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Author: Marie Jones

  • Moonstake Partners with Uzbekistan Government-licensed Exchange UzNEX by KOBEA Group

    Moonstake Partners with Uzbekistan Government-licensed Exchange UzNEX by KOBEA Group

    Moonstake today announces it has entered a partnership with Uzbekistan government-approved cryptocurrency exchange UzNEX that is operated by KOBEA Group, a leading technology firm focused on developing solutions for the digital economy including blockchain.

    Through this collaboration, the two will focus on developing blockchain community programs as well as relevant research, training, events, and conferences to increase awareness in the banking and finance industries. Moonstake will also work with UzNEX to provide blockchain consulting service including staking technology to financial institutions in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, which in return will serve to assist Moonstake in better penetrating these high-potential markets.

    Moonstake launched its staking business in 2020 with the aim to create the largest staking network in Asia. Since then, we have developed the most user-friendly Web Wallet and Mobile Wallet (iOS/Android) with support for over 2000 cryptocurrencies. After a full-scale operation launched in August 2020, Moonstake’s total staking assets have grown rapidly to reach $1 Billion, allowing Moonstake to become one of the top 10 staking providers globally. Currently, Moonstake supports 12 high-demand staking coins: Cosmos, IRIS, Ontology, Harmony, Tezos, Cardano, Qtum, Polkadot, Quras, Centrality, Orbs, and IOST.

    UzNEX is the first Uzbekistan government-licensed digital asset trading platform operated by KOBEA Group who has been an instrumental figure in the country’s development of the digital economy. The exchange, officially launched on March 2020, has its opening event on January 2020 at an international blockchain conference in Tashkent. The event gathered numerous representatives of crypto companies from South Korea, Japan, and Singapore, as well as officials from Uzbekistan’s ministries and government agencies. According to its global compliance strategy, Uznex fully meets the recommendatations of the Financial Actions Task Force (FATF) as well as the relevant laws and regulations of the Republic of Uzbekistan. It is cooperating with local Uzbekistan banks to meet the regulations of domestic cryptocurrency exchanges to have real-name verified accounts on their service platform, securing its stability as a government-approved crypto exchange.

    Overseas leading cryptocurrency companies have been paying close attention to the successive pro-cryptocurrency policies in Uzbekistan. Here, the National Agency of Project Management (NAPM) under the President of Uzbekistan is directly involved in the management of the cryptocurrency market and cryptocurrency exchange with the aim to incorporate cryptocurrency into the institutional system. On 30th April, the NAPM announced a decree that lifted this restriction, allowing its citizens to trade in cryptocurrency. Thanks to the decree, UzNEX, which had temporarily held its operation because of the local influence of Covid-19, officially reopened its services on 1 June, 2021.

    In line with this, KOBEA Group announced that a massive renewal of UzNex is underway, and that the collaboration with Moonstake aims to attract more users with the platform’s world-class staking service. Staking of the cryptocurrency means fixing a certain amount of cryptocurrency you own as a stake to obtain a certain amount of profit during the deposit period, regardless of the fluctuations in the cryptocurrency price.

    Mitsuru Tezuka, Founder at Moonstake, says: “Uzbekistan is a rapidly developing country when it comes to adoption of cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology, with the government taking active part in the development as well as regulation of digital asset services. UzNEX is the first and only licensed crypto exchange in Uzbekistan, operated by the renowned KOBEA Group that has been doing incredible work with developing the digital economy in the country. As a world-leading staking provider, we’re happy to join hands with them and accelerate the growth of cryptocurrency and staking in the region together.”

    Chang Yong Lee, Chairman of KOBEA Group and UzNEX says: “Uzbekistan is now one of the youngest and fastest growing countries in the world, where major reforms in the field of the digital economy are being introduced. This country has enormous potential, and may soon lead the global digital economy. We’re happy to partner with Moonstake, one of the top 10 largest staking providers globally, to accelerate the awareness and development of the digital economy, including cryptocurrency and staking, in Uzbekistan.”

    Moonstake is honored to take part in this groundbreaking initiative to bring the digital economy to Uzbekistan, and we look forward to deeper collaboration opportunities with UzNEX crypto exchange.

    About Moonstake
    Moonstake was recently established to develop a staking pool protocol to satisfy increasing demands in regional and global blockchain markets. Moonstake develops a staking pool protocol and provides business services through partners and companies.

    Moonstake aims to become Asia’s largest staking pool network by providing crypto asset holders with an active and appealing environment. We are focusing on partnerships to build good relationships with major platform providers. In addition to core blockchains such as Emurgo, Ontology and NEO to promote staking, and Binarystar, Japan’s largest blockchain hub, we are affiliated with Singapore-listed company OIO Holdings Limited (SGX: OIO) and others. Moonstake’s innovative activities are supported by industry-renowned advisors such as Lisk and Lawrence Lim of RAMP DEFI.

    With a full-scale operation launched in August 2020, we expanded our business and as of now, our total staking assets exceeded over USD 1 billion. https://www.moonstake.io/

    About UzNEX
    UzNEX is the first government-licensed digital asset trading platform in Uzbekistan. It is operated by KOBEA Group, a blockchain firm focused on developing various solutions for the digital economy including blockchain. UzNEX is the only exchange in Central Asia where a market has been prepared using the national currency, credit cards and US dollars. It is the first cryptocurrency exchange in the world where you can entrust the management of fund assets without experience in cryptocurrency and view investment strategies of highly profitable professional investors on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. https://www.uznex.com/

  • Pixl.One Announces Blockchain Advertisement Platform of the Future

    Pixl.One Announces Blockchain Advertisement Platform of the Future

    Pixl.One has announced details of their platform to change blockchain advertising, one pixel at a time.

