This partnership will help small businesses to operate and sell via one of the world’s largest social media platform. Facebook Shops will make it easy for users to find and buy your products in the Facebook app.

“Right now, many small businesses are struggling, and with stores closing, more are looking to bring their business online. Our goal is to make shopping seamless and empower anyone from a small business owner to a global brand to use our apps to connect with customers. That’s why we’re launching Facebook Shops and investing in features across our apps that inspire people to shop and make buying and selling online easier.” reads a briefing from Facebook.

This partnership will combine Facebook, which is one of the largest social media platforms with Shopify, which is one of the best e-commerce tools available in the market.

“Shopify powers more than one million businesses that are transforming the direct-to-consumer landscape and changing the way we shop. With Facebook Shops, we’re bringing the tech industry together to help entrepreneurs succeed at a critical time,” said Tobi Lütke, CEO of Shopify, in a press release.

Shopify has helped small businesses to sell online for years. Through Facebook Shops, your customers will be able to find and buy products through Facebook.

“Shopify offers tools that entrepreneurs need to start and run their businesses, and they’re helping a lot of companies move online. We’re excited to work with them to help small businesses prepare for the future,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Founder, and CEO of Facebook.

This move will help small businesses to sell online during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Facebook Shops will be a massive lifeline for small businesses during this pandemic.

“This isn’t going to make up for all of the lost business,” said Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook. “But it can help.”

Facebook Shops allows sellers to customize and merchandize for their storefronts inside Facebook. Sellers will be able to manage their products, inventory, orders, and fulfillment from Shopify. The checkout will be powered by Shopify.

Facebook Shops will be available for all the businesses across Facebook and Instagram over the coming months.

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The PAYG Solar business model offers off-grid customers “rent-to-own” plans of energy service subscription, priced at a radically affordable level of $3 to $15 per month. This dramatically lowers the barriers to adoption of solar home systems for the bottom-of-pyramid clients.

“This is the third Forum Capital-built venture to close an oversubscribed funding round in the last few months. SolarHome’s investment proposition lies at the intersection of a few highly exciting trends, such as financial inclusion, renewable energy, digitally-enabled lending, and Southeast Asian economic growth,” said Greg Krasnov, Chairman, SolarHome and Managing Director of Forum Capital.

“We are excited to partner with the lead investor Uberis Capital, who have vast experience supporting impact ventures around Southeast Asia. We look forward to working with them on the Board to grow the company to the next level,” Krasnov added.

The company claims that the market opportunity for solar home systems is substantial in the region, with over 150 million people and close to 27 million households living off-grid in Southeast Asia. While bringing PAYG solar home systems with self-sufficient power generating systems for households, such as solar-powered panels, batteries and electronics, SolarHome systems also offer low upfront cost and low lifecycle cost.

“The PAYG model has emerged as a clear leader in off-grid electrification in Africa, India, and Latin America, having reached millions of homes and attracted over USD500million of investment over the last few years. We see the same tailwinds in Southeast Asia – massive off-grid population, rise of alternative credit scoring and mobile money, and a growing acknowledgement by governments and DFI’s that distributed generation is the answer,” said Nicolas de Boisgrollier, Managing Partner, Uberis Capital.

“Unlike many other renewables businesses, PAYG is very scalable and operates profitably without subsidies, which makes this business model very attractive. We were very impressed by the team’s expertise and achievements to date, and are excited to support SolarHome’s future development into a regional market leader,” de Boisgrollier added.

Under its PAYG scheme, SolarHome’s off-grid customers are able to purchase solar home systems with a small down payment. To activate the power sources, customers will need to purchase energy tokens for daily, weekly or monthly top-up credits, either through scratch cards or mobile money. The ownership of these systems will be automatically “unlocked” and transferred to the customer after two years.

