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Last Minute Gift Ideas from Anna De Souza

YourUpdateTV

The holidays are here and everyone is scrambling to make sure they’re ready. Recently, Tech and Lifestyle Expert, Anna De Souza, teamed with YourUpdateTV to discuss some of her favorite gift options this holiday season. A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/_bVyBPBDlEg Treating Loved Ones…and Yourself After a long year, everyone could use some pampering and that means taking care of our skin, especially those areas we typically forget, like the neck and décolleté. The Strivectin Uplifing Wonder Duo includes a full size version of the #1 selling cream exclusively for the neck and décolleté, TL Advanced Tightening Neck Cream PLUS, clinically proven to visibly brighten and improve wrinkles and crepiness. It also includes the new Peptight 360° Tightening Eye Serum, which targets loss of contour and crepey skin, as well as sagging of the upper eyelids. Give the Gift of Good Sleep In a year unlike any other there’s been a rise in the number of people experiencing disrupted sleep, in fact, Google searches for ‘what to do when you can’t sleep’ are up 120%. Good sleep is the foundation for good health and This Works, has hand-selected their star sleep aids into a luxurious gifting collection, designed to help you switch off, for better sleep. Each set is infused with their signature sleep Superblend – a blend of essential oils from calming Lavender to soothing Vetivert and sleep-inducing Chamomile – proven to help you fall asleep faster and wake feeling more refreshed. Gift Experiences People are traveling less for the holidays, and may have not made it to the places they love to vacation this year. Here’s a great idea to bring ‘a little bit of the beach’ to that special family, friend or colleague. Topsail Steamer is the fun you’ll want to gift up this season. Their Bay Buckets are filled with wild-caught seafood from the NC coast, andouille sausage & fresh veggies and arrive in a single-use, fully recyclable pot, you just add water or your favorite beer or wine then cook it directly on your stovetop. In just 45 minutes you have an authentic coastal seafood feast, without all the sand in your sandals. Everything is included, even the brown paper to spread out on the table. Their seasonal offerings now include holiday bundles that include cornbread and pie, too! Update Your Fitness Routine The six-in-one kettlebell from JAXJOX, the KettlebellConnect 2.0, is part resistance training system, part digital coach. It really feels like you’re exercising in the future. Users can change the weight through the app, or on the LED screen on the front of the system – it can go from 12lbs to 42lbs in just three seconds. The on-demand workouts are tracked with built-in motion sensors that track reps, power, sets, and time – making this the perfect gift for anyone trying to find a workout regimen that will keep them accountable. For more information, visit AnneDeSouza.com About Anna De Souza Anna De Souza is a digital and broadcast journalist, producer, and editor covering beauty, style, technology and lifestyle. Uncovering tomorrow’s trends today, Anna is lucky enough to test wearables that calculate calories through your skin, report on the latest runway trends as they unfold, and slather on beauty innovations that may soon earn its keep in a bathroom cabinet near you. Anna is currently a host for Yahoo! Life and contributes to The TODAY Show, The Dr. Oz Show, Access Hollywood, Good Morning America, the Rachael Ray Show, New York LIVE on NBC, FOX & Friends, WCBS-NY, FOX’s Good Day Philadelphia, the PIX Morning News, Martha Stewart Radio, Fast Company, U.S. News & World Report, Allure, the New York Post, has covered the red carpet live and also serves as a brand spokesperson on QVC. About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content. It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports and Technology. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

December 10, 2020 02:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

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Richpanel raises funding to eliminate customer service tickets for ecommerce

