ZALL Smart Commerce and CIC Launch Digital Silk Road Initiative

SINGAPORE, Dec 15, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – Commodities Intelligence Centre ("CIC") announces a momentous 2020 as it has jointly launched a "Digital Silk Road" initiative led by ZALL Smart Commerce Group ("ZALL"), Asia's leading B2B e-commerce Group, and joined Singapore's Blockchain for Trade & Connectivity (BTC) Network. As Singapore's first global physical commodities B2B e-trade platform powered by blockchain, together with ZALL's latest global digital trading platform, and China's largest online and offline integrated wholesale trading platform "Zallgo", CIC will help Singapore businesses uncover new opportunities and reap the benefits of the global digital trade economy through enhanced digital connectivity, in turn boosting trade across the Asia-Pacific region on the back of the world's largest trade pact, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Zallgo was officially launched during the "2020 Global Digital Trade Conference" that was held in Wuhan last month. A total of 300 merchants sign 252 agreements on-site through ZALL's digital platform, amounting to a total of S$56.3 billion (US$42.2 billion) of cooperation agreements. The newly formed partnerships underscore the increasingly important strategic role of CIC in facilitating the expansion of regional trade and investment as it aims to develop more than 10 winning commodities that will be popular worldwide over the next three to five years.

Peter Yu, CEO of Commodities Intelligence Centre, shared, "We have withstood the test of the pandemic and have witnessed the impact of the industrial internet economy on global trade and investment. As digital trade becomes the new engine of global economic growth, digital connectivity becomes increasingly important for companies to expand their market footprint quickly in a safe and secure manner. The new partnerships forged with the Digital Silk Road initiative and BTC network strengthens CIC's existing networks in the region that will enable SMEs to uncover new trading opportunities and optimize their supply chains in cross-border trade through our ecosystem in Asia."

CIC is also one of the six commercial partners to be part of the recently formed Blockchain for Trade & Connectivity (BTC) Network, an initiative by the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) and Enterprise Singapore (ESG), supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) to develop a risk assessment framework for small and medium-sized enterprises to assess how blockchain can support their business needs.

The BTC network was officially launched at the sidelines of the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) on 7 December 2020. The BTC network to drive innovation and test bedding of blockchain solutions with multimodal global supply chain companies, digital trading platforms and technologies. Other five commercial partners who will be helping to create, trial and lead the BTC Network's implementation includes Ascent Solutions, Blockchain-based Service Network, GeTS, Trames and VeChain Technology.

"CIC is well-placed to provide the necessary tools and guidance in promoting greater efficiency and transparency across global supply chains to help SMEs embrace the power of digitalisation to explore opportunities, casting their net wider, reaching out to a larger pool of reliable partners and suppliers beyond their usual reach," added Peter.

Since the start of the year, CIC's platform has reported more than 20 per cent increase in customers joining their platform compared to the same period last year. The company also saw a surge in online transactions with over 4,000 customers searching for trading opportunities on the platform on a daily basis. CIC has since achieved a gross merchandise volume of US$13.2 billion (S$17.6 billion), with over 5,200 registered users covering markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and China, among other countries in Asia.

About Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC)

The Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC) is a global trading platform for physical commodities including Ferrous & Non-Ferrous Metals, Chemicals & Plastics, Oil & Petroleum, and Agri Commodities. Officially launched in Singapore on 12 Oct 2018, CIC is a Joint Venture between China-based ZALL Smart Commerce Group, Global eTrade Services (GeTS) and Singapore Exchange (SGX) to build trade connectivity through digital marketplaces and to grow a vibrant trading ecosystem in Singapore. CIC aims to revolutionize commodity trading and facilitate cross-border trade through deal matching, trade finance, supply chain logistics, track and trace and global trade compliance. Since its establishment in October 2018, CIC has achieved a GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) of more than US$12.7 billion (S$17.7 billion), with over 5,000 registered users covering markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China, among other countries in Asia. For more information, please visit www.cic-tp.com.

For media queries, please contact
PRecious Communications for CIC
cic@preciouscomms.com

Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Founder Institute (FI) announces Pacer Ventures as Investor in Residence for its African Accelerators

PALO ALTO & LAGOS, Dec 14, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – Founder Institute (FI), the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator, today announces Pacer Ventures as 'Investor in Residence' for the Founder Institute's African Accelerator program. As part of the program, all startups that graduate the Founder Institute in Africa will be reviewed by Pacer Ventures for potential investment in their seed or pre-seed round of funding.

This development follows the announcement of Founder Institute as a strategic partner of Pacer Ventures for African early-stage start-ups that are solving some of the most critical problems on the continent. Pacer VC's purpose is aligned with FI's mission to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful, technology-enabled companies worldwide.

"FI is quickly becoming the gold standard for pre-seed acceleration in Africa," says Ryan Micheletti, Head of Global Operations for the Founder Institute. "We are excited to strengthen our leadership position by partnering with Pacer Ventures to foster investment in FI Alumni all across the Continent."

FI has an Alumni strength of 100+ companies tackling various challenges across the continent and this is bound to grow with FI's expanded footprint in Africa and Pacer's move to increase access to early-stage funding.

Managing Partner of Pacer Ventures, Gbemi Akande, sees value in formalizing the partnership with the Silicon Valley based program. "Our partnership is in line with what Pacer VC was set up to accomplish. By partnering with Founder Institute, we at Pacer VC will accelerate our mission of supporting early stage companies. It is a win-win and we look forward to a mutually beneficial collaboration with FI."