    The advertising industry is in a dire situation today, with ads and other promotional media being forced on viewers – Leading to endless spam and ineffective conversion rates for companies.

    Ads help media and content creators monetize their creations but with the middleman taking a significant portion of the earning, they are forced to run more ads to achieve the same end result. The answer is clear – A change is needed in the advertising landscape.

    Pixl.One – Bringing Great Ads to the Masses

    Pixl.One is offering users from around the world a chance to break the online advertising status quo by leveraging blockchain technology. This eliminates the need for an intermediary, with the revenue generated being directly sent to the content creator. This is all made possible via the One Million Pixel Page, a digital landscape consisting of one million individual pixels, which are all available in any quantity up to 1 million. A true digital billboard, built by the people, for the people.

    Pixl.One understands the need for authentic interaction in the importance of converting ad impressions into clicks – and with viewers able to swipe the ads and essentially vote what is pleasing and what is not, the best ads will show, attracting vastly improved conversion rates. Pixels can be bought using the native PXL tokens through the fully audited, completely rug proof BSC smart contract. The one Million Pixels Page is set to launch in Q4 of 2021.

    Pixl.One also allows users to mint NFTs from any of their Pixel space, creating an immutable copy of memes and other art. The benefits of course extend to advertisers – who will also be able to create collector’s items from their marketing materials, creating lifetime value from campaigns which would typically run from 2-6 weeks. There will always be a market for people who are willing to pay top dollar for exclusive ownership rights and this can be monetized through NFTs on Pixl.One.

    More than Just Ads
    Pixl.One understands the importance of creating a holistic ecosystem and to this end has built several additional services, including staking. Within the Pixl.One ecosystem, users can earn interest by becoming liquidity providers to Pixl partners that have affiliate projects, with 5% of the fee being distributed to the liquidity pool.

    Pixl also offers a gaming platform, enabling users to not only upload their creations but allow competitions where players can win prizes, and there is a community-led “coin of the month” section on the site, which further promotes the organic development of the industry and shines the spotlight on coins which would otherwise go unnoticed.

    Transparency at the Core
    Against the backdrop of a slew of BSC-based scam projects, the Pixl.One team has decided to showcase its dedication to the core values of the blockchain – transparency and provable fairness. The core team has been fully doxxed, and the entire project has been successfully audited by Solidity Finance to ensure there is absolutely no chance of a rug pull, something that is fast becoming a norm. Of the quadrillion PXL tokens being offered, the team will hold zero tokens and 5% of each transaction will be distributed back to PXL token holders.

    Even the Whitepaper is hashed and users can check if any unauthorized changes have been made to ensure authenticity. The project has also had its PXL coin listed on CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko to ensure transparency and accuracy of pricing information at all times.

    Pixl.One Roadmap
    Having a grand plan and vision for the transformation of the industry does not come for free. The project has reached and exceeded major project milestones recently, including:

    — IFO: Hosted on DXSale, a token sale, swap and DeFi DAO, the Initial Fair Offering (IFO) was a resounding success.
    — PancakeSwap Listing: PXL was recently made available for exchange on one of the largest trading platforms on Binance Smart Chain, PancakeSwap.
    — Solidity Finance Audit: Pixl.One’s code and smart contracts have been checked in depth by the reputed Solidity Finance to ensure code-level integrity.

    In the coming months, Pixl.One has more exciting launches such as the ability for advertisers to create NFTs and increased partnerships with different firms that will see the integration of Pixl.One advertisement system within their ecosystems. Long term plans include Pixl’s own DEX, dedicated wallet and merchandising.

    Long-term, Pixl.One core team will also give its users absolute ownership of the project, much like DAOStack and Aragon. The team will not hold any PXL tokens, relinquishing control to the public completely. Through this, it will be the public that will dictate the direction and growth of the network, a truly Decentralized Autonomous Organization that has no central authority – a platform of the people for the people. While many projects claim to give control to their users, the fact is that they retain a significant amount of the platform tokens and retain influence, and Pixl.One seeks to uproot this tradition via their project.

    Pixl.One essentially changes how the traditional advertising industry works. Using blockchain, it not only eliminates the revenue eating middleman, but its democratic voting system allows only the best ads being used within contents to maximise profits for both, the ad firm and the content creator.

    To learn more about Pixl.One, visit the website: https://pixl.one/

    Additional links:
    – Twitter: https://twitter.com/PIXLCoin
    – Discord: https://discord.com/invite/CUGAc9Xc2r
    – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pixl.one/
    – Telegram: https://t.me/PIXLcoin
    – Whitepaper: https://pixl.one/whitepaper/
    – Audit: https://solidity.finance/audits/PIXL/
    – Arcade: https://pixl.one/arcade-games/

    Contact:
    Pixl Media Team
    E: hello@pixl.one

  • Central Global Bhd Signs MoU for JV to Build RM250M Kwasa Damansara Sewage Treatment Plant

    Main Market-listed Central Global Berhad’s (CGB) construction arm, Proventus Bina Sdn Bhd (PBSB), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore a proposed joint venture (JV) with Multi Scopes Sdn Bhd (MSSB) for a sewage treatment plant in Selangor.

    CGB executive chairman Dato’ Faisal Zelman

    The scope of the proposed JV, in which PBSB would have a 70% effective stake and MSSB an effective 30% stake, would be the engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, operation and handover of Employees Provident Fund’s wholly-owned subsidiary Kwasa Land Sdn Bhd’s sewage treatment plant in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

    Chief Business Officer of CGB and Director of PBSB Anson Lim said: “For this project, MSSB will manage the technical aspects of the project as they are the technical experts in sewage treatment plants while PBSB will handle the infrastructure part of the project.”