Stockwood Strategy

Richpanel, a revolutionary customer service platform for the ecommerce industry, has raised an undisclosed investment as part of Sequoia Capital India’s Surge with the aim to eliminate customer service tickets with an “Amazon-like” customer account section. Founded in January 2019 and headquartered in both India and the US, Richpanel was created with the purpose of helping ecommerce companies scale business without hiring more agents. The platform allows merchants to design an account page on their online storefront where they can automate order tracking, exchanges, returns, cancellations, and any other scenario which would otherwise result in a support ticket. While tech giants like Amazon and Uber have made massive investments to automate their purchase & post purchase flows like “where is my order” and “change trip destination”, these kinds of queries result in support tickets for every other business. They rely on a team of agents and a ticketing system to handle them, creating costs and inefficiencies. Richpanel’s platform helps these businesses launch a self-service portal on their stores, allowing customers to perform actions without ever having to contact a support agent. This means businesses can scale their operations without constantly expanding their support team. “The first time I disputed a cancellation fee on a ride-sharing platform, I mentally prepared myself for a 15-minute-long chat with a support rep, but I was pleasantly surprised when the entire process took less than 60 seconds. This automated customer service support technology can save ecommerce businesses millions of dollars, and we felt there was a real need to productize this for everyone else,” said Amit RG, CEO at Richpanel “At Richpanel, our goal is to help clients eliminate unnecessary support tickets. Businesses have tried chatbots, FAQs and help center solutions, but what they need is a solution that does not ‘deflect’ customers but ‘resolves’ their issues. Currently, our platform is able to resolve 40-50% of incoming queries and we will take this up to 80% over the coming months,” Amit RG added. Richpanel is the next generation in customer service support and seeks to disrupt the help desk software market as well as customer care outsourcing services, where businesses are expected to spend $110b by 20241. The platform provides a seamless experience for both visiting customers and businesses to handle cases where customers need to speak with a human. The ‘agent inbox’ helps brands manage all their support channels - email, live chat, social media & phone - from one place. The integration with ecommerce platforms help agents see complete purchase history, take order actions and respond to customers from one screen. Clients such as US-based apparel company Pawz.com are seeing positive results with Richpanel. “As one of Richpanel’s early adopters, we have been extremely happy with the platform and the team’s ability to deliver well on projects. Currently, our self-service flows powered by Richpanel are able to close nearly 60% of all incoming queries or tickets, without the need to interact with an agent,” said Julian Quintães, CEO at Pawz.com. Ends Notes to the editor 1 Radian Insights, Outsourced customer care services market worth $84.7 billion by 2020 Richpanel is a customer service solutions platform, purpose-built for the ecommerce industry. Founded in January 2019 with headquarters in both India and the US, Richpanel’s self-service platform allows merchants to design an Amazon-style account page on their store, where they can automate order tracking, returns, exchanges, cancellations, order changes and more. The platform also has an agent help desk to help customer support agents manage incoming queries across various touch points such as email, live chat, social media and phone. Today, over 1,000 merchants all over the world use Richpanel every day to support their customers. Contact Details Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://richpanel.com/

December 09, 2020 10:30 AM Eastern Standard Time

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CMMC Center of Excellence Announces Engagement Agreement with 6clicks

