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75% of Consumers Want an Autonomous Shopping Experience According to Shekel-Sponsored Retail Shopping Survey

Shekel Brainweigh

With less than 3% of consumers having already shopped at an autonomous store, 75% of consumers said they are interested in shopping at a newly-introduced autonomous store. This is according to the Retail Shopping survey targeting primary household decision makers conducted over SurveyMonkey and sponsored by Shekel Brainweigh Ltd Retail Innovation Division (ASX: SBW). The goal of the survey was to gain an understanding of how consumers perceive autonomous stores and autonomous store technologies. Nearly 80% of survey respondents were between the ages of 18-60 years old and more than 50% were female. Key findings of the survey include: Convenience and a frictionless experience was cited as the most important feature of an autonomous store by 33% of respondents with 25% saying variety and selection of goods was most important. Nearly 13% of respondents prefer a fully autonomous store while 70% prefer a hybrid store with autonomous and human assistance options. Lack of assistance (37%) and leaving the store without knowing the amount charged (19%) were cited as the top two concerns of autonomous stores by survey respondents. For nearly 65% of respondents, privacy was a heightened concern, and they prefer an anonymous/privacy-protected shopping experience. In terms of ideal providers for autonomous store solutions, 50% said the solution should be best-of-breed regardless of the provider and that credible retail solutions providers with innovative technology from the coolest startups are best. Udi Wiesner, General Manager of Shekel Brainweigh Retail Innovation Division said, “The results of our Retail Shopping survey demonstrate the need for retailers to quickly adopt autonomous store technologies and solutions to meet the major desires of consumers. And knowing that for nearly 50% of respondents COVID-19 has not impacted their shopping habits, there is a massive opportunity for retailers to improve their autonomous shopping strategies to provide superior shopping experiences with more store availability and a greater variety of products, while also keeping their customers’ privacy.” The Shekel Brainweigh Retail Innovation Division is capitalizing on the global demand for retail store automation to provide enhanced consumer shopping experiences and improve retailers’ efficiencies. Shekel has developed its game changing Product Aware Technology, which digitally transforms a retail shelf into a source of actionable insights. With its ability to identify a product by its weight, using IoT load sensors, embedded Smart Shelf software and cloud-based artificial intelligence algorithms, it provides ideal product recognition capabilities that enable store automation. At NAMA 2021, Shekel Brainweigh Retail Innovation Division and Hitachi Vantara will showcase the Automated Shop in Booth 2220, which enables retailers, vendors and operators to offer their customers a frictionless shopping experience in secure micro markets with a wide offering of fresh and healthy food at a lower cost of operation. The technology behind the shop includes Shekel’s Product Aware smart shelves and Hitachi 3D LiDAR with shopper insights and analytics displayed on the Hitachi Visualization Suite. This live experience will allow visitors to go through the shop as if it were their own customer journey. As part of the Automated Shop, the booth will also feature a hubz Smart Cooler, the world’s most advanced unattended retail Micro Market solution that allows retailers and vending operators to offer consumers fresh and healthy food selections in a 100% frictionless vending machine experience and a Smart Coffee Machine, courtesy of UST. About Shekel Brainweigh Retail Innovation Division Shekel Brainweigh Retail Innovation Division, a young, innovative start-up, is part of Shekel Brainweigh Ltd., (ASX: SBW) an established holding company that includes Shekel Scales, a technology market leader providing more than 40 years of digital weighing solutions to the retail self-checkout market through industry leaders such as Fujitsu, Toshiba, Diebold-Nixdorf and others. Shekel Brainweigh Retail Innovation Division provides Product Aware Shelves as the standard of choice for automated product recognition to scale up autonomous retail. Product Aware Technology transforms any retail shelf into a source of actionable insights using IoT load sensors and Artificial intelligence to identify a product by its weight and location on the shelf. Smart shelves, based on Product Aware Technology are an ideal solution to enable rich frictionless shopping, 24/7 availability, effective real-time inventory management, operational efficiency comprehensive data insights for smart vending, micro markets, autonomous micro stores and convenience stores. To learn more about the company, visit https://www.shekelbrainweigh.com/retail/. Contact Details Jenna Beaucage +1 508-340-6851 jbeaucage@rainierco.com Company Website https://shekelbrainweigh.com/retail/

