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PRConnect Launches Blockchain-based Solution to Verify the Syndication of Press Releases

PR Connect

PRConnect, a leading content syndication and amplification service provider, today announced the official launch of PRVerified, its blockchain-based verification system for the syndication of press releases. Participating in the launch are leading online content publishers including 24-7 Press Release, iCrowdNewswire, KISS PR Brand Story Newswire and News Direct. PRVerified will provide readers with ready access to both the syndicated copy of the press release and the original source copy. The initial hash of the release is posted on the blockchain and can be rehashed through an intuitive, single-click interface to check for a match. The immutability of the blockchain enables PRConnect to achieve this level of irrefutable verification at the point of syndication. "PRConnect and its newswire partners are excited about developing and launching this innovative solution for press releases," said Wing Yu, CEO of PRConnect. "For over fifty years, the press release industry has relied on self-certified reports to convey that press releases are being distributed intact. With blockchain technology, we can now provide greater transparency into the content syndication process while giving all participants the tools to verify that press releases have been distributed in a tamper-proof manner." PRVerified is NCVP-compatible using the recommended SHA-256 one-way cryptographic hash function to tokenize the original instance of the press release. Rather than storing the hashes in a private database, PRVerified leverages blockchain’s inherent transparency and decentralization to store and share the hashes. After carefully considering various blockchain networks for reliability, sustainability, speed, transaction price, and overall environmental impact, PRConnect has chosen to post all of its hashes on the Peercoin blockchain. PRConnect partnered with the Peercoin Foundation to conceptualize and analyze the commercial viability of PRVerified and to design, develop, test and optimize the blockchain components of the application. "PRConnect’s latest initiative is perfectly aligned with our mission at News Direct to use technology to reimagine the way that press releases are distributed," said Gregg Castano, founder and CEO of News Direct, a leading wire services with over 1,000 clients worldwide. "We are thrilled to partner with innovators like PRConnect that are using blockchain technology to build trust and generate more visibility for our clients," said Qamar Zaman, founder of KISS PR which helps brands and content marketers bring stories to life on major news media sites. “We are excited to be part of a revolutionary technology that is long over due in this industry,” says Michael Iwasaki, founder of 24-7 Press Release Newswire. “PRConnect is leading the way with its blockchain-verification system that adds more credibility to our press release distribution company,” continued Iwasaki. PRVerified is now available for all of PRConnect’s clients and can be activated within one business day. It can also be accessed as a widget associated with the press release’s GUID and deployed on any Web2 site or Web3 dApp. In fact, PRVerified is already actively verifying releases on the 100 local media sites of the GoMedia Network. PRVerified will be a key component in an enhanced dashboard for wire services and content marketers that will be launched by PRConnect this summer. “It’s a pleasure to partner with PRConnect on this leading-edge improvement for the press release distribution industry,” said Sonia LaFountain, iCrowdNewswire COO. “This technology aligns directly with iCrowdNewswire’s re-invention of press release distribution and goal to ensure customers reach their target audience,” commented LaFountain. About PRConnect PRConnect is a leading content syndication and amplification firm that provides reliable service, innovative technology and custom solutions to help wire services and content marketers reach and engage audiences. For more information, please visit www.prconnect.com. Contact Details Wing Yu +1 650-636-5006 info@prconnect.com

May 17, 2023 08:49 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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More Than Just a Room: How Airbnb Can Help You Travel Like a Local -- on a Budget

