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Passes’ CEO Lucy Guo Celebrates Her Birthday with Mega-Festival 'LUCYPALOOZA'

EMC

(Tuesday, October 31, 2023 - Los Angeles, CA) Passes hosted their annual exclusive ‘ Lucypalooza ’ celebrating Passes ’ CEO & founder, Lucy Guo ’s birthday, presented by Le Bon Argent by Floyd Mayweather, with partnering sponsors Flex, Betr and Cached, on Thursday, October 12th, 2023, in Los Angeles, CA. The ultra invite only party, produced by eventors, hosted a festival worthy lineup and fun shenanigans with the industry’s top creators and founders in the lifestyle & digital space. Attendees enjoyed specialty sips by Le Bon Argent, E11EVEN Vodka & Deleon Tequila, along with beverages by The Plug Drink and Monster Energy. Lucy Guo, CEO of Passes comments, “I was very excited that my closest family & friends came out to celebrate my birthday! I always love bringing an interesting, eclectic group together and this year was no different.” Party goers on site got to bounce through out the complex at each activation such as a flying money wind-grabbing machine by Flex, a boxing punch scoring machine by Betr, a ball pool by Cached, while Deleon Tequila’s ice sculpture bar had a crew of magician bartenders mixing specialty cocktails with playful presentations and tricks, and Monster Energy featured the live artist extraordinaire, Scratch Academy painting on old vinyl records. In addition to the muli-level festival experience, guests also indulged at the wellness hub with complimentary botox, hydrafacials and filler treatments by Upkeep, along with IV vitamin boost infusions by Drip IV Therapy. At the top of the hour before the clock struck midnight Le Bon Argent by Floyd Mayweather featured Lucy pouring over the champagne tower to ring in her birthday soiree with a toast and candle stacked birthday cake sing-off. Lucy and friends continued to party the night away with sounds by celebrity deejays, David Crow Ghastly, Diablo, Wax Motif, and Madds. Guo says, “ I’m thankful this year’s event was a success. Our goal was to have everyone celebrate with old friends, make new friends, and adopt some puppies - all of which happened! " Other notables that attended this year to celebrate Guo’s birthday were a variety of rising young hollywood reality tv star, to content creators, and celebrities such as Linzy Luu (Too Hot To Handle), Dre Woodward (Too Hot To Handle), Isaac Francis (Too Hot to Handle ), Bella Poarch (Singer ), Robert Graham (Bachelor in Paradise, Bachelorette), Joe Jenkins (Siesta Key), La Demi (TV Personality), Isaiah Harmison (Love Island), Georgenotfound, Sapnap, Colby Brock, Sam Golbach, Amber Mezner (Tik Toker), Anna Deguzman (America’s Got Talent), Bronny James, Nate Wyatt, and Wax Motif (Deejay). For the annual event, past VIPs attended and special guest performances included appearances by Ty Dolla $ign, Zedd, The Chainsmokers, John Summit, Tana Mongeau, G Eazy, Twan Kyuper, Georgia Hassarati, Dan Rhodes, Cray, Nick Hissom, Bryce Hall, Teala Dunn, Emma Norton, Adam Weitzman, Victoria Pass,xnY Emma Holzer, Keith Rabois, Matt Steffanina, Ian Somerhalder, David Dobrik, Francis Suarez, Casey Boonstra, Holly Scarfone and more. ### Passes Passes is a subscription platform that helps creators build their community and engage with their biggest fans. The company develops tools for the creator economy, allowing creators to monetize off of their exclusive content and IRL experiences. Passes was founded in 2022 and is located in Miami, Florida. For more information, please visit the website: www.passes.com and on Instagram: @joinpasses. Le Bon Argent From Epernay, France comes Le Bon Argent champagne and a no holds barred, Luxury Without Limits attitude. Quite simply, it is for those who seek the best in everything. The name Le Bon Argent literally translates to “Good Money” and just like the finest automobiles, yachts, & high fashion brands that surround Floyd, this Super-Premium Champagne is the very embodiment of the Mayweather lifestyle and all things luxurious. For more information, please visit: https://lebonargent.com/ Flex Flex is a finance super app that is revolutionizing business finance with credit cards, banking, payments, and insurance, all in one place. With a recent successful funding round of $120 million, Flex simplifies the back office experience into a seamless financial control hub. Experience the power of Flex with innovative offerings, including the Flex Credit Card, providing a 60-day interest-free period on all purchases and integrated employee expense management. Explore Flex Banking, offering up to a 4% yield on idle cash. Flex aspires to become the go-to financial platform for small businesses, empowering them to efficiently build, manage, and safeguard their financial futures. To Apply for Flex please visit: https://www.flex.one/ Betr Founded in 2022 by Joey Levy and Jake Paul, Betr is the fastest sports betting media brand in the U.S. and the first microbetting-focused gaming company that is pioneering a new way for fans to engage with sports. Microbetting allows users to bet on individual plays and events – pass or rush in football or if the next free throw will be good in basketball – rather than the outcome of a game. With its simple and intuitive user interface, Betr aims to solve a problem with traditional sportsbooks – a complicated and confusing user experience with numbers and odds that look more like a spreadsheet than a sportsbook. Since publicly launching its brand in August 2022, Betr has seen unprecedented growth while generating over 750 million impressions and 45 million engagements across its social channels. For more information, please visit: https://www.betr.app/. Cached – Your Data, Your Income: Cached is revolutionizing the $500 billion data economy by giving consumers the power to control and profit from the sale of their own data. Cached offers a groundbreaking smartphone app that allows consumers to continuously turn their data into a payout. By simply using their smartphones and sharing their preferences, habits, and interests, users can earn money every time their data is purchased by advertisers. For more information, please visit: https://mycached.com/. Contact Details EMC Brands Dianne Quirante dianne@emcbrands.com

