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VTS Announces the Appointment of Seasoned Commercial Real Estate Executive Eli Gilbert as Head of Market Research

VTS

VTS , the commercial real estate (CRE) industry’s leading leasing, marketing, and asset management platform, announced today the appointment of Eli Gilbert in the newly created role of Head of Market Research. Gilbert will be responsible for building out and overseeing VTS’ research function and will play a key role in shaping the next generation of VTS’ data products. “I’m thrilled to welcome Eli to the team,” said Nick Romito , CEO and Co-Founder of VTS and recently recognized CRE player on Commercial Observer’s The Power 100 list. “He is an extremely well-respected commercial real estate professional with unparalleled experience working and supporting some of the world’s most influential landlord and brokerage teams. He has a deep understanding of the existing commercial real estate information landscape, and importantly, he shares our vision for its evolution. This makes him the ideal person to oversee the development of the next generation of our data offering. Eli’s unique dual perspective of the needs of both landlords and brokers will be vital in VTS' mission to strengthen our partnerships with both.” Gilbert brings with him 20 years of experience leading research departments and enabling business development efforts at the world’s largest real estate firms. Gilbert joins VTS from JLL where he served for more than a decade as Senior Vice President of Research and Business Development. There he was responsible for the creation of market research deliverables by leveraging in-depth knowledge of local real estate markets and technology sales tools for business development efforts. Prior to JLL, Gilbert served in research and sales roles at CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, Grubb & Ellis, and CoStar. “What drew me to VTS was the people, the data, and the vision. The company’s direction and the entrepreneurial spirit of the team is incredibly exciting, as is the goal of creating a new operating system for commercial real estate. VTS seeks to revolutionize the entire industry into the 21st Century and what they’re doing with their product is transformative,” said Gilbert. “Commercial real estate is at an inflection point where real-time data has become critical to the success of owners, investors, and brokers. VTS is at the forefront of leading a shift in how the commercial real estate world leverages data, and I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of the journey.” About VTS: VTS is commercial real estate’s leading leasing, marketing and asset management platform where the industry comes to make deals happen and real-time data come to life. VTS is powered by the largest single source data network in the industry, which delivers real-time data and insights that fuel faster, more informed decision making and connections throughout the deal lifecycle. Together, our VTS Data MarketView™ offering, the industry’s first market benchmarking product, and VTS Market and Marketplace, the industry’s first integrated online marketing solution, gives landlords, brokers, and tenants unparalleled visibility into real-time market information and the direct connectivity to execute deals with greater speed and intelligence at every point in the planning, marketing, leasing, and asset management cycle. More than 60% of Class A commercial space in the US and 12B square feet of commercial real estate globally is managed on the VTS platform. Our user base includes over 45,000 CRE professionals including respected industry leaders like Blackstone, Brookfield Properties, LaSalle Investment Management, Hines, Boston Properties, Oxford Properties, JLL, and CBRE. To learn more about VTS, and to see our open roles, visit www.vts.com. Contact Details Elise Szwajkowski +1 212-402-3495 eszwajkowski@marinopr.com Company Website https://www.vts.com/

