Muthoot Finance Initiates A Vaccination Drive Across Karnataka

Muthoot Finance is India’s largest gold loan NBFC. The company has initiated a COVID-19 vaccination support project through its mobile laboratory Muthoot Snehasraya in association with Myvacc.in team that will provide vaccination drives in Karnataka. ‘Muthoot Snehasraya’ is a CSR initiative of Muthoot Finance Ltd, intended for prevention, early detection and awareness of Kidney related diseases and for supporting dialysis patients by financial aid.   MyVacc.in is a platform for vaccinations of children and adults at home, corporates at offices, communities and schools.

Muthoot Finance aims to help the underprivileged 45+ segment to get vaccinated and encourages vaccination to build a protective shield that will help in fighting against the second-wave of COVID-19. This initiative will be carried out free of cost.

Mr. George M Alexander Muthoot, Executive Director, Muthoot Finance said, “The core objective of Muthoot Finance Snehasraya project is to protect and get the underprivileged vaccinated for free. We will expand this vaccination project to other states in the upcoming months.”

Muthoot Finance is extending vaccination drives through Muthoot Snehasraya mobile laboratory with the help of Myvacc.in which will be providing COVID-19 vaccines at the doorstep across several areas in Karnataka.

About Muthoot Finance

Muthoot Finance is the flagship company of The Muthoot Group which has 20 diversified business divisions. With 5000+ branches, the Group serves over 2.5 Lac customers every day. Muthoot Finance is India’s largest gold loan NBFC and India’s No.1 Most Trusted Financial Services Brand, according to the Brand Trusted Report. It is a reputed ‘Systemically Important Non-deposit taking NBFC’. As part of the core business, Muthoot Finance provides loans secured against household gold jewellery at highly affordable rates and amazing product features. Globally, the Group has presence across, USA, UK, UAE, Costa Rica, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

TECNO Appoints Internationally Renowned Actor Chris Evans As Its Global Brand Ambassador

* Chris Evans as TECNO's brand ambassador will debut in TECNO's May 6th product online launch event and global product campaigns thereafter.

TECNO, the global premium smartphone brand, today announced its partnership with internationally renowned actor Chris Evans as its brand ambassador. Best known for his role as Captain America in the Marvel Universe series of films, the charismatic Chris Evans embodies many of the qualities that have been synonymous with TECNO, especially TECNO’s ‘Stop at Nothing’ brand philosophy which aims to inspire people to always keep ‘young at heart’ and never stop pursuing excellence.

Talking about the partnership with TECNO, Chris Evans said, “I am happy to partner with TECNO, an innovative smartphone brand which provides consumers in emerging markets with the newest smartphone technology. Whether it’s a phone call with someone you love or an image you capture to keep as a meaningful memory, smartphone technology is at the center of it all. It is really inspiring to  work with such a great brand that stops at nothing to encourage people in those markets to explore more possibilities.”

Stephen Ha, General Manager of TECNO Mobile, said,“TECNO is committed to giving the masses access to latest technology, allowing the consumers to reach beyond their current limitations and uncover a world of possibilities. Chris Evans embodies TECNO's brand motto ‘young at heart’ and the pursuit of excellence. This partnership with him enhances TECNO's continuous global footprint and helps to highlight the brand’s upgraded product design, which is increasingly fashionable, energetic, and constantly pioneering. I firmly believe the association will bring us an opportunity to grow within our existing customer base and enable us to go further on the brand globalization.”

The partnership with Chris Evans is another milestone for TECNO after its association with Manchester City Football Club, and is part of TECNO global brand upgrading strategy, which aim to unlock the best of contemporary technologies in artistic designs, showcasing its mastery of serving the youth-generation consumers through the innovation, technological and artistic progression in the emerging markets worldwide.

Chris Evans will lead the launch of the coming TECNO CAMON 17 on May 6th, and will be featured in TECNO's brand campaigns in emerging markets. He will also see everyone at the virtual launch video on May 6th..