    CGB executive chairman Dato’ Faisal Zelman said: “The proposed JV we are exploring through the MoU is another step in the plans we have to expand our construction business. We believe that the sewage treatment plant project would not only enable us to expand our portfolio of construction projects and orderbook but also provide us with consistent revenue for the next five years in Selangor.”

    We continue to explore opportunities to grow both the manufacturing and construction businesses of the Group. We have since the beginning of the year won a project worth RM100.5 million for the upgrade of a water supply system in Lahad Datu, Sabah and have had our proposed private placement of 18 million new shares approved by Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad. Proceeds from the private placement would be used to upgrade the manufacturing arm’s capacity and fund a property project in Penang.”

    As of 31 March, 2021, the Group’s construction arm has an orderbook of RM130 million comprising of the Lahad Datu project and the Montage condominium project in Bayan Lepas, Penang.

    Please contact the below for more information:
    Hakim Juraimi
    Tel: +60 12-318 5410
    Email: h.juraimi@swanconsultancy.biz

  • Haulio deepens its roots in Thailand

    Haulio deepens its roots in Thailand

    Singapore logistics technology company Haulio announced today that it has made significant headway into Thailand by tying up with CMA CGM (www.cma-cgm.com), a world leader in shipping and logistics. Haulio, using its digital haulage solutions, will move CMA CGM containers on the major inland corridor of Bangkok, Lat Krabang and Laem Chabang.

    Headquartered in Singapore since 2017, Haulio is Singapore’s fastest growing container haulage platform in the country, with more than 90% of Singapore’s hauliers onboard. The company has aspirations to complete the digitalisation of haulage in Southeast Asia by 2025.

    With some of Southeast Asia’s busiest ports, Thailand has always been a pivotal market for Haulio. The country reported a total import-export CAGR of 2.2% between 2016 and 2018, with a forecasted CAGR of 2.8% from 2021 to 2025, according to IHS Markit’s GTA Forecasting.

    Since commencing its early-stage pilot in 2020, Haulio has onboarded over 150 trucking companies with a network of more than 3000 container trucks in Thailand and transacted over 300 thousand TEUs on the platform with one of PSA’s JV local partners – ESCO.

    This contract win with CMA CGM thus represents yet another significant milestone for Haulio, demonstrating its ability for regional scalability of haulage fulfilment.

    Moving forward, the company is projecting a 200% quarter-on-quarter growth increase in transactions through this tie-up and an extension of the network effect of Haulio’s presence in Thailand. The company aims to scale up to over 1,000 hauliers and 20,000 trucks in the next one year to provide 100% coverage within the country.

    Mr Benoit de Quillacq, Managing Director of CMA CGM Thailand, said “CMA CGM’s priorities to provide its customers what they need and to ensure operations efficiency can be driven with Haulio’s digital solutions and network of hauliers. Our shippers would benefit from streamlined and optimised haulage trips; this consequently reduces carbon emissions from trucking the containers.”

    “We are delighted to become a haulage solutions provider of CMA CGM in Thailand after experiencing the benefits of our platform in Singapore. This serves as a huge validation to a young startup like us as we embark in our journey in solving real problems with an industry leader like CMA CGM. With container shipping volumes rising, it is imperative that greater efficiency and digitalization is achieved on the haulage end. While the importance of business margins cannot be overstated, it needs to be said that we owe it to ourselves to reduce the carbon footprint of this industry,” said Alvin Ea, Co-Founder and CEO of Haulio.

    About Haulio

    Haulio is Singapore’s fastest-growing container haulage platform, with the greater vision of connecting global trade to local first-mile transportation across ASEAN. The company believes in uplifting the industry by empowering its ecosystem of users with its technology. Through the optimisation of resources, Haulio aims to revolutionize international freight logistics towards a collaborative and sustainable future. For more information, visit https://www.haulio.io.

    For all media queries:
    Ashley Tan / Chin Gon Yew
    FPR
    T: 6438-2990
    E: haulio@financialpr.com.sg

  • Dingdang Health raises US$220 million in new financing round

    China’s leading integrated online healthcare platform Dingdang Health announced today that it has raised US$220 million in its latest financing round. This round was led by TPG Capital Asia and co-led by OrbiMed and Redview Capital. Other investors included, Valliance, Travis Global Limited (which is an affiliate of Orchid Asia), Summer Capital, and Yingke PE.

    Mr. Yang Wenlong, founder and chairman of Dingdang Health, said: “With this round of financing, Dingdang Health will press ahead with its online-to-offline strategy to cover services including medical care, medicine delivery and medical insurance. Riding on the new trend of online medical care and medication services amid Covid-19, we aim at providing all-encompassing online services catering to various needs including consultation, drug purchase, chronic disease management and psychological consultation through product upgrades and technological innovation.”

    “I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to our existing and new shareholders for their recognition. Investors such as TPG, OrbiMed and Redview Capital have extensive investment experience in the health field. Moving forward, with their support, we will remain devoted to accelerating the digitalization of medical care and medication, providing comprehensive service for customers,” Mr. Yang said.

    With a deep understanding of the industry and user insights, Dingdang Health has continued to invest in product upgrades to grow the business. As a pioneer of online healthcare products and service provider, Dingdang Health’s online-to-offline model enables it to supply drugs from the pharma manufacturers and offline pharmacies to meet users’ urgent medical needs. The company has also expanded its business to more areas such as medical care, medicine delivery and medical insurance. The strategy has helped the platform remain competitive in China’s digital health and wellness market.

