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SnappRetail secures $2.5m to digitise retailers in Pakistan as it expands coverage 13 cities by 2024

SnappRetail

Big retail is dominating consumer communities around the world and Pakistan is no different. Fintech startup SnappRetail is empowering micro and traditional retailers in Pakistan with a suite of digital solutions to help them remain relevant and competitive. In doing so, SnappRetail is today announcing a $2.5m pre-seed funding round to expand the business across Pakistan. The round was led by Zayn Capital’s BitRate Fund with participation by Antler and Century Oak Capital. Based on Crunchbase data, this is one of largest pre-seed rounds raised in the sector in the country. SnappRetail offers retailers point of sale (POS) tools and a digital operating platform - a micro enterprise system for end-to-end shop operations - that helps traditional retailers to grow their margin and revenue while helping micro-retailers upgrade who are losing out to growing modern supermarkets because of inefficient operations, inadequate cash flows, and cluttered in-store display. Through the deployment of SnappRetail POS hardware and a sales driven data optimization operating system, they will get access to micro credit for working capital, ability to accept digital and card payments, unlock cost efficiencies and grow their sales. SnappRetail was co-founded in 2021 by Adeel Rasheed (ex-Unilever), Moazzam Ali Khan (ex Unilever/L'oreal), Ahsan Aziz (ex TRG) and Moiz Ali (Ex Primatics Financials). SnappRetail is their second startup venture having previously founded retail recruitment consultancy Resource Linked which placed employees at over 100,000 retailers. They have seen up close and first-hand the spread of the retail industry across Pakistan. Retail is the second biggest contributor to Pakistan’s GDP at $170b and an industry comprising 3m businesses. Adeel Rasheed, CEO and co-founder at SnappRetail commented: “It’s hard to believe that retail, which is such a significant contributor to Pakistan’s GDP, is still run on pen and paper. Little to no data exists for these businesses to make meaningful decisions and, critically, to seek finance to help them succeed. They are missing out on revenue and We are moving retailers from manual ways of working to digital ways of working in all their daily tasks for the shop. We anticipate this change in approach will help them increase revenue by 25-50%.” Moazzam Ali Khan, co-founder at SnappRetail added: “Our ambition is to support retailers and we will collaborate with the industry because the true winner will be the customer in terms of product choice, service and price. We believe that the whole retail and startup ecosystem is working towards improving the livelihoods of the traditional retailer, grocery and beyond. We are trying to create an ecosystem where all aggregators and other applications can come in and take advantage of our base platform. With our pilot we have seen that retention is very high and gross transaction value through the system is extremely high vs any other play.” Faisal Aftab, General Partner & Co-Founder at Zayn BitRate Fund commented: “Being a proven concept globally, there is no doubt SnappRetail has the right approach to solving the essential problem of the retailer. We were particularly impressed by the experience and maturity this founding team brings to the table, hitting the right balance between hypergrowth and managing the burn. This balance is the need of the hour as SnappRetail gears up for national and eventually international success.” Jussi, General Partner and Founder at Antler, commented: “Having invested in similar plays globally, we have witnessed the immense market potential of this sector. We have been thoroughly impressed by the vision SnappRetail brings to the tech industry of Pakistan and are looking forward to seeing them build up on their great progress.” About SnappRetail SnappRetail is a complete retail operating platform that empowers traditional retailers in Pakistan to grow their margin. SnappRetail is a digital operating platform that empowers traditional trade retailers in Pakistan to grow their margin and revenue helping reshape micro-retailers/kiryana-stores in Pakistan, which are losing out to growing modern trade and supermarkets due to inefficient operations, inadequate cash flows, and cluttered in-store display. Through deployment of SnappRetail POS ecosystem & sales driven data optimization, traditional retail gets access to micro credit for working capital, ability to accept digital and card payments,unlock cost efficiencies and grow their sales-accelerating them on their quest to scale and disrupt the retail market For more information please visit https://snappretail.io/ Contact Details SnappRetail Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://snappretail.io/