August 16, 2021 09:34 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Treliant Acquires Vox Financial Partners, Strengthening its Capital Markets Capabilities and Expanding its Footprint into Europe

Treliant

Treliant announced today that it has acquired Vox Financial Partners (Vox), a leading Capital Markets consulting firm that helps global financial institutions deliver regulatory and business change. The transaction between the two privately-owned firms closed on August 13, 2021 and terms were not disclosed. The acquisition of Vox is a milestone for Treliant, a strategic advisory firm that has enjoyed strong organic growth since its founding in 2005. With this acquisition, Treliant is expanding its European footprint and capital markets consulting capabilities to better serve its client base and position it as a solid global competitor. “Vox Financial Partners is a natural fit for Treliant,” said Treliant CEO B. Scott Fisher. “Terry Robinson and the Vox leadership team have worked on some of the most complex initiatives and delivered major change in some of the largest global investment banks. They bring deep knowledge from their careers in the industry, as consultants, and as entrepreneurs. They are a perfect complement to Treliant and we are excited to have them join our team.” Vox combines global banking and regulatory experience, innovative data solutions, and skilled specialists to help global financial institutions successfully plan, resource, and deliver regulatory and business change projects. Vox consultants work on client sites and also from their Service Delivery Centres in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Lodz, Poland. “We are very excited to join forces with Treliant,” said Terry Robinson, Vox co-founder and CEO. “We share similar values and goals; forming and maintaining long-term relationships with our clients is of critical importance to Treliant and us. We look forward to working together to provide Vox’s capital markets expertise and delivery capabilities to a broader global audience.” In his new role at Treliant, he will hold the title of Chief Executive Officer for the Capital Markets practice. Vox was founded in 2016 by Terry Robinson and Brendan Gorman. Since then, it has built a team of experienced project managers and subject matter experts, supported by trained and resourceful junior staff, to help banking clients address a wide range of regulatory and business challenges. These have included MIFID2, Brexit, Initial Margin, and Benchmark Reform. In January 2021, Vox acquired Delv Global, a business and technology change consultancy that specializes in solving challenges in data, technology, regulations, and innovation across finance, risk, product control, operations, treasury, and front office. “The financial services industry continues to need more of the expertise and capabilities provided by Treliant and Vox,” Fisher said. “We are making a substantial investment in our capital markets practice and global expansion with this acquisition, and we look forward to continuing to provide excellent results for our clients.” Treliant is a multi-industry consulting firm that serves organizations around the globe. Our firm serves financial institutions, consumer-oriented businesses, other corporations, and law firms. As a firm of leading professionals from industry and government, we assist our clients in navigating regulatory requirements and on best practices, while meeting strategic and operational objectives. We partner with clients as trusted advisors and via managed services including through secondments, interim resources, and other outsourcing strategies. Our advisory and assurance services and specialized, high-quality business solutions strengthen our clients’ corporate and regulatory compliance programs, risk management, and business performance. We also provide comprehensive support for corporate and regulatory investigations, litigation, and as government agency monitors and independent consultants. We serve companies from Main Street to Wall Street and across the globe. Vox is a global consulting firm that specializes in navigating financial institutions through complex regulatory and business change. We combine global banking and regulatory expertise, innovative data solutions, and skilled specialists to help global financial institutions execute change programs successfully and operate business-as-usual processes more efficiently. We do this by providing our clients with top talent matched to their specific needs - from subject matter experts who can lead the most complex, challenging projects in finance to resourceful, technically-capable juniors who have undergone tailored training. We can provide our services on client site or from our near-shore Service Delivery Centres. Contact Details Treliant, LLC Melissa Pazornik +1 202-249-7932 mpazornik@treliant.com Company Website https://www.treliant.com

August 16, 2021 09:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Innovation Decisions Accelerated: TechInsights Acquires VLSI Research