Pacer Ventures was one of a handful of new funds selected to pitch to a global gathering of limited partners from around the world at the VC Lab Venture Forum, which has also led to increased interest from LPs around the world.

Geoffrey Weli-Wosu, General Partner at Pacer Ventures, said, "Founder Institute stands out as one of the top pre-seed accelerators across the African continent. Pacer Ventures is committed to supporting startups coming out of the program who can support the transformation of the continent."

Pacer Ventures will continue to leverage its strategic partnership with Founder Institute chapters throughout Africa to identify and recommend winning teams with scalable solutions that meet market needs. Similarly, Pacer Ventures has partnered with techbuild.africa to provide marketing and promotional support for FI portfolio companies across Africa.

General Partner at Pacer Ventures and FI Regional Director, Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata stated, "Africa faces many challenges, but within every challenge lies opportunity and young people are leveraging technology to solve these problems across the Continent. It is our duty to inspire and fund the entrepreneurs who are building valuable solutions to our most pressing problems. Africa is the future, and investors and LPs are now becoming aware of this."

About Founder Institute

Founder Institute is the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator. Since 2009, we have helped over 4,500 entrepreneurs get the focus and support needed to build a business that matters. Based in Silicon Valley with chapters across 90 countries, Founder Institute's mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful technology companies worldwide. To learn more, please visit http://fi.co.

About Pacer Ventures

Pacer Ventures has a strategic relationship with Founder Institute, the world's premier pre-seed startup accelerator, to provide investment thesis support, structure, templates, tools, deal flow, potential seed, and mentorship support across all segments of the funding operation for African startups.

Pacer email: info@pacer.vc
Official website: https://pacer.vc/
Pacer blog: https://pacer.vc/blog/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pacerventures
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/pacerventures/

Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

BTX Capital Announces $3M Investment in Partnership with TheAPIS, an Open Source API Platform

CALIFORNIA, USA, Dec 4, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – TheAPIS, an open source, decentralized API platform, has announced a $3 million strategic investment from BTX Capital, a leading crypto investment bank. With their new partnership, they aim for a new era in which developers receive a share in the profits made by companies that benefited from the economies of scale and network effects they made possible.

TheAPIS is a developer-built platform that manages communications between DApps and blockchains via only a few simple APl calls, reducing the inherent complexity of blockchain protocols. The goal of their APISCore product is to manage these intricacies, to eliminate the entry barrier to dApp creation by connecting APIS to their conventional backend or even the No-Code/Low-Code app builder. The APIS empowers connectivity to multiple blockchains with the same API calls, rendering chain-agnostic implementations, with cost-free chain-switching. With cross-chain interoperability supported by APIS-Unified, projects have the capability to scale their products across various blockchains in a decentralized manner.

"We are excited to continue our synergistic relationship with BTX and are grateful for all they've already done for our current growth. We believe a future in which developers own equity in the databases that they make popular is a fairer and better future for the Web. BTX is fully aligned with us in our vision," said Calvin Pak, CEO of TheAPIS. BTX Capital is providing APIS with access to its investment, trading and advisory arms and is now in the process of connecting the network to prominent ventures and developers around the DeFi and Web3 communities.

BTX's tokens are fully locked for the following year, with the TheAPIS team reserving the right to extend the lock-up at any time over the following year. Both partners agreed that the optional extension can help ensure that incentives of the BTX and TheAPIS teams are fully aligned with TheAPIS community owners. "Our community owners are our highest priority shareholders, a non-negotiable feature of the journey of TheAPIS," Pak added.

Initially, TheAPIS would ensure that third parties are able to access data from Ethereum and Filecoin, and all other relevant blockchains with uptime guarantees. It is expected that more blockchains would be supported on the platform.

For more information, please visit the official websites.

About TheAPIS

TheAPIS offers a developer-friendly platform that serves as a turn-key solution for indexing and querying public blockchains, namely Ethereum and Filecoin. Open-sourced, developers will be able to create API packages that serve every category of blockchain applications – from DeFi to Oracle to File Storage. For more information, please visit TheAPIS official website: www.theapis.io

About BTX Capital

BTX Capital is a leading crypto investment bank offering technical consulting services across the blockchain spectrum. Its staff comes from listing departments for top crypto exchanges and top token funds. Through their consulting services on the offering of plans and personnel and their in-house marketing department, BTX Capital strives to provide the most effective services to empower top-tier blockchain projects to meet the demands of first-tier exchanges. For more information, please visit the BTX Capital official website: www.btxcap.com

Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

AppsFlyer Launches 19th Global Office in Sydney to Tap on ANZ’s AUD7.79 Billion Mobile Marketing Potential and Thriving Local App Industry

SYDNEY, Nov 25, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – AppsFlyer, the global attribution and marketing analytics leader, today announced its official expansion into Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) with its first office opening in Sydney – making this its 19th office worldwide. AppsFlyer counts design giant Canva, neobank 86:400, and fitness app Sweat by Kayla among its current roster of ANZ clients. This follows AppsFlyer's recent announcement that Salesforce Ventures has joined its roster of investors in a late stage extension of its AUD287 million Series D round, which was led by General Atlantic earlier this year. The company now exceeds AUD273 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), with over 1,000 employees globally.