September 07, 2022 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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GETIR IS THROWING IT BACK TO THE 1990s

Getir

Today, with inflation continuing to raise prices on common household items including food, rapid grocery delivery app Getir announced it would roll back the cost of several popular food items to prices that haven’t been seen since the 1990s. According to the Department of Labor, grocery prices increased by 1.3% in July from the prior month, and rose 13.1% in July from one year ago – the fastest annual pace since 1979. “The global inflation crisis is hitting major U.S. cities very hard, and prices continue to creep up, particularly when it comes to everyday household items,” said Langston Dugger, Head of U.S. Operations at Getir. “Getir is committed to providing value to our customers, so we decided to offer some of our top products at more affordable prices.” Items featured in this promotion include Jif Creamy Peanut Butter, Vlasic Kosher Dill Pickle Spears, Hershey’s Milk Chocolate, and several brands and varieties of dish soap, toothpaste, and breakfast cereals among other foodstuffs. In some cases, the price reductions are quite dramatic; for example, an 8 ounce bag of Lay’s Potato Chips normally sells on Getir for $4.99, and will now be offered at $1.89. A full list of 1990s-priced items is available below. “This promotion, in addition to providing a nostalgic way to offer savings to our customers, is emblematic of what the Getir brand has been associated with across Europe for years: convenience, reliability, and a commitment to providing the best possible customer experience,” added Darienne Page, Head of Public Engagement at Getir. According to experts, food-related inflation shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. Getir’s promotion, which launches this week in its U.S. markets of New York, Chicago, and Boston, will run through September 23rd. About Getir: Getir is the pioneer of ultrafast grocery delivery. The tech company, based in Istanbul, has revolutionized last-mile delivery with its “groceries in minutes” delivery proposition, offering approximately 2,000 everyday items to its customers. Getir has operations in all 81 cities of Turkey, and launched operations in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and the United States in 2021. Getir is, first and foremost, a technology company that operates in retail and logistics. It was founded in 2015 by Nazim Salur (founder of BiTaksi, Turkey’s leading taxi app), Serkan Borancili (founder of GittiGidiyor, acquired by eBay in 2011), and Tuncay Tutek (ex-PepsiCo and P&G executive in Europe and the Middle East.) Learn more at www.getir.com/us. Contact Details Arielle Goren +1 212-717-5863 getir@kivvit.com Company Website http://www.getir.com/us

September 06, 2022 01:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time

iTradeNetwork Appoints Amer Akhtar as CEO

iTradeNetwork

iTradeNetwork, the leading global provider of end-to-end supply chain management and intelligence solutions for the perishable food industry, is proud to announce the appointment of Amer Akhtar as Chief Executive Officer. Akhtar replaces Rhonda Bassett-Spiers, who led iTradeNetwork as President & CEO for six years. Under Bassett-Spiers’ leadership, iTradeNetwork developed a suite of industry-first solutions that enabled customers to build resiliency and quickly adapt to the ever-changing conditions of the food supply chain. Now, Akhtar is uniquely positioned to build upon this foundation and lead the company forward with his customer-centric approach and experience innovating and scaling SaaS businesses. “I want to thank Rhonda for her excellent leadership over the last 6 years. She has positioned the company for tremendous growth, and I am honored to lead us as we embark on iTradeNetwork’s exciting next chapter,” says Akhtar. Amer Akhtar has over 25 years of operating experience in companies ranging from startups to large multinationals in the US, Europe and Asia. He currently is a member of the Board of Directors of Thryv (NASDAQ: THRY), a provider of small business management software, and most recently served as CEO of Celential.ai, a venture-funded provider of AI-based recruiting solutions. Among his accomplishments building and leading SaaS businesses, Akhtar served as President of Yahoo! Small Business, where he managed over half a million clients, growing their digital presence. In addition, Akhtar spent nearly a decade at ADP building and running HR SaaS businesses. From 2009 to 2013, he was Managing Director and Country President for ADP in Shanghai, China, where he built the core business from the ground up, becoming the leading provider in the HR SaaS sector. “Our deep reverence for how quality food is produced – centered around hard work, multigenerational family traditions, and pride – strongly resonates with me,” says Akthar. “We play such a critical role in managing the perishable supply chain, which impacts everyone’s daily life and wellbeing. I'm excited to continue to bridge the gap between suppliers and buyers through our groundbreaking, innovative solutions.” Akhtar graduated from Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and three children. iTradeNetwork, Inc. is the premier software provider for the industry’s largest network of 8,000+ food and beverage companies, building the smartest, freshest, most resilient supply chains of today and tomorrow. iTradeNetwork offers an expanded platform of solutions designed to improve efficiency and provide greater visibility across the supply chain for Procurement, Traceability, Analytics and foundational Data Services. For more information, visit: www.itradenetwork.com Contact Details Media Contact +1 925-660-1100 sales@itradenetwork.com Company Website https://www.itradenetwork.com