TechInsights

TechInsights Inc. is pleased to announce the acquisition of VLSI Research Inc., the award-winning provider of market and economic analysis covering the semiconductor supply chain. Together, TechInsights and VLSI will provide a unified platform of the most valuable semiconductor-related content to inform the world’s most innovative companies. In addition to extracting insights and intelligence and filling information gaps to solve problems today, the unified platform will identify trends to predict how the future of technology will unfold. In an increasingly connected world, and with semiconductor market drivers like automotive, machine learning and 5G, the explosive demand for semiconductors is leading to a growing addressable market which has a thirst for intelligence in the form of reverse engineering data and informed analysis. VLSI Research’s strategic trends analysis complements TechInsights’ technical content and will be incorporated into TechInsights authoritative information platform to bring unprecedented insights into semiconductors and microelectronics. “We have long been regarded as the world leader in semiconductor reverse engineering. Our trusted platform is the source of the broadest and deepest range of semiconductor research.” said Gavin Carter, CEO of TechInsights. “We have been on the hunt for a partner that can complement our content with the ability to reverse engineer the future. We found the perfect partner in VLSI Research. I am delighted to welcome an industry guru in Dan and his team to TechInsights. Founded in 1976, VLSI is led by visionary CEO and Chairman Dan Hutcheson, who for over 40 years has had the opportunity to engage semiconductor legends Gordon Moore, Robert Noyce and Jerry Sanders among others. Hutcheson and his VLSI colleagues leveraged this unique access and insight to empower executives with strategic and tactical marketing value. “When I first learned TechInsights wanted to bring us together,” said G. Dan Hutcheson, Chairman and CEO of VLSI Research, “it was clear there was a unique opportunity to connect market and technical analysis on high-volume and emerging applications of technology in ways that has never been done before. Merging both into a single platform would offer the industry a powerful new way to view the past, present and future of the semiconductor sector. It would give clients the competitive advantage in their ability to make better decisions faster.” ABOUT TECHINSIGHTS TechInsights is the authoritative information platform serving the semiconductor and related markets. Leveraging a unique reverse engineering competency we reveal innovations in technology products, providing advanced technical analysis to organizations to help them make fact-based technology and intellectual property decisions. Over the course of thirty years, we have developed the world’s largest technical analysis database and extensive expertise in multiple technical industries and disciplines. We exist to support a fair marketplace where electronics and intellectual property can be innovated and monetized. Our customers include the world’s largest consumer electronics and semiconductor companies, law firms, government agencies, and technology startups. Technology and intellectual property professionals subscribe to our insights to support product innovation, benchmark products against competitors, de-risk go-to-market strategies, build stronger product roadmaps, monetize, and defend innovations, and win more competitive bids. ABOUT VLSI VLSI Research’s unique combination of deep semiconductor industry contacts, data analytics, with databases and information libraries that reach back seven decades, combined with its locations in the world’s technology hot spots, make it perfectly suited for the development of the world’s most distinguished semiconductor market research. VLSI’s information is selectively crafted by the world’s most renowned semiconductor market research analysts who have over a century of combined experience. VLSI’s contributions are industry recognized by being the only market research firm to have received SEMI’s Sales and Marketing Excellence Awards. It was founded by Dan’s research physicist father Jerry Hutcheson and mother, Lynda. Contact Details Kim Waterman Senior Corporate Marketing Manager +1 613-576-0145 kwaterman@techinsights.com Company Website https://www.techinsights.com

August 16, 2021 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

2021 PORTLAND FILM FESTIVAL, PRESENTED BY COMCAST, GOES VIRTUAL WITH 250+ INDEPENDENT FILMS FROM AROUND THE WORLD OCTOBER 6 – NOVEMBER 8