September 09, 2020 12:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time

The Socially and Environmentally Conscious Facemask--the New Fashion Essential

Flash Public Relations

The fashion industry has been responsible for more carbon emissions than international shipping and flights combined and labor practices can be questionable. Meet Stephanie Wagner , an entrepreneur who is changing all that—beginning with what has become a ‘new fashion essential,’ the facemask. Her company, ForTheFeel , is making great strides in personal and shared safety. What many don't know is that disposable surgical masks are jammed packed with toxic chemicals that studies have shown to be harmful to our environment AND human health. Masks can have ingredients such as: ● Petroleum ● Formaldehyde ● Azo Dyes ● Heavy Metals ● Plastic ● Ammonium Compounds ● Urea Resins ● Formaldehyde ● Phenols ● Quaternary Ammonium Compounds ● Organo-silver ….. and more These chemicals are sitting square over one’s nose and mouth—being breathed in. Unlike the nutrition facts on the back of our favorite foods, clothing and face masks don’t come with a conveniently itemized list of ingredients. Add to that that disposable masks can take up to 450 years to break down in the environment, and is affecting wildlife when they get caught in the ear loops. Synthetic particles don’t biodegrade. So when clothes are dumped into a landfill, toxic synthetic fibers pollute water sources and soil. Plus, ⅔ of all clothing sold in the U.S. is made from Fossil Fuels. The solution: ForTheFeel. Masks that FEEL good to both people and our planet. Their plant-based masks are made with 100% ORGANIC DYES--SAFE for all and are super soft and breathable. The masks are breathable and make it much easier to wear in comfort and without causing 'maskne.' The materials decompose in less than a year if discarded, and they are CDC approved and worn by doctors in one of the nation’s largest healthcare systems. ForTheFeel masks are made in America. All workers who are involved in the production (cutting, sewing, and dying) of ForTheFeel masks are paid 37% above the living wage, never handle toxic chemicals, and are treated with the utmost respect (especially during times of COVID). For further information and/or to purchase facemasks, log into https://forthefeel.com/ . ### Contact Details Wendy Gordon +1 202-412-6268 wendy@flashprdc.com Company Website https://forthefeel.com/

September 08, 2020 10:25 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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MarketFinance banks £50m for CBILS demand from UK SMEs ahead of deadline

MarketFinance

Fintech business lender MarketFinance has secured an additional £50m from one of Israel’s largest asset managers, Viola Credit, to lend to UK SMEs under the HM Treasury and British Business Bank CBILS initiative. The announcement comes as MarketFinance launches a “unified application” process in which SMEs will, through one application, be presented with a variety of finance options and be able to select those best suited to their needs. MarketFinance is now able to offer a combination of business loans, invoice finance and revolving credit facilities through this single application journey. Funding line to support CBILS The CBILS initiative will conclude at the end of September 2020 with pre-submitted applications in September being valid until the end of November. In readiness to service the last minute dash for CBILS loans or revolving credit facilities, MarketFinance has secured this additional funding of £50m to support SMEs with their working capital at this crucial time. Since 2011, Institutional investors such as banks, asset managers and family offices have provided the majority (70%) of capital that MarketFinance lends out to businesses. Anil Stocker, CEO at MarketFinance , commented: “Only 60,409 CBILS facilities have been approved since the pandemic started, versus 1.2m Bounce Back Loan approvals. This shows there are many businesses who could still benefit from accessing CBILS finance before the scheme ends. For many who took a Bounce Back Loan, there is now a short window where they can refinance onto a larger CBILS facility which could see them over to the new year. Vast swathes of the UK SME community haven’t applied or remain unaware of the CBILS initiative and that it concludes in a few weeks. By lining up this additional funding, we want to send a strong signal to the market that MarketFinance is here to help ”. One application, many options Alongside the fundraising, MarketFinance has rapidly improved its unified application process to allow faster decisions and access to the right funding for SME applicants. This means, for the first time, businesses will make a single universal application for finance and will be able to see, learn more about