By launching in ANZ, AppsFlyer hopes to support the region's rapidly growing local app economy by capitalising on the region's mobile marketing spend, which is expected to grow to up to AUD7.79 billion by 2021. According to AppsFlyer's first App Marketing in Australia and New Zealand 2020 report, although domestic apps currently occupy only 4% of the total ANZ app market share – with the US and China dominating at 29% and 12% respectively – growth potential for local apps is seen particularly in the verticals of Lifestyle (20%), Travel (16%), and Health & Fitness (13%).

This is especially relevant today when app usage is on the rise in ANZ; the same AppsFlyer report showed that Finance apps grew by 175%, Shopping apps by 125%, and Health & Fitness apps by 86% in H1 2020 vs H1 2019 for non-organic installs (NOI).

Under the leadership of Antony Wilcox, Director of Growth, AppsFlyer is looking to pursue vast growth opportunities in the region's mobile marketing and analytics industry, provide a platform to better serve app marketers in understanding customer data, and accelerate their mobile marketing efforts. The opening of a physical office in the middle of a pandemic, further shows AppsFlyer's commitment to the region, and its focus on servicing customers and growing its business further.

Antony Wilcox, Director of Growth, Australia and New Zealand, AppsFlyer, states: "Australia and New Zealand's move into the mobile generation is happening right now. We've seen homegrown start-ups move from seed rounds to a string of IPO's and have now become global players in Fintech, Retail Tech, and Productivity categories. AppsFlyer serves as the bridge between the mobile web and the app ecosystem, and we are currently building out our integrations with Cloud Marketing partners to bring all the value of the Martech ecosystem into one platform for marketers."

Ronen Mense, President and Managing Director for APAC, AppsFlyer, says: "We are immensely proud to be able to expand physically into Australia and New Zealand during a pandemic. Globally, many businesses have accelerated their digital transformation as a result of the economic impact of COVID-19, with mobile taking front and center stage in their strategic focus. We see an opportunity here to not only better support our existing customers in the region, but also to help empower the greater ANZ business community with our mission-critical tools and industry expertise so they can get the most out of their mobile marketing potential."

Ecosystem shifts and digital transformation accelerated by COVID-19 have fuelled the growth of AppsFlyer's ground-breaking solutions to meet the needs of marketers and app developers. These include innovative, privacy-centric attribution solutions for iOS 14, in a post-IDFA world; App Clips analytics; a zero budget marketing plan for app developers; enabling the web campaign-to-app opportunity; and two brand new products: Xpend – a cost aggregation solution that extracts cost data from any source, and accurately calculates ROI across the entire marketing journey, and Incrementality – which helps brands test and prove incremental lift of their marketing campaigns.

Globally, AppsFlyer works with thousands of customers, including leading brands such as Macy's, Minecraft, Nike, NBC Universal, Tencent, US Bank, Wayfair, and StitchFix. AppsFlyer's marketplace of over 8,000 partners includes Facebook, Google, Apple Search Ads, Twitter, TikTok Ads, Pinterest, Snap, Salesforce, Adobe, and Oracle. AppsFlyer was recently named to the Forbes 2020 Cloud 100 list for the 2nd year in a row.

Existing investors include General Atlantic, Goldman Sachs Growth, DTCP (Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners), Qumra Capital, Pitango Venture Capital, Magma Venture Partners, and Eight Roads Ventures.

App Marketing in Australia and New Zealand 2020 report highlights:

The AppsFlyer App Marketing in Australia and New Zealand 2020 report examines 120 million installs, covering 12,500 apps downloaded between January to June 2020 in Australia and New Zealand. The report was done across eight verticals including Entertainment, Shopping, Gaming, Health & Fitness, Finance, Utilities, Travel and Lifestyle. The dataset in the report has also been compared against H1 2020 global data and H1 2019 Australia and New Zealand data.

– Finance – Non-organic installs (installs as a result of paid marketing activity), nearly tripled (175%) in comparison to H1 2019.

– Fraud – Overall fraud in ANZ grew to 14.94% by June 2020, doubling from 7.9% in February 2020. With Shopping and Finance apps being widely utilised, marketers were sinking more advertising spend, which in-end targeted fraudsters. Over 50% of apps expected to generate fake attributions.

– Travel – New Zealanders tended to over-index on Travel app NOI at 21% (enjoying the second-highest share behind just New South Wales, 26%). Marketers might therefore find a measure of solace in this finding by boosting their spending in New Zealand.

– Health and Fitness – With gyms and stores closed, health and fitness apps grew in H1 2020 by 86% and shopping apps grew by 125%, as people were seeking alternatives.

– User Acquisition – January showed to be a great month for marketers to invest in, benefitting from extended holiday spending, with user acquisition in January proving to be at lower costs.
— Cost per installs grew during March, April, and May months as COVID-related NOI and Organic Install spikes
— Entertainment (1.65 in May 2020 from 1.39 in January 2020),
— Lifestyle (1.7 in May 2020 from 1.2 in January 2020) and
— Shopping (3.17 in May 2020 from 2.4 in January 2020) apps
— Revenue and App Opens also peaked in January as Health & Fitness (17%), Lifestyle (20%) and Travel (25%) apps peaked, gaming and utilities apps also grew

AppsFlyer was founded in Israel in 2011 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, by Oren Kaniel, current CEO, and CTO Reshef Mann. Globally, the company works with more than 12,000 customers including leading brands like HBO, Alibaba, Skyscanner, and is currently located in 19 global offices. AppsFlyer works with data-driven marketers for independent measurement solutions and innovative tools to grow and protect their mobile business. AppsFlyer's platform processes billions of mobile actions every day, empowering marketers and developers to maximize the return on their marketing investments.