About TECNO

TECNO Mobile is a premium smartphone brand from TRANSSION Holdings. With “Stop At Nothing” as its brand essence, TECNO is committed to unlocking the best contemporary technologies for progressive individuals across global emerging markets, giving them elegantly designed products that inspires consumers to uncover a world of possibilities. TECNO understands the needs of consumers from different markets and provides them with localized innovations which is demonstrated through their mastery of serving consumers who are “young at heart” and never stops pursuing excellence. TECNO’s portfolio spans across smartphones, smart wearables and AIoT devices made for consumers in over 60 emerging markets across the world. TECNO is also the global Official Partner of Manchester City Football Club.

Bahwan CyberTek Patents Intelligent Decision Synchronization Technology

* RETINA’s predictive intelligence spots critical equipment failures, avoids downtimes and reduces operational risk

Bahwan CyberTek, the leading provider of digital transformation solutions in the areas of predictive analytics, digital experience, and digital supply chain management, recently announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a patent on the company’s flagship predictive analytics platform RETINA. The patent titled ‘Intelligent decision synchronization for discrete and continuous process industries’ will help industrial customers improve business productivity by minimizing operational risks.

The ‘Intelligent decision synchronization’ patent defines the capability of the RETINA platform to use historical data, correlate to the business context and provide real-time insights to users in process industries. The platform can combine data from multiple sources, build analytical models to detect potential equipment failures and recommend specific actions to prevent unexpected downtimes.

Everyday operations of process-intensive industries such as Oil & Gas, Power Generation and Manufacturing involve multiple systems that deal with a large set of data. Unfortunately, this data from disparate systems like ERP, control systems, production assets is not integrated into a unified platform. This limits industrial business users from gaining a single source of truth, ultimately resulting in equipment breakdowns and production loss. A platform like RETINA can help customers address this gap. 

Bahwan CyberTek has been actively helping many global industrial customers with RETINA, including renewable power producers, cement manufacturers and petrochemical companies. This USPTO approved patent is an umbrella patent for RETINA. Bahwan CybertTek has increased its R&D investment and continues to work on sub-patents aimed at providing vertical-specific solutions. 

Mr. S. Durgaprasad, Co-Founder, Director and Group CEO, Bahwan CyberTek said, “This is a milestone achievement for an industry-leading IP like RETINA. The patent has come at a time when there is a rapid adoption of digital technologies in the shift towards Industry 4.0. This is likely to fast-track multiple industries into the next stage of evolution and deliver differentiated value to all stakeholders involved.” 

On the patent achievement, Mr. P. Rajasekaran, Chief Product Officer, Bahwan CyberTek said, “RETINA has been helping renewable power producers, especially wind and solar farm owners, to minimize asset downtimes and improve production yield. One of our international customers utilizes the platform to predict future failure of the WTG assets with a higher degree of accuracy by providing early warning apart from day-to-day operational improvement by identifying pitch/yaw system issues for better efficiency. Issues attributing to 1.7% drop in energy production were detected and prioritized for repair to boost performance. With this patent in place, we aim to build more industry-specific products.” 

About Bahwan CyberTek

Established in 1999, Bahwan CyberTek (BCT) is a global provider of IP-based digital transformation solutions leveraging its portfolio of innovative IP in the areas of Digital Experience, Predictive Analytics and Digital Journey Management across North America, the Middle East, Far East, Africa and Asia. Driving innovation through outcome-based business models, proven and powerful IP solutions, BCT is a trusted partner for over 1000+ customers, including Fortune 500 companies. With strong capabilities in digital technologies, BCT has over 3,000 associates with technical and domain expertise, delivering solutions to the Oil & Gas, Telecom, Power, Government, Banking, Retail and SCM / Logistics verticals. Learn more about Bahwan CyberTek at www.bahwancybertek.com.    

About RETINA360

RETINA360 is a flagship predictive analytics platform from the Bahwan CyberTek (BCT) Group, which manages more than 5 GW of power assets across the world. The platform supports multiple process industries and renewable energy farms in Asset Performance Analytics, Smart Maintenance and Energy Management and Forecasting. The cloud-enabled RETINA platform integrates data from multiple sources such as plant control systems, energy meters, process line machines, field and lab equipment, MES, handheld devices, GIS systems, and ERP to provide real-time actionable intelligence for CXOs, Head of Operations and Plant Supervisors. www.retina360.ai.