October 31, 2023 01:13 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Introducing the TechClusion Fund

Communication Service for the Deaf

CSD Social Venture Fund, a subsidiary of Communication for the Deaf, is proud to announce the launch of a new funding source for tech startups that prioritize inclusion and accessibility for deaf communities. The TechClusion Fund is a groundbreaking initiative that addresses a common oversight in technology development: accessibility. The fund was created with the intention of accelerating technology built by companies that create accessible products and services that benefit the Deaf community. Over the past 30 years, our society has experienced a rapid evolution in technological advancements. While these advancements generally improve our lives, we often see accessibility features added as an afterthought instead of being built into the original product design. This practice makes the user experience less than ideal for both those who do and do not use these features. “Accessible technology doesn’t just benefit Deaf communities,” explained Rosa Lee Timm, President of CSD Social Venture Fund. “When companies design their products with the needs of Deaf or disabled users in mind, they create a better experience for all users.” The TechClusion Fund was started with the intention of addressing these systemic and prevalent issues in tech by ensuring that entrepreneurs and developers are intentionally creating their products with all end-users in mind. “We expect that the impact of the TechClusion Fund will extend beyond the development of accessible products,” shared Greg Bland, Director of Business Development for CSD Social Venture Fund. “By focusing on startups who hope to have a positive impact on Deaf communities, we will see job creation and more opportunities for economic advancement for Deaf individuals.” Unlike CSD Social Venture Fund’s traditional VC funding, TechClusion is open to all tech-startups operating in the United States and not specifically Deaf-owned businesses. Applicants must demonstrate the following: How their work will positively impact Deaf communities. This can be through hiring Deaf and hard of hearing employees, Deaf ownership, or outlining how their product or service will contribute to deaf communities. A commitment to equitably hire Deaf, BIPOC Deaf, and other Deaf groups for various positions at levels of the company, including C-level positions, as the company grows. A commitment to both their company and TechClusion’s investment. For those who are interested in applying or learning more, you can visit CSD Social Venture Fund’s website or contact Rosa Lee Timm at svf@csdsvf.com for more information. CSD's Social Venture Fund is one of the only venture capital firms and incubators in the world supporting Deaf entrepreneurs and Deaf-owned and operated businesses. CSD SVF provides equity investments to Deaf-led businesses that exemplify CSD’s values: enhancing Deaf economic power, employing Deaf people, and creating social change. CSD SVF is committed to the success of each business, providing not only financial investment, but also access to tools and resources, enabling each Deaf-led business to thrive. Existing portfolio members include Mozzeria, National Deaf Therapy, DeafTax, Bus Door Films, Hands on Travel, Hotsy Totsy Haus, 4Legz All Natural Dog Treats and Lochiel Brewing. For more information, please visit https://csdsvf.com/ and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. About Communication Service for the Deaf Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD) is the largest Deaf-led social impact organization in the world. For more than four decades, CSD has been a leader in creating and providing accessible and innovative solutions for the Deaf community. Today, CSD continues its work to create opportunities for personal and economic growth within the Deaf community, specifically addressing leadership and employment. For more information, please visit CSD and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Contact Details Communication Service for the Deaf Molly Miller +1 315-679-8948 mmiller@csd.org Company Website https://www.csd.org/

October 31, 2023 01:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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PathAI Announces Research Presentations at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s 38th Annual Meeting