App Marketing in Australia and New Zealand 2020 report is available at https://www.appsflyer.com/resources/others/app-marketing-australia-new-zealand/

About AppsFlyer

AppsFlyer, the global attribution leader, empowers marketers to grow their business and innovate with a suite of comprehensive measurement and analytics solutions. Built around privacy by design, AppsFlyer takes a customer-centric approach to help 12,000+ brands and 7,000+ technology partners make better business decisions every day. To learn more, visit www.appsflyer.com

Media Contacts
Debbie Beins
PRecious Communications on behalf of AppsFlyer
appsflyer@preciouscomms.com
+65 6303 0567

Press Contact For AppsFlyer in APAC:
Nico Marco
nico.marco@appsflyer.com

Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Pacer Ventures partners Founder Institute, launches $3M fund for early-stage African startups

LAGOS, NIGERIA, Nov 25, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – Pacer Ventures has announced a $3M fund for early-stage African startups that are solving some of the most critical problems on the continent. The focus will be on verticals expedient to the African continent including healthcare, financial inclusion, education and agriculture.

The United Nations has projected that Africa will have a population of 1.68 billion people by 2030, while the GSMA Mobile Economy Report states that 84% of Africa's population will have access to a sim connection by 2025. This high mobile penetration will enable the continent to leapfrog technology consumption, as Africa is expected to account for up to 30% of global consumption of technology and technology-driven solutions within the same period.

"We see a huge opportunity to support early-stage founders making meaningful contributions to their local economies and communities," said the Managing General Partner at Pacer Ventures, Gbemi Akande. "We are providing much-needed funds to founders leveraging mobile penetration to solve problems at the 'bottom of the pyramid' across the continent."

Pacer Ventures has already begun to support early-stage founders by participating in seed rounds, including VPD.Money and others. With an average cheque size of $100k, Pacer VC is positioned to add substantial value to its portfolio companies.

According to the Pacer General Partner in charge of Southern Africa, Antoinia Norman, "We won't just write a cheque, we will enable founders to work in and on their business, by supporting them every step of their journey, with technical and financial skills, team building, access to markets, resources, and our networks."

The General Partners of Pacer VC have over 40 years of combined experience in consulting, marketing, entrepreneurship, deal flow sourcing and ecosystem development. Pacer VC's differentiator is the funds focus on sourcing high potential early-stage African startups, while leveraging its strategic partnership with Founder Institute chapters all over Africa to identify and recommend winning teams with solutions that meet market needs.

"Our partnership with Founder Institute gives us an undeniable edge particularly with quality deal-flow at an early stage, which we will leverage to strategically expand Pacer VC's footprint across multiple African Markets," said Chukwuemeka Agbata, Regional Director of Founder Institute in Africa, and Co-founder, techbuild.africa.

Speaking on the Pacer VC Investment thesis, Geoffrey Weli-Wosu, a General Partner at Pacer VC and Co-Founder of VoguePay and Domineum, stated, "We are leveraging our in-depth experience in startups, deal flow sourcing and ecosystem development to take advantage of the early-stage funding gap in Africa. Our target is seed-stage founders and companies who are usually under the radar of a lot of investors. We know the markets, have access to the founders and our investment team is well qualified to execute this thesis."

About Pacer Ventures
Pacer Ventures has a strategic relationship with the Founder Institute, the world's premier pre-seed startup accelerator, providing investment thesis support, structure, templates, tools, deal flow, potential seed, and support across all segments of the funding operation. It has a similar partnership with techbuild.africa, providing media support to portfolio companies.

For more information, please visit https://pacer.vc, email info@pacer.vc, or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Commodities Intelligence Centre to groom Global Commodity Champions On the Back of RCEP

SINGAPORE, Nov 24, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC), a B2B e-trade platform for physical commodities, has announced its plans to groom one Global Commodity Champion from each participating country of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Since the start of year, CIC has reported more than 20% increases in customers joining the platform compared to the same period last year, and a surge in online transactions with over 4,000 customers searching for trading opportunities on the platform. CIC has since achieved a gross merchandise volume of US$13.2 billion (S$17.7 billion), with over 5,200 registered users covering markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and China, among other countries in Asia. CIC looks to develop more than ten Global Commodity Champions over the next three to five years, as it strives to uncover new trading opportunities and boost global trade facilitation on the back of RCEP.

Peter Yu, Chief Executive Officer of Commodities Intelligence Centre, shared, "The coronavirus has radically reshaped the global supply chain, exposing the fragility of the industry. We believe that CIC is well-placed to empower companies, especially SMEs, from RCEP member countries to uncover new market opportunities and identify reliable partners and suppliers, while building business resilience and extending the global reach of their supply chains during this difficult period."

The RCEP is the world's largest trade pact signed by 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. It aims to eliminate as much as 90 per cent of tariffs on imports between member countries over the next 20 years, and will improve market access for goods and services within the region. RCEP members comprise all 10 ASEAN members and key partners, such as Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, accounting for 30 per cent of the world's economy and one-third of its population.

"The work that CIC has been doing for the past two years resonates strongly with the recently launched Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership – to help participating countries establish a mutually beneficial economic partnership that will facilitate the expansion of regional trade and investment and contribute to global economic development and growth." added Peter.

