferences, and add Home Screen Widgets that suit their usage habits, customizing their own operating system to display information that is personalized to their needs. The Always-On Display (AOD) in ColorOS 13 has also been purposely designed to prioritize the presentation of important information, while also acting as a buffer to protects users from unnecessary and superfluous message disruptions. This allows users to concentrate their attention only on direct and concise information, with minimal diversions on time-consuming and redundant information. Through the Smart AOD, users can review the statuses of food delivery without turning on the home screen of their phone. OPPO has also entered into a partnership with Spotify that brings convenient music control to the AOD. User can access to to information more convenient in a quicker manner, all whilst minimizing power consumption too. Moreover, ColorOS 13 provides a variety of options for users who want to customize their AOD. OPPO has been working closely with the Bitmoji team to bring it to the AOD, enabling users to create personalized virtual avatars that mimic their won facial features and expressions to create unique Bitmoji and use it as their AOD wallpaper. “Virtuous Innovation” for digital wellbeing: striking a balance between digital life and the reality Always-On Display – Insight, Spotify and Bitmoji, Homeland OPPO aims to promote and spread positivity through the experience of ColorOS 13. One such example is the introduce of Blossom Wallpaper, which has been designed to help people better balance their digital wellbeing. The wallpaper shows an animated plant with petals that decolorise gradually as mobile phone use increases. When the time spent on the device exceeds a user-set limit, the texture of the plant would change gradually, reminding users to take a break from the use of devices. ColorOS 13 also introduces the Insight AOD with a color display bar that tracks phone use over a 24-hour period. Each time the user unlocks the phone, a new mark is created on the bar to represent phone use. Non-invasive reminders like these are a great way to help users find a better balance in life. Futhermore, to call for a greater awareness of environmental protection, ColorOS 13 includes a special series of “Homeland” AOD wallpapers, including the images of penguins, polar bears and clown fish. The wallpapers symbolize the rise of global temperature that brought about drastic changes to these animals’ natural habitats, raising awareness for the climate change issues. Looking back on the evolution of ColorOS over the years, ColorOS 13’s Aquamorphic Design follows many of the signature traits that have been part of the previous version of the operating system in its early days. Starting with ColorOS 7, OPPO repositioned ColorOS to focus on delivering a smooth and delightful user experience through its emphasis on the simpler Infinite Design Concept. Building on from this, ColorOS 11 brought personal expression to a new level, focusing on greater user customization without sacrificing the fundamental smoothness of the user experience. In ColorOS 12, OPPO introduced its Inclusive Design Language for the first time, combining both simplicity and personalization to a more comfortable and unified user interface through the addition of innovations such as 3D icons, the Quantum Animation Engine, and Omoji. Due to these advances, ColorOS 12 received four Red Dot Design Awards in 2022. Creating the ideal operating system is is no mean feat. OPPO accumulation of experience through multiple iterations of innovative designs and features, OPPO able to bring Aquamorphic Design on ColorOS 13 to users. By bringing users with a more naturalistic and intuitive experience, OPPO hopes to to create a harmonious environment for users to interact with their devices through ColorOS 13, at the same time appreciating the vitality of life no matter what the future holds. Contact Details OPPO Media Contact press@oppo.com Company Website https://oppo.com/en/proposal/

August 31, 2022 05:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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OPPO Explores New Technology Breakthroughs with Developers and Partners at OPPO Developer Conference 2022