YourUpdateTV

Want to travel like a local, but on a budget? Airbnb is a great option for those looking to experience a destination authentically without breaking the bank. Recently, Airbnb Superhosts, Rhonda Voo and Eric Alan conducted a satellite media tour to talk about their experience being Airbnb hosts and how it helped them connect with people and have authentic experiences. A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/6OnoHquTFMg In the current economic environment, people want to travel affordably. And after years of being isolated during the pandemic, they're looking for ways to connect with people and have authentic experiences. With the pandemic finally over, this summer is anticipated to be the biggest travel season of all time. Airbnb is expecting a record 300 million people to travel and host on Airbnb this year. To prepare, Airbnb is making the most extensive set of improvements to the platform ever, starting with the introduction of Airbnb Rooms, an all-new take on the original Airbnb. They’re also launching over 50 new features and upgrades that address top feedback from our guests and Hosts across the end-to-end Airbnb experience. Introducing Airbnb Rooms Airbnb began as a way to stay in a room in someone else’s home. This original idea of sharing a home offers two unique benefits. First, it’s more affordable for guests. More than 80% of private rooms are under $100/night, with an average rate of $67/night. Second, staying with a Host is a great way to meet someone new and experience the city like a local. In the current economic environment, people want to travel affordably. And after years of being isolated during the pandemic, they're looking for ways to connect with people and have authentic experiences. Now is the perfect time to stay in a room in someone else’s home. But for even more people to try it, they have to feel comfortable staying with a Host. Airbnb Rooms, an all-new take on the original Airbnb. Guests have told us that they want to know more about who they're staying with. Every Airbnb Room features a Host Passport, which helps guests get to know their Host before booking their stay. Airbnb has also created a Rooms category with over 1 million listings, redesigned filters and added new privacy features. 50+ new features and upgrades based on Hosts and Guests feedback: In preparation for an anticipated record-setting travel season, Airbnb is improving nearly every aspect of their service, here are some of the upgrades: Host Passport - Exclusive to Airbnb Rooms, the Host Passport helps you get to know your Host before booking your stay. Simply tap the Host Passport to view a larger photo and details Hosts have shared about themselves, including where they went to school, what they do for work, a fun fact about themselves, the amount of social interaction during the stay, and much more. Airbnb Rooms category - Airbnb Rooms are easy to discover, with a new category featuring a curated set of 1 million private bedrooms. Each listing includes access to shared spaces, such as the kitchen, living room, and backyard. Redesigned filters - Redesigned the “type of place” filter to make it easy to switch between Airbnb Rooms, entire homes, or all types of places. It’s simple to view the average price for each type of place with an enhanced price filter that updates based on your choice. New privacy features - Privacy is important. All Airbnb Rooms will clearly indicate if the bedroom door has a lock. The listing page also shows whether the bathrooms are shared or private, and whether people other than the Host will be in the home during your stay. To improve our service, Airbnb took a design-driven approach. They started by storyboarding the guest and Host journey - from sign up to checking out and created a blueprint of the experience - every screen, every policy, and every interaction with customer support mapped out. Then, analyzed millions of customer service tickets and mapped them across the journey. They also reviewed thousands of social media posts and spoke with hundreds of thousands of guests and Hosts about how to improve Airbnb. To find out more about the Airbnb 2023 Summer Release and how to become a host, visit Airbnb. About Rhonda and Erica Rhonda Voo and Eric Alan are superhosts of a private room in their stunning home in LA. Rhonda and Eric are both creatives at heart, pursuing careers in art and advertising – over the years they transformed their modest home into what is now an architecturally significant landmark in LA. After raising their three daughters, they noticed there was plenty of extra room around the house and decided to open their home to guests on Airbnb. Their experience continues to be rewarding — both financially and personally, making meaningful connections with visitors from around the globe. About Airbnb Airbnb was born in 2007 when two Hosts welcomed three guests to their San Francisco home and has since grown to 4 million Hosts who have welcomed more than 1 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe. Every day, Hosts offer one-of-a-kind stays and unique Experiences that make it possible for guests to experience the world in a more authentic, connected way. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

May 16, 2023 03:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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The Publisher Desk and Intermarkets Launch Ringside Intel, the News Leader in Sports Entertainment and Combat Sports