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Gogoprint’s business proposition involves solving one of the printing industry’s biggest pain points – high fixed costs and requisite order volumes, particularly among small and medium sized businesses. It does this with its proprietary algorithmic software which manages and pools together small orders, and distributes the cost of printing. As a result, it aims at offering premium printing services at a competitive cost, enabling SMEs and startups to print their products such as business cards, digital booklets, leaflets, flyers, posters, gift vouchers, postcards and stickers more cost-effectively.

“We’re pleased to deepen our commitment to small and medium sized businesses and freelancers in Southeast Asia by expanding into Singapore, a country where we already have thousands of clients. It is one of Asia’s leading hubs for nimble, innovative, on-demand business models, which often struggle with cost effectiveness around going-to-market,” said De Candido.

“By enabling the printing of smaller quantities through a hassle-free ordering processes, we are well positioned to help these businesses go to market more cost-effectively. In the process, we are leading the charge to modernize Southeast Asia’s multi-billion dollar printing industry,” he added.

The market for online printing in Southeast Asia in 2016 was estimated at $25 billion a year. In the 12 months since August 2016, Gogoprint claims to have grown its revenues by over 500 percent; its number of customers to over 16,000. Its clients are largely in the education, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, travel, transportation, food and beverage, retail and manufacturing sectors.

Since launching in November 2015, Gogoprint has raised a mid-six figure US dollar investment from OPG (Online Printing Group). Apart from its growing geographic footprint, it looks to expand into multiple product categories including calendars, large-format printing, printed pens and flash drives.

“As more and more consumers get overflowed with online content, never before has it been more important for tangible marketing to attract consumers for brands to stay in people’s minds. Especially in Singapore, we see a lot of potential for more complex or purely promotional products. This gives us the right surge to capture the Southeast Asian online printing market, with Indonesia as a natural next destination”, said De Candido.

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Gartner predicts that “by 2020, 90 percent of organizations will adopt hybrid infrastructure management capabilities.” With the new program, clients get a software solution fully architected for this next generation of cloud.

“It’s difficult for organizations to blaze their own digital transformation trail when software vendors force their clients into proprietary cloud platforms – effectively taking any cloud choice out of their hands,” said Frank Guerrera, Chief Technical Systems Officer, Pegasystems.

“Pega believes clients need maximum flexibility to adapt as markets continue to shift at an extraordinary pace. The Pega Cloud Choice Guarantee program frees companies from vendor lock-in so they can do what’s right for their business – and not just what’s convenient for the software vendor,” Guerrera added.

For clients running Pega on supported third-party cloud platforms, the company goes beyond ‘permission to play’ to provide ongoing support for its products on a growing number of cloud providers – including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Pivotal Cloud Foundry.

Now through the Cloud Choice Guarantee program, clients can derive the following benefits:

• Full Global Customer Service support 24/7 for clients
• No penalty for migration to or from any supported cloud environment
• Reference architectures, related configuration, and support documentation for deploying and managing Pega technology
• Available runtime components
• Continuous certification of Pega solutions – including Pega Platform and all Pega applications – on currently supported cloud environments
• Commitment to continue evaluating additional popular cloud platforms

Users will receive new incentives such as no-cost platform upgrades and tuning for future versions of Pega Platform and customer engagement applications. The customers will be able to receive these flexible upgrades on the schedule they select. In addition, all Pega Cloud subscription customers can take advantage of recent enhancements to the technology and operations, including expanded AI diagnostic capabilities via the company’s Predictive Diagnostic Cloud; a new self-service portal; a new Network Operation Center (NOC) in Krakow, Poland; and new geographic support in Germany, Japan, Canada, Brazil and the UK.

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According to the organization, this is the first overseas collaboration formed by the ACE International Centre (“ACEIC) after it was recently launched earlier in September. The bilateral agreement will help both ACE and Fukuoka City Government to collaborate and find synergies in supporting startups based in both cities to connect to new networks, partners, and overseas markets.

Under the agreement, ACE intends to provide assistance, through its newly launched ACEIC to startups recommended by Fukuoka City, Japan’s “startup city”. According to the Japanese government, Fukuoka City houses the country’s fastest growing startup hub and is positioned as “the country’s answer to Silicon Valley”.