    Lydia Cai, Managing Director at TPG Capital Asia, said: “The public demand for digitalization and healthcare has become increasingly acute under the new normal due to Covid-19. Dingdang Health’s business model perfectly combines both digitalization and healthcare. Leveraging big data and internet technologies, the company has created a pioneering self-operating model that provides online medical care and medicine delivery services. It links pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies and users in an all-encompassing ecosystem with timely and caring services. As the company evolves into an integrated healthcare provider, TPG is optimistic about its technology, model and potential, and will fully support its rapid growth to benefit more users.”

    TPG is a leading global alternative asset firm founded in 1992 with more than US$91 billion of assets under management. It is one of the early international private equity investment giants that created a dedicated healthcare investment team. It has extensive investment experience in this space globally.

    Iris Wang, Partner of OrbiMed, said: “Dingdang Health empowers the local healthcare system and gives new momentum to the industry’s development by employing efficient information technologies including AI, big data, 5G and Internet of Things. Its capabilities in both technological innovation and professional healthcare allow ordinary people to have medical consultation and purchase medicines without leaving their homes. We are excited to join hands with the company at an important stage of its development, and continue to create value in terms of protecting people’s health and pushing for the development of the industry.”

    OrbiMed has been focusing on investments in the global biomedical field for over two decades, with assets under management exceeding US$17 billion. The team has a deep understanding of China’s grassroots healthcare market and continues to identify companies that can provide professional services in that field.

    Xin Wang, Partner of Redview Capital, said, “Redview Capital is committed to collaborating with industry-leading companies with innovative capabilities. Dingdang Health has been engaged in online medical care and pharmacy field for many years. With a comprehensive blueprint of online consultation and medicine ordering platform as well as offline smart pharmaceutical retail stores, it provides one-stop healthcare services including online consultation, medication advice, home delivery and health management, showcasing strong innovation, technological capabilities and competitiveness. We will fully support the continuous development of Dingdang Health and work with it to promote people’s health.”

    Redview Capital is a China-focused private equity fund that invests in industries including emerging consumer goods and services, health, new materials, clean energy, consumer services, and high-end manufacturing sectors.

    About Dingdang Health
    Dingdang Health Technology Group is a pioneer and leader in the field of digital healthcare service in China, leveraging the Internet solutions/ technologies to transform and reshape China’s healthcare system including pharmaceutical retail and medical consultation. As a leading digital new pharmaceutical retail company, it has established a new pharmaceutical retail model that integrates online and offline operations of “online ordering for delivery from stores”, providing users a series of products and services, including 7*24 hours, 28 minutes to deliver medicines to users in core area of cities. With the innovative “Internet + Healthcare” model, it is able to address the unmet needs in the medication and health management effectively and efficiently. Its pharmaceutical retail, online medical consultation, chronic diseases management and other businesses cooperate with each other to form a broader health ecology, transform and lead the development of China’s healthcare market. It has received several rounds of investment from well-known investment institutions such as SBCVC, CMBI, CICC Capital, Sinopharm-CICC Capital, Taikang Insurance Group, Longmen Investments and Haier Biomedical.

    About TPG
    TPG is a leading global alternative asset firm founded in 1992 with more than $91 billion of assets under management and offices in Beijing, Fort Worth, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Melbourne, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, Singapore, and Washington D.C. TPG’s investment platforms are across a wide range of asset classes, including private equity, growth equity, impact investing, real estate, secondaries, and public equity. TPG aims to build dynamic products and options for its investors while also instituting discipline and operational excellence across the investment strategy and performance of its portfolio. For more information, visit www.tpg.com or @TPG on Twitter.

  • iDreamSky Technology (1119.HK) Lifetime Value (LTV) seriously undervalued, upside 65%

    Since last year, the domestic and global game market has been prospering rapidly and this momentum has continued into the first quarter. From the perspective of global game transaction scale, there were 280 open transactions within the game industry in the first quarter with a total value of US $39 billion, while the total transaction volume in 2020 was only US $33 billion, according to Investgame data.

    Because the blooming of the game trading market has gradually affected the stock market, secondary market research institutions have begun to explore the undervalued game stocks.

    Recently, Anli released its first coverage research report, giving iDreamSky Technology (1119. HK) a “buy” rating. The target price is HK $7 per share, up to 63% from HK $4.3 per share on June 3.

    According to the report, as iDreamSky Technologyhas moved up along the value chain of the game industry and has actively transformed into a game developer, it builds a long-life cycle ecology to form a closed-loop cash flow.

    Therefore, its user group is more valuable than those in the same industry. However, relatively speaking, the valuation of iDreamSky Technology is the lowest among its peers. Since iDreamSky Technology is seriously underestimated, it is optimistic about the company’s future valuation.

    01. The valuation is seriously undervalued with a potential increase of 65%
    In the report, based on the strategy and progress of iDreamSky Technology, Anli has made forward-looking forecasts on the company’s financial and valuation.

    In terms of finance, previous iDreamSky Technology’s monthly active users (MAU) and average per user income (ARPPU) have maintained a favorable growth trend. According to Anli’s forecast, in 2021-2022, through strong game channel promotion, iDreamSky will achieve 3% / 5% Mau growth; thanks to the steady progress of medium and heavy games and the high average duration of leisure games, ARPPU’s compound annual growth rate in the same period was 6%.

    Based on the above forecast, in 2021-2022, the adjusted net profit of IdreamSky Technology will reach 266 million yuan and 368 million yuan. More importantly, after 2022, as Idreamsky Technology demonstrates and consolidates the synergy between online and offline ecological effects, high customer lifetime value (LTV) and high user stickiness will push the company into a real harvest period.