Comcast Oregon / SW Washington

Named “one of the coolest film festivals in the world,” by MovieMaker Magazine, the 2021 Portland Film Festival presented by Comcast for the fifth year, is going virtual again this year and packing its program with hundreds of independent film screenings, director’s chats, networking events as well as educational workshops and panels. As one of Oregon’slargest film festivals, The Portland Film Festival will be available around the world online this fall from Wed., Oct. 6 through Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. Comcast’s Xfinity customers with Xfinity X1 or Xfinity Flex will have easy and free access to a collection of films and livestream events. “Independent voices are vital to our culture and in more need of support than ever. It’s our festival’s mission to bring a broad diversity of independent voices together in one place and we’re proud to be able to do that again this year,” said Josh Leake, Portland Film Festival’s Founder and Executive Director. “It was a tough decision to go solely virtual, but we feel that it’s the best decision for everyone’s health and well-being. And, thanks to our partnership with Comcast, we are able to present more independent voices to a larger audience through Xfinity X1 and Flex than we’ve ever reached before.” The 2021 Portland Film Festival will feature stories by and about women, the Asian community, the Black community, the Indigenous community, the Latinx community, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, veterans, among many other important and compelling stories. Programming will be announced in the coming weeks. “It’s important that we represent diversity and independent voices on screen and behind the camera at our festival,” said Joe Stevens, Portland Film Festival’s Director of Programming. “As an Afro-Indigenous programmer, my goal is to share a collection of diverse voices through our festival and bring more awareness to the importance of diversity in the film industry. The people who tell and shape the story behind the camera are just as important as those who portray the characters on screen.” Tickets and passes for the 2021 Portland Film Festival go on sale today here. Currently, all films and events will be accessible virtually and prices range from $10 for one film to $100 for an all-access pass. Xfinity X1 and Flex customers across the nation will have free access to a collection of films and livestream events by simply saying “Portland Film Festival” into the Xfinity Voice Remote for the duration of the festival. “This year, Comcast’s Xfinity X1 and Flex customers will be able to access free, curated films created by a diverse array of talented, independent filmmakers from home via our award-winning Xfinity Voice Remote,” said David Tashjian, Regional Senior Vice President of Comcast Oregon/SW Washington. “We support and applaud the Portland Film Festival for their commitment to amplifying independent voices.” ABOUT COMCAST CORPORATION: Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company that connects people to moments that matter. We are principally focused on broadband, aggregation, and streaming with over 56 million customer relationships across the United States and Europe. We deliver broadband, wireless, and video through our Xfinity, Comcast Business, and Sky brands; create, distribute, and stream leading entertainment, sports, and news through Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, Universal Studio Group, Sky Studios, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, multiple cable networks, Peacock, NBCUniversal News Group, NBC Sports, Sky News, and Sky Sports; and provide memorable experiences at Universal Parks and Resorts in the United States and Asia. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information. AVOUT THE PORTLAND FILM FESTIVAL: The Portland Film Festival is one of Oregon’s largest film festivals, and was named “one of the coolest film festivals in the world,” by MovieMaker Magazine. It is a non-profit, year round organization dedicated to nurturing filmmakers and audiences, and to celebrating the power of a good story. The Festival focuses on the people, ideas, technology, skills and artistry behind filmmaking, and provides both entertaining and educational opportunities for the public. Supporting sponsors in addition to the Festival’s presenting sponsor, Comcast, include Koerner Camera Systems, Gearhead Production Rentals, Oregon Governor’s Office of Film & Television, City of Portland Film Office, Boys & Girls Club of Portland, Ryan Artists, SAG- AFTRA, Portland Mortgage and Pepsi, among many others. Contact Details Comcast Amy Keiter +1 503-310-3879 amy_keiter@comcast.com Portland Film Festival Heather Villanueva +1 503-753-9193 heather@portlandfilm.org Company Website https://corporate.comcast.com/

August 12, 2021 01:05 PM Pacific Daylight Time

Edison Interactive’s Nick Stanitz-Harper Wins Denver Business Journal Award

Edison Interactive

Edison Interactive (EI), a leading provider of enterprise software for connected device networks across the globe, is thrilled to celebrate Nick Stanitz-Harper as a winner of the Denver Business Journal 2021 C-Suite Award. The Denver Business Journal C-Suite Award honors leaders who have not only demonstrated essential leadership in their organizations but have also made invaluable contributions to the Denver region. As a vital leader at EI since 2016, Stanitz-Harper has been an integral part of driving innovative technology while simultaneously creating an unmatched company culture through his role as CRO & Co-founder. “I am ecstatic to be a recipient of this year’s Denver Business Journal C-Suite Award. It is such an honor to be recognized alongside so many other incredible leaders,” said Nick Stanitz-Harper. “I believe a key component of building a successful organization is to surround yourself with talented individuals who you can trust and empower to get the job done. This award is a testament to the team and partnerships we have built at Edison.” With a predominantly Fortune 500 client base, Stanitz-Harper worked tirelessly to understand the unique challenges faced by partners during the pandemic. As a result, EI built and launched new products that ultimately drove additional revenue streams and created more opportunities for its clients. Not only did these efforts further cement Edison’s partnerships, but they also contributed to roughly 4000% revenue growth over the past three years including 110% year-over-year revenue growth and a 30% increase in headcount in 2020. Stanitz-Harper continues to focus on driving revenue and bringing strategic partners to the table at EI. His ability to foster relationships and understand the unique circumstances of individual businesses has opened the door for countless opportunities. Currently, EI is focused on investing in premium content partnerships, monetization tools and enhancing its offerings through bring your own device (BYOD) solutions that will unlock new income opportunities for clients. Nick has also been recognized as a two-time recipient of the prestigious Titan 100 award in 2020 and 2021 and is a member of the Business Journal Leadership Trust. Edison Interactive is a leading provider of enterprise software for connected devices. Focused on digitally transforming the customer experience, EI is known for its vast network of premium displays, digital signage and infotainment solutions in a variety of industries including transportation, recreation and hospitality. The company’s end-to-end solution combines premium content, functional feature sets and monetization tools that enable brands to connect with their customers in more meaningful ways. Millions of consumers across the globe engage with the Edison platform on a monthly basis. The company was founded in 2016 and headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Visit www.edisoninteractive.com for more information. Contact Details Edison Interactive Ali Peters +1 330-608-7419 ali@edisoninteractive.com Company Website http://www.edisoninteractive.com