The Publisher Desk

The Publisher Desk and Intermarkets, two leading integrated audience development and growth partners for digital publishers, today launched Ringside Intel, a news and information site for sports entertainment, mixed martial arts, professional wrestling, and combat sports. Ringside Intel brings together some of the top sources for sporting news and analysis – Wrestle Newz, MMA Frenzy, Fightline, and Caged Insider – under a single banner and backed by one of the most experienced teams to cover the WWE, UFC, AEW, Bellator, and more. “As the recent acquisition of WWE by Endeavor has shown, multiple fan bases continue to converge,” said Jeff Misenti, co-founder of The Publisher Desk. “By combining some of the most respected brands into one environment, Ringside Intel becomes the go-to destination for information, news, and exclusive content for any sport in the ring.” Ringside Intel is targeted at the estimated 1.2 billion fans worldwide of WWE, TNA, and AEW, along with another 700 million fans of UFC, Bellator, and other MMA promotions. While the popularity of pay-per-view events provides a thriving place in the market, most of the audience consumes combat content online. For example, according to data from the WWE, the company alone garnered more than 7.5 billion digital and social media views in January and February of this year, up 15% from the same time frame a year ago. The recent WrestleMania 39 had more than 500 million views and 11 million hours of video consumed over the two days of the event, a 42% increase over last year. The Publisher Desk partnered with Intermarkets to add Ringside Intel to its growing portfolio of sports, entertainment, and information sites, including the company’s flagship site, Sportsnaut, the most powerful name in sports news and information. “The Publisher Desk is a top-notch partner for our mission to give combat sports and sports entertainment fans the quality content they’ve come to expect from our brands,” said Intermarkets CEO and Founder Kevin Lucido. “This opportunity fits with Intermarkets’ strategy of expanding our businesses and harnesses The Publisher Desk’s marketplace power in generating expanded growth opportunities. Backed by the combined weight of Intermarkets and The Publisher Desk, these greater joint opportunities will grow Ringside Intel as fans’ destination for all things that punch, grapple, sweat, and bleed.” This launch comes a month after The Publisher Desk acquired Forever Blueshirts, the leading source of information about the New York Rangers, and six months after Intermarkets added Bounding Into Sports, a spin-off of the popular entertainment site Bounding Into Comics, which brings Bounding's signature brand of unmatched insights and in-depth coverage to the world of sports. Ringside Intel is not affiliated with the WWE, UFC, or any other professional sports and entertainment promotions. About The Publisher Desk The Publisher Desk, based in New York with offices in London and South Florida, is a fully integrated audience development and content monetization partner to digital publishers, in addition to publishing several owned and operated sites. The company, founded in 2014, helps websites increase advertising revenues and reduce operational costs. Our team provides the proper resources, direction, operations, technology, and support for digital business, empowering sports, lifestyle & business media brands to connect with their audience and value-aligned advertisers. About Intermarkets, Inc. Founded in 1997, Intermarkets is a privately-owned company based in Virginia focused on helping digital publishing brands be successful through audience growth and monetization strategies. As one of the longest operating firms in its space, Intermarkets’ commitment to the free sharing of news and information is demonstrated through decades of working for publishers to ensure they generate the revenue they need to fund and sustain their content operations. Over the years, Intermarkets led the industry by creating new tactics, strategies, ad formats, and more. Unlike other companies, Intermarkets is privately funded, intentionally small, and prioritizes the human expertise it takes to harness tech. About Sportsnaut Sportsnaut is the most powerful name in sports. Since launch in 2014, Sportsnaut has been dedicated to covering the big and little stories in sports without an agenda. The company, and its publishing partners, provide news, opinion, rumors, and statistics for fans of the NFL, NCAA Football, NBA, NHL, Golf, NCAA Basketball, MLB, and more. Contact Details For The Publisher Desk press@publisherdesk.com For Intermarkets sschatz@intermarkets.net Company Website https://www.publisherdesk.com/

May 16, 2023 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise and 14 European Partners Collaborate on Extended Reality Sharespace Project to Create Future Social Hybrid Spaces