Interoperability Clearinghouse

The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Center of Excellence (CMMC-COE), hosted by the Information Technology Acquisition Advisory Council (IT-AAC), a public-private partnership serving the public and private sectors for more than 15-years is proud to announce a partnership with global software provider 6clicks and the establishment of CMMC-COE APAC lead by 6clicks founder, Andrew Robinson. This unique partnership will extend efforts to advance the goals and objectives for improving the cyber and supply chain security and resilience of the US Department of Defense (DoD) global Defense Industrial Base (DIB) network of contractors, suppliers, and vendors. 6clicks provides an innovative software-as-a-service platform used by consultants, governments, and businesses around the world designed to streamline risk assessment and compliance activities across multiple standards, including CMMC. 6clicks has offices in Washington, D.C., the United Kingdom, and in Melbourne, Australia. Andrew Robinson, Founder & Head of Cyber Security, 6clicks sums up the partnership with: "Supply chains are global and to secure them we must be willing to cooperate across national and regional boundaries to synthesize and build upon existing cybersecurity standards. The CMMC-COE and CMMC-COE APAC are a key part of this important mission." “This is a momentous occasion for us”, said Mr. John Weiler, Chairman of the Board at CMMC Center of Excellence, “Our Asia Pacific center will further help advance the goals and objectives for improving the supply chain security and resilience of the US Department of Defense (DoD) beyond North America”. This collaborative partnership between 6clicks and CMMC-COE helps further their respective and complementary missions and objectives regarding the adoption, use, and expansion of cybersecurity best practices. The adoption of next-generation software like 6clicks to assess and accelerate cybersecurity maturity will better drive efficiency and improve the decision-making capabilities beyond outdated legacy systems. The objectives and mission of 6clicks and CMMC-COE are in direct alignment with the US Department of Defense Office of Inspector General on cybersecurity best practices, risk management, and compliance. The objective to secure and scale the DIB contractor community, the information and communications technology community. This partnership establishes a broader CMMC ecosystem to improve security and resilience. Some specific actions will include: The co-development of CMMC advisory services, cyber training, and education programs to accelerate CMMC certification, increase cyber adoption, and improve cyber protection and resilience. Co-sponsor symposiums, training programs and podcasts leveraging their combined cyber and IT expertise. Host regular working groups, with other partners, to enable collaboration and communications. Source qualified cyber professionals to serve as cyber and CMMC advocates. Establish an independent Industry Cyber Security Advisory Council with peer organizations to advise and educate leaders across government and industry on the continued evolution and effectiveness of CMMC. Engage with the Defense Industrial Base contractor community across the Asia-Pacific region to enhance education, training, preparation, and compliance with provisions of the CMMC requirements. The CMMC-COE ( http://cmmc-coe.org ) and the CMMC-COE APAC ( https://cmmc-apac.com/ ) will focus on bringing together the many disparate cyber and national security communities of interest to reduce complexity, improve awareness, and accelerate industry effort to become more cyber resilient against the growing threats from nation states and criminal enterprises. The CMMC-COE partner network, including 6clicks and the CMMC-COE APAC will be sharing a wide range of capabilities such as cyber standards frameworks, education, solution architectures, cyber mentoring, workforce, and other elements needed to scale to the demands of the entire DIB marketplace in the U.S. and abroad (400,000 contractors worldwide). The CMMC-COE establishes both a Market Place and Knowledge Clearinghouse that will include resources that support the overall effort, including white papers, tutorials, recorded webcasts, presentations, and more that will help reduce the cost and burden on small and medium size contractors already struggling from the impact of COVID and the complexity of small and large federal contracts. With this, we are excited to have 6clicks and the CMMC-COE APAC included in our trusted portfolio. For more information on the CMMC-COE, please visit http://cmmc-coe.org email: info@cmmc-coe.org For more information on 6clicks, please visit https://6clicks.io/ For more information on the CMMC-COE APAC, please visit https://cmmc-apac.com/ email: contact@cmmc-apac.com About Us ---------- CMMC-COE.ORG is a unique non-profit public-private partnership, with a vision to accelerate Cybersecurity Maturity Model (CMM) adoption, and reduce time & cost for security compliance for our partners by leveraging commercial best practices, CMMC standards, and innovative solutions for a measurable success. Our mission, focused on DOD mission objectives, cost containment and expeditious CMMC compliance, is to help the DIB improve cyber posture and resilience, and simplify its acquisition. The CMMC-COE is hosted by the Information Technology Acquisition Advisory Council (IT-AAC), a public/private partnership (P3) chartered in 2007 as an honest broker to reach outside the confines of the Federal IT advisories that lack dynamic reach into the Global IT Market, and dedicated to the adoption of commercial IT management standards of practice and innovations emanating from the Global IT market. Team IT-AAC has already demonstrated the value of its decade long investment, and provides a unique value to agencies seeking to achieve accelerate the transformation of legacy processes and systems. Our Just-in-Time SMEs apply an innovative suite of Technology Business Management and Agile Acquisition Processes needed to assure the business value of commercial IT. The Interoperability Clearinghouse (ICH), is the managing partner that make up the 24 NGO/SDO organizations that make up the IT-AAC. ICH provides the contract vehicles, clearances, and critical resources proven to guide sustainable, measurable and repeatable processes needed to drive better investment decisions as the speed of mission need, while aligning existing processes, methods and workforce with IT reform mandates contained in Clinger Cohen Act, FITARA, IT MGT Act, EO13838. Contact Details Bob Dix +1 703-975-6633 bob.dix@it-aac.org Company Website https://cmmc-coe.org