August 12, 2021 11:57 AM Mountain Daylight Time

NY JETS LEGEND NICK MANGOLD TEAMS UP WITH KILTER FOR 9/11 20TH ANNIVERSARY CHALLENGE SUPPORTING ANSWER THE CALL

Kilter

Leading up to the 20th anniversary of 9/11, NY Jets legend, Nick Mangold, today announced that he will host a 20 day wellness challenge on Kilter to support and honor the families of fallen first responders. The Nick Mangold 20-74 Challenge will support New York-based nonprofit Answer the Call and its mission to assist the families of New York City Police Officers, Firefighters, Port Authority Police, and EMS Personnel killed in the line of duty. “Being a Jet, I’m proud to call New York City my second hometown and feel especially close to the fans in this area,” said Mangold, the seven-time NFL Pro Bowl center who wore number 74 for the Jets. “Carrying the American Flag out of the tunnel on the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks was one of the most emotional moments of my life. I want to honor the victims and survivors and support the widows and children of fallen police and firefighters. I encourage everyone to join me on Kilter to support Answer the Call for this 20 day challenge.” Starting now, fans and supporters of all ages and abilities from any location are encouraged to download the Kilter app and register for the Nick Mangold 20-74 Challenge, which starts August 23 and concludes on September 11, 2021. Throughout the course of the event, Nick and the participants are challenged to complete at least one activity per day for 20 days while raising funds for Answer the Call. Both activity and fundraising progress will be tracked on Kilter’s interactive leaderboard. Fundraising incentives include a Nick Mangold Seventy Four BBQ Sauce gift package and a grand prize NY Experience Package which includes NY Jets tickets, a private lunch with Nick Mangold featuring his own Seventy Four BBQ Sauce and more. "Answer the Call is extremely appreciative of Nick Mangold's continued support of our work,” said Lauren Profeta, Answer the Call Executive Director. “He is a long-time supporter of our organization and never hesitates to step up to help the families of our fallen first responders. We are honored that he selected us to be the charity beneficiary of the Nick Mangold 20-74 Challenge on Kilter." For more information and to register for the Nick Mangold 20-74 Challenge supporting Answer the Call on Kilter, please visit www.kilterrewards.com/events/nick-mangolds-20-74-challenge ABOUT KILTER Kilter is the world's most inclusive supporter engagement platform that turns everyday health, wellness and lifestyle activities into opportunities for people to drive charitable dollars to their favorite causes, all while building culture and community to make a global impact. With 50+ trackable activities from running to yoga to pickleball to volunteering, plus our best in class user experience, functionality and customer support, employers, nonprofits and event producers will meet their supporters where they are today (on their phones) and easily exceed engagement and impact goals. Learn more at www.kilterapp.com. ABOUT NICK MANGOLD Nick Mangold is one of the top linemen ever to play for the N.Y. Jets. Wearing number 74 on his jersey, he played for 11 seasons and was a seven-time NFL Pro Bowler. He also won a national championship while at The Ohio State University. Nick embodied a relentless, durable work ethic as the player who’d do anything to help the team. A foodie and BBQ aficionado, he has BBQed for years for his teammates and family while serving his homemade, craft-style Seventy Four BBQ sauce. ABOUT ANSWER THE CALL The N.Y. Police and Fire Widows' & Children's Benefit Fund, also known as Answer the Call, was founded in 1985 by NY Mets Legend Daniel "Rusty" Staub. Answer the Call provides immediate and ongoing support to the families of NYPD, FDNY, and PAPD heroes killed in the line of duty. Since it was founded, Answer the Call has distributed over $160 million directly to the families of our fallen heroes. The organization believes the best way to honor our fallen heroes is to take care of those they love the most - their families. In addition to financial support, the organization hosts events and programs to give the families an opportunity to cope and connect. In 2021 alone, Answer the Call expects to help approximately 550 families and distribute over $4.6 million. For more information or to make a donation, visit answerthecall.org. Contact Details Kilter Julian Lavelle +1 315-708-3494 julian@kilterapp.com Company Website https://www.kilterapp.com