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, a leading provider of network, communications and cloud solutions, is taking part in the SHARESPACE consortium, a 6m€ initiative funded by the European Commission through the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. The vision of SHARESPACE is to create future Social Hybrid Spaces (SHS) shared by humans (wearing XR glasses and mocap ) and avatars, where both are engaged in embodied collaborative tasks which model body movements and create interactions between the participants. This is made possible by capturing social sensorimotor primitives (actions involving both sensory and motor functions or pathways) through mobile connected innovative sensors. The environment is then reconstructed using novel extended reality (XR) technology. Through cognitive architecture, virtual avatars will facilitate joint-action, distance-based learning and social cohesion in the hybrid societies of the future. The aim of the programme is to expand interaction in a virtual world, with XR technology enriching key social features of communication tailored to the participants’ personal characteristics. With future deployment in sectors such as health, learning, entertainment, sport and in the workplace, the technology has the potential to revolutionise hybrid working and learning. With its ability to connect in real time any person, device, process or application, RainbowTM CPaaS (Communication Platform as a Service) provided by ALE and tailored for the project will allow the onboarding of avatars as a new type of endpoint, enriching the remote collaborative experience. This will bring an entirely new approach to the metaverse paradigm where real-time social interaction, ethics, sustainability are key. Sylvain Rivier, SHARESPACE coordinator for Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, commented: "We are delighted to take part in this amazing project that will put Extended Reality at European users’ fingertips. With SHARESPACE, we have developed open human-centric virtual worlds with new real-time remote interactions and capabilities into Rainbow’s collaborative space. The capability to integrate human-driven or full-virtual avatars will improve the performance of human-avatar and human-robot motor coordination in complex scenarios.” The SHARESPACE consortium comprises 14 organisations across seven countries that will work together for three years. In delivering this vision, three scenarios will be developed by leading researchers and deep-tech companies with unique expertise in health, sport, and art. SHARESPACE will provide logistical, administrative and technical preparation of these real-world use cases with relevant institutions. Some examples include: • The Hospital Vall d'Hebron pain unit will provide remote assistance to people suffering from chronic back pain. Public demonstrations featuring the engagement of users and communities, utilising virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), will be presented during the World Pain Conference 2024 and 2025. • The “ peloton cycling challenge ” sport use case aims to open up new perspectives in sport training, sport entertainment and augmented virtuality in sport. Using personal, autonomous, and semi-autonomous avatars for optimised perceptual motor skills, amateur cyclists can learn how to ride in a virtual peloton. This will be showcased at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and the Tour de France 2025. • The “ shared creativity improvisation ” use case will allow artistic co-creation of an aesthetic environment intuitively produced from dancers' movements using AI avatars. This will be demonstrated at the Ars Electronica Festival 2024 and 2025. The participating academic groups, industry and clinical partners have cutting-edge expertise in all disciplines required for the successful implementation of the SHARESPACE platform, including AI, XR, mathematics and control, research ethics, psychosocial factors and technology, health psychology and cyberpsychology, and cognitive neuroscience and movement science. This also extends to expertise in wearables and mobile technologies, as well as the deployment of digital technologies in healthcare, sports, and the arts. Notes to the editor The participating academic groups, industry and clinical partners have cutting-edge expertise in all disciplines required for the successful implementation of the SHARESPACE platform. In particular, the consortium will combine expertise and research approaches from AI and XR ( DFKI, CYENS, Golaem, INRIA ), mathematics and control ( CRdC ), research ethics ( De Montfort University ), psychosocial factors and technology, health psychology and cyberpsychology ( Universitat Jaume I De Castellon ), cognitive neuroscience and movement science ( University of Montpellier, UKE ) with expertise in wearables ( LST, Ricoh ) and mobile technologies ( Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise ), as well as in the deployment of digital technologies in healthcare ( VHIR ), sports ( INRIA ), and the arts ( Ars Electronica ). SHARESPACE is a 6 Million-euro initiative funded by the European Commission through the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. The consortium is composed of 14 organisations across seven countries that will work together for 3 years. About Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise delivers the customised technology experiences enterprises need to make everything connect. ALE provides digital-age networking, communications and cloud solutions with services tailored to ensure customers’ success, with flexible business models in the cloud, on premises, and hybrid. All solutions have built-in security and limited environmental impact. Over 100 years of innovation have made Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise a trusted advisor to more than a million customers all over the world. With headquarters in France and 3,400 business partners worldwide, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise achieves an effective global reach with a local focus. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mocap: Motion capture is the process of recording the movement of objects or people German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence in Cyprus National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology Regional Competence Centre for new technologies University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf SIA Lightspace Technologies Vall d’Hébron Research Institute Contact Details Fox Agency Katherine Skidmore +44 20 3750 6688 katherine@fox.agency Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Carine Bowen press@al-enterprise.com Company Website https://www.al-enterprise.com/