and select which option (or combination of options) is right for them. This will allow SMEs to draw down a loan today, but also set them up to use invoice finance or a revolving credit facility for when their order book fills back up. Through collecting just a few pieces of information about the applying company, MarketFinance is able to make instant decisions on 45% of applications with their automated decision engine, “Autoflow”. Their proprietary risk model, “Selector”, can assess each applicant under pre-COVID conditions, which means funding decisions are not overly biased by these unprecedented and potentially temporary conditions. This gives applying SMEs a greater opportunity to be approved compared with other financiers whose models are run only against today’s conditions. This year MarketFinance added business loans and revolving credit facilities to a product suite including selective invoice finance, contract finance and confidential whole-ledger invoice finance. Businesses are able to access a combination of these simultaneously from MarketFinance, making it the first fintech funder to offer multiple products within a single platform. Anil Stocker added: “Since launching CBILS loans, we’re already lending out around £10 million per month and our product development in invoice finance means we’re getting funds out 40% faster than 6 months ago. We’re constantly working on how we can reduce the time to funding for our new applicants and existing users. CBILS has only accelerated the pace at which we’re investing in our various products. The MarketFinance vision is to make finance available, easy-to-use and fairly priced to viable small businesses that need it most.” MarketFinance is accredited to lend under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), providing term loans from £50,001 to £150,000 and revolving credit facilities from £50,001 to £5m to UK SMEs. SME business owner Miguel Gibson, MD at tour operator Live Holidays Ltd commented: “As soon as the lockdown hit, our first priority was to refund our customers. In the meanwhile we were waiting for airlines to pay us back. The banks were slow to support with CBILS but MarketFinance understood our business quickly and provided a £150,000 CBILS loan in days. It meant there was no extra pressure on the business. We’re a £7m turnover business and this loan has helped to navigate an unprecedented time”. Anil Stocker added: “We make finance easier for business owners. Over the years we’ve refined our platform, allowing integrations with banks, online accountancy packages and credit bureaus to make lending a seamless process. This has saved time for owners and allowed them to focus more energy on the running of their business”. MarketFinance business highlights (2019/20): Updated brand name from MarketInvoice to MarketFinance to reflect launch of multi-product offering Secured £56m Series B round (debt and equity funding), attracting new investors Barclays and Santander. Strengthened leadership team with a new CFO, CRO and CTO Accredited as a CBILS lender for term loans and revolving credit facilities In response to COVID-19 impact, launched a Furlough Advance product to ease cash flow pressure on businesses as they wait to be paid from HMRC. ENDS About Viola Credit Viola Credit is a private credit fund headquartered in Israel offering multi-strategy credit products to growing technology companies in Israel and abroad. The fund provides custom-made credit solutions to technology companies through several main investment strategies including Venture Lending, FinTech Lending, Growth Lending and Tech Mezzanine Financing. Since 2000, Viola Credit has successfully invested over $1 billion in a range of businesses across multiple stages and geographies. Viola Credit is part of Viola group, Israel’s leading technology focused investment group with over $3.0 billion of assets under management. About MarketFinance MarketFinance is a business finance company with offices in London and Manchester. The online platform enables businesses to access a range of flexible finance solutions — quickly and easily. This smart technology is backed by help from real people so business owners can save time and focus on growing their business. Since 2011, MarketFinance has advanced over £3 billion to companies across a range of sizes and sectors, providing working capital and finance for everything from paying staff and suppliers to launching new products or services and accelerating growth. MarketFinance is backed by Barclays, Santander InnoVentures, European venture capital fund Northzone (invested in Klarna, iZettle and Trustpilot), private equity group MCI Capital (also invested in iZettle, Azimo and Gett). Contact Details Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@marketfinance.com Company Website https://marketfinance.com/