“We are excited to kickstart our journey to launch an international platform that serves the globalization needs of both domestic and international startups based in Singapore,” said James Tan, Deputy Chairman, ACE.

“We have found an ideal partner in Fukuoka, which has set its sights on becoming Japan’s startup hub and earned a reputation as Japan’s startup capital for the rapid growth of its startup community. We are confident that this new partnership will allow both cities to place their startups on the fast track to global success.”

Fukuoka City is designated as the only Economic Special Zone for startups in Japan with business-friendly legal regulations and tax systems. Fukuoka City is offering startup visas, free consultation to lawyers for foreign entrepreneurs and startup corporate tax reductions. Fukuoka City is also planning to relax laws and regulations relating to FinTech in the future.

“Three years after designated as a national strategic special zone, Fukuoka City has experienced rapid and tremendous growth as the startup hub of Japan,” said Soichiro Takashima, Mayor, Fukuoka City.

“With our startup scene flourishing and ready for the next phase of growth, we are excited to be part of this dynamic partnership that will strengthen cross-border collaboration between Singapore and Japan and bring forth the next wave of high-growth regional startups that will make Asia the startup destination of choice.”

ACEIC and Fukuoka City will provide startups from both cities with reciprocal privileged access to resources which amongst others, include knowledge sharing resources shared with ACE members on a pro-bono basis; networking and funding opportunities; market access assistance; access to support services for residing and setting up business in Singapore; and introductions to research facilities and higher education institutions.

Both organisations will introduce their startups interested in overseas expansion to set up base in the partner city, and facilitate preferential entry to incubation facilities operated by each party. In Singapore’s case, ACE will facilitate preferential entry for Fukuoka-based startups, which meet the requirements of ACE.

Supported by IE Singapore, JTC and SPRING Singapore, the ACEIC will answer a growing need for local startups seeking partnerships and market access opportunities in overseas markets and also serves as an anchor point for international startups using Singapore as a gateway to Asia. International startups and multipliers, starting with Fukuoka City, can leverage the Centre’s co-working space and local connections to find investment, technology and business opportunities.

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“More companies around the world are turning to chat for real-time, internal collaboration. But sometimes text isn’t enough, and chat software must also be able handle voice and video communications as well as the documents, images, and other data related to the work at hand,” said Sridhar Vembu, CEO, Zoho Corp.

“Cliq supports this kind of dynamic, company-wide collaboration. And it provides a degree of future-proofing thanks to its unprecedented extensibility and strong developer community.”

According to the company, the software will provide users with real-time messaging between team members and different departments to foster rapid decision-making. Files of any format can be shared via the chat window in seconds. Separate channels can be created for individual teams, specific projects, company-wide discussions, and other collaboration. It claims that channels can reduce the need for time-consuming meetings, while still keeping everyone in the loop.

Enterprise features

Group video calls – Cliq’s group video calling feature, PrimeTime, removes the chaos of a normal group video call and lets people take turns speaking to the other video callers. Before they can speak to the group, participants must click on the “Request to speak” button, and the host must approve the request. PrimeTime also allows all participants to chat via text box during the video conference.

Audio and video calls – In addition to PrimeTime, Cliq also supports standard, one-on-one and group calls — both audio and video — which users can start right from their chat window. During the call, users can send texts or share files whether they are using the Cliq native or web application or one of the mobile apps.

AI-driven communications administration – Cliq delegates administrative tasks to Zoho Intelligent Assistant, Zia. So users can create event and meeting reminders in Cliq, and participants will get reminders before their meeting. However, Zia will create the group chat before the meeting, add all the participants, remind them before the meeting, ask them to share files, take notes, share minutes of the meeting, and archive the group chat for future reference.

Zoho and third-party integrations – Cliq works with most Zoho apps, fetching information from the other Zoho apps and letting users view it in their chat window. Additionally, Cliq is available as a chat tool inside other Zoho apps. Cliq also works with popular third-party apps including YouTube, Google Drive, Eventbrite, Crashlytics, and 20 other apps.