May 16, 2023 03:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Respond.io Joins Forces with WhatsApp to Assist Enterprises in Driving Growth

Respond.io

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - Media OutReach - 12 May 2023 - Leading message platform respond.io is now a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider (BSP), placing it among an exclusive group of WhatsApp BSPs worldwide. This significant milestone means that businesses can now take advantage of its advanced messaging features and capabilities to connect with their customers like never before. What’s in it for Businesses Worldwide Businesses using respond.io can now seamlessly integrate the WhatsApp Business Platform directly from Meta’s cloud servers for increased efficiency and reliability. Meta's worldwide network of servers is tactically positioned to reduce latency, resulting in faster updates and improved message delivery times. By becoming a WhatsApp BSP, respond.io now has direct access to Meta's support team. This new development enables respond.io to provide its customers with exceptional support and assistance with common requests, including WhatsApp Business verification. As an omnichannel customer communication management software, respond.io adds value to WhatsApp API's capabilities. It enables multiuser access for WhatsApp so all agents and teams can respond to a high volume of messages from one WhatsApp number. Plus, respond.io offers businesses a suite of powerful tools including an advanced automation builder, detailed analytics on team and agent performance, and seamless integration with custom messaging channels and over 5,000 applications, including CRMs and e-commerce platforms such as Hubspot, Salesforce, Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento and more. Now, businesses will be able to manage all their conversations and WhatsApp Business Accounts on respond.io. This includes managing their WhatsApp business profile, message template creation and approval, and WhatsApp conversation charges, all from a single interface. Respond.io also enables businesses to comply with WhatsApp's policies and regulations, such as collecting customer consent to receive messages from a business. From offering multiple chat entry points, like ads that click to WhatsApp, QR codes and chat links, to obtaining opt-ins as part of an automated conversation, respond.io removes the friction in customer communication. A Commitment to Advanced Messaging Solutions Respond.io believes that instant messaging is the future of customer communication, and is committed to delivering the most advanced and effective messaging solutions to businesses across the globe. WhatsApp is a key channel for respond.io as it is one of the most widely used messaging apps in the world. With over 2 billion active users across 180 countries, it has become an essential channel for businesses to engage with customers. As of today, respond.io helps thousands of medium and enterprise customers worldwide unlock the power of instant messaging to deliver great customer experiences, build brand loyalty and drive growth and revenue. Among others, it empowered 200 agents at the Indian social media platform Sharechat to chat with 50,000 content creators using a single WhatsApp number and enabled Yoho, Hong Kong’s leading e-commerce platform, to grow its customer base by almost 10% in just four months by dramatically improving its sales and support experience. "Empowering businesses to communicate seamlessly with their customers is our top priority as a WhatsApp Business Solution Provider. Our platform offers a personalized, conversational experience that fosters stronger relationships. By continuously expanding our capabilities, we enable businesses to achieve their goals and stay ahead of the curve. This collaboration with WhatsApp unlocks tremendous potential, allowing us to remain at the forefront of the latest trends to keep providing businesses worldwide with exceptional business messaging solutions." Gerardo Salandra, CEO of respond.io. Its new status as a WhatsApp BSP will better equip respond.io to help businesses improve the efficiency of their messaging operations, as well as boost customer satisfaction and retention for steady business growth. Interested clients can try the messaging software for free and get an account on the WhatsApp Business Platform in minutes by signing up on respond.io. About respond.io Respond.io is a customer conversation management software that enables companies to respond to messages from any channel from one centralized dashboard by teams of all sizes, thus making communication with customers easier, faster, and more satisfactory. Over 10,000 companies from 86 countries, including British Airways, Klook, Decathlon, Roche and Bigo use respond.io. The platform processes 120 million messages per month, beating three of its main competitors combined. In 2022, respond.io raised $7 million in Series A funding, led by Headline Asia with participation from AltaIR Capital, Smart Partnership Capital, Sterling Oak Group and Calendula Ventures. The company is headquartered in Malaysia. Contact Details Localization Project Manager Polina Usynina +60 17-229 9406 polina@respond.io