September 07, 2020 03:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Unisoft Infotech Chooses Comodo’s Dragon Platform with Auto Containment Technology

Comodo

Comodo and Unisoft Infotech today announced their strategic partnership. Unisoft Infotech, a Singapore-based IT consulting firm added Comodo’s security solutions to its offering. “We chose Comodo, because of its auto-containment technology,” said Thenappan Vellachami, Founder and Director, Unisoft Infotech. He continued, “We needed 100% security from viruses and malware threats, so we decided to upgrade from a mere antivirus to endpoint protection. When evaluating products, we compared Symantec's Endpoint Protection to Comodo's, and the latter had better features. Comodo’s Dragon with AEP and auto-containment detects and responds in a way that users need not worry about any incoming virus threats; they can continue to concentrate on business enhancement.” Unisoft Infotech chose Comodo’s Dragon platform with Advanced Endpoint Protection (AEP), which is a complete cloud-native framework that delivers a zero-trust architecture to protect and defend endpoints. Its patent-pending auto containment technology has active breach protection that neutralizes ransomware, malware and cyber-attacks. The auto containment runs an unknown executable in a kernel API virtualized mode, thereby offering attack surface reduction (ASR) which neutralizes ransomware attacks. The Dragon Platform also utilizes a Default Deny security posture with Default Allow usability to provide a most comprehensive protection against zero-day threats, while having no impact on end-user experience or workflows. In addition, Comodo’s Valkyrie analyzes and gives a trusted verdict for every file – no other company will analyze and give trusted verdict for 100% of the files on a network. Thenappan continued, “With its built-in auto containment technology, irrespective of the classification of virus or malware – whether it is ‘good’, ‘bad’, or ‘unknown’, Comodo will contain and quarantine all of them in a dedicated area. Having a file system where 100% of files get a trusted verdict means that we don’t have to use our staff and resources doing it manually.” Comodo’s platform shares intelligence and is therefore more secure than disparate products that claim best of breed but don’t share information. Comodo has architected its cybersecurity product to maximize intelligent sharing between every component of the platform, therefore providing superior security. Thenappan continued, “The best thing about Comodo’s Dragon platform is the excellent managed services – the threat detection and response is very organized and user friendly. Adding additional existing endpoint manager licenses is done by simply linking the licenses. Plus, the insights and analytics of threat management is of great use to us,” said Thenappan. Alan Knepfer, President and Chief Revenue Office at Comodo said, “Our partnership and world-class solutions will help Unisoft’s customers stop worrying about cyber threats so they can focus on their business.” About Unisoft Infotech Unisoft Infotech is a Singapore-based IT consulting firm with strong knowledge, expertise and resource base across technology from Data Science to ERP. We are focused on empowering our team to attend to requirements, understand, and provide outstanding service to clients, with quick turnaround time and coherent solutions. Unisoft partners with clients to provide a competitive edge by providing exceptional talent, unique HR and technology solutions, thereby enabling our clients to focus on their own core businesses. As a people-centric organisation, Unisoft Infotech aims to uncover each of its candidate’s utmost potential, while working in harmony with each of our clients to ensure complete satisfaction on both ends. We have more than 25 years of experience in providing staffing solutions across all industries including healthcare, automobile, telecommunications and e-commerce. We have extensive experience in one-time staffing placement, turnkey solutions and contractual/flexi-staffing placement. For more information visit https://unisoft.sg/ About Comodo Comodo delivers next generation cybersecurity solutions to protect businesses, schools, and government organizations in today’s risk filled business environment. Headquartered in Clifton NJ, Comodo’s global development team and threat intelligence laboratories deliver innovative, category leading, solutions for a company’s endpoints, network boundary, and internal network security. Thousands of companies and organizations rely on Comodo’s technology to authenticate, validate, and secure their most precious asset—information—and to combat constant cyberattacks and threats like ransomware from wreaking havoc on a global scale. For more information about Comodo’s partner program, visit https://www.comodo.com Contact Details Carolyn Muzyka +1 973-859-4000 carolyn.muzyka@comodo.com Company Website http://www.comodo.com

September 03, 2020 10:04 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Agile Industries Partners with Comodo after Dropping ESET