OPPO

SHENZHEN, CHINA - Media OutReach - 31 August 2022 - OPPO kicked off its 2022 OPPO Developer Conference (ODC 2022) today, unveiling its Pantanal cross-platform smart system, OPPO Carlink solution for enhanced smartphone-car integration, and the OPPO Sense ® health algorithm along with an RMB 2 billion plan to support developers and creators working with OPPO. Pete Lau, Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer at OPPO "We will live in a world where smart devices are everywhere. These smart devices should not be simply connected but integrated to serve users and help realize the future of the Internet of Experience," said Pete Lau, Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer at OPPO. "As we continue to transform into a company with its technology ecosystem, we look forward to joining hands with global developers and partners to build an open, symbiotic, and thriving ecosystem for all." OPPO's Pantanal cross-platform smart system provides fully open integration for everyone During ODC 2022, OPPO introduced Pantanal — its first cross-platform system designed to break boundaries between different devices and systems to let them truly connect and collaborate. With cross-device sensing and computing capabilities, Pantanal can better understand and anticipate users' needs and provide services at the right time in the right way. As a cross-platform system, Pantanal will make it easier for developers to develop and deploy services across multiple platforms, lowering cost while increasing efficiency. OPPO introduced Pantanal – its first cross-platform system at ODC 2022 OPPO Carlink solution provides integration for smartphones and automobiles With more and more people relying on their smart devices for in-car services and entertainment, OPPO has developed OPPO Carlink to enhance collaboration and integration between smartphones and automobiles. OPPO Carlink provides a new model for smartphone and car companies to work together. Users can access a smartphone's computing power and app ecosystem without changing existing in-vehicle infotainment systems, while smartphones can provide services through the car via software pushes. At ODC 2022, OPPO announced a partnership with SAIC Motor to work together on integrating smart devices and automobiles. This follows OPPO's agreement with Tesla China earlier this year to use OPPO smartphones as digital keys for the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y in China. Joint R&D leads to seamless, intelligent IoT experiences OPPO has continued to expand its hardware portfolio as it builds up a rich ecosystem around its products and services. OPPO has introduced its broader portfolio of IoT products to over 50 countries and regions worldwide, achieving over 120% growth across all categories over the past three years. Empowering global developers to build an open and integrated ecosystem More than 300,000 developers and 700,000 creators have joined with OPPO to distribute their products and services to users across multiple platforms. The OPPO Open Platform supports developers in areas such as app services, graphics processing, and interconnectivity. OPPO also announced that it will allocate RMB 2 billion worth of resources towards its Gravity Plan in 2023 to support developers in building an ecosystem together. Improving quality of life through preventive health With advances in sensor technology, algorithms, and data science, OPPO is working to improve the health of its users through preventive health approaches. At ODC 2022, OPPO announced the debut of its self-developed OPPO Sense ® algorithm, which features breakthroughs in cardiovascular health, fitness, and sleep tracking. OPPO will also further its collaboration with global partners to improve connectivity between IoT products and develop health management apps, hardware, and services designed to help detect the onset of certain chronic diseases. OPPO announced the debut of its self-developed OPPO Sense® at ODC 2022 During the event, OPPO also shared updates from its first OPPO Research Institute Innovation Accelerator, which recently ended on August 29. The program was launched earlier this year to empower technology professionals and entrepreneurs to bring their innovative solutions to life and create a better future together with OPPO. Among 536 submissions from 39 countries and regions, ten winning proposals were selected, with each proposal exploring innovative solutions to challenges in Accessible Technology and Digital Health. In addition to receiving $46,000 in grants, the ten winners will receive support from OPPO and its partners to help them further develop and implement their ideas. Guided by its brand mission of "Technology for Mankind, Kindness for the World" OPPO continues to work towards building an open platform that facilitates collaboration with developers and other partners. By joining forces with more developers and partners, OPPO will continue to enrich and expand its ecosystem, bringing seamless connectivity and smart experiences to more users worldwide. Contact Details OPPO Media Contact press@oppo.com

August 30, 2022 10:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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This Company’s Robots Help Protect The U.S. Power Grid

Knightscope, Inc.

Threats of a coordinated attack on the U.S. power grid are serious and, if they occur, could result in deaths, serious injuries, social unrest and economic disaster. For decades, government reports, industry journals and academic articles have raised the alarm on the dangers of intentional attacks on the nation’s unprotected power grid. For example, in its 2014 report “Securing the U.S. Electrical Grid,” the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress called the nation’s power grid “an obvious target to a range of actors who would seek to strike at the U.S. homeland.” In 2007, the National Energy Technology Laboratory wrote, “The threat of both physical and cyber attack is growing and a widespread attack against the infrastructure cannot be ruled out.” With terrorist threats on the electric grid a reality, some utilities are taking measures to protect themselves from physical attacks on their infrastructure. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), for example, has doubled the number of Knightscope, Inc. (NASDAQ: KSCP) K5 Autonomous Security Robots in its lineup, bringing the number of machines guarding its facilities to 10. PG&E is a subsidiary of the holding company PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG). Robots Rising? With the number of electric utility companies estimated at more than 3,300, according to Statista, there are plenty of opportunities for Knightscope to help the nation protect the power grid. The U.S. power grid connects about 2.5 million miles of feeder lines and more than 450,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines, according to Statista. PG&E signed its first contract in 2021 to test whether Knightscope’s robots would provide the level of safety and overwatch necessary to secure certain properties. During the successful pilot, Kightscope helped the utility reduce costs, prove value with a positive return on investment and build confidence that the service would meet its demands. Technologies such as those Knightscope offers are becoming a key component to augmenting guard services at a time when it is challenging to fill guard personnel jobs. “Knightscope’s autonomous security robots work 24/7/365 with greater detecting and data-recall capabilities at a fraction of the cost of a traditional physical security program,” Knightscope Chairman and CEO William Santana Li said. “We are honored that PG&E has entrusted us to help protect their properties, assets and employees, and we look forward to further assessing opportunities across hundreds of locations.” In addition to serving utility companies, Mountain View, California-based Knightscope has clients in the commercial real estate, hotel, casino, corporate campus, schools, law enforcement and healthcare industries. Knightscope is an advanced security technology company based in Silicon Valley that builds fully autonomous security robots that deter, detect and report. Knightscope’s long-term ambition is to make the United States of America the safest country in the world. This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice. Contact Details Knightscope, Inc. Stacy Stephens sds@knightscope.com Company Website https://www.knightscope.com/