September 06, 2022 10:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

From East And West: Asia Broadband’s Payment Gateway For The Future?

Asia Broadband, Inc.

The Bosphorus Bridge in Turkey was a marvel when it was completed in 1973. The largest suspension bridge outside of America at the time, it was also the first to cross the famed Dardanelles Strait and unite the continents of Europe and Asia. To this day known as the First Bridge in the city of Istanbul, this bridge is still a gateway between the East and the West, and it continues to capture the imagination with its promise of adventure and discovery. Asia Broadband Inc. (OTC: AABB) is launching a new gateway, one that it says will not just connect Europe and Asia but that will connect consumers and businesses to the future of digital payment. Asia Broadband, a resource company that primarily mines and sells precious metals, is developing its new product PayAABB, a digital crypto payment platform that will help facilitate the expanding financial options brought about by the rise of transactions in alternate currencies. The Gateway Integrating AABB’s Crypto Platform PayAABB is a product developed by Asia Broadband as part of its growing integrated crypto platform. A company already strongly established in the physical gold mining industry, Asia Broadband has now established itself in the crypto market. Over a year ago it launched its own crypto wallet — the AABB Wallet — to privately and securely store and transfer crypto. Other crypto platforms offering wallet options include those from Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) and Exodus Movement Inc. (OTC: EXOD). Concurrently with the wallet, it created the AABB Gold Token, gold-backed, mine-to-token crypto that seeks to bring gold into the crypto future while providing crypto, a notoriously volatile commodity, with the stability of gold by tying the minimum token value to the price of bullion. In January, it initiated a cryptocurrency exchange, the AABB Exchange, where crypto can be privately and securely traded. Asia Broadband describes its new product as engaging with the “future of payments.” Almost a quarter of small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) now accept or are looking to accept crypto payments, according to a new survey, and this is part of a significant trend toward the digitalization of currency and payment. Asia Broadband is leading the charge into this new payment domain with its upcoming product PayAABB. As Asia Broadband’s next step in its integrated crypto platform, PayAABB is a digital means for customers to pay businesses in crypto. Available both on and offline, when launched the PayAABB gateway will sync all of Asia Broadband’s crypto products into a unified whole. Payments can be made in over 400 cryptocurrencies, and by using an automatic transfer through the AABB Exchange system, businesses will be able to accept payment as one stablecoin. PayAABB will offer customers significant payment flexibility. Payments can be made in a variety of ways, including over email or text messaging or QR code as well as through a social messenger or e-commerce site. The gateway will also be an attractive option for businesses, as it has no third-party fee, includes a high level of security including Google Authenticator and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate for encrypted transactions and features essentially irreversible transactions. PayAABB will also bolster Asia Broadband’s existing crypto products. It will expand options for the AABB Wallet, as the wallet is soon to include a merchant application program interface (API) for sellers. This will allow merchants to make business-to-customer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) transactions as well as set up loyalty programs and other initiatives that maximize crypto accessibility. Additionally, the payment gateway will increase the versatility of AABBs Exchange, which recently became newly available as a mobile app. Asia Broadband announced that AABB Exchange will be part of an exciting initiative to enter the non-fungible token (NFT) market with its proprietary digital products becoming adapted to NFT transactions, a market currently worth $40 billion. Asia Broadband’s suite of gold and crypto products are part of the company vision that ambitiously seeks “complete independence from fiat currency.” The company hopes the PayAABB gateway, when launched, will bring the company closer to this goal. To learn more about Asia Broadband, visit its website. To learn more about PayAABB, click here. Asia Broadband, Inc. (OTC: AABB), is a high-margin resource company focused on the production, supply, and sale of precious and base metals to primarily Asian markets. Through its subsidiary, Asia Metals Inc., Asia Broadband focuses on the acquisition of highly prospective gold projects in well-established mining camps around Mexico.The Companyâs extensive industry contacts and experience facilitate an innovative distribution from the production and supply to client sales networks in Asia. This vertical integration approach to sales transactions is the unique strength of AABB that differentiates the Company and creates distinctive value for shareholders. This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice. Contact Details Investor Relations ir@asiabroadbandinc.com Company Website https://aabbgoldtoken.com/