December 08, 2020 10:20 PM Eastern Standard Time

Redefining WFH: Achieving Work-Life Balance in the Remote Work Era

YourUpdateTV

With many companies currently operating virtually and business travel still largely on hold, many consumers feel like they’ve been living a real-life “Groundhog Day,” working and living in the same space at home day in and day out. Recently, Janis Cannon, Senior Vice President, Upscale Brands at Choice Hotels International, shared some better options for consumers yearning for more control of their time and space and looking for a change of pace and scenery. A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/YpxNXAp_9O0 Consumers have started to redefine the boundaries of work, life and leisure. For many, the acronym WFH or “work-from-home” has evolved into “work-from-hotel,” a trend that gives consumers that much-needed change of scenery and boost of productivity they crave for themselves and their families. Inspired by the traditional habit of extending a business trip to enjoy leisure time, consumers are flipping the script and working-from-hotel 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., then finding the change of pace they crave from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. To learn more about this “workcation” (work + vacation) trend, Cambria Hotels surveyed consumers who are currently working remotely and who typically travel for work at least 3-5 times per year. The brand discovered several interesting insights from the survey, including how consumers are navigating their work-life balance while working from home and how they are redefining the boundaries of work, leisure and more. Cambria Hotels’ poll research indicated consumers are struggling to find work-life balance. They are missing the natural separation between work and home and say that it feels like work is “always on,” and they find it hard to “turn it off” at the end of the day. Almost half (45.6%) of consumers feel that they are working more since they started to work from home. For many (62%), the constant access to technology makes them feel like they are “always on.” For others (46%) the constant distractions of working from home are an ongoing source of frustration. Well over half (62.6%) indicated they’re somewhat or very likely to consider a workcation. After the pandemic is over, even more consumers (77.5%) indicate they are somewhat or very likely to consider a workcation. For travelers, Cambria hotels offer ideal destinations to work-from-hotel for upcoming workcations. Each of the brand’s more than 50 hotels throughout the country features thoughtful and inspirational design in guest rooms and throughout the hotel, as well as locally inspired food and beverage options that reflect the surrounding community, including a curated selection of local craft beers. Cambria also provides amenities that today’s travelers are looking for, such as free and reliable Wi-Fi, as well as comfortable, flexible, and inspiring workspaces and break spaces in rooms and outdoor patios and rooftops. All Choice-brand hotels are participating in Commitment to Clean, an initiative that builds upon the strong foundation of each hotel’s long-standing dedication to cleanliness with enhanced training and best practices for deep cleaning, disinfecting and social distancing. Additionally, Cambria guests can limit their interactions with hotel staff by using the Cambria Contactless Concierge Service, a text messaging service for housekeeping requests, to-go food orders, meeting room requests and more. If you’re looking to plan a workcation, visit www.ChoiceHotels.com/CambriaWorkcation to learn more and take advantage of great deals, such as the Reunite for the Holidays and Save promotion running through the end of the year: stay 1 night, get 20% off; stay 2 nights, get 25% off; stay 3 nights, get 30% off. About Janis Cannon: Janis Cannon is Senior Vice President of Upscale Brands and a member of the senior executive team for Choice Hotels International, Inc. one of the world’s leading lodging franchisors. In this role, she is responsible for the overall performance and growth of the company’s upscale portfolio and leads the brand strategy and positioning of Cambria Hotels and the Ascend Hotel Collection. About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content. It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports and Technology. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

December 08, 2020 12:12 PM Eastern Standard Time

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The bedrock of any Artificial Intelligence platform is Domain Knowledge: CIPIO builds a Platform Advisory Board with stellar subject matter experts