PathAI

PathAI, a leading technology company which combines AI-powered pathology solutions with end-to-end central pathology and histology services, today announced it will present research underscoring the efficacy of PathExplore’s human interpretable features (HIFs) through three poster presentations at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s 38 th Annual Meeting on November 1-5 in San Diego, CA. The posters showcase how PathExplore provides high-resolution characterization of the tumor microenvironment (TME) through a standardized panel of HIFs derived from H&E whole slide images across multiple cancer types. Additionally, Incendia Therapeutics will present two posters reporting results that were generated utilizing PathExplore. “Building upon past publications and presentations, we continue to see the utility for histological features of the tumor microenvironment to further our understanding of disease biology, patient prognosis, and therapeutic response, which ultimately may lead to the discovery and implementation of novel biomarkers to advance precision medicine,” explained Mike Montalto, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, PathAI. All three posters demonstrate the correlation between specific HIFs and established molecular measurements of the TME (e.g., gene expression profiles of specific cell populations), as well as specific HIFs and complex molecular signatures (e.g., immune phenotypes) which could better aid in the identification of patients eligible for targeted therapies, or result in the identification of new histology-based biomarkers. Quantifying the effect of microsatellite instability and mismatch repair deficiency on the tumor microenvironment (Poster 73) In this research, PathAI investigated the potential to predict and compare microsatellite stability and mismatch repair subtypes in colorectal and endometrial cancers utilizing PathExplore HIFs. The findings suggest MSS/dMMR tumors may warrant consideration for immunotherapy due to their TME’s similarity to microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) and tumor mutation burden-high (TMB-H) solid tumors and AI-powered analysis of H&E WSI presents a more accessible and scalable method than current dMMR testing options. This poster will be presented by Judy Chen and Shima Nofallah on Friday, November 3 rd. Poster hall hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. PT. Quantification of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) from pathology slides reflects molecular immune phenotypes (Poster 122) In this research, PathAI deployed its PathExplore products on H&E WSI across eight cancer indications to extract HIFs quantifying the TME, including features that represent TIL fractions, densities, and distributions. Analysis revealed statistically significant correlations between TIL-associated HIFs with gene expression of known lymphocyte markers, as well as immune signature scores such as lymphocyte infiltration. These results show the predictive power that TIL-associated HIFs have for identifying immune phenotypes, as well as a promising direction for the discovery of histology-based immune biomarkers. This poster will be presented by Judy Shen on Saturday, November 4 th. Poster hall hours are 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. PT. Deep learning models identify key tumor microenvironment features associated with genetic signatures of UV metagenesis and alkylating agent treatment in melanoma (Poster 110) In this research, PathAI used PathExplore HIFs to investigate the association between TME features and mutational signatures indicative of UV mutagenesis, as well as alkylating agents-induced mutations. The results suggest that quantifying a tumor’s tissue and cellular composition can reveal meaningful information regarding the underlying mutation-driven or treatment-induced changes in the TME, which may have implications for therapy selection. This poster will be presented by Shima Nofallah on Saturday, November 4 th. Poster hall hours are 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. PT. Incendia Therapeutics (formerly known as Parthenon Therapeutics) posters In addition to the posters above, Incendia Therapeutics will present two posters on Friday, November 3 rd reporting results that were generated utilizing PathExplore. One poster (Poster 1287) compares PathExplore HIFs to mIF features and concluded that "TME models are a robust tool to distinguish tissue and cell features from H&E slides, comparable to mlF image analysis, but requiring less effort, time, and expense." In the second (Poster 1497), Incendia Therapeutics leveraged HIFs quantifying lymphocyte densities across cancer epithelium, cancer stroma, and the epithelial-stromal interface (ESI) to characterize barriers to lymphocyte entry into the cancer epithelium across immune phenotypes. More information on these posters can be found at https://www.incendiatx.com Please visit the PathAI booth, 615, to learn more and meet the team, or email us at bd@pathai.com. About PathAI PathAI is the only AI-focused technology company to provide comprehensive precision pathology solutions from wet lab services to algorithm deployment for clinical trials and laboratory use. Rigorously trained and validated with data from more than 15 million annotations, its AI-powered models can be leveraged to optimize the analysis of pathology samples to improve efficiency and accuracy of pathology interpretation, as well as to better gauge therapeutic efficacy and accelerate drug development for complex diseases. PathAI, which is headquartered in Boston, MA, and operates a CAP/CLIA-certified laboratory in Memphis, TN, is proud to have a team of 600+ innovative thinkers from around the globe. For more information, please visit www.pathai.com. Contact Details SVM Public Relations and Marketing Communications Maggie Naples +1 401-490-9700 pathai@svmpr.com Company Website https://www.pathai.com/

October 31, 2023 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Nearly A Third Of Advisors Are Seeking Alternative Investments For Their Clients — But A Self-Directed IRA Is Needed To Invest