August 12, 2021 10:33 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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The California FAIR Plan Association Enters New Partnership with Zesty.ai to Better Assess Wildfire Risk Leveraging Aerial Imagery and Artificial Intelligence

Zesty.ai & California FAIR Plan

Zesty.ai and the California FAIR Plan Association (FAIR Plan) announced today that the FAIR Plan has selected Z-FIRE as its wildfire risk solution to better understand wildfire risk at the individual property level. As California’s insurer of last resort, the FAIR Plan provides a safety net to property owners who cannot find insurance coverage in the voluntary market and often covers properties most vulnerable to wildfire. The FAIR Plan provides stability in California’s insurance marketplace and ensures all property owners can access basic property coverage regardless of wildfire risk. In 2013, the FAIR Plan was one of the first insurance providers to adopt wildfire risk models in ratemaking and has long been a bellwether for advancements in insurance technology. Over the past year, the FAIR Plan evaluated several wildfire risk models and recently selected Zesty.ai’s Z-FIRE model to improve its ability to assess and rate wildfire risk. The Z-FIRE predictive model represents a new generation in wildfire risk prediction as it has been trained on more than 1,400 wildfire events across 100 years of California wildfire history and accounts for the property-level factors that contribute to wildfire risk, such as building materials, vegetation density and ease of fire suppression. “Insurance carriers worried about skyrocketing losses due to increased wildfire activity felt compelled to stop writing business in certain high-risk areas, which resulted in the FAIR Plan receiving more applications for coverage than ever,” said Anneliese Jivan, president of the FAIR Plan. “We can no longer rely on 30-year-old technology to understand modern climate phenomena. We spent a considerable amount of time evaluating several models and found Zesty.ai’s Z-FIRE outperformed the others by a wide margin. With Z-FIRE, we can charge more accurate premiums that truly reflect a property’s risk and reward homeowners for mitigation efforts they make to harden their homes.” The FAIR Plan worked with Milliman to assess the predictive power of the Z-FIRE model to differentiate between the best from the worst risks and improve the FAIR Plan’s ability to price wildfire risk, further described in a Milliman white paper. The Z-FIRE model also considers the impact of homeowners’ mitigation efforts like fuel management or investing in fire-resistant building materials, something the California Department of Insurance (CDI) has been urging insurers to factor into wildfire risk assessment. The CDI has approved the use of Z-FIRE in a rate filing by one of the nation’s largest insurers, and it is quickly emerging as a popular alternative to incumbent models. “We commend the CDI for calling on insurers to assess wildfire risk at the individual property level and are honored to work with the FAIR Plan to respond to that call,” said Attila Toth, founder and CEO of Zesty.ai. “The FAIR Plan has one of the highest concentrations of policy holders exposed to wildfire risk in the world, and it’s vital that it has the tools required for sound, risk-adjusted pricing that will bring increased transparency to the market.” Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, leveraged its strategic alliances to introduce the California FAIR Plan to Zesty.ai. “This partnership comes at a critical time for the industry as 2020 was the third time in four years that global insured losses from wildfires exceeded $10 billion — with most of those losses concentrated in California,” said George deMenocal, CEO of Aon’s U.S. Reinsurance Solutions. “Aon’s technological evolution continues to inspire collaborations, like this relationship between Zesty.ai and the FAIR Plan, that leverage advances in artificial intelligence that meet clients’ needs today and tomorrow, in a transparent and efficient way.” The FAIR Plan entered into a five-year agreement with Zesty.ai and will use Z-FIRE to assess wildfire risk for every new quote and property in its portfolio. For more information on Zesty.ai and its property risk solutions please visit www.zesty.ai. About Zesty.ai Increasingly frequent natural disasters have impacted communities and drove $2.2 Trillion in economic losses over the past decade. Zesty.ai uses 200Bn data points, including aerial imagery, and artificial intelligence to assess the impact of climate change one building at a time. Zesty.ai has partnered with leading insurance companies and property owners to help them protect homes, businesses and support thriving communities. Zesty.ai was named Top 100 Most Innovative AI Company in the world by CB Insights in2020, and Gartner Cool Vendor in Insurance by Gartner Research in 2019. For more information visit: https://www.zesty.ai/. About the FAIR Plan The California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) Plan is an insurance pool established by law to assure the availability of basic property insurance to people who own insurable property in the State of California and who, for reasons beyond their control, have been unable to obtain insurance in the voluntary insurance market. The FAIR Plan provides stability in California's insurance marketplace. It is committed to strengthening consumer choices in the voluntary insurance market, while ensuring that all homeowners, including those who live in areas threatened by wildfires, have access to basic property coverage and the peace of mind they deserve. For more information, visit www.CFPnet.com. Contact Details Abby Schiller +1 216-870-1835 abby@clarity.pr