CIPIO.ai

McLean, VA November 24, 2020 – CIPIO, the industry's first domain infused customer intelligence platform, announced that it had launched a Product Advisory Board with veterans from the Fitness, Customer Experience, and AI domain. Brent Zempel has created software platforms and applications for the fitness industry over the last 30 years. Brent served as the Chief Information Officer at Life Time Fitness for nearly 20 years, where he developed the firm's extensive proprietary club management software platform. "The fitness industry is going through a massive forced digital transformation, and I see it firsthand that operators are going from late adopters of technology to first and fast," said Zempel. Zempel has a startup of his own that quickly connects and streamlines the membership subsidy process between health clubs and insurance providers. "CIPIO's customer intelligence platform's capability to innovate domain-specific products is truly unique. I am incredibly excited to help them stay on top of the industry domain". Saurin Shah has 20 years of enterprise SaaS experience building products that helped fuel topline revenue growth at companies like Medallia, Salesforce, and Experian. Shah has led product strategy and roadmap execution for numerous verticals solutions and domain-specific products in the customer relationship and experience management space. "What worked in the past will not work in today's increasingly digital business environment. CIPIO's unique approach to infuse Domain knowledge into AI allows it to build highly predictive models that provide progressively deeper behavior intelligence. I'm thrilled to help CIPIO leverage its technology to reshape how companies connect with their customers." said Shah. " CIPIO is also partnering with several software solutions to provide its Customer Intelligence Platform to fitness businesses supporting their in-club and virtual offerings, including on-demand and digital fitness provider Intelivideo. "I have now seen Arnold A.I. from CIPIO in action at several gyms, and I am blown away on how precise Arnold is on its recommendations and predictions," said Adam Zeitsiff, CEO of Intelivideo. "Arnold A.I. will be an extremely valuable tool for many of our customers, and I am super excited to be partnering with CIPIO's team to continue to enhance the first intelligent assistant engine for the Fitness Industry.". CIPIO was founded on the principle that applying Artificial Intelligence without domain knowledge doesn't produce accurate and impactful outcomes. Customers don't have the time to customize and adapt generic AI tools to their business requirements. Domain-centric AI models make AI seamless, explainable, and easy to plug into an existing business process and get significant uplift. "For example, Arnold A.I., our Fitness Intelligent Assistant makes a tailored recommendation to a fitness customer on how to retain a gym member versus Mary A.I., our intelligent assistant for Faith, would help determine if a donor at a church is going to leave even if it's the same individual," said Manoj Kumar Goyal, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer. Mr. Goyal is a veteran himself in the space of Hyper personalization, AI, Customer Data Platform and Martech, having processed petabytes of data from his experience at Oracle, Marketo, OpenX, and HP. "I have seen so many AI projects fail due to the lack of domain knowledge. I am super excited to work with such deep domain talent, and we will continue to add domain experts to our advisory board to stay true to our mission." About CIPIO: CIPIO is pioneering industry’s first domain infused Customer Intelligence Platform that democratizes hyper-personalized predictions and recommendations to create and capture new value, increase retention, and boost revenue for B2C subscribers and members. CIPIO's early adopters include Crunch Fitness, World’s Gym, Xponential Fitness, Pure Barre GO, Club Pilates GO, AKT GO, YogaSix GO, Cyclebar GO, RowHouse GO, Stretch Lab GO, and Stride GO, to name a few have seen a significant return on investment in a very short time. Contact Details Jennifer Isaac +1 315-398-9541 Jennifer@CIPIO.ai Company Website https://cipio.ai/

December 08, 2020 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

Cloud Conventions Launches Community, a Platform to Strengthen Attendee/Exhibitor Engagement