May 16, 2023 02:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Kite Hill PR Reaches 10-Year Milestone

Kite Hill PR

Kite Hill PR, the award-winning agile tech PR and B2B communications agency, celebrates 10 years of business and has been named a Top B2B PR Agency by PR Daily. The award honors agencies that deliver on their promises to clients and raise the bar on effective communications strategies and tactics. The agency credits its success to its award-winning culture of collaboration, which has prioritized and operationalized mentorship. To celebrate this notable business milestone, the agency is launching a “Modern Mentorship” campaign highlighting advice from top female leaders on innovation, agility and collaboration. Helmed by an all-female leadership team, the agency has worked with over 180 clients in the last decade, organized and managed 30+ industry events and won 18 awards for its culture, leadership and the results it drives for clients. The company’s notable organic growth was bolstered by the acquisition of Cutler PR in 2018. With a history of working with tech innovators, the agency’s practice areas currently include adtech, media, B2B tech, healthtech, fintech, climate tech, cybersecurity and mobility. Kite Hill PR’s founding team launched Communications Week® in 2014, a preeminent event created to inspire, inform and connect those in PR and communications, which was acquired by Ragan Communications in 2021. The company’s innovative approach to agile PR, the PR Sprint ® Workflow, was launched in 2018 and the company was awarded a US trademark for this unique approach to managing PR campaigns in 2021. “I attribute our continued success to our culture of innovation, collaboration and learning. Over the last decade, we have focused on supporting our team through robust learning and development resources to fuel growth and encourage innovative thinking,” said Tiffany Guarnaccia, CEO and Founder of Kite Hill PR. “Mentorship plays a huge role in my life and in our agency. In the spirit of collaboration, we’re marking our anniversary by celebrating modern mentorship.” The anniversary video series “Modern Mentorship” highlights perspectives from industry luminaries on mentorship and features reflections from the last decade along with actionable tips for professionals seeking career advice. Interviewees include Janet Balis, Partner, CMO Practice Leader - Business Transformation, EY; Shannan Herbert, EVP, Inclusive Credit; Tameka Kee, Deputy Managing Director, Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement; Bonnie Kintzer, President and CEO, TMB; Linda Ong, CEO and founder, CULTIQUE; Tiffany Ricks, CEO, HacWare; Diane Schwartz, CEO, Ragan Communications; Patrice Tanaka, founder, Joyful Planet; Tonia Wellons, President and CEO, Greater Washington Community Foundation and Lisa Marrocchino, CEO of Proteus Ocean Group. Videos will be released on the Kite Hill PR website, LinkedIn and YouTube today through July 2023. “As we continue to shape a best-in-class work from anywhere culture, we have operationalized our L&D program to make mentorship a part of our DNA. We cultivate peer-to-peer relationships based on various parameters, encourage reverse mentoring, and create opportunities for department levels to problem solve and learn from one another,” said Guarnaccia. “The campaign is a natural extension of Kite Hill PR’s ethos as we seek to strengthen the PR industry at large and empower the next generation of leaders.” To learn more about Kite Hill PR’s unique approach to mentorship and its Modern Mentorship campaign, visit https://www.kitehillpr.com/modern-mentorship Headquartered in New York City with team members in the UK and across North America, Kite Hill PR is a leading B2B communications and agile tech PR agency with practice areas in adtech, martech and creative agencies; B2B and enterprise tech; climate tech; cybersecurity; fintech; healthtech; media and entertainment and mobility. The company's winning approach combines thought leadership, strategy and media relations to drive clients' businesses forward. Kite Hill PR has been recognized as one of the "Top Tech Specialist PR Agencies in NYC,” “Most Powerful PR Firms,” and a “Top 50 PR Firm in America” by the Observer, a “Best Place to Work” by PR News and one of "America's Best PR Agencies" by Forbes Contact Details Kite Hill PR Kerriann Becker kerriann@kitehillpr.com