    In terms of valuation, Anli believes that the customer base preserve a great value with the characteristics of high viscosity and high unit price. Because the P/E ratio valuation method can only reflect the short-term profitability of game developers, but incapable of reflecting the long-term user value, Amway adopts a more reasonable multiple of customer lifetime value (LTV) as the pricing index in the report.

    By assuming ARPU x Mau = LTV, Anli compares the major companies in the same industry, and finds out that the LTV multiple and MAU market value of Idreamsky Technology are obviously undervalued. Considering the tremendous user base of 138 million players have longer game life cycle and higher average game duration, Anli thinks IdreamSky is seriously underestimated. Based on the LTV multiple of 1.5 times, the target price of IdreamSky Technology is set at HK $7, with a potential increase of 65%.

    02. Welcome the stock age and create a long game lifecycle ecosystem
    The deep logic that supports the above prediction is the forward-looking strategic layout and good progress of IdreamSky Technology.

    Due to the vanishing demographic dividend, the Internet began to accelerate from the era of increment to the era of inventory, and the major giants shifted the competition from seizing users to users’ time. The biggest change in the game industry is the increasing cost of buying customers.

    In short, companies that can improve the player lifetime value (LTV) will acquire advantage in the inventory age.

    Facing the general trend, iDreamSky is committed to creating a “24-hour entertainment life circle online and offline”. On the basis of the original online format, iDreamSky Technology creates offline game experience scenes and uses the integrated SaaS system tools of Zhongtai incubation in order to open up the online and offline platforms as well as an ecosystem with games as the core.

    In this ecosystem, the 138 million users of IdreamSky can enjoy one-stop services including games, game retail, art toy and player social interaction. Such service can achieve “high frequency, long time, and high stickiness” interaction with users. Finally, iDreamSky Technology can obtain lower traffic cost and higher user value.

    Meanwhile, according to the needs of users, IdreamSky Technology has built a wonderful “online + offline” game world, which deeply binds players in iDreamSky Technology ecosystem, so iDreamSky Technology has successfully stood out in the inventory era.

    Specifically, in terms of games, in addition to business rearranging and strategic focus, IdreamSky Technology focuses on elimination, competitive and medium heavy games. These types of games have the features of high Mau, high ARPU and long LTV, which fit in the ecosystem and is conducive to amplifying user value.

    In the aspect of offline, as the offline experiential entertainment store of Tencent and Nintendo, IdreamSky integrates game retail, social gathering and trendy play to meet the diversified needs of generation Z. According to the data, the disposable income of generation Z is 3501 yuan, which is higher than the national per capita disposable income of 2561 yuan. At the same time, generation Z is more willing to pay. The payment rate of mobile games reaches 35.7%, which is the highest among all online consumption.

    In 2021, iDreamSky Technology plans to open 30 direct offline stores of “play together” brand in first and second tier cities and plans to open 150 stores in the next three years, covering more cities and players. By setting up experience of console games in offline stores, IdreamSky can attract audience users and establish an online user community to enhance user loyalty. From the multi-dimensional offline to stimulate users to the online game, IdreamSky has formed the whole chain of user services.

    It can be seen that iDreamSky Technology continuously improves the construction of the ecosystem around a core long customer lifetime value, and creates a game infrastructure for the stock era. In long run, the ecosystem value of iDreamSky Technology will accelerate. Expanding the imagination space for investors, Anli made a prediction that the company will enter the harvest period after 2022.

    Media contact:
    Heidi He, Peanutmedia
    E: hemeiyu@czgmcn.com
    T: +181 3887 0061
    W: www.Peanutmedia.com

  • World Cyber Security Summit Opens the Door for Africa’s Roadmap to Boost its Prospects for Cyber Solutions

    World Cyber Security Summit Opens the Door for Africa’s Roadmap to Boost its Prospects for Cyber Solutions

    Africa played host to a content-rich virtual conference on Monday. Hosted by Trescon, World Cyber Security Summit featured leading speakers from organisations such as Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ministry of Innovation and Technology, Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), iAfrikan Media, Darktrace, Nanjgel Solutions and Accops among others to discuss Africa’s cyber security prospects.

    “Shifting online has raised the possibility of opening business-critical data to internal and external risks; making data protection on employee endpoint devices more relevant. Hence cyber security leaders play an important role in today’s business. They are going beyond home markets, thinking digital-first, and leveraging technology to solve problems at scale for industries around the world,” stated Mithun Shetty, CEO, Trescon. He further added, “Virtual events are an excellent opportunity for everyone in the industry to come together and do business during these difficult times.”

    Highlights and key takeaways from World Cyber Security Summit:

    Dr. Ahmedin M Ahmed (Ph.D.), the State Minister at the Ministry of Innovation and Technology, Ethiopia delivered real-world insights and pragmatic advice to the attendees. He also shed light on the reasons for increasing cyber threats and the importance of infrastructural development in Africa. He focused on developing continual roadmaps using the Agenda 2063 framework and listed various projects and programs underway.

    While speaking about the integrated digital revolution, he stated that “Africa is trying to have an integrated digital revolution and it is visible on the agenda 2063. Africa’s development includes digital revolution as one of its strategic pillars.”

    A tech talk featuring Mariana Pereira, Director of Email Security Products, Darktrace, spoke about how machines need to understand, respond, detect, and protect the users from the effects of offensive AI and impersonation attacks. She shared actual examples of how attackers get past the legacy security solutions and discussed about the future threats by cyberattacks.

    She stated, “There is no doubt in my mind that AI will dramatically shape and continue to change the cyber security landscape for attackers as well as defenders.”