Convey Services

Cloud Conventions, the industry leading virtual event technology solution today expanded its capabilities by launching Community ™, a new feature set designed to promote attendee/exhibitor engagement, networking and communication. Community provides a searchable attendee and exhibitor directory for connection, a message center for interactive communication or meeting requests and a one-on-one chat feature so attendees and exhibitors can open a discussion from within a booth. “Cloud Conventions continues to pioneer new capabilities in the virtual event space with features that accelerate direct connection between sponsors, exhibitors and attendees,” said Carolyn Bradfield, CEO of Convey Services, parent company of Cloud Conventions. “Our new Community platform allows attendees and exhibitors to find each other, as well as start conversations that lead to building relationships during the live portion of a virtual event and beyond.” Community is an opt-in program accessed from attendee and exhibitor dashboards within the Cloud Conventions platform. Event managers customize searchable directories by allowing specific data to appear in contact cards and enabling messaging for two-way communication. Directory access is controlled by the event host allowing exhibitors to be added to the directory based on sponsorship levels. The new Message Center within Community organizes attendee and exhibitor outreach, as well as booth chat sessions, and manages requests for meetings using Cloud Conventions’ matchmaking service. US-based attendees can choose to opt-out of directory listings and messaging. To support strict GDPR compliance, international attendees must choose to opt-in to be contacted or viewed in the directory. Opt-in attendees become visible to exhibitors when they enter their booth. Exhibitors can select an attendee and open a chat dialog with them, or the attendee can open a dialog with the booth. Cloud Conventions maintains privacy controls to comply with both CCPA and GDPR. It supports ADA requirements to accommodate people with disabilities to avoid the risk of legal repercussions based on failure to provide attendees with easy access to content and programming within a virtual event. “ Community is only one of the platform features that promote attendee engagement within Cloud Conventions,” added Bradfield. “Discussion forums, social networking, roundtables and a host of options improve engagement between attendees, exhibitors and sponsors. We continue to focus on adding tools and creating opportunities to enhance attendee engagement and build value into the experience. When attendees are engaged, they stay in the event longer, are more motivated to interact with exhibitors and generate valuable sales leads.” Attendees receive message outreaches within their Community dashboard, get notified when new messages are waiting, and can access active message threads on any page inside the portal. Daily indexed emails collect and organize messages to provide a summary of each outreach and a link to go back to the Cloud Conventions-hosted event to read and respond. Show organizers and event managers can learn more about Community by visiting https://cloudconventions.com and explore all of the Cloud Conventions solutions and attendee engagement strategies in the resource center. About Cloud Conventions Cloud Conventions is a Virtual Trade Show and Conference Platform from Convey Services that brings new capabilities to a marketplace looking for solutions to replace the thousands of live trade shows, annual conferences and association meetings cancelled in the wake of COVID-19. Originally launched as ConveyLive, Cloud Conventions automates exhibitors and virtual booths, attendee registration, speaker sessions and reminders, invitations and email communication, while at the same time producing detailed analytics on attendee, session and exhibitor activity. Trade Associations and event managers can explore all of the Cloud Conventions solutions by visiting https://cloudconventions.com or contacting info@cloudconventions.com or call 888-975-1382. Cloud Conventions™, Community™, Cloud Kickoffs™, Conduct™, One-Touch Email Share™, Hub & Spoke™, 360° Virtual Exhibit Hall & Lobby Experience™ and ListLock™ are trademarks of Convey Services LLC Contact Details Bruce Ahern +1 770-580-0810 bahern@conveyservices.com Company Website https://cloudconventions.com

December 02, 2020 03:30 PM Eastern Standard Time

LambdaTest raises US$6m, targeting a million users in 2021

Stockwood Strategy

Cloud-based browser testing platform LambdaTest today announced it has secured US$6 million in funding led by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, a rapid scale-up program for startups in Southeast Asia and India. Blume Ventures, Entrée Capital and Leo Capital also participated in the round, along with Gokul Rajaram and Ramakant Sharma. With the platform, companies can test their website’s look, feel and performance on different browsers, operating systems and device combinations. Equally, in today’s development cycles where automation is crucial, it allows businesses to scale as their testing requirements grow. The fundraise will fast track LambdaTest’s mission of scaling its ecosystem and building the next-generation cloud infrastructure for the developer and tester community. The proliferation of devices and browsers has made it increasingly complex and fragmented for developers to test their websites and apps. Test automation is critical with today's agile development cycles, but building an in-house device lab can be prohibitively expensive for businesses. LambdaTest bridges this gap by allowing users to run both manual and automated tests on their websites and webapps across 2000+ different browsers and operating system environments. Since its launch, LambdaTest has been used to perform more than 12 million tests by its 350,000 users including individuals, SMEs and Fortune 500 companies such as Xerox, Cisco, Deloitte, Media.net, Coca Cola, Trepp, SurveyMonkey, Capgemini, HBR, Dashlane and Zoho. Founded in 2017 by Asad Khan and Jay Singh, LambdaTest is a testing infrastructure company that allows developers to seamlessly test their websites and apps on any browser or operating system environment. “Our ultimate goal is to bring the whole testing ecosystem to the cloud platform, where all testing processes are done in a seamlessly integrated infrastructure that is easy to scale up and helps for easy application, debugging, and ultimately helping to bring out the best quality products in the shortest amount of time,” said Asad Khan, co-founder & CEO, LambdaTest. The funding caps off a busy year for LambdaTest, which saw a huge increase in demand following the pandemic and the rapid migration to digital technologies - a trend that is here to stay. The company has seen 8-10% month-on-month growth in terms of sign-ups, customers, website visits, and revenue, and has more than 350,000 users from 132 countries using the platform. “This round of funding validates our efforts and strengthens our commitment to building a next-generation cloud infrastructure for the developer and tester community,” Khan added. Ends About LambdaTest LambdaTest is a testing infrastructure company that allows users to run both manual and automated tests on their websites and webapps across 2000+ different browsers, browser versions and operating system environments. The platform has been used to perform over 12 million tests in just three years, and is now being used by over 350,000 users across 132 different countries. About Surge Surge is Sequoia Capital India’s rapid scale-up program for startups in India and Southeast Asia. Surge combines $1 million to $2 million of seed capital with company-building workshops, a global curriculum and support from a community of exceptional mentors and founders. The program’s goal is to supercharge early-stage startups and give founders an unfair advantage, right out of the gate. For more information on Surge, visit www.surgeahead.com. Contact Details Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://www.lambdatest.com/