Animated emojis – As part of the Cliq launch, Zoho is rolling out nearly 100 new, animated emojis – Zomojis – that have been created exclusively for Cliq. The Zomojis take animated emojis to a new level with their vibrant color and rich detail.

For developers

Beyond its rich, out-of-the-box functionality, Cliq can be easily extended to support the unique collaboration demands of any organization. It offers a platform built with Zoho’s own scripting language, Deluge, which allows users to create Chat bots in Cliq and use them for automating internal processes.

Similarly, developers can create integrations for Cliq and publish them in the Zoho Marketplace and charge customers to use them. There will be no server requirements, and therefore no maintenance costs. Zoho also does not take any commission for promoting these integrations to customers.

The company is also open sourcing its library of Zomojis under the GPL v3 license, so the animated emojis can be freely integrated with third-party apps. Zomoji keyboards for iOS and Android will also be open sourced and published on Github.

“Developers can use the Cliq platform and integrate Cliq with any software that has an open API. It doesn’t take more than 15 minutes to integrate. Once done, Cliq bots and commands fetch information for users when needed. For example, users can check traffic in their area with a traffic bot and Cliq gets you all the info you need,” added Vembu.

Zoho states that Cliq is available immediately as a web application; a native application for Mac, Windows and Linux; and mobile apps for iOS, Android and Windows Phone. In addition to the Free plan, Cliq is available in an Unlimited plan starting at INR 100 ($1.5 approx.) per user per month and decreases when the number of seats increases. Cliq is also included as part of Zoho One. Additionally, it will also be a part of Zoho’s Workplace, an integrated suite of productivity and collaboration apps.

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Gigya’s technology provides new capabilities to consumers across channels and touchpoints, builds rich intelligent profiles and creates a consent-based approach to personalization across sales, service, and marketing. Gigya, an SAP Hybris partner since 2013, has customers already using a solution extension from SAP Hybris and Gigya. This acquisition will enable the teams to further build upon this existing relationship.

The company’s customer identity management platform states to help companies build digital relationships with their customers. Its platform allows companies to manage customers’ profile, preference, opt-in and consent settings, with customers maintaining control of their data. Customers opt-in and register via Gigya’s Registration-as-a-Service, which addresses changing geographical privacy issues and manages compliance requirements such as the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

“Gigya brings a wealth of skills and expertise that will significantly enhance the SAP® Hybris® Profile solution and allow us to take leadership of the emerging customer identity and access management market,” said Carsten Thoma, President and Co-founder, SAP Hybris.

“Consumer trust is the main currency to succeed for customer-driven organizations. This is what Gigya is known and recognized for.”

With this acquisition, SAP Hybris intends to become the first organization to offer a cloud-based data platform enabling companies to profile and convert new customers, gather accurate conclusions from disparate consumer engagement sources and collect data for enhanced consumer choices that are in line with regulations.

“Combining the data matching and enrichment capabilities of SAP Hybris Profile with Gigya’s consent-based identity data and access management platform will allow us to identify consumers across channels and offer a robust single consumer profile,” said Patrick Salyer, CEO, Gigya.

“This is a vital step for digitalizing businesses because companies need to be able to draw accurate conclusions seamlessly across all channels, including web, mobile, in-store or connected devices, and the Internet of Things, as well as collect data about consumer preferences. Together, we are uniquely positioned to drive more effective marketing, sales and service through data, while the customer stays in control of how much data is shared.”

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Some of the main benefits associated with mobile marketing include the possibility to send location and time-sensitive pieces of information, via a wide variety of channels, including push notifications, app-based marketing, QR codes, SMS, MMS, Bluetooth, in-game mobile advertising, voice email and even through automated calls. As we live in the era of smartphones, mobile marketing carried out via push notifications is essential to promoting services, establishing brand loyalty, encouraging people to purchase products or services, but also making sure that existing customers return to buy more.