Benzinga

By Rachael Green, Benzinga According to a recent survey by the Financial Planning Association, 28% of advisors were actively investing in alternatives for their clients while 19% said they were considering adding them within the next one or two years. The growing interest in alternatives comes as more and more investors look for more creative ways to protect their retirement accounts from high interest rates and increasing volatility in the stock market. Alternative investments like precious metals or real estate can help provide needed diversification to your retirement portfolio in markets like this one. But most IRAs from a bank or brokerage will only hold the assets that they sell so, for most investors, that means they’re limited to stocks, bonds, ETFs, and mutual funds. So if you want to add alternatives to your IRA, you’ll need to set up a self-directed IRA (SDIRA). Here’s how. Find An SDIRA Custodian The first step to opening an SDIRA is to choose a custodian that will hold the account for you. One of the biggest factors that determine which custodian you go with is what kind of assets they are able to hold. If you want to invest in cryptocurrency, for example, you need to make sure the custodian you go with can hold crypto. Beyond making sure the custodian can hold your preferred investments, you also want to look at what tools and services they offer to help you manage them. One of the unique advantages of The Entrust Group, for example, is the myDirection visa card. For investors in real estate, the IRS requires all expenses related to their investment properties to be covered with funds from your SDIRA. With most custodians, that means submitting a check request anytime you need to pay property taxes or utility bills, make repairs or pay for a renovation. It’s slow and usually carries a fee for each check. With the myDirection card, you can skip all that and just swipe a card. Instead of waiting and paying fees on checks, you can pay for expenses as they come up, paying just a one-time $25 setup fee and a quarterly administration fee of $9. Entrust’s online client portal also makes it easy to see the status of all of your investments at a glance, complete and submit paperwork online, and even browse new investment opportunities in the Entrust Connect marketplace. Named the best online portal in the space by Investopedia, it offers one of the most convenient and user-friendly platforms for managing alternative investments of all kinds. Decide Whether To Set Up A Traditional Or Roth SDIRA Just like a regular IRA, an SDIRA can be traditional or Roth.. And the best choice for you really comes down to your investment goals and strategy. Traditional IRAs are funded with pre-tax dollars, meaning your annual contributions can lower your taxable income right now, but you’ll pay taxes on it later when you start making withdrawals. A Roth IRA, on the other hand, is funded with post-tax dollars, meaning your taxable income right now stays the same. But since the money you deposit has already been taxed, it won’t be subject to tax again when you start making withdrawals, provided certain conditions are met. While there are multiple factors that go into this decision, it basically comes down to whether you expect to be in a higher tax bracket now or after retirement. Set Up Your Account Once you’ve chosen your custodian and figured out which type of account you want to open, the next step is to go ahead and open it. When doing that, you’ll typically pay a one-time account establishment fee, which can range from $50 to $360 or higher. After that, you’ll also pay an annual administrative fee, which can range from about $150 to $2,000 or higher. At Entrust, the annual fee is a flat $199 per year for accounts under $50,000 with just one asset or $299 per year for accounts with two or more assets. When your account is larger than $50,000 (excluding cash), you’ll also pay a small percentage on the asset value over $50,000. Fund Your New Account Once your SDIRA is set up, the only thing left to do is add your funds. You have three main options for this. The simplest is to just make direct contributions to the account via check or direct deposit. However, you can only contribute up to the maximum amount allowed by the IRS each year. That limit includes all contributions made to any IRAs you have. So if you’ve already maxed out your contributions for the year, your best option for funding your new SDIRA is with a transfer or rollover of your existing IRA or a previous employer’s 401(k). With a transfer, you are moving an existing traditional or Roth IRA over to your new SDIRA custodian. It’s important to remember that with a transfer, the account type must remain the same - so from one IRA to another IRA. Since the funds inside it aren’t paid out to you in the process, the account remains tax-protected, and you don’t have to worry about contribution limits. With a rollover, you can move funds from an employer-sponsored plan like a 401(k) to a new retirement plan or IRA. It can be direct: from one institution to another. Or it can be indirect: where the account holder briefly takes possession of the funds to facilitate the rollover. Whichever route you take, you can initiate the process online through Entrust’s Client Portal. For those ready to take their first steps towards a more diverse portfolio, the Basics Guide from Entrust offers a full breakdown of the essentials needed to get started with self-directed investing. This post contains sponsored content. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice. Contact Details Benzinga +1 877-440-9464 info@benzinga.com Company Website http://www.benzinga.com

October 31, 2023 09:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Sadot’s Strategic Pivot Looks Like It’s Paying Off As Analysts Forecast 360% Year-Over-Year Jump In Annual Revenue For 2023