August 11, 2021 08:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

VBox ATSC 3.0 TestBed

VBox Communications

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jonathan Rind VBox Communications Ltd +972-9-9502821 Marketing@vboxcomm.com VBOX ATSC 3.0 Testbed New Enhanced Version of TV Gateway for NextGenTV Developers & System Integrators HERZLIYA, ISRAEL August 11 th 2021 – VBox Communications, a pioneering specialist in broadcast TV streaming, recording and digital datacasting, announced the availability of its new ATSC 3.0 Testbed – an enhanced version of the company’s original ATSC 3.0 Android TV Gateway product released earlier this year. The VBox ATSC 3.0 Testbed is designed for TV stations, broadcast engineers, video system integrators, digital app developers, and others in the emerging NextGenTV technology development ecosystem looking to test “real-world” ATSC 3.0 features and functionality. As US deployments of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard approach 50% market penetration later this summer – and more than 70% by the end of 2021 – a priority shift towards commercial productization and monetization of potential NextGenTV capabilities is quickly coming into focus. VBox’s ATSC 3.0 Testbed provides an ideal, ready-made toolkit for monitoring service performance and ascertaining technical viability for product field trials and market launches. The VBox ATSC 3.0 Testbed offers the ability to analyze both linear and “beyond-TV” ATSC 3.0 signal provision through features such as: ATSC 3.0 Signal Reception: Ensuring signals arrive as expected, via ROUTE and DASH protocols; Advanced Emergency Alerts Reception: Enabling AEA-standard weather and storm information as well as localized emergency messaging; Electronic Service Guide Reception and Visualization: Monitoring of broadcaster/3 rd -party programming information for accuracy and timeliness; SDK Provision and Testing Documentation: Enabling oversight of 3 rd -party application development, deployment and compliance testing. AEA Advanced Emergency Alerts example: As an official member of the Advanced Television Systems Committee VBox Communications is committed to implementing ATSC 3.0 VBox’s ATSC 3.0 Testbed offers a unique approach to addressing the advanced features and benefits of the new ATSC 3.0 standard in addition to the video and audio features enhancements it provides. ESG Electronic Service Guide in ATSC 3.0 example: About VBox Communications: VBox Communications ( https://vboxcomm.com/ ) is an expert in Digital TV, offering products that deliver live TV broadcasts (e.g., DVB-T/T2, DVB-C, DVB-S2, ISDB-T/ATSC) to IP combined with OTT video streaming services, for home and business use. VBox’s innovative, end-to-end firmware, software, and hardware solutions empower telcos, STB/streamer OEMs, and integrators to harness the benefits of converged live broadcast and IP- based TV – while helping grow revenues, streamlining communications and reducing costs. The company is also an active contributor and participant in the evolving 5G Broadcast standard, with planned products in the pipeline. For more details about the ATSC 3.0 Testbed, please contact us at: marketing@vboxcomm.com. More information about the VBox ATSC 3.0 TV Gateway can be found at: https://vboxcomm.com/landing/landing-atsc3/ About VBox: VBox Communications is an expert in digital TV and new media, combining Live TV broadcast to IP and OTT. Our solutions empower Telco's, STB/streamer OEMs and integrators to harness the benefits of converged live broadcast TV and OTT services. VBox enables outstanding viewing experience (watch, stream and record at home and on the go) encompassing Live TV broadcast with OTT, supporting a variety of worldwide TV Sources. Contact Details VBox Communications Jonathan Rind +972 9-950-2821 jonathanr@vboxcomm.com Company Website https://vboxcomm.com/