August 30, 2022 02:06 PM Eastern Daylight Time

CPACharge Establishes Partnership With Colorado Society of CPAs

CPACharge

CPACharge, an online payment solution developed specifically for CPA firms, announced a new partnership with the Colorado Society for CPA’s. This new program will provide members the exposure and resources to connect CPAs personally and meaningfully to all aspects of the profession including over 1,500 CPE course offerings, member networking, course offerings, and on-demand e-learning selections. The Colorado Society of CPAs began in 1904 with a mission to continue professional education and elevate the CPA brand by positioning CPA’s to have success in the accounting industry. COCPA (Colorado Society of CPAs) has over 6,800 professionals. 40%t of the professionals apart from COCPA are CEO’s, 66% are in public accounting practices, and 51% are directors or managers. COCPA remains the only statewide, non-profit, professional association dedicated to CPAs in Colorado as the industry shifts each year. “The opportunity to partner with an impactful organization such as CPACharge and create better resources for our members is a priority we had to take advantage of,” said Mary E. Medley, Chief Executive Officer of COCPA. “CPACharge embodies the same values of being ethical, trusted, and a respected organization that empowers our profession to the utmost degree and we are excited to see what the future holds with this partnership.” The Colorado Society of CPAs has been an established organization committed to public accounting, government, education, and business for decades. The Colorado Society continues to value its members in developing programs to address needs while engaging in positive & professional interactions with government officials and prospective clients. “CPACharge is excited to partner with the Colorado Society of CPAs and further their mission as a trusted resource for accounting professionals,” said Dru Armstrong, Chief Executive Officer of CPACharge. “This partnership enhances our goal to consistently make a positive impact in more ways than one to our customers and help them succeed while increasing the CPA brand recognition.” About CPACharge CPACharge, an AffiniPay solution, is an online payment solution developed specifically for CPA firms, giving professionals a secure way to accept credit, debit and eCheck payments. AffiniPay is headquartered in Austin, Texas and offers a modern payment gateway that integrates with more than 40 software solutions and is trusted by 50,000 firms. CPACharge is the only payment solution offered as a Member Discount Partner by the AICPA and recommended by more than 35 state CPA societies. Visit cpacharge.com to learn more. About Colorado Society of CPAs The Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants (COCPA) is the statewide, professional association for CPAs and accounting professionals. Its members are employed in business and industry, public practice, nonprofit organizations, government, and education. Formed in 1904, the Society has proudly supported its members in providing quality professional services to serve the public interest for over 100 years. CPACharge, an AffiniPay solution, is an online payment solution developed specifically for CPA firms, giving professionals a secure way to accept credit, debit and eCheck payments. Contact Details Keely Leonard +1 512-368-8988 kleonard@affinipay.com Company Website https://www.cpacharge.com/

August 30, 2022 12:30 PM Central Daylight Time

DataWeave joins Amazon Advertising Partner Network to help brands drive retail growth

DataWeave

DataWeave, a provider of AI-powered Brand Analytics solutions, today announced its status as a vetted partner in the Amazon Advertising Partner Network with the goal of supporting brands to optimize their digital advertising campaigns with actionable data insights. The Amazon Advertising Partner Network, and new Partner Directory, provides brands access to a global community of agencies and tool providers that can help advertisers achieve their business goals using Amazon Ads products. This collaboration is timely, as leading brands and retailers rely on DataWeave for global commerce insights to stay competitive. Amazon Ads’ partners help advertisers reach consumers by using Amazon Ads products like Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display. Amazon advertisers can apply DataWeave’s insights to benchmark and help consumers to discover their brand’s products with greater ease, optimizing digital shelf performance. “We are honored to join the Amazon Advertising Partner Network with the collective goal of enabling brands to optimize audience engagement at every stage of the decision journey, and improve return on marketing spend,” said Karthik Bettadapura, CEO and co-founder, DataWeave. “Our insights can help brands increase the visibility of their digital shelf with ads that reach and resonate with Amazon shoppers.” With more than 500 billion data points aggregated, DataWeave’s scale and digital insights expertise helps brands of all sizes evaluate and elevate their performance to fuel online retail growth. DataWeave's Digital Shelf Analytics solutions empower brands to make informed advertising decisions that drive product discoverability by gaining insights and measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) in the areas of Share of Search, Content Audits, Sales Performance and Market Share, Availability, Pricing, Promotions and Reviews. Brands can immediately see how they rank for organic and sponsored ad placement on the search result listing versus their competition. More global brands are seeking insights to boost their online sales and customer loyalty. DataWeave’s acceptance into the Amazon Advertising Partner Network enables Amazon advertisers to monitor and promptly respond to competitive and consumer online retailtrends in near real-time to stay agile and efficient. Learn more about DataWeave’s digital shelf analytics for brands. DataWeave is a leading provider of advanced sales optimization solutions for e-commerce businesses, consumer brands and marketplaces. The AI-driven proprietary technology and language-agnostic platform aggregates consumable and actionable Competitive Intelligence across 500+ billion data points globally, in 25+ languages, with insights to drive performance for more than 400,000 brands across 1,500+ websites tracked across 20+ verticals and ensure online performance is always optimized. Learn more about the power of big data and global level analytics in understanding the rapidly changing retail industry at DataWeave.com. Contact Details Meir Kahtan +1 917-837-3724 mkahtan@rcn.com Company Website https://dataweave.com

August 30, 2022 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time