Comodo

Comodo and Agile Industries today announced their strategic partnership. Agile Industries, an Information Technology and services provider for non-profit organizations and based in based in Alberta, Canada added Comodo security solutions to its offering. “Our partnership with Comodo gives us peace of mind knowing our clients have top-notch security,” said Harlee Courtepatte, Founder and CEO, Agile Industries. He continued, “We originally had ESET, but during the planning process for a large client migration to 365, we looked for a new antivirus on our server-side. We researched several offerings, including those from ESET and Blackberry. After seeing a demo and experiencing a trial of Comodo’s Dragon Platform we decided to drop ESET and go with Comodo. We made the right decision – Comodo offers excellent customer service that exceeds our high expectations. Since day one I have resources for any question, concern, or advice. I am treated as a true partner, and this in turn has helped provide the best offerings to our clients. From now on, I will choose Comodo over any competitor.” Agile Industries chose Comodo’s Dragon platform with Advanced Endpoint Protection (AEP), which is a complete cloud-native framework that delivers a zero-trust architecture to protect and defend endpoints. Its patent-pending auto containment technology has active breach protection that neutralizes ransomware, malware and cyber-attacks. The auto containment runs an unknown executable in a kernel API virtualized mode, thereby offering attack surface reduction (ASR) which neutralizes ransomware attacks. The Dragon Platform also utilizes a Default Deny security posture with Default Allow usability to provide a most comprehensive protection against zero-day threats, while having no impact on end-user experience or workflows. In addition, Comodo’s Valkyrie analyzes and gives a trusted verdict for every file – no other company will analyze and give trusted verdict for 100% of the files on a network. Courtepatte continued, “Comodo’s Dragon Platform gives the ability to write scripts for extra control. For example, our CTO Jeffrey Johnson scripted Azure alerts to let us know if our VM processor consumption exceeds 95%. This is important because, in a multi-tenant user environment, this could mean 100+ users are freezing up, causing disruptions in work, and soon to follow will be IT tickets. Now we can get ahead of these things, before they become a problem. This reduces our workload and saves money through reduced desktop support hours, which we pass back onto the consumer. In addition, our end users have a better experience because they often do not notice there was an issue going on in the first place.” Comodo’s platform shares intelligence and is therefore more secure than disparate products that claim best of breed but don’t share information. Comodo has architected its cybersecurity product to maximize intelligent sharing between every component of the platform, therefore providing superior security. “Our workflows are much more streamlined. The biggest benefit I noticed is how much less time I spend in the Dragon platform rather than In Azure. Since we connected Comodo to our clients’ Azure AD and enabled LDAP we are syncing our client’s employees, creating groups, organizing security levels and creating device ownership,” said Courtepatte. Alan Knepfer, President and Chief Revenue Office at Comodo said, “This is another example of Comodo helping partners worldwide offer innovative, intelligent security solutions.” About Agile Industries Agile Industries specializes in helping and supporting not-for-profits, schools and SMBs that otherwise could not afford an enterprise-grade IT move to a cloud infrastructure. With a proper IT cloud strategy, we have helped agencies reduce their overall yearly costs by 20% while providing industry-standard data security, corporate training, and lean equipment solutions through one of our network partners. For more information visit https://www.myagile.io/ About Comodo Comodo delivers next generation cybersecurity solutions to protect businesses, schools, and government organizations in today’s risk filled business environment. Headquartered in Clifton NJ, Comodo’s global development team and threat intelligence laboratories deliver innovative, category leading, solutions for a company’s endpoints, network boundary, and internal network security. Thousands of companies and organizations rely on Comodo’s technology to authenticate, validate, and secure their most precious asset—information—and to combat constant cyberattacks and threats like ransomware from wreaking havoc on a global scale. For more information about Comodo’s partner program, visit https://www.comodo.com Contact Details Carolyn Muzyka +1 973-859-4000 carolyn.muzyka@comodo.com Company Website http://www.comodo.com

September 01, 2020 10:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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WATCH: Airbus Perlan Mission II Celebrates Anniversary of Record Flight, Expands Science in the Stratosphere

Airbus Perlan Mission II

On Sept. 2, 2018, Airbus Perlan Mission II, the world’s first initiative to pilot an engineless aircraft to the edge of space, succeeded in setting a new world glider altitude record of 76,000 ft. in the stratospheric mountain waves above the Andes in southern Argentina. The aircraft was the Perlan 2, an experimental space glider, designed to achieve an altitude of up to 90,000 feet, which now is on record as the second highest flying winged aircraft in history - second only to the SR-71 Blackbird. The mission of Airbus Perlan Mission II is not only about setting altitude records, but also to drive innovation, exploration and inspiration for the next generation of aerospace leaders. To support these missions, Airbus Perlan Mission II is establishing a high altitude platform for science in the stratosphere, to gain invaluable data and insights never before possible on climate, extreme weather, aerodynamics and aerospace engineering. In this video, members of the Airbus Perlan Mission II team share their excitement about the discoveries that are possible by taking science to the stratosphere, what climate and aerospace knowledge was gained last season, and how the Perlan 2 provides a tremendous stratospheric science platform like no other in history. While the Perlan 2 will not fly this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team is celebrating the second anniversary of its record breaking flight and focusing energy on its total missions, and on what can be achieved through partnerships in science with innovators, researchers and aerospace leaders around the world. Learn more by visiting Airbus Perlan Mission II at perlanproject.org Social Media and Press Kit: Follow the Airbus Perlan Mission II team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Twitter: https://twitter.com/perlanproject Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PerlanProject/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perlanproject/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PerlanProject/videos Press Kit: http://bit.ly/perlanpress Photos/Video: This 2020 Airbus Perlan Mission II video (MP4), photos/imagery and more information can all be downloaded at https://we.tl/t-ZI6L8BVChZ Please credit photos: “Airbus photo by James Darcy” or similar. All photos are copyright Airbus 2019, and provided for unlimited use by accredited media. Media Contacts: James Darcy Head of External Communications, Airbus North America james.darcy@airbus.com 571-214-1722 Kristina Messner (Focused Image for Airbus Perlan Mission II) kmessner@focusedimage.com 703-678-6023 Contact Details Kristina Messner +1 703-678-6023 kmessner@focusedimage.com Company Website https://www.perlanproject.org/