Established in 2018 as a Joint Venture between Asia's leading B2B e-commerce group ZALL Smart Commerce Group, Global eTrade Services (GeTS) and Singapore Exchange (SGX), CIC platform supports 10 different languages encompassing RCEP member countries, and provides integrated services that help SMEs reduce transaction costs, optimise the efficiency of their supply chains across cross-border trading, financing, logistics and to be regulatory compliant. CIC also provides access to unique commodity offerings of participating RCEP countries, such as clean and renewable energy.

Recently, CIC has also successfully facilitated large-scale renewable energy transactions between customers from Australian, India and South Korea, with the official signing set to take place during this year's Global Digital Trade Conference 2020 and the 11th China Wuhan (Hankou North) Commodity Fair from November 28 to December 6.

About Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC)

The Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC) is a global trading platform for physical commodities including Ferrous & Non-Ferrous Metals, Chemicals & Plastics, Oil & Petroleum, and Agri Commodities. Officially launched in Singapore on 12 Oct 2018, CIC is a Joint Venture between China-based ZALL Smart Commerce Group, Global eTrade Services (GeTS) and Singapore Exchange (SGX) to build trade connectivity through digital marketplaces and to grow a vibrant trading ecosystem in Singapore.

CIC aims to revolutionize commodity trading and facilitate cross-border trade through deal matching, trade finance, supply chain logistics, track and trace and global trade compliance. Since its establishment in October 2018, CIC has achieved a GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) of more than US$13.2 billion, with over 5,200 registered users covering markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China, among other countries in Asia.

For media enquiries
PRecious Communications for Commodities Intelligence Centre
Email: CIC@preciouscomms.com

Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

AppsFlyer Exceeds $200 Million in ARR and Sets Its Sights on Shaping the Future of the Marketing Tech Stack, Opens New Office in Australia

SINGAPORE, Nov 24, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – AppsFlyer, the global attribution and marketing analytics leader, today announced Salesforce Ventures joined its roster of investors in a late stage extension of its $210 million series D round led by General Atlantic earlier this year, to continue its velocity through product innovation with consumer privacy at the forefront.

As shifting privacy policies and regulations transform the marketing landscape, AppsFlyer has been experiencing increased demand for its expanding suite of products, including holistic attribution, marketing analytics, fraud protection, incrementality measurement, and customer experiences and engagement tools, while connecting app developers to more than 8,000 partners via its marketplace.

The AppsFlyer platform is rapidly becoming a core component in the most advanced marketing tech stacks. Ecosystem shifts and digital transformation accelerated by COVID-19 have fueled the growth of AppsFlyer's groundbreaking solutions to meet the needs of marketers and app developers. These include innovative, privacy-centric attribution solutions for iOS 14, in a post-IDFA world; App Clips analytics; a zero budget marketing plan for app developers; enabling the web campaign-to-app opportunity; and two brand new products: Xpend – a cost aggregation solution that extracts cost data from any source, and accurately calculates ROI across the entire marketing journey, and Incrementality – which helps brands test and prove incremental lift of their marketing campaigns.

The company also announced the launch of its new office in Sydney, focusing on servicing its customers and growing its business in the region of Australia and New Zealand. This latest launch will expand AppsFlyer's global footprint to 19 international offices, an unprecedented feat in the middle of a pandemic.

AppsFlyer has secured more than $300 million in funding since 2011, and has seen tremendous growth since its $210 million series D round, announced earlier this year. The company has recently reached 1,000 employees globally, and now exceeds $200 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). The company also plans to increase its global headcount significantly in 2021 to support the growing needs of its customers and provide them with the right tools to delight their end-users while adhering to privacy regulations. AppsFlyer has also increased the volume and reach of its corporate social responsibility program, AppsFlyer Cares, impacting dozens of communities and thousands of individuals worldwide.

"AppsFlyer has been the driving force in mobile marketing attribution and has demonstrated true, long-term commitment to represent the app developers within the ecosystem," said Nowi Kallen, Principal at Salesforce Ventures. "Through a customer centric approach, 8,000-partner strong marketplace and privacy by design, AppsFlyer's innovative technology enables marketers to delight their end-users with a great user experience, while protecting their privacy."

"We're incredibly excited to deepen our integration with Salesforce and Salesforce Ventures, as we take another step towards ensuring that marketers, app developers, and the entire ecosystem is armed with the best marketing tech stack for the challenges of tomorrow," said Oren Kaniel, CEO and Co-Founder, AppsFlyer. "The secret sauce for our success over the last nine years has been prioritizing our customers and their end-users, putting them at the center of every decision we make. We've earned the unwavering trust and confidence of the market by enabling app developers to not only delight the end-user with a seamless user experience, but to also protect their data security and privacy."

Speaking about how this development will impact the region, AppsFlyer's APAC President and Managing Director, Ronen Mense, said: "The pandemic has aggressively driven a shift in how the global marketplace use technology, making the ever-innovative and always-resilient APAC one of the few winners from this year's economic turbulence. The foundations of an inclusive, tech-enabled recovery is being solidly built here in our turf, and we are humbled that the majority of today's best-performing Asian companies are using the AppsFlyer platform on a daily basis. This round enables us to empower Asian marketers with the tools needed to catapult their success and make accurate, better-informed, strategic decisions, as well as help drive innovation and foster confidence across the regional economy."