December 02, 2020 07:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

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Let’s Dive lands US$1.7m to make remote working more human, tackling concerns of worker isolation

Stockwood Strategy

Let’s Dive a platform for remote employee engagement and building team culture has today announced it has raised US$1.7 million in funding led by Sequoia Capital India’s Surge. The funding round also saw participation from Village Global and several angel investors*. Let’s Dive will use the funding to further build experiences on the platform to help remote teams tackle isolation, distribute the product to thousands of companies around the world and build a cross-border product team. The on-going global pandemic has upended traditional ways of working, forcing businesses all around the world to set themselves up remotely. Let’s Dive’s founders, who have been building solutions for remote teams for over five years, know from experience that isolation and the lack of team bonding are the biggest obstacles to successfully sustaining a remote work culture. Let’s Dive is a platform that eliminates isolation by bringing teams together and recreating a social space where participants can connect through a range of exciting activities. This creates deeper bonds amongst remote teams who lack the advantage of personal connections. Teams can play games like poker, pictionary, icebreakers, trivias, chess, card games and organise YouTube watch parties. Let’s Dive has already attracted over 100 teams from 28 countries to its platform. Businesses currently using the platform include teams from Silicon Valley giants like Facebook, Airtable, and in India, some of the biggest tech companies like Swiggy and Hike. Currently, Let’s Dive is an invite-only experience. Companies can apply for access on www.letsdive.io. “Having founded and run one of the first 100% remote working businesses, I have personally seen the importance of togetherness and team camaraderie as core pillars of company culture. Remote working poses a significant challenge for businesses trying to maintain this. With Let’s Dive, we set out to solve this problem and drive real engagement and interaction amongst colleagues online,” said Nitesh Agrawal, Co-Founder, Let’s Dive. “Let’s Dive has already gained strong traction and attracted hundreds of teams to our platform - without any marketing. The product’s experience is so unique that teams feel connected within a few hours of usage. With the funding and partnership from Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, as well as investors such as Village Global, we look forward to rolling out Let’s Dive to businesses globally to help them create the best possible remote team culture.” added Nitesh. The company was founded in July 2020 by Nitesh Agrawal and Om Prakash. Both have had previous experience with building and scaling startups and have worked with startups like Housing.com, Ola, Mykarma, Fitzoo. Before Let’s Dive, Nitesh led Indiez as founder and CEO, where he built a community of 10,000+ engineers from 50+ countries and was one of the first 100% remote organisations. Ends *Along with the marquee investors, top tier angels such as Utsav Somani from iSeed, Akhil Paul, Anand Chandrasekharan (Former Snapdeal CPO and Facebook Director of Messenger), Zvi Band (Founder, Contactually), Job Van (Founder, Remote.com), Ravish Naresh (Founder, Khatabook), Sai (Founder, Mobile Premier League), Cecilia Stallsmith, Sunita Mohanty (Facebook), OnDeck community and Kamir Kothari (SVB) also participated in the round. About Let’s Dive Let’s Dive is on a mission to build togetherness for businesses with remote working teams. The SaaS platform provides a social space for remote teams, and aims to help companies build their culture through fostering better human connections. Let’s Dive users can hang out, play games, or watch videos, all while sharing their audio and video with their colleagues. For more information, visit: https://www.letsdive.io/ About Surge Surge is Sequoia Capital India’s rapid scale-up program for startups in India and Southeast Asia. Surge combines $1 million to $2 million of seed capital with company-building workshops, a global curriculum and support from a community of exceptional mentors and founders. The program’s goal is to supercharge early-stage startups and give founders an unfair advantage, right out of the gate. For more information on Surge, visit www.surgeahead.com. Contact Details Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://www.letsdive.io/