September 01, 2020 08:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Global Business Ethics Survey: Top managers twice as likely to experience pressure to bend the rules in organizations.

Ethics & Compliance Initiative

Employees are twice as likely to experience pressure if they are top-management than compared to line-level employees, according to the Ethics & Compliance Initiative’s ™ (ECI) latest Global Business Ethics Survey Report ™ (GBES) . The data suggest that the higher up the “totem pole” an employee is, the more likely they are to experience pressure to bend the rules. Overall, about 1 in 5 employees experience pressure to bend the rules. Pressure to bend the rules, as defined by the GBES report , can be caused by meeting performance goals, attempting to save one's own and others' jobs, supervisory pressure, advancing one's career or financial interests, and demands from people who support or invest in the organization. According to the data, of those that experience pressure, 30% are top management employees, 25% are middle management, 22% are first-line supervisors and 17% are individual contributors. The first 2020 report of ECI’s premier, longitudinal study on global workplace behavior, published four times per year, also found that when top management show a strong commitment to ethical leadership and organizational values, their employees are 3X less likely to experience pressure. “The data continue to suggest that high-pressure environments are not only stressful for employees, but they can actually cause a negative ROI when it comes to ethical behavior,” said Patricia Harned, CEO of ECI. “Expanding KPIs and stretching financial goals may result in a short-term gain, but the long-term consequences to the organization is a net negative.” Other Findings and Key Indicators of Pressure The report found that employees experiencing pressure was linked with the prevalence of observing various types of misconduct found in organizations across the globe, all of which were about twice as likely to occur in pressure environments versus non-pressure environments. Employees are twice as likely to observe misconduct in organizations where they feel pressure to compromise ethics standards. “As companies around the globe respond to the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the important research in ECI’s Global Business Ethics Survey (GBES) report presents a timely and accurate overview of pressure in the workplace,” said Michele M. Brown, SVP, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and Deputy General Counsel, Leidos. “These findings provide best practices to balance organizational change while upholding the highest ethical standards. Leidos is proud to support ECI research, which is helping the member community build and maintain strong ethical cultures.” Download the latest GBES report at ethics.org/gbes Methodology The 2019 GBES is the 15th iteration of the GBES (formerly the National Business Ethics Survey). In 2019, the GBES surveyed over 18,000 employees in 18 countries (approximately 1,000 employees per country). ECI established the survey questions and sampling methodology. About the Ethics & Compliance Initiative The Ethics & Compliance Initiative (ECI) is a non-profit organization that empowers organizations to build and sustain high-quality ethics and compliance programs. The organization provides research and a best practice community, as well as certification opportunities for ethics & compliance professionals. Through its membership, ECI represents entities across nearly every industry, located in 37 countries on six continents each dedicated to promoting the highest levels of integrity. Visit www.ethics.org to find out more about our research, membership or funding the GBES. The GBES is made possible with the support of its funders: Google, Boeing, Eli Lilly & Company, Altria, BP, GE, KPMG, Pacific Gas & Electric, L'ORÉAL, Leidos, University of Arkansas and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Contact Details Brad Fulton +1 210-278-4809 brad@ethics.org Company Website https://www.ethics.org

August 31, 2020 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Investors pile into skip hire startup, Skrap