AppsFlyer works with thousands of customers, including leading brands such as Macy's, Minecraft, Nike, NBC Universal, Tencent, US Bank, Wayfair, and StitchFix. AppsFlyer's marketplace of over 8,000 partners includes Facebook, Google, Apple Search Ads, Twitter, TikTok Ads, Pinterest, Snap, Salesforce, Adobe, and Oracle. AppsFlyer was recently named to the Forbes 2020 Cloud 100 list for the 2nd year in a row.

Existing investors include General Atlantic, Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, DTCP (Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners), Qumra Capital, Pitango Venture Capital, Magma Venture Partners, and Eight Roads Ventures.

About AppsFlyer

AppsFlyer, the global attribution and marketing analytics leader, empowers marketers to grow their business and innovate with a suite of comprehensive measurement solutions. Built around privacy by design, AppsFlyer takes a customer-centric approach to help 12,000+ brands and its marketplace of 8,000+ technology partners make better business decisions every day, while delighting their end-users. To learn more, visit www.appsflyer.com

About Salesforce Ventures

Salesforce is the global leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), bringing companies closer to their customers in the digital age. Salesforce Ventures, the global investment arm of Salesforce, invests in the next generation of enterprise technology that extends the power of the Salesforce Platform. Salesforce Ventures is building the world's largest ecosystem of enterprise cloud companies and extending that technology to customers. Portfolio companies receive funding, strategic advisory, and operating support, and can easily join Pledge 1% to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce Ventures has invested in more than 400 companies, including DocuSign, GoCardless, Guild Education, nCino, Snowflake, Twilio, Zoom, and others across 22 countries since 2009. For more information, please visit www.salesforce.com/ventures.

Media Contacts
PRecious Communications on behalf of AppsFlyer
appsflyer@preciouscomms.com
+65 6303 0567

Press Contact For AppsFlyer in APAC:
Nico Marco
nico.marco@appsflyer.com

Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

West Java Investment Summit (WJIS 2020): Governor Ridwan Kamil Welcomes Investors Worldwide to Invest in West Java

Bandung, W Java, Indonesia, Nov 23, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – The 2020 West Java Investment Summit (WJIS 2020) was held in Bandung City this week, Nov 16 to 19, hosted by the West Java provincial government in collaboration with the Bank of Indonesia Representative Office in West Java. Through the WJIS 2020, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil invited international investors from around the world to invest in the province of West Java, particularly through the Rebana Metropolitan project.

Rebana Metropolitan is the northern / northeastern area of West Java Province that includes the six districts of Sumedang, Majalengka, Cirebon, Subang, Indramayu, and Kuningan and the city of Cirebon. The Metropolitan area has a population of 9.28 million, or some 18.82% of the total 49.3-million populace of West Java as of 2019.

As many as 1,434 foreign and domestic investors participated in the one-on-one meeting session on Monday, in which 16 land projects were offered with a total investment value of US$2.8 billion (Rp 39.5 trillion). Governor Ridwan Kamil offered the advantages of investing in West Java for international investors.

First, West Java has quality infrastructure, and one of them is the Patimban Port, which, located in Subang district, will soon open in December 2020. "Besides, West Java is going to have the Jakarta-Bandung Fast Train that will be completed next year," said Ridwan. Moreover, West Java also continues the development of several toll roads that will facilitate industrial and community access.

The other advantages of investing in West Java are its quality infrastructure and competitive human resources. With these two pros, quality infrastructure and competitive human resources, the governor ensures that West Java can compete with provinces in other countries, such as Thailand and Vietnam.

"West Java is one of the most competitive regions in Indonesia," he stated. Ridwan emphasized that to strengthen the provinces competitiveness, the West Java local government remained committed to making improvements in four important fields: education, infrastructure, socio-political stability, and bureaucratic reform.

The governor also expressed optimism that West Java would become a globally competitive region to attract investment, especially with the existence of the Rebana Metropolitan area. "For the last three years, West Java has been the premier investment destination. This year, we are still 'champs' for investment realization, almost reaching IDR 90 trillion," said Governor Ridwan.

West Java Province is currently still one of the main destinations for foreign and local investment. Up to the third week of November 2020, the province managed to record total inbound investment of more than IDR 380 trillion. That total consists of four categories, namely (1) Realized Investment (for the period of January to September 2020); (2) Preparation-stage Investment; (3) Commitment-stage Investment; and (4) Ready-to-offer Investment.

For Realized Investment, based on Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) data for the January to September 2020 period, the West Java province ranks first in investment realization based on location with a value of IDR 86.3 trillion or 14.1 percent.

Noneng Komara Nengsih, West Java Investment Agency (DPMPTSP) Head, mentioned five sectors in the province that are favourable to investors: (1) construction; (2) transportation, warehouse and communication; (3) housing, industrial and office areas; (4) electricity, gas and water; (5) motor vehicles and other transportation equipment industries.

Preparation-stage Investment in West Java comes from 11 investors: (1) PT Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Indonesia; (2) PT Amazon Data Services Indonesia; (3) PT UPC Sukabumi Bayu Energi; (4) PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC); (5) PT Tanjung Jati Power Company; (6) PT Pertamina Power Indonesia dan PT Jawa Satu Power; (7) PT Premier Qualitas Indonesia dan Trisula Group; (8) Masdar Mubadala Company; (9) China Petroleum Corporation; (10) Frisian Flag Indonesia; and (11) PT Jasa Marga Japek Selatan.