September 02, 2022 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Simple tips and tricks to tackle inflation and manage budgets this Back-To-School shopping season

YourUpdateTV

A recent poll from Morning Consult found that only 36% of parents can afford back-to-school shopping this year without any issues. The National Retail Federation’s latest back-to-school shopping survey also shows a third of families plan to cut back on other spending areas — in order to cover the cost of must-haves for the new school year. Even with so many people concerned about costs, back-to-school spending is expected to hit an all time high this year — a whopping $864 per household for K-12, and $1200 for college students. Despite all of these challenges, there are some simple tips and tricks to save every penny you can for back-to-school shopping and beyond: Look for Student and Seasonal Discount: Flash your student ID and many popular stores will give you discounted rates. You can also take advantage of student discounts through sites such as Unidays and Student Beans. College students usually get the most discounts but many stores have savings for grades K-12 too. Spread Out Payments Over Time with Reliable Buy Now, Pay Later Options: With rising costs, many consumers are looking for greater payment flexibility when making back-to-school purchases. Pay Later with PayPal lets you spread payments out over time. For purchases between $30-$1,500, you can select Pay in 4 1 and break the cost into four interest-free payments with the first payment due at time of purchase. For those larger back-to-school purchases, you can select the new Pay Monthly 2 option and break the total cost into monthly payments over a longer period of time. Pay Later with PayPal gives you more choice in how you pay for purchases so you can select the option that works best for your budget. Learn more at paypal.com/buynowpaylater. Use browser extensions for coupons and cash back: You might think you’ve found the best deal out there, but there’s a good chance there are even better prices still waiting to be discovered. The Easiest way to make sure you’re paying the lowest prices — is to Install the PayPal Honey 1 desktop “browser” extension. This online shopping tool automatically discovers coupons at your favorite stores— and applies the best ones it finds at checkout. It even helps you layer savings by finding rewards that you can redeem for cash back. You can find it at: www.joinhoney.com Shop Refurbished: There are plenty of apps and sites out there to help you track down any used or refurbished items on your list. Whether you’re shopping for textbooks, electronics or clothing, you’ll pay less than if you were to buy the item brand new. Plus, you can usually find discounted items in “like new” condition on many platforms for free.. Contact Details Your Update TV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

August 31, 2022 02:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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

Society Pass Incorporated

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

August 31, 2022 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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

DataWeave

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

August 30, 2022 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

PostEx, Pakistan’s leading fintech acquires Call Courier becoming the largest e-commerce service provider