    In a panel discussion on the topic “Cyber security framework and strategies for the African Government Authorities” moderated by Tefo Mohapi – CEO, IAfrikan Media, Republic of South Africa, the panellists discussed key topics such as:

    – Legal framework and strategies to fight cybercrime in Africa
    – Enhancing Oversight of Cybersecurity within African Critical Infrastructure
    – Cyber Security for Smart Cities: Advanced technologies for citizens’ safety and much more.
    The panellists who joined this discussion were:
    – Richard M. Kiarie, Principal ICT Officer/Head, Policy and Research Unit, Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, Republic of Kenya;
    – Themba Mnguni – Deputy Director, IT Audit, Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, Republic of South Africa; and
    – Arnold Mangeni – Director Information Security, National Information Technology Authority, Uganda.

    The summit also featured a tech talk by Vijender Yadav, CEO, CTO & Co-Founder, Accops where he spoke about “Re-defining Cyber Security with a Compliant Hybrid Workspace”

    And, a cross-industry panel discussion on Cyber Security trends and crucial security strategies for sectors and enterprises that included speakers:

    – Bassam Touma, Business Development, Shelt Global Ltd;
    – Faheem Ali, Chief Risk Officer, Musoni, Kenya;
    – Ashish Khanna, Information Security Specialist & Strategic Advisor to the CISO, Dubai Health Authority;
    – Alice Namuli Blazevic, Partner – Head of Innovation and Technology, Kantede Advocates;
    – Karthik A , Chief Evangelist, ManageEngine;
    – Mariana Pereira, Director of Email Security Products, Darktrace; and moderated by
    – Fene Oskawe, Director, Group IT-GRC & Strategy, IHS Towers, Nigeria.

    Other top speakers who joined the conversation included:

    – Confidence Staveley, Cyber Security Evangelist, Top 50 Women in Cyber Security Africa 2020 Finalist; Founder, Cybersafe, Nigeria;
    – Muyowa Mutemwa, Cyber Security Operations Manager and Senior Cyber Security Specialist, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Republic of South Africa;
    – Humphrey Odhiambo, Head of Partnerships & Content, CIO East Africa, Kenya;
    – Naresh Kumar, Director – Regional Sales Development, EMT Distribution META;
    – Yusein Shen, Partner Account Manager, Progress;
    – Stanley Mwangi Chege, Group CIO, Jubilee Insurance, Kenya; and
    – Winnie Sergon, Head of ICT and Innovation, Boresha Sacco Society, Kenya; to name a few.

    The summit was hosted on the virtual events platform Vmeets which helped the participants to network and conduct business in an interactive and immersive virtual environment. Participants were also able to engage with speakers in Q&A sessions and network with solution providers in virtual exhibition booths, private consultation rooms and private networking rooms.

    The World Cyber Security Summit – Africa was officially sponsored by Platinum Sponsor – Nanjgel Solutions and Accops; Gold Sponsors – emt Distribution FZ-LLC and Progress Software Corporation; Silver Sponsor – ManageEngine and SHELT.

    About World Cyber Security Summit

    World Cyber Security Summit is a thought-leadership driven, business-focused initiative that provides a platform for CISOs who are looking to explore new-age threats and the technologies/strategies to mitigate them.

    For further details about the announcement, please contact:
    Karthik A – Marketing Lead
    marketing@tresconglobal.com

  • Toyota and KINTO Aim to Provide ‘Cars That Evolve in Tune With People’

    Toyota and KINTO Aim to Provide ‘Cars That Evolve in Tune With People’

    Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and KINTO Co., Ltd. (KINTO) announced today that, amid rapidly advancing technological innovation surrounding cars and based on a mutual desire to swiftly deliver the evolution of cars to customers, they have taken on the challenge of providing “cars that evolve in tune with people”. The two companies kicked off this effort by offering from today, through KINTO(1), the new GR Yaris “Morizo Selection”, a product that can be updated with the latest software tailored to each customer.

    In recent years, Toyota has drastically accelerated its automobile development in collaboration with ROOKIE Racing(2). Toyota President Akio Toyoda, in his Morizo persona, has even raced behind the wheel of the GR Yaris on the ROOKIE Racing team in the Super Taikyu Series–a top-tier endurance race series in Japan. Racing in this series has made possible constant vehicle updates via analysis and countermeasures based on driving data and driver feedback. Furthermore, such updates have been personalized to give drivers greater control over vehicle evolution.

    In aiming to provide customers with the type of updates and personalization that ROOKIE Racing is putting into practice in its racing, Toyota and KINTO concluded that the best way to do so would be through the KINTO car subscription service. KINTO, in line with a shift in customer needs from car ownership to car usage, started in 2019, stemming from Akio Toyoda’s desire to offer “a new form of vehicle ownership that invites customers to enjoy their relationship with the car of their choice in a fun and easy manner”. A key trait of the KINTO service is its ability to continue providing added value even after a subscription contract has been signed. As such, Toyota and KINTO realized that the service would be the perfect platform for providing evolution to cars already in customer use.

    By pairing racing-based updates & personalization with the KINTO service to introduce the latest software to customers’ cars even after such cars have been delivered, Toyota and KINTO intend to take on the challenge of evolving cars in a way that is in tune with customers.

    Toyota and KINTO plan to evolve customers’ cars via the means described below.