Benzinga

By Rachael Green, Benzinga This month, Zacks Small-Cap Research published a report on Sadot Group Inc (NASDAQ: SDOT), maintaining that it believes the emerging agri-food supply chain solutions company is worth $4 per share. The news comes ahead of Sadot’s third-quarter earnings release – expected on November 9 – and cites new acquisitions, restructuring initiatives and other recent achievements in its valuation. Zacks analysts forecast $746.5 million in revenue for 2023, which would represent more than 3.5x growth over Sadot’s $161.7 million in annual revenue reported in 2022. High Hopes For Sadot After The Company Reported Its First Profitable Quarter In Q2 In Q2 this year, Sadot reported its first profitable quarter with consolidated revenues increasing from $2.9 million to over $160 million year-over-year. The milestone achievement was driven by the company’s recent move into the agri-food supply chain sector earlier this year. By the end of August, Sadot’s revenue for 2023 totaled $488 million, and Zacks analysts expected the company to exceed $746 million by the end of the year. That’s due, in part, to Sadot’s recent acquisition of over 4,900 acres of farmland in Zambia, including over 1,300 acres of corn, 775 acres of soybean, 270 acres of wheat, 180 acres of Hass avocado and 50 acres of Tommy Atkins mangoes. By September, the farm had generated over $500,000 in revenue from the wheat harvest alone. Sadot planted an additional 1,300 acres of corn and 775 acres of soybeans in October, with plans to plant the remaining farmland to generate additional revenue from the acquisition. The company is also in talks to develop a pilot program in collaboration with local farmers in the area, providing the seeds, fertilizer and other resources needed to make their own farmland more productive. The investment will not only support the local economy and improve the livelihoods of the approximately 1,200 farmers participating in the program but also create a potential future revenue stream for Sadot by providing warehousing and distribution services for the products they grow. Sadot is also continuing the restructuring of its restaurant segment as it pivots further into the agricultural and logistics side of the food commodities market. But it’s not completely cutting the segment. Instead, the company says it’s closing underperforming locations, re-franchising company-owned restaurants and adding new franchise royalty revenue by expanding its successful Pokemoto concept. The restructuring initiative is expected to reduce Sadot’s restaurant operating expenses and increase its franchise revenues. There are currently 35 Pokemoto units open (24 franchises and 11 company-owned) with a pipeline of more than 45 new locations already sold but not yet opened. At the end of September, Sadot announced a Standby Equity Purchase Agreement (SEPA) with Yorkville Advisors Global. The SEPA grants Sadot, at the company's discretion, the option to sell up to $25 million of common stock to Yorkville, starting with a $4 million advance in exchange for convertible promissory notes that can be converted into shares of common stock or paid back in cash within one year. This post contains sponsored content. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice. Contact Details Benzinga +1 877-440-9464 info@benzinga.com Company Website http://www.benzinga.com

October 31, 2023 09:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time

ZKM Unveils Phase 2 of Early Contributor Program: Community Evolution, Empowering Developers to Shape the Future of Zero Knowledge Technology

King Newswire

(King NewsWire ) - ZKM, a leading innovator in the realm of zero knowledge technology, is thrilled to announce the much-anticipated Phase 2 launch of their Early Contributor Program: Community Evolution. The launch will bring unique opportunities for developers to actively participate in the open-source advancement of ZKM’s General-Purpose Zero Knowledge Virtual Machine (zkVM). The Early Contributor Program has been a resounding success since its inception, fostering collaboration between web3’s most forward-thinking developers and the ZKM team. Phase 1 prioritized community education, to explain the purpose of building and using a zkVM, as well as demoing the installation and developer process from start to finish, resulting in a zero-knowledge proof. The ZKM Discord community more than quadrupled during the three-week Community Education campaign, with more than 40,000 proofs generated. Phase 2 of the ECP, Community Evolution, introduces a host of new features, including a cutting-edge Contribution Board, a comprehensive ZK Education Hub for developers, and a unique Contributor Points System. The key features of ECP Phase 2 are as follows: ZKM Contributor Board: To motivate and engage developers, ZKM has introduced their Contributor Board. The dynamic bounty board lists a wide range of tasks, projects, and challenges that developers and content creators can undertake. Successful completion of these tasks will be rewarded with POINTS, which are non-transferable reward points, providing an additional incentive to participate in the growth of ZKM and its growing open-source community. ZKM Education Hub: The ZKM Education Hub is a groundbreaking resource for developers at every level of expertise. This comprehensive platform hosted on ZKM’s Discord offers a wide array of educational materials, tutorials, lectures, workshops, and community support to assist developers in mastering the intricacies of zero knowledge technology. Education Hub participants will also have the chance to earn an NFT course completion certificate and POINTS by completing programming assignments, crafting discussion posts and creating content. Contributor Points System: ZKM recognizes the invaluable contributions of developers and is introducing the Contributor Points System to express gratitude for their hard work and contributions. Developers will accumulate POINTS, which are non-transferable reward points for their contributions, which can be redeemed for exclusive ZKM merchandise, access to premium content, social badges, and even exclusive ZKM opportunities. ZKM firmly believes in the power of community collaboration and the importance of sharing open-source knowledge. The ZKM Education Hub is designed to be a central hub for all things related to zero knowledge, fostering a strong, and supportive developer community in ZKM’s exclusive Discord server. Speaking about Phase 2 of the Early Contributor Program, ZKM’s CEO, Kevin Liu, stated, “Our mission is to create an inclusive open-source environment that empowers developers to help shape the future of zero knowledge technology. Community Evolution brings exciting new features that not only recognize their hard work but also provide the tools and resources they need to excel. We’re excited to see how this program will continue to grow and evolve.” To learn more about Phase 2 of the Early Contributor Program and join the movement towards an open-source, zero-knowledge future, please visit: zkm.io/ecp. About ZKM: ZKM is a trailblazing open-source blockchain technology company based in the United States. Comprising a team of experts passionate about decentralized systems, ZKM is committed to pushing the boundaries of what is achievable in the blockchain space. ZKM is poised to redefine the landscape of decentralized technologies, and the General Purpose zkVM release underscores its dedication to shaping the future of blockchain. Social Handles: Discord: https://discord.com/channels/1125877344972849232/1125877345455186027 Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProjectZKM Medium: https://medium.com/@ProjectZKM YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectZKM Contact Details ZKM Elliot Rolvink +1 803-667-8252 contact@zkm.io Company Website https://www.zkm.io