For Commitment-stage Investment, as many as five MoUs and cooperation agreements among parties were signed, with an investment value of some IDR 4.10 trillion, or around USD 292.9 million. The signing ceremony was held on the first day, Monday Nov 16 at the Savoy Homann Hotel, Bandung City.

The parties in the Commitment-stage Investment were regionally owned, PT Bandarudara Internasional Jawa Barat (BIJB) and PT Jaswita Jabar, as well as PT Jasa Sarana, Aspen and Docta Proprietary Limited, PT Gobel Internasional, PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur, and PT Indonesia Infrastructure Finance. These companies have committed to investment in infrastructure development, starting from hotels; meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions (MICE) facilities; warehouses, energy, to hospitals.

Meanwhile, for the Ready-to-offer Investment, West Java has 16 investment projects, with a total value of IDR 39.5 trillion or around USD 2.802 billion, that are ready to be tendered. The 2020 WJIS is expected to enhance investment realization in West Java in the fourth quarter this year — before the end of 2020 — and trigger the province's economic growth.

According to Bank Indonesia Representative Office in West Java, the Province had become a crucial contributor to Indonesia's economic growth since 2015. West Java is one of the three most competitive provinces in Indonesia in 2020, supported by three driving factors: foreign direct investment (FDI), quality infrastructure, as well as competitive and reliable human resources.

In the last three years, on an average, West Java's economy grew by 5.4 percent, higher than Indonesia's economic growth averaging 5.1 percent. The province's strong economic growth was driven by the manufacturing industry and household consumption.

Furthermore, investment has played a vital role in contributing to economic growth of West Java. Hence, in a bid to facilitate economic recovery, it is necessary to formulate a well-planned and comprehensive strategy to encourage investment inflow that could function as a driver for national economic recovery.

Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Perry Warjiyo stated at the WJIS that regional investment is one of the keys to driving the national economic recovery. Bank Indonesia (BI) West Java Office Head Herawanto said that Bank Indonesia in collaboration with West Java provincial government had taken strides to accelerate infrastructure development in various sectors, from transportation and renewable energy, to water management and urban infrastructure.

The West Java provincial government is also offering an alternative scheme for partnership and investment by involving the private sector in financing infrastructure development.

Luke Mackinnon, Infrastructure Country Manager at Amazon Web Services, said that Indonesia represented a great opportunity as an investment destination, with its growing economy. "This (growing economy) is also beneficial for Amazon Web Services, especially in terms of expanding investment opportunities in Indonesia. We do envision huge investment growth and we can't wait to add resources and infrastructure to serve consumers."

Lee Kang Hyun, Vice President of Hyundai Motor Asia Pacific, said that the company has the full support of the Indonesian central government and the West Java provincial government in running its business. "As investors, we certainly choose West Java because we can get full support here and the province has quality infrastructure," said Lee.

"Hyundai Motor has been building a factory in Cikarang. Despite the pandemic, with the full support of the governor and the minister, the factory development has reached 65 percent. Based on the plan, the factory can start local production in Indonesia by the end of 2021, and in 2022, it will produce Indonesia's electric cars which will be sold locally," he added.

The 2020 WJIS was held from Monday, Nov 16 to Thursday, Nov 19. The main agenda included launching the Rebana Metropolitan project, MoU Signing and Project Announcements, High Level Sessions, Market Sounding & One-on-One Meetings, Investment Talkshows, a Trade and Tourism Webinar, groundbreaking for Subang Smartpolitan development, and site visit to Rebana Metropolitan area.

Bank BJB fully supports the Rebana Metropolitan development. The West Java regional development bank has offered full support to the provincial government in establishing and developing the Rebana Metropolitan area. "Bank BJB acts as a driving agent that supports the development of new economic area, as initiated by the West Java Provincial Government. The Rebana Metropolitan project is a long-term strategic plan that requires support from various parties, including investors and banks," said President Director of Bank BJB Yuddy Renaldi.

Renaldi stated that Bank BJB in cooperation with West Java's two other regional-owned enterprises, PT Bandarudara Internasional Jawa Barat (BIJB) and Jaswita Jabar, will support the development of tourism and transportation infrastructure in the Rebana Metropolitan area.

The three inked a cooperation agreement to build three-star and five-star hotels in the Kertajati International Airport area in Majalengka, West Java. Facilities for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) will also be built in the airport area to accelerate development integration that supports economic activities.

The Rebana Metropolitan project is in line with the direction of Bank BJB's plan to create new economic areas that can improve the welfare of local communities. "Bank BJB will also expand its collaboration network with various stakeholders so that it can contribute more optimally in executing the project plan," said Renaldi.

The Rebana Metropolitan area is currently equipped with infrastructure facilities, including the Cikopo-Palimanan (Cipali) and Palimanan-Kanci (Palikanci) toll roads; the Cikampek-Cirebon railroad; Balongan, Cirebon, and Patimban (Phase I) Ports; West Java's Kertajati International Airport; and the Subang, Indramayu, and Cirebon bus stations.

Bank BJB will also provide financing for the Cileunyi-Sumedang-Dawuan (Cisumdawu) toll road project in support of efforts to improve connectivity in West Java. Bank BJB's involvement will not only support the infrastructure projects, it will also help prepare local communities to take advantage of opportunities for economic projects in the province.