    Timely updates (from spring 2022)
    Introduction of the latest software in line with technological innovations and the optimization of basic vehicle performance in terms of driving, turning, and stopping
    Vehicle provision via GR Garage shops at various vehicle sales outlets (with some exceptions)

    Announcement of detailed service offerings in spring 2022
    Inclusion of cost in the monthly KINTO fee (with some services requiring additional fees)
    Tailored personalization (under consideration) Software customization to suit each individual based on customer driving data to achieve “cars that evolve in tune with people” in the future
    By evolving each car in a way that suits each customer, Toyota and KINTO aim to provide services that allow customers to enjoy their cars even more. The two companies plan to accelerate their efforts, such as by expanding the KINTO-service lineup of “cars that evolve in tune with people” to provide enjoyment of cars to as many people as possible.

    (1) KINTO operates “Mobility Market”, which is a website that offers a diverse range of mobility services, including the KINTO ONE car subscription service, which conveniently combines various car-related expenses such as automobile insurance and automobile taxes in a single, fixed-sum monthly fee.
    URL: https://kinto-jp.com/ (in Japanese only)
    (2) ROOKIE Racing is a privateer team with a wide variety of drivers (including master drivers, racecar drivers, rallyists, evaluation drivers, and gentlemen drivers) that focuses on cultivating human resources and making ever-better cars using “skill” and “spirit” from various perspectives. It has a work consignment relationship with Toyota in which Toyota receives feedback from ROOKIE Racing and reflects it in vehicle development.

    For more information, visit https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/corporate/35370952.html.

  • New AppsFlyer Report Finds View-through Attribution Impacts Ad Clicks and App Installs

    • In Southeast Asia, the Report finds that view-through attribution (VTA) drives significant installs in certain markets and verticals.
    • eCommerce, Media & Entertainment, and Finance see higher (VTA) adoption, and the VTA conversions can go up to as high as 90.8% for the travel industry.
    • Incorporating VTA with click-through attribution (CTA) helps capture true consumer journey and drives downstream benefits, such as 113% faster ad optimization and more stable auction spend.
    • Videos are more engaging than generic creatives, hence marketers should look beyond immediate click behaviour to accurately measure brand engagement.

    AppsFlyer, the global attribution leader, today released its inaugural View-Through Attribution (VTA) Report. From Q4 2020 until February 2021, the report looked at impressions, examined video content, and VTA campaigns performance across 6 SEA countries (Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines) and 9 Industries (Shopping, Travel, Gaming, Finance, Entertainment, Education, Food & Drink, Lifestyle, and Health & Fitness) with the objective to provide marketers with insights into how right attributions could capture true consumer journey, increase optimization and drive benefits.

    The report found that ads and videos are so immersive and engaging that users do not necessarily interact with the ad immediately because they do not want to leave the video experience midway. These users said they expect to engage with brands in a meaningful way as they claimed to be 1.5X more likely to purchase an item. Video exposure is impactful and influences purchase behavior. Incorporating VTA can help allocate credit in line with true consumer behavior.

    In a study by Nielsen and Teluna, commissioned by TikTok For Business, consumers on video platforms said they will continue browsing content before moving to external websites or apps, with YouTube users supporting 60% of this statement, 58% on TikTok, 45% on Instagram and 40% on Facebook. This means that marketers should look beyond immediate click behaviour to accurately measure brand engagement.

    VTA is an important metric to accurately measure the true user journey, since many users will purchase an item or install an app at a later stage. The report found that all SEA markets have at least VTA windows of 24 to 48 hours with up to 83.8% conversion rate.

    “Constantly looking to expand our horizons, we are pleased to announce the all-new inaugural view-through attribution report. Southeast Asia’s flourishing video content landscape is providing advertisers with novel ways to tap into new opportunities when engaging customers in a rapidly evolving ecosystem. We encourage marketers to use the report to utilise key data and insights on how best to maximise their campaign performances and understand the interconnections between determining metrics, behaviours and trends across Southeast Asian mobile app users,” states Ronen Mense, President and Managing Director for APAC, AppsFlyer.

    Video ad inventories have become a growing mechanism in Southeast Asia, especially amid Southeast Asia’s flight to digital, accounting for 40% of all programmatic ad spends in the region. From this, short video ads of approximately 10 seconds drive installs or post-install events on platforms such as TikTok, making it a popular choice for advertisers to utilise in their campaigns. The rise of video has turned marketers towards using VTA models to best attribute their marketing efforts, compared to when using non-video inventories. The VTA Report also emphasised that marketers still need to incorporate a call to action to encourage conversion – as Impression-to-Install still remains somewhat low.

    The report also found that due to the longer consideration process for “high-involvement” verticals, higher VTA is seen. Amongst all verticals examined, Finance in particular showed that despite fewer video impressions, more conversions were accredited to view-through attribution. High VTA rates were also seen in other verticals such as eCommerce and Media & Entertainment, with the lowest VTA rate seen in Gaming – averaging out at slightly less than a day across all countries. Marketers should therefore consider re-calibrating their attribution models according to their vertical and incorporate VTA as an important metric for conversions, as many users may not convert upon their first view.

    Additional highlights from the report:
    – Key festivities such as Singles’ Day and New Year and lockdowns play an important role in peaks in clicks in the Food and Drink vertical, driven by VTA in Singapore and Indonesia.
    — Health & Fitness apps in particular saw a spike in Southeast Asian markets in October, especially Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, mainly as a result of cross-regional awareness campaigns. A similar outcome was seen in December during the transition to the new year with health and fitness, and shopping apps.
    – Marketers that are able to measure and optimize a CTA and VTA method have seen success in their campaigns.
    — In Southeast Asia, ecommerce, media & entertainment, and finance are the verticals with the highest CTA + VTA and are able to optimize ads by 113% faster with low spend.
    — TikTok data shows industries such as Finance, E-commerce and Media and Entertainment recorded at least 22.8% VTA conversions when compared with CTA conversions across Southeast Asia in 2020 and VTA conversions can go up to 90.8%.
    – The importance of the VTA model: if the average attribution window for one vertical is one day, an Install registered by a viewer would be accredited as most users in Southeast Asia need access to WiFi to download an app.
    – Singapore, being a more developed market, has a longer average attribution window of close to 1.5 days unlike just over a day in Philippines and Thailand as consumers in established economies take a longer time to convert.
    – iOS 14.5’s Ad Tracking Transparency feature is still being implemented and will change the app economy and ability to measure campaigns. However, Apple’s SKAdNetwork, an API for measurement of ad campaigns, continues to provide advertisers with a VTA measurement option, while maintaining the privacy of the users. This emphasises that advertisers should still consider VTA as part of iOS14 dedicated campaigns. TikTok has supported SKAN CTA since the rollout of iOS 14.5 in late April 2021. Starting from June 2021, TikTok has also started to support SKAN VTA via an open beta, with more tests to be conducted before an official general release.