October 31, 2023 06:08 AM Pacific Daylight Time

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VTS Chief Technology Officer Recognized as National Honoree for Connect CRE’s Women in Real Estate Awards

VTS

VTS, the industry's only technology platform that unifies owners, operators, brokers, and their customers across the real estate ecosystem, today announced its Chief Technology Officer, Swaroopa Penikelapati, has been recognized as a national honoree for Connect CRE’s Women in Real Estate Awards. In its seventh consecutive year, the list spotlights women across 11 regions and nationally whose talent, leadership and vision have been influential in commercial real estate. “It is an honor to be named as one of Connect CRE’s Women in Real Estate this year and to be recognized alongside a group of passionate and talented women that drive our industry forward,” said Swaroopa Penikelapati, Chief Technology Officer at VTS. “Although real estate has always been a male-dominated industry, we at VTS have made great strides in female representation at the C-Suite level, and I look forward to creating even more opportunities for women both within VTS and the industry at large.” Penikelapati was recognized for her significant contributions to VTS’ recent growth, such as her key contributions to the development of VTS Activate, the company’s newly launched tenant experience solution built off the previous acquisitions of tenant experience companies Rise Buildings and Lane Technologies. With over 20 years of experience working in technology, she carries the unique acumen to drive successful product integrations following mergers and acquisitions. Throughout her time at VTS, Penikelapati has maximized value for the platform’s customers, serving as the main support system for technical decisions and areas of opportunity. She has kept VTS at the forefront of the industry by ensuring the platform operates at its fullest potential for optimal customer satisfaction and continues to act as an advocate for hiring and retaining diverse talent within the organization. “Swaroopa has been at the core of our mission to modernize commercial real estate for all industry players and has been an invaluable force behind both the success of our platform, as well as the enrichment of VTS’ culture and spirit,” said Nick Romito, CEO of VTS. “This award is incredibly well-deserved following what’s been an exceptional year for our company and the evolution of our platform, and this can be attributed to Swaroopa’s guidance and visionary leadership.” This year’s Women in Real Estate Awards features nominees across the commercial real estate spectrum, including women in technology, development, finance, brokerages, and investment among other disciplines. The list recognizes the trailblazers who are driving the industry forward, celebrating their personal achievements as well as their invaluable contributions to their respective organizations. About VTS VTS is the industry's only technology platform that unifies owners, operators, brokers, and their customers across the commercial and residential real estate ecosystems. In 2013, VTS revolutionized the commercial real estate industry's leasing operations with what is now VTS Lease. Today, the VTS Platform is the largest first-party insights and collaboration engine in the industry, transforming how strategic decisions are made and executed by real estate professionals across the globe. With the VTS Platform, consisting of VTS Lease, VTS Market, VTS Activate, and VTS Data, every stakeholder in real estate is given real-time market information and workflow tools to do their job with unparalleled speed and intelligence. VTS is the global leader, with more than 60% of Class A office space in the U.S., and 13 billion square feet of office, residential, retail, and industrial space is managed through our platform worldwide. VTS is utilized by over 45,000 professionals and over 1.2 million total users, including industry-leading customers such as Blackstone, Brookfield Properties, LaSalle Investment Management, Hines, BXP, Oxford Properties, JLL, and CBRE. To learn more about VTS, and to see our open roles, visit www.vts.com. Contact Details Marino PR Sofia Chevez +1 646-912-5354 schevez@marinopr.com Company Website https://www.vts.com/

October 31, 2023 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Cedar raises $3m to take on US housing crisis