December 01, 2020 07:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

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Celebrating the Holidays Safely with Ereka Vetrini

D S Simon Media

The holidays aren’t canceled. We have to reimagine them for the pandemic era.There are still a few ways to keep family traditions at the holidays alive, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Focus on the Traditions that we CAN Do It’s so easy to focus on what we can’t do right now. No matter how small the gathering, focus on keeping the traditions that bring you joy just as they have every year. Go all out with decorations. You can make grandmother’s pineapple bake for Thanksgiving or build gingerbread houses. And, you can even drive around town and look at everyone else’s holiday decorations. (Don’t forget the hot cocoa!) Stay positive by getting really excited about all the things you can still do and put your energy into them. Forget the Formal and Spend Time Together Safely Even though the size of your gathering may change, the tradition of eating a good meal and spending quality time together should not. As the 5X Thanksgiving host, Ereka suggests to keep safe and simple. In a recent Chinet® brand survey, 35% of respondents said they’ll be using disposable tableware for the holidays. Many said their focus is less on a formal setting and more on spending time together safely. In fact the CDC encourages using “single use items”. Fortunately, Chinet® Cut Crystal® collection allows us to get fancy without the fuss. Chinet® Cut Crystal® plates, cups and cutlery are so elegant and come in a completely coordinated collection perfect for holiday celebrations. They have the right combination of strength and style. Chinet® Cut Crystal® collection is the right call if you are looking to spend less time cleaning up and more time with loved ones. Hostess Tips for the Small Group Many are talking about ditching the turkey, but Ereka says go for it- either choose a smaller turkey or go big and enjoy leftovers for days! Another tip for those hosting… Target is here to save the day. You can now use their contactless services Drive Up, Order Pickup or same-day delivery with Shipt to get everything you need for your holiday meals and more, including fresh and frozen groceries nationwide – no membership required. Whether that be a whole frozen turkey, green beans, ready-made sides like garlic mashed potatoes, or apps like these Fig & Rosemary crackers with Brie cheese… Target’s ready to get you what you need, when you need it. This holiday, Target has enhanced their pickup and delivery services to make it even easier and safer to shop for holiday meals and more. They’ve added nearly 8,000 Drive Up spots to serve more guests quickly and 100,000 Shipt shoppers to make getting whatever you need to feed the family as easy as pie. Final Tips to Enjoy the Season Connect any way you can. Take your zoom parties up a notch with playlists, themes and virtual games. FaceTime family members and let them know you care. Enjoy the traditions you love. Bake plenty of goodies. Celebrate and find joy in the smaller moments and appreciate what you have. About Ereka Vetrini Ereka Vetrini is a TV Host, Lifestyle Expert, Brand Spokesperson, Producer, Blogger and proud mom of two who got her start on Donald Trump ‘s “The Apprentice” season 1. Ereka is currently the host of Lifetime’s Access Health. Access Health brings you the latest cutting-edge developments and innovations in medicine, nutrition and fitness, so women everywhere can take charge of their health starting today! She is also a regular contributor to NBC’s 1st Look and NY Live. As an on-air correspondent for NBC she covers the hottest spots to dine, travel and shop! Ereka was previously the host of TLC Sunday Brunch where she brought you the very best brunch & cocktail recipes, styling tips and so much more! As a mother of two, Ereka enjoys spending every spare minute running after her 9 and 7-year-old. About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content. It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports and Technology. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

November 25, 2020 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

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