    The AppsFlyer report analysed over 14,600 apps, 10.39 billion installs, and 6.3 billion remarketing conversions, and takes into account both click-through attribution (CTA) and view-through attribution (VTA). CTA looks at installs made after clicking on an ad while VTA registers ad impressions that result in an install without the user immediately clicking on an ad. The app may sometimes be installed a day or two later and helps to outline a typical customer’s journey.

    To view the full report, visit: https://www.appsflyer.com/resources/others/vta-insights-southeast-asia/

    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 8,000+ technology partners make better business decisions every day. To learn more, visit www.appsflyer.com.

    Media Contact
    PRecious Communications for AppsFlyer
    appsflyer@preciouscomms.com

  • NEC and Kagome contribute to the sustainability of farming through enhancing the CropScope agricultural ICT platform

    NEC and Kagome contribute to the sustainability of farming through enhancing the CropScope agricultural ICT platform

    NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701) today announced the enhancement of CropScope, its agricultural ICT platform, which NEC has been operating jointly with Kagome Co, Ltd. since April 2020. New functions to improve farming have been added to the strengthened platform, and stable yields have already been achieved through verification in a variety of environments. As a result, NEC expects to expand the number of new contracts for the platform, and to contribute to the achievement of more sustainable farming by resolving challenging farming issues.

    CropScope consists of a service that uses sensors and satellite photographs to visualize the growth status of tomatoes and the condition of soils, as well as a service that provides farming advice using artificial intelligence (AI). The AI capitalizes on a wealth of know-how from experienced cultivators, enabling it to provide guidance on the optimum amount of water, fertilizer and the best time to apply them. This platform enables tomato producers, regardless of skill level, to stabilize their harvests and reduce cultivation costs, while implementing environmentally friendly farming.

    In addition, the platform’s accumulation of farming knowledge from experienced workers enables know-how to be passed down, and successful farming production from experienced cultivators to be duplicated, thereby expanding the areas of production and providing support for the training of new farmers. Moreover, the operators and managers of processed tomato facilities can comprehensively understand the growth of tomatoes in both their own soils and the soils of contracted farmers, making it possible to optimize harvesting and improve productivity based on objective data.

    Key enhancements to CropScope are as follows:

    1. Strengthening the versatility of AI farming advice services
    In 2020, NEC and Kagome conducted demonstration tests of CropScope in collaboration with an Australia-based Kagome subsidiary, KAGOME Australia Pty Ltd. Since the cultivation requirements for Australia differed from markets where CropScope had been applied in the past, such as Portugal, the platform gained important knowledge on soils, crop breeds, and irrigation facilities, including simulations on the water content of soils in the underlying irrigation system, recording data from trained cultivators and enhancing analytical methods. This has enabled the platform to deliver the same harvest capacity as trained cultivators in a variety of environments, ranging from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere.

    2. Improve the convenience of applications based on user feedback
    Based on the feedback of large-scale users of CropScope worldwide, NEC has improved the usability of applications by including the ability to identify field abnormalities, such as changes in the soil and water content, the ability to determine farming priorities for individual fields, expressing data in a simple manner, and the ability to analyze accumulated data between fields in order to improve farming methods.

    Going forward, the two companies aim to accelerate the growth of this business by strengthening proposals for processed tomato manufacturers, particularly in Europe and the Americas, and for tomato production companies.

    “We aim to realize environmentally friendly and highly profitable farming in the cultivation of tomatoes for processing globally. Since 2020, we have been expanding the AI farming support tool CropScope, which we jointly developed using NEC’s cutting-edge technologies. This tool was renewed in April 2021 to strengthen our ability to provide solutions. In addition, we will accelerate the resolution of the issues that producers face in the farming field, and aim to realize sustainable farming,” said Kengo Nakata, General Manager, Smart Agri Division, Kagome.

    “In its strategic partnership with Kagome, NEC has been expanding digitization in the tomato market. At the same time, NEC has responded to the challenges faced by its production sites by enhancing the versatility of farming advice utilizing AI, which is NEC’s specialty, and strengthening its ‘CropScope’ platform. NEC will continue to develop and provide solutions that contribute to the cultivation of a wide range of crops, helping to overcome social issues, climate change and food safety concerns, while creating sustainable farming experiences,” said Teruyuki Nakajima, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Corporate Business Development Division, NEC Corporation.

    About NEC Corporation

    NEC Corporation has established itself as a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies while promoting the brand statement of “Orchestrating a brighter world.” NEC enables businesses and communities to adapt to rapid changes taking place in both society and the market as it provides for the social values of safety, security, fairness and efficiency to promote a more sustainable world where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. For more information, visit NEC at https://www.nec.com.

    For more information, visit https://www.nec.com/en/press/202106/global_20210607_01.html.