Cedar

The US housing market is short 6.5 million homes after more than a decade of under-building relative to population and demand growth. Cedar is today announcing a $3M seed funding round to take this problem head on, with software that helps real-estate developers and professionals maximize the housing potential of urban infill properties. Cedar believes that the complexities of urban development are driving builders to construct homes ever-farther from city centers, thus contributing to the supply-demand mismatch creating a crisis of affordability today. Kyle Vansice, co-founder of Cedar added: “Not only is the US not building enough housing to support our population growth, we’re not building homes in the right places - urban centers where current and future generations want to live and work, and be closer to their friends, family, and cultural amenities.” The funding round was led by Caffeinated Capital with participation from Tishman Speyer Ventures, Maria Davidson (CEO of celebrated construction startup Kojo), David Rubenstein via Shorewind Capital, Alumni Ventures, among others. Cedar’s cap table also includes global venture capital firm Antler as an early investor (pre-seed round). Founded in 2022 by Kyle Vansice, Nate Peters and Rahul Attraya, Cedar is radically collapsing the time and cost for developers to source and evaluate real-estate projects, a major inefficiency in today’s real-estate market. It often takes longer to acquire, design, and permit a housing project than it does to build it - largely due to the slow, consultant driven, and regulatory burdened process of solving the 3D puzzle that is a real-estate development project. And while 80% of cities are composed of housing, almost no software exists to help developers know where and what can be built in the city - a critical market gap Cedar is filling. The Cedar platform uses generative algorithms and a mix of public and proprietary data to quickly generate a broad array of building designs, accurately predicting the development yield on any parcel in a city, and converting complex land-development regulations into real development scenarios that maximize a property's financial potential. Cedar is on a mission to standardize a fragmented process of value creation that typically takes months of consultant work and adds hundreds of thousands of dollars to each development project. By challenging the fundamentals on housing design and location, Cedar is creating a pathway to help deliver the residential needs of communities across the US. “By connecting local zoning and land development regulations with a national standard for infill housing and urban density, Cedar is the first technology startup that is offering a fresh vision for housing development and design for the future,” Nate Peters, co-founder of Cedar added. Cedar believes the immediate opportunity for builders and developers lies in places that were previously built for largely single-family development, but offer the potential to dramatically densify to create more livable and walkable neighborhoods. The future of urban development needs to move beyond the binary of either single-family homes or luxury high-rise to include the “missing middle” scale - a term coined by Dan Parolek and his firm Opticos Design. Rahul Attraya, co-founder of Cedar added: “The smaller, non-institutional “missing middle” scale projects are critical to creating a more economically and environmentally sustainable density in our cities. They present the key to providing the breadth of affordable options cities need. But getting innovative housing built in urban areas is not easy, and builders, developers, and the design community take big risks to make them happen - Cedar is supporting this effort by providing sophisticated planning and analysis technology that reduces risk and maximizes their potential. The infill multi-family construction is a $300B+ market annually, and is expected to nearly double by 2030. It is not only America’s fastest growing housing development type, but according to a recent University of California Berkeley study, the single most effective tool in reducing the carbon emissions of our society. Cedar has coverage across Austin now, but has ambitious plans to expand to a number of major American cities over the next 12-18 months. Varun Gupta, Partner at Caffeinated Capital, commented: “Characterizing the economic value of any parcel of land through its current and future development opportunities will drive massive value to developers, brokers, states and municipalities, and other stakeholders. With it, Cedar could help usher in a new golden era of municipal development and help solve America’s housing shortage.” Tyler Norwood, General Partner US at Antler, Cedar’s initial investor remarked: "We backed the Cedar team from day zero. As an early investor, we worked with Kyle, Rahul, and Nate as they experimented and fought to crack open a wedge into this market. The Cedar team is ambitious and tenacious, exactly the qualities required to scale a mammoth proptech opportunity. This 0-1 stage of a company is such a hard but exhilarating time — I feel honored that a team this strong gave Antler the opportunity to be a partner on this journey and it is exciting to see Cedar quickly gaining traction. I look forward to continue supporting the team as they build the future of urban infill development starting in our own backyard, Austin, TX. “ About Cedar Cedar is reducing the cost and time to source and evaluate real-estate projects by building software that accurately predicts development yield on any opportunity, converting complex land-development regulations into real development options that maximize a property's financial potential. Using proprietary algorithms and data, Cedar empowers real-estate developers to evaluate potential projects 10X faster, standardizing a fragmented process that typically takes months of consultant work and adds hundreds of thousands of dollars to each development project. Cedar is on a mission to help developers maximize ROI, de-risk investment by accurately predicting development yield as fast as possible. Doing so will create a more efficient real-estate market that will lead to more affordable, livable, walkable cities. About Caffeinated Caffeinated invests early (often at inception stage) and throughout the lifecycle of technology companies that produce meaningful value and transform the largest markets in the world. About Tishman Speyer Tishman Speyer is a leading owner, developer, operator and investment manager of first-class real estate in 36 key markets across the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Our portfolio spans market rate and affordable residential communities, premier office properties and retail spaces, industrial facilities, and mixed-use campuses. We create state-of-the-art life science centers through our Breakthrough Properties joint venture, and foster innovation through our strategic proptech investments. With global vision, on-the-ground expertise and a personalized approach, we are unparalleled in our ability to foster innovation, quickly adapt to global and local trends and proactively anticipate our customers’ evolving needs. By focusing on health and wellness, enlightened placemaking and customer-focused initiatives such as our tenant amenities platform, ZO, and our flexible space and co-working brand, Studio, we tend not just to our physical buildings, but to the people who inhabit them on a daily basis. Since our inception in 1978, Tishman Speyer has acquired, developed, and operated 533 properties, totaling 223 million square feet, with a combined value of over $129 billion (U.S.). Our current portfolio includes such iconic assets as Rockefeller Center in New York City, The Springs in Shanghai, TaunusTurm in Frankfurt and the Mission Rock neighborhood currently being realized in San Francisco. About Alumni Ventures Alumni Ventures offers accredited individuals access to professional-grade venture capital— a key asset class missing from the portfolios of many sophisticated investors. Since launching its first venture fund in 2014, AV has raised more than $1.2 billion from nearly 10,000 individual accredited investors, and has built a community of over 650,000 opt-in subscribers to their innovation-focused newsletters. AV evaluates thousands of venture investment opportunities every year and has a portfolio of over 1,200 venture backed companies. In 2022, PitchBook ranked AV as the #1 most active VC firm in the US, and #3 in the world. AV funds are private, for-profit, and not affiliated with or sanctioned by any school. For more information, visit https://www.av.vc/ Contact Details Cedar Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://www.cedar.build/