In this particular infographic compiled by the team behind Website Builder, you will be able to find 104 interesting facts that you don’t know about mobile marketing, including desktop vs. mobile comparisons, niches that work best, great mobile marketing techniques, but also usage, user friendliness, adoption, commerce, search and conversion stats.

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The new suite, which includes Pluralsight IQ, advanced skills analytics, and advanced channels analytics, is designed to provide technology professionals and leaders with a fast, accurate, and affordable way to measure technology skills. It uses machine learning and modern testing theory to significantly reduce the amount of time and cost usually dedicated to validating technology skills.

“Learning only matters if it turns into skills that can be used on a project, to solve a problem or to build a product. We developed these new capabilities to give technology professionals and leaders real, quantified and actionable insights for developing the skills required to create world-changing products and solutions,” said Aaron Skonnard, Co-founder and CEO, Pluralsight.

Pluralsight’s new skills assessment and development suite empowers individuals and enterprises to identify where their knowledge lies and to develop a plan for acquiring new or strengthening existing skill sets.

The new suite includes:

• Pluralsight IQ — provides technology professionals with a free, easy and consistent way to measure and verify their current aptitude in a specific technology.
• Advanced skills analytics — gives technology leaders unprecedented visibility into individual technologists’ skill sets and current levels of proficiency.
• Advanced channels analytics — allows technology leaders to track the progress of each technologist’s skill development as it relates to strategic objectives.

“Traditional testing methods don’t work when it comes to measuring tech talent; they’re tedious, costly and quickly become obsolete,” said Nate Walkingshaw, Chief Experience Officer at Pluralsight.

“With Pluralsight IQ and our advanced analytics, we’ve built an assessment and development suite that will disrupt resumes, certifications, degrees and endorsements while providing a true understanding of the skills each individual possesses,” Walkingshaw added.

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The startup provides companies with a digital health platform that integrates key aspects of healthcare – connecting patients, healthcare professionals, corporates, pharmacies, health data and insurers. Current clients include AIA, AXA and Aetna and other partners including the Health Promotion Board (HPB), Guardian Pharmacy, as well as individual general practitioner clinics and laboratories.

“We see increasing corporate and insurer demand for enterprise digital health solutions like MyDoc. This funding is a strong boost for us to meet this demand by expanding our services throughout Asia and enter new markets. Our Series A funding round reflects the confidence our investors have in MyDoc’s business model and services, as well as the potential of the industry,” said Snehal Patel, CEO and Co-Founder, MyDoc.

Redefining Corporate Healthcare Management

This Series A round will fund the development of MyDoc@Work, a digital healthcare platform which provides corporate employees a wide range of health services – video consultation with doctors, online prescriptions, online medical certificates (MyMC), on-site health screenings and a private care network. The private care network provides access to dental, physiotherapy, eye health, and fitness and other services.

Through this platform, corporations can benefit from significant cost and operational efficiencies, through reduced administrative processes to manage medical certificates, insurance claims, decreased employee absenteeism (due to ill health) and minimized upfront employee healthcare costs.

“With MyDoc@Work, we’re building a simple, validated, but powerful corporate health tool that not only promotes, but creates action towards building a healthier company. MyDoc@Work allows corporate employees to enjoy the convenience of consulting a doctor remotely – saving time on traveling to the clinic as well as queuing to see the doctor and collecting medication – and overall better health as they are more likely to follow up with necessary treatments,” added Patel.

Focus on Insurtech Solutions

A second investment priority is the continued development of health-focused insurtech solutions based on MyDoc’s proprietary technology. The startup is now shifting its focus towards improving and expanding services to benefit both policyholders and payers.

Part of the Series A funds will be used to continue development of insurance-focused solutions that enable further automation of the health insurance process. This work will include tools that allow comprehensive data analysis to enhance the delivery of personalized care.

The partnership with UST Global would allow MyDoc to tap into the company’s technological capabilities and expertise, as well as grow the business through UST Global’s distribution channels and government partnerships.

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