May 15, 2023 10:31 AM Eastern Daylight Time

AmpliTech Reports Q1 2023 Results

Amplitech Group, Inc.

AmpliTech Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMPG) a designer, developer, and manufacturer of state-of-the-art signal-processing components for satellite, 5G, and other communications networks and a worldwide distributor of packages and lids for integrated circuit assembly, and designer of complete 5G/6G systems today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. The company will host an investor call on May 22 nd 2023. Investor Earnings Call Details Date/Time: Monday May 22, 2023, 4 pm EST Dial-in Number: 1-833-630-0019 (domestic) or 1-412-317-1807 (international) Online Replay/Transcript: Audio file and call transcript will be posted to AmpliTech’s news page when available. Investor Questions: May be submitted to investors@amplitechgroup.com prior to or during the call Q1 2023 Highlights Q1 2023 revenue of $4.1 million, with gross profits of $1.8M (44%). Company maintained a healthy gross profit margin of approximately 44% amidst inflationary pressures. Core LNA sales continue to grow, while our semiconductor distribution sales decreased due to softer international demand. Company reported loss of $619,000 for Q1 2023, attributable largely to a combination of corporate expenses, our continuing R&D efforts in development of new products, and a temporary downturn in sales within our Spectrum Division. As of March 31, 2023, cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities totaled $10.6M and working capital was $18M, giving AmpliTech ample capital to finance all of its strategic growth initiatives. Forward-Looking Update With our AGMDC division completing design releases and ready to manufacture MMIC products, an intense marketing campaign has started in Q2, with expected bookings to occur during Q2 and shipments of MMIC related products expected to contribute to sales in Q3 2023. By successfully utilizing our CRM engine, implementing AI-powered sales prospecting techniques, and leveraging increased attendance at our trade shows, we achieved a remarkable 70% surge in Request for Quotes (RFQs) for our exceptional low noise amplifier and 5G systems. Our CRM currently has $66M in the opportunity funnel, some of which the company expects will turn into sales over the next Q3 and Q4 quarters. We will participate as a gold sponsor at IMS 2023, where we eagerly anticipate connecting with some of the 10,000+ attendees and engaging in discussions about how our products can add value to their 5G, quantum, satcom, and airline Wi-Fi communications systems. Management Commentary CEO Fawad Maqbool provided his insights on AmpliTech’s financial results and future outlook: "Despite current economic challenges, our commitment to innovation and quality remains resolute as we continue working to achieve our mission to develop full systems and subsystems for rapidly emerging technology sectors, utilizing AmpliTech’s unique core technology. Our team has been working relentlessly to develop the lowest noise, lowest power-dissipating amplifiers on the market and these are included in our new 5G and wireless infrastructure products and MMIC designs for the satellite, wireless and 5G markets, including the advanced military and commercial markets. We have also recently expanded into the design of full-service, true5G Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) front ends. These offerings are cutting-edge, end-to-end solutionsand also backwards compatible and retrofittable with existing obsolete 3G, and 4G systems. We’re excited to be bringing these products to market at a time that the 5G infrastructure market is projected to reach $99 billion by 2030, a CAGR of 37% from current levels, according to Precedence Research. This tremendous growth outlook reaffirms our belief in the significant potential of our product line to serve this market. Despite weakening economic trends and the expected 11% decline in the semiconductor market for 2023, as reported by Gartner, we remain optimistic about semiconductors, which are integral to modern technology, and why we have invested heavily in our AGMDC semiconductor division in Texas.We anticipate that global demand will bounce back as market conditions improve. The second quarter launch of the MMIC line under the AmpliTech Inc. division, coupled with our recent distribution deal with NGK, are important developments that are expected to drive future growth, in addition to our diversified portfolio, strategic investments, and the unwavering commitment of our team. With this strong foundation in place, we remain confident in our ability to empower the communication systems of tomorrow, today,” concluded Mr. Maqbool. About AmpliTech Group: AmpliTech Group, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes state-of-the-art radio frequency (RF) microwave components for global satellite communications, telecom (5G & IoT), space, defense, and quantum computing markets as well as systems and component design consulting services. In December 2021, AmpliTech completed the purchase of the assets and operations of Spectrum Semiconductor Materials Inc., a global specialty distributor of semiconductor components based in San Jose, CA. AmpliTech has a 13+ year track record of developing high performance, custom solutions to meet the unique needs of some of the largest companies in the global industries we serve. We are proud of our focused team's unique skills, experience and dedication, which enables us to deliver superior solutions, faster time to market, competitive pricing, excellent customer satisfaction and repeat business. For more information, please visit www.amplitechgroup.com. Safe Harbor Statement This release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements. These statements appear in several places in this release and include all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company, its directors or its oﬃcers with respect to, among other things: (i) the Company's ability to execute its business plan as anticipated; (ii) trends affecting the Company's ﬁnancial condition or results of operations; (iii) the Company's growth strategy and operating strategy. The words "may" "would" "will" "expect" "estimate" "anticipate" "believe" "intend" and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control, and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements because of various factors. Other risks are identiﬁed and described in more detail in the “Risk Factors” section of the Company’s ﬁlings with the SEC, which are available on our website. We undertake no obligation to update, and we do not have a policy of updating or revising these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law. Corporate Social Media Twitter: @AmpliTechAMPG Instagram: @AmpliTechAMPG Facebook: AmpliTechInc Investor Social Media Twitter: @AMPG_IR StockTwits: @AMPG_IR Company Contact: Shan Sawant, Director of Communications AmpliTech Group, Inc. Investors@amplitechgroup.com Investor Relations Contact: Kirin Smith, President PCG Advisory, Inc. ksmith@pcgadvisory.com www.pcgadvisory.com Contact Details AmpliTech Group, Inc. Investors@amplitechgroup.com Company Website http://www.amplitechgroup.com/