PostEx

Pakistan’s ecommerce sector is set to hit $12B by 2025 as adoption and growth scales. In propelling this growth PostEx, Pakistan’s leading fintech, is today announcing it has completed the acquisition of Call Courier, a logistics service provider; to expand its logistics offering making it the largest e-commerce service provider in the country. This transaction brings together PostEx’s upfront payments, revenue-based financing, and technology with Call Courier's nationwide logistics infrastructure. Following the transaction, PostEx will now service 1.3m users with over 8,000 merchants across 500 cities in Pakistan, on track to becoming the largest fintech in Pakistan with a monthly loan book crossing $12m. PostEx becomes the first company in the region to provide receivables factoring & logistics service that pays invoice values upfront to e-commerce companies; helping e-commerce sellers and SMEs to thrive, grow, and take full advantage of every opportunity that comes their way. PostEx, backed by leading investors that include Zayn,MSA, GFC, RTP, FJ Labs, Shorooq, VSQ, and others having raised $8.6 seed round - one of the largest for a Pakistani startup. Call Courier will be a wholly owned subsidiary under the group name. PostEx welcomes Jawad Mirza, founder and CEO of Call Courier to its Board of Directors who will continue to play an integral role in the business while leading the logistics business. Omer Khan, the founder & CEO of PostEx commented: “Banks just don't lend enough to businesses leaving so many of them struggling to maintain their working capital in light of inadequate cash flows. Cash on delivery, while being a problem for such businesses, is very much a reality of the Pakistani ecosystem and is not going away any time soon. The concept behind PostEx was to facilitate all players in the ecommerce sector struggling to operate and expand in light of the restrictions around access to capital and inefficiencies of logistics. The acquisition of Call Courier enables us to increase our reach and benefit from the great business and team Jawad Mirza has managed to grow over the years.” Call Courier’s strong presence in Pakistan complements PostEx’s vision and nationwide footprint. This strategic decision brings PostEx’s total presence to over 500 cities; serving up to 1.3 million people monthly across Pakistan as the transaction enables both companies to leverage each other’s technological and operational expertise. Jawad Mirza, the founder & CEO of Call Courier commented: “Having more than 2 decades worth of experience in the logistcs and last mile delivery industry has given us an understanding of not only bulk mail but also ecommerce, cash on delivery and the needs of the sector. With this acquisition, it is time for us to venture into new horizons, accept new challenges, and continue to grow. Call courier network joining together with PostEx's fintech capabilities will enable us to provide quality deliveries across Pakistan along with financial support to the sector. It gives me immense pleasure to serve existing and new customers and providing a one window solution for their needs.” Over 90% of ecommerce transactions are completed in cash, which represents almost $6.5bn. The majority of the consumers who shop online in Pakistan pay using the cash-on-delivery payment method and the payment cycles for such orders range between a week to a month which creates cash flow issues for online sellers. PostEx is solving these challenges with its fintech and logistics platform. In addition to cash-on-delivery, PostEx also offers Revenue Based Financing to provide easy access to capital making it the first and last source of non-dilutive financing for e-commerce. Senator Dr. Afnan Ullah Khan, Member of Prime Ministers IT Task Force Committee commented: "Consolidation and growing together is important at this juncture for our nascent ecosystem. This acquisition shows the importance of close collaboration between fintech and logistics highlighting the importance of access to capital. This acquisition makes PostEx the largest ecommerce service provider in the market, showing the potential of startups for challenging incumbents. It's refreshing to see new solutions to old problems." AUC Law, Salahuddin, Saif & Aslam Co. and MHBWHB Law Associates were the legal advisors for the transaction. About PostEx Founded in 2020, PostEx is a hybrid of receivables factoring solution and courier service that pays invoice values upfront to e-commerce companies offering Cash on Delivery as one of their modes of payment. PostEx is also offering free of charge delivery service to its clients. For more information please visit https://www.postex.pk/ Contact Details PostEx Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://www.postex.pk/

August 30, 2022 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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OTC: $PKANF. TSX: $SBBC.V Don't Miss This Interview With Kathy Casey, CEO, Simply Better Brands Corp.

Simply Better Brands

Contact Details Investor Relations ir@simplybetterbrands.com Company Website http://www.simplybetterbrands.com

August 29, 2022 08:54 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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