October 31, 2023 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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New Study Reveals Surge in Six-Figure Earners - A Defining Moment for American Independents

MBO Partners

The landscape of American work has seen transformative shifts, with an increasing number of workers choosing the independent path, drawn by multiple factors ranging from economic imperatives to technological advances. As illustrated in the MBO Partners’ 2023 State of Independence Report, now in its 13th year, the change is palpable and multifaceted. The latest data offers a fascinating deep dive into this phenomenon, revealing a workforce both motivated by autonomy and empowered by technology. An impressive 72.1 million Americans have chosen the independent route, even as the nation registers a record-breaking 156.3 million payroll jobs. One of the fastest growing segments of independents over the 13-year course of this study has been independents who report earning $100,000 or more in the prior year. After declining in 2020 due to the pandemic, the number of $100k+ independents increased by 53% from 2021 to 2023. There are three key factors driving the growth of the independent workforce: It’s a Gold Rush. Independent workers are the hot ticket in today’s labor market. Labor shortages mean companies are innovating faster than ever. Hiring platforms and advanced collaboration technologies are making it less cumbersome for businesses to identify, employ, and coordinate with independent workers. This tech-driven approach provides a timely answer to the pressing challenge of filling specialized roles, especially in high-demand sectors such as technology. In fact, according to MBO’s August 2022 Contingent Labor Imperative study, which surveyed HR leaders from 600 organizations, the average company reveals that contingent labor now comprises 28% of their workforce. This percentage is forecasted to jump to 38% by 2027. Tapping the Reservoir. Drawn to flexibility and autonomy the supply of independent workers is growing. More than ever, workers, particularly the younger demographic, are prioritizing flexibility. But there's more to it. The allure of "being your own boss" is compelling. In 2023, 80% of independent workers expressed a lifelong desire for this autonomy, compared to 61% of traditional workers. An insightful 71% of independents dislike reporting to a superior, a sentiment shared by only 49% of their traditional counterparts. And it's not just about sentiment; tangible shifts in the market are apparent. There's been a 130% growth in Occasional Independents since 2020, totaling 36.6 million in 2023. These individuals are capitalizing on digital platforms, freelancing, and side gigs to supplement their income or pursue passions. Full-Time Independents aren't far behind, witnessing a 20% surge in 2023, with numbers soaring to 26 million—a remarkable 73% growth since 2019. Tech’s got their back. The tech ecosystem is both a catalyst and support system. Remote working capabilities and talent platforms have not only democratized access to work but also made it lucrative. In 2023, 24% of independents said online talent marketplaces were a top three method of finding work and 40% of independents who provide services to businesses said they had used an online talent platform to find work in the past 12 months, and 47% said they planned to do so in the next 12 months. Increasingly, these platforms are becoming another sales channel for many independent workers who sell services. The average user uses 3.2 platforms, and 34% of those using platforms say it is their primary source of work. Additionally, while AI is new to the independent scene, few independents (8%) see it as a threat. Of those using AI and ChatGPT, most (85%) find it at least somewhat useful (34%), with 26% finding it extremely useful to grow their career. As these numbers and insights indicate, the independent workforce's growth isn't just a statistical uptick. It represents a profound transformation in the workforce psyche and the broader landscape of work in the 21st century. For more insights and detailed data, visit https://www.mbopartners.com/state-of-independence/ About MBO Partners® MBO Partners is a deep job platform that connects and enables independent professionals and microbusiness owners to do business safely and effectively with enterprise organizations. Its unmatched experience and industry leadership enable it to operate on the forefront of the independent economy and consistently advance the next way of working. For more information, visit mbopartners.com Contact Details Karen Swim +1 586-461-2103 karen@wordsforhirellc.com Company Website https://mbopartners.com

October 31, 2023 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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