May 15, 2023 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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WorkHack secures seed round as it helps companies adopt generative AI capabilities into their product suite

WorkHack

OpenAI’s ChatGPT has taken the world by storm since its release in November 2022 and companies have been racing to adopt this in some shape or form in their business processes. Helping these companies embrace the opportunity, WorkHack is today announcing a $1.5M funding round to develop its AI tech layer which allows businesses to deploy safe, thoughtful, and responsible AI functions. The funding round was co-led by Together Fund along with Nexus Venture Partners, and also saw participation from The New Normal Fund led by Allison Pickens along with marquee angel investors. The founder of WorkHack, Akshat Tyagi, was an early stage user of Open AIs original GPT3 model in 2021 and has seen first-hand the development of various large language models (LLMs) since. Despite the widespread interest and adoption of the technology its direct commercial use cases are yet to go beyond copywriting and search chatbots. Moreover, LLMs remain a black box of unknowns for companies to deploy for serious business applications. In recognising the gulf between the technology and business applications, WorkHack has been building tools that allow companies to deploy safe, thoughtful and responsible AI without having to build AI models of their own. Gartner suggests that Responsible AI can enable the right outcomes by resolving dilemmas rooted in delivering value versus tolerating risks. Responsible AI is an umbrella term for aspects of making appropriate business and ethical choices when adopting AI, including business and societal value, risk, trust, transparency, fairness, bias mitigation, explainability, accountability, safety, privacy and regulatory compliance. Responsible AI will take 5 to 10 years to reach mainstream adoption but will ultimately have a transformational impact on business. Established in 2021, WorkHack began working with business in the recruitment industry building AI for interviews using GPT3. After successfully onboarding multiple large enterprise customers within a few months of going live, and realizing the opportunity was much larger than they initially anticipated, the company branched into the marketing-tech sector with use-cases for conversions, consultation journeys, cancellations, habit formation and lead qualification. Today, WorkHack is the infrastructure that provides templates of use cases for companies to build custom conversational agents and deploy them on their own delivery stacks like web, mobile and Whatsapp. WorkHack AI has already made over a million conversations towards specific goals. Gartner has reported that by 2025, 30% of outbound marketing messages from large organizations will be synthetically generated, up from less than 2% in 2022. Akshat Tyagi, founder of WorkHack commented: “ChatGPT is an exciting consumer tool to play with and there is palpable excitement among companies also, even large customer engagement platforms like Intercom, Hubspot and Salesforce have attempted to use generative AI within their current products. WorkHack answers the questions of how to make the adoption scale responsibily. We will be the stable AI layer that enterprises trust for solving their generative AI journey. Our core strength is recognising what areas of human interactions can significantly benefit from a technology that appears to be able to think and reason”. “Many companies are trying and have tried to train their own LLMs for security reasons, but more often than not these do not stand a chance against models built by larger tech companies. WorkHack will be the layer on the top of existing LLMs to make it viable for businesses to move forward with AI adoption” added Akshat Tyagi. "We are thrilled to partner with Workhack, a leading provider of generative AI solutions. As every business will need tools to control and leverage Generative AI to drive better customer engagement, we believe that Workhack is the ideal partner for the businesses to achieve that goal. Workhack's platform makes it seamless for any consumer-facing enterprise to make AI goals driven towards their sales & marketing use cases, in a predictable and secure fashion”. Says Manav Garg, Founding Partner, Together Fund and CEO, Eka “Application layer for generative AI till now has primarily aided activities like copywriting and graphic editing. WorkHack aims to build predictability and goal alignment for companies to deploy and find their own interesting use-cases of Gen AI. We are thrilled to partner with Akshat and WorkHack team to help drive the adoption of Generative AI at scale”, says Jishnu Bhattacharjee, managing director, Nexus Venture Partners. WorkHack is the first large-scale enterprise deployment of ChatGPT’s foundation technology for complex use cases. About WorkHack WorkHack is the guardrail to make ChatGPT and other Large Language Models ready to deploy for complex business outcomes. By building thoughtful, safe and controllable AI, WorkHack is building a layer that eliminates the risk and complexity of using generative AI for real-life usecases. Having processed over a million users for its customers, WorkHack is one of the first companies to deploy generative AI for large-scale enterprises. For more information please visit https://workhack.ai/ About Together Fund Together Fund is India’s first enterprise software-focused, Operator-led fund started by Girish Mathrubootham (Founder, Freshworks), Manav Garg (Founder, Eka) and Shubham Gupta (ex Matrix Partners). Together invests in Seed and Series A opportunities across AI, Devtools, Cloud Infra, Security, Horizontal & Vertical SaaS applications. With a “for-founders, by-founders” DNA, Together is joined by 150+ global founders & operators in this endeavour to help build global products from India. For more information, please visit the website or follow via Linkedin & Twitter Contact Details WorkHack Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://workhack.io/

May 15, 2023 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Small Business Drives the US Economy

YourUpdateTV

A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/v0QdeVWGsMg Small business owners are the backbone of the U.S. economy and the true powerhouses behind the nation’s economic success. Entrepreneurship is booming in the United States. In fact, 5.1 million U.S. business applications were filed in 2022. These small businesses fuel the nation’s economy and drive growth. Our economy is an ecosystem where big businesses and small businesses are vendors, employees, partners, and customers to each other. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce helps to strengthen and support America’s small businesses especially during challenging and uncertain times. The Chamber’s new Prompt Pay Pledge asks companies to pay their small business suppliers and vendors quicker to ensure the nation’s economic success. Companies who sign the Prompt Pay Pledge commit to quicker payment for invoices or enabling private financing solutions, and clearly communicating payment policies and terms to their small business suppliers or vendors. Several major U.S. companies including JP Morgan Chase, Intuit, Alpha Technologies, Accion Opportunity Fund, and Vistage partnered with the U.S. Chamber to launch the Pledge. In recognition of small businesses nationwide, the U.S. Chamber recently announced it is looking for “America’s Top Small Business” of 2023. The awards program celebrates America’s small business owners who are making a meaningful contribution to the economy and job creation and embody the spirit of innovation, entrepreneurship, and initiative. Eligible small business owners can apply for the awards online at uschamber.com/co by July 7, 2023. How the U.S. Chamber Supports Small Business The Prompt Pay Pledge and “America’s Top Small Business” is part of the U.S. Chamber’s longstanding commitment to supporting and advocating for small businesses. We work every day to give small businesses a big voice in Washington, connecting entrepreneurs and federal officials and advocating for policies that help them grow rather than holding them back. Our Small Business Council is made up of 100 small business owners from across the country that steer our work in fighting for policies that keep Main Street businesses thriving and regularly visit Capitol Hill. Since 2017, we have partnered with MetLife to survey small businesses on a quarterly basis for the Small Business Index, which provides valuable insights on current challenges and opportunities for small business that inform our advocacy in Congress. Through our small business platform CO—, which helps almost 20,000 businesses every day and had more than six million site visits last year alone, we are equipping small businesses with the tools and insights they need to ensure their own resilience in the face of any challenge. For more information visit: uschamber.com Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

May 12, 2023 03:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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