Contact person:
Lia Endiani
Team communication Ridwan Kamil
Email: lia.endiani@gmail.com

Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Pacer Ventures set to solve the funding gap for African Startups

JOHANNESBURG & LAGOS, Nov 12, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – Pacer Ventures LLC, a venture firm for sub-Saharan Africa, has launched a $3M fund for early-stage startups, aimed at solving the most critical problem on the continent. Registered in Delaware, with operational offices in Lagos and Johannesburg, Pacer VC is focusing on verticals that are expedient to the African continent, including healthcare, financial inclusion, education and agriculture.

The UN projects that Africa will have a population of 1.68 billion people by 2030, while the GSMA Mobile Economy Report states that 84% of Africa's population or 1 billion people will have access to a SIM connection by 2025.

"We see a huge opportunity to support early stage founders who are making meaningful contributions to their local economies and communities by leveraging the high mobile penetration on the continent," said Gbemi Akande, General Partner at Pacer Ventures. The firm has already begun to support early stage founders by participating in seed rounds, including VPD.Money and others.

With an average cheque size of six figures, Pacer Ventures is positioned to add substantial value to its portfolio companies. According to Antoinia Norman, General Partner at Pacer Ventures in charge of Southern Africa, "We won't just write a cheque, we will enable founders to work in and on their business, by supporting them along every step of their journey, with resources and access to markets."

The General Partners of Pacer Ventures have over 30 years of combined experience in entrepreneurship and start deal flow sourcing. The key differentiator is the fund's focus on sourcing high potential African startups, leveraging its strategic partnership with Founder Institute in Africa as a funnel.

"This collaboration with Founder Institute gives us an undeniable edge particularly with quality deal-flow at an early stage and we will leverage this to spread our footprint quickly," said Chukwuemeka Agbata, Regional Director of Founder Institute in Africa and Co-founder of techbuild.africa.

Speaking on the Pacer VC investment thesis, Geoffrey Weli-Wosu, General Partner at Pacer Ventures and Co-Founder of VoguePay and Domineum, stated, "We are leveraging our in-depth experience in startups and ecosystem development to take advantage of the early-stage funding gap in Africa."

About Pacer Ventures LLC
Pacer Ventures is well positioned to support the growth of startups within Sub-Saharan Africa. A combination of attributes enables our deal-flow, sourcing and portfolio management which promises realistic returns to our investors.

Pacer email: info@pacer.vc
Official website: https://pacer.vc/
Pacer blog: https://pacer.vc/blog/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pacerventures
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/pacerventures/

Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

iROO raises funds for Rare Disorders Society Singapore

SINGAPORE, Nov 11, 2020 – (ACN Newswire) – Taiwanese fashion label iROO International Pte Ltd (iROO) reunites with Rare Disorders Society Singapore (RDSS) for their third annual charity campaign, specially fronted by Taiwanese celebrity Carolyn Chen. Furthermore, anybody who wants to show their support can download the iROO mobile app and bring home Hope, RDSS's sloth mascot.

Hope represents the many dreams and wishes that RDSS beneficiaries with a rare condition have. Despite their conditions, these children have the same hopes, dreams, and wishes, any children may have. Carrying Hope shows RDSS beneficiaries how much Singaporeans care and supports them.

Anybody in Singapore and Malaysia who wants to support RDSS can get a Hope plushie from iROO. All they need to do is download iROO's mobile application available on iOS and Google Playstore here (https://iroo.onelink.me/lGAb) and purchase Hope for just $49 each. A pair of both plushies can be purchased at $77. Each Hope plushie will come in a limited edition iROO boy's or girl's outfit, making Hope a collectable item. Taiwanese celebrity, Carolyn Chen, known for her roles in "The Bold, The Corrupt, and The Beautiful" and "In the Family", will be hosting a Facebook Live to give away a pair of autographed plushies. https://www.facebook.com/carolyncatfansclub1/

Chief Operating Officer of iROO International Pte Ltd, Emily Huang says, "This is the third year iROO is working with RDSS and every year, we are increasingly proud and inspired by the work RDSS has done. 2020 has been a challenging year for everyone and especially so for RDSS and their beneficiaries. As such, I hope Singaporeans will join iROO in our efforts in providing relief to these families by helping them improve the quality of life of children suffering from rare disorders."

iROO is located at #01-131/132 Great World, #01-179-182 Vivo City, #B2-36 Takashimaya S.C Ngee Ann City, #01-11 Raffles City Shopping Centre and #01-248 Jewel Changi Airport.

About iROO

Taiwanese fashion label iROO was founded in 1999 with the concept of "weekly collections", launching new designs in sync with runway fashion trends each week. With over 80 stores in Taiwan and Singapore, the label aims to deliver an array of high-quality products infused with aesthetically innovative designs at affordable prices. iROO houses a full collection of style wardrobe catering to the needs of every woman with its Black & White Collection, Feminine City Collection, Party Collection, Casual Weekend Collection, and the "Accessory" Collection.

iROO Outlets: Great World, Vivo City, Takashimaya S.C Ngee Ann City, Raffles City Shopping Centre & Jewel Changi Airport.

– Facebook: www.facebook.com/iroosingapore
– Instagram: @iroosg
– Website: www.rdss.org.sg
– Hashtags: #carryhope2020 #carryhoperdss #iROORDSS
– App: https://iroo.onelink.me/lGAb

For more information, please contact:
Danielle Chow
Fresh Communications
T: +65 97277766
E: danielle@freshcomms.sg

Copyright 2020 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com