Skrap

Skrap , a London-based proptech startup, has raised £1.2m seed funding as it sets out to transform how everything is hired in the construction industry by making it available on-demand. Skrap is building on its reputation as a ‘skip hire disruptor’ and will bring its digital innovation to other parts of the industry including concrete, portaloos, machinery and so much more. The fundraise was led by Vanneck Investments, with participation from a host of entrepreneurs and angels investors including Charles Songhurst, Eamon Jubbawy (Onfido), Anil Stocker (MarketFinance), Paul Huntingdon (ARM), Adrian Beecroft, Dennis Stevenson, Peter Brodnicki (MAB), Jay Radia (Yieldify, Reachdesk), and James Hind (Carwow). Founded in 2017, Skrap is a construction hire marketplace connecting construction businesses with on-demand skip and construction hire related services. The entire process is managed in a mobile app . Hussain Hilli, co-founder at Skrap commented: “We’re thrilled to have some amazing investors on board and look forward to leaning on their expertise as we broaden the horizons for Skrap. Our team has huge ambitions to scale across the UK and globally. Having laid the foundations in Skip hire, we are fast expanding in all construction hire verticals. Skrap is making its mark in industry by introducing the first mobile app that makes it simple and convenient for construction companies to access resources they need.” Skrap was founded with a vision of allowing SME Builders to order any construction hire service at the click of a button. Skrap’s team of 25 are building the world’s first app dedicated to automating construction hire. It has been trialled with hundreds of suppliers across London, Manchester and Birmingham to complete over 10,000 deliveries to thousands of construction companies - small and large - to take the hassle of waste management away from the already stressful construction experience. Skrap’s strategic ambition is to automate the entire construction hire supply chain across major cities globally over the coming years. Founders Marwan Field, Hussain Hilli and Ahmed Rao came across the problem while running a construction business where logistics were unorganised and fragmented; prices were asymmetric, and the marketplace of suppliers and brokers were doing everything manually. Hussain Hilli added: “The UK construction hire industry is a £20bn market, yet it is poorly served with services not fit-for-purpose in a digital age. Skrap is well positioned to bring innovative solutions to help transform the industry and make it one beacon of industry once again”. Ends About Skrap Founded in 2017, Skrap offers on-demand services for skip and construction hire resources. Every year almost 100m tonnes of construction waste is collected in the UK and construction businesses spend Â£5b in collecting this waste, and a further Â£15b on other hire services. Skrap intends to remove the hassle from ordering a skip and other construction hire needs to make this experience simple and user friendly. For more information please visit www.skrap.xyz and check us out on Instagram , Facebook , Linkedin and Twitter . Contact Details Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@marketfinance.com Company Website https://www.skrap.xyz/

August 27, 2020 03:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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2020 Exposes Challenges With Many Corporate Public Relations Programs

W2 Communications

This year has been a rollercoaster for most businesses. How do you market and sell products and services, while factoring in global context and your consumer’s preoccupation with the events of the day? You not only need to remain aware, but sensitive, to the challenges many are facing. Since mid-March, we’ve heard a lot of businesses say they need PR partners who are architected for the flexibility necessary in today’s environment. It may sound counterintuitive for the dynamic communications business, yet we constantly hear about PR programs stalling because firms were not nimble enough to responsibly and creatively tap into the current media atmosphere. The latest W2 Communications blog outlines not only the challenges facing organizations and their media relations efforts, but also provides some strategic guidance for evaluating and pivoting your programs for success. For more details, visit: https://w2comm.com/media-relations-2020-the-real-reason-your-programs-are-falling-short/ About W2 Communications W2 Communications is an integrated marketing and communications firm offering public relations, content development, digital marketing and creative services. The company provides creative communications programs that build brands, elevate awareness, drive engagement and inspire action. With offices located in the Washington, D.C. area and in San Francisco, W2 Communications supports clients around the world. The team works tirelessly to deliver premium services and has been honored with multiple awards and recognition in the areas of public relations, web development, video production and content development. W2 Communications’ podcast “ Inside the Media Minds ” features in-depth interviews with today’s top reporters, giving listeners a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a reporter, while also discussing the top trending stories. The company also hosts its CYBERTACOS cybersecurity networking events throughout the United States. To learn more about W2 Communications, visit www.w2comm.com , or engage with us on Twitter , LinkedIn and Facebook . For the latest insights on the communications industry, follow the company blog at https://w2comm.com/blog/ . Contact Details Christy Pittman +1 703-877-8108 christy@w2comm.com Company Website https://w2comm.com/

August 26, 2020 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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