August 11, 2021 09:12 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Enter Africa: Versus Africa seals fundraise as it paves the way for companies to access markets with ease

Versus Africa

Africa presents a $2.1 trillion consumer spending market for businesses seeking to explore new opportunities for their products and services. Enabling businesses to enter the continent is Versus Africa, a consumer insights platform, that has today announced a $850k pre-seed capital fundraise as it scales operations to support companies in Africa and around the world as they launch their products and services across Africa. A Techstars 2019 cohort start-up, Versus Africa helps brands get closer to their consumers by obtaining key insights and helping them make better business decisions. Versus combines online and offline consumer data to give brands actionable and competitive insights for the African market. Versus counts brands such as Pizza Hut, Vodacom among others and has partnered with several global agencies including R/GA to support their campaigns. The Versus Africa platform improves the go-to market strategy and approach of businesses selling in the continent. Through their unique African language sentiment analysis, the technology captures consumer insights using online (social listening and online brand tracking) and offline data trends (conducting in-person surveys through several thousand local scouts) to help brands inform, engage and adapt their product and service strategies. They ‘listen’ (for sentiment, trends and feedback) and then ‘ask’ (for opinions, about behaviours and motivations) to offer a complete insights package for businesses. Kemdi Ebi, CEO and Co-Founder of Versus commented: “We’ve purposely built our tool to help businesses “'listen” and ''ask” the African consumer to get true engagement and actionable insights. We’re helping them make sense of the thoughts and opinions of African consumers from varying backgrounds. For those who speak in different African languages and slang, we're able to accurately identify sentiment, trends and opportunities when we “listen” online. With real-time market research and unique patented tools that translate the complexity of local languages and cultures, Versus offers actionable insights to businesses that want to make their African market entry or continuing existence a success.” The complex nature of the continent with multiple languages, varying socio-political communities and cultural nuances means it has long been difficult for companies to be successful across multiple countries. Versus Africa offers a fresh lens into the market opportunity with their unique and dynamic research approach. “We have blended technology with boots on the ground to offer the purest insights to companies using Versus Africa. For the first time, businesses near and far are able to make better decisions on their product strategy in the continent. We are particularly excited because as we scale further, we are in pole position to be the go-to homegrown solution for easy, flexible and accurate research for the plethora of new local businesses cropping up across the continent” added Kemdi Ebi. Commenting on investing in Versus Africa, the MD of Techstars London Eamonn Carey said: "For the longest time, it’s been apparent that there is huge potential in markets throughout Africa - but one of the big challenges has always been getting real, detailed, granular data about users, habits, opinions and more. The Versus Africa platform helps local, regional and global brands get real, meaningful answers to their questions - helping them launch, grow and scale more effectively across the continent. I was incredibly impressed by the team, the tech and the vision they had to use a combo of tech and people to gather an incredible dataset for their customers." Various global research businesses have reported on Africa’s macro trends and geo-political events. Before Versus, there have been few that have achieved true regional and local market insights for businesses to make informed decisions. “How many Africans own and operate research in Africa? Not many. Africa deserves a local intelligence research edge born from within. There have been international research agencies and insights tools that have tried to explore Africa but only from a distant and macro lens, now, for the first time businesses will get true local insights to help them enter key markets across the continent. I hope our launch and growth propels more like-minded tech-focussed Africans to help grow this research industry” concluded Kemdi Ebi. About Versus Africa Versus Africa helps brands get closer to their consumers by obtaining insights and helping them make better business decisions. Versus combines online and offline consumer data to give brands actionable and competitive insights for the African market. Versus has served brands such as Pizza Hut, Vodacom among others and have partnered with several global agencies including R/GA.Versus Africa, a 2019 Techstars cohort startup, was recognised by Cannes Lion Festival for Innovation and it was the first African company to showcase at Slush Tokyo 2019. Contact Details Versus Africa Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com

August 11, 2021 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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