Reliance General Insurance Introduces An Industry First Initiative To Encourage Covid Vaccination

Reliance General Insurance, a 100% subsidiary of Reliance Capital has reiterated its commitment to ensuring safety for its customers, by actively promoting the COVID-19 vaccination drive and rewarding  customers who have already taken a jab. 

In an industry leading initiative, the company aims to provide additional ease to its customers who are in the process to either buy or renew their Health Infinity insurance policy with RGI, by offering an additional one time 5% discount to customers who have taken the COVID-19vaccination. Starting May 1st anyone above 18 years is eligible for a COVID- 19 vaccination, as the government has sped up the vaccination process, in leading its war against COVID-19. 

Mr. Rakesh Jain, CEO, Reliance General Insurance talking on the initiative, said “We want to thank IRDAI for their special approval to Covid Vaccine discount in our Health Infinity product amidst a time where everyone needs to come together and collectively combat the impact of virus. While we have always encouraged individuals to insure them selves against a medical emergency, this time we want to do more. By the means of this incentive, we want to encourage individuals to prioritize their health at this critical hour and get themselves vaccinated at the earliest.” 

The additional one time 5% discount on Reliance Health Infinity policy will be over and above the other discounts applicable at the time of buying the policy, making the premium extremely affordable. The offer can also be availed by existing policyholders on their renewal premium. Customers who have vaccinated themselves even with the first vaccination dose, are eligible to avail this benefit. 

This initiative exemplifies RGI’s philosophy of putting the community first and highlights the integral role organizations can play in the health and well-being of the society as a whole. It is also a step in the right direction as India continues to battle the pandemic. 

About Reliance General Insurance - www.reliancegeneral.co.in 

Reliance General Insurance, a part of Reliance Capital, is one of the leading general insurance companies of India. The Company offers a well-rounded and comprehensive bouquet of products including Motor Insurance, Health Insurance, Travel Insurance, and Home Insurance, and offers customized solutions to meet the protection needs of each customer. 

Reliance General Insurance has a wide network of more than 40,000 intermediaries across 136 branch offices acrossIndia for offeringits products and services to retail, corporates and SME clients.

CO₂ Technology Competes As One Of The Top Three Inventions

* Christoph Gürtler and Prof. Walter Leitner nominated in the Industry category

* CO2 made commercially viable as a raw material

* Technology forms the basis for a large number of marketable products

Covestro's CO2 technology continues to write its success story. The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced the nomination of the two German chemists, Dr. Christoph Gürtler (Covestro AG) and Prof. Walter Leitner (Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion and RWTH Aachen University), as finalists in the "Industry" category of the 2021 European Inventor Award for their role in developing new technology for using carbon dioxide (CO₂). This technology enables the harmful climate gas CO2 to be used as a valuable raw material for sustainable plastics. Their process deploys chemical catalysts to drive reactions between CO2 and conventional raw material. This process creates so-called polymers in a more sustainable and economically viable way. CO2 is firmly incorporated in the process.

"This nomination is an important confirmation of our efforts towards making chemistry more sustainable. It shows how crucial patents are for the development process of technology," says Christoph Gürtler, who is responsible for the development of new processes and products at Covestro. "It is a tremendous honor to be part of the award ceremony on behalf of the interdisciplinary team from product research, process development, marketing, and the many other minds driving our invention."

Successful cooperation between industry and science

"The plastics industry can make a significant contribution to combating climate change by switching to greenhouse gas-neutral production. To achieve this, we need to break away from petroleum and use alternative raw materials such as CO2", says Dr. Markus Steilemann, CEO of Covestro. "The nomination for the European Inventor Award is an endorsement of our company as a pioneer in this field. I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to the many colleagues, including those at our partners, who contributed to the development of the innovative CO2 technology – a genuine sustainability highlight."

The two nominees, Gürtler and Leitner, have played a significant role in the development and market launch of the platform technology, which originated in the collaboration between application-oriented science and the research-oriented industry. Their involvement in a large number of patents related to the use of CO2 is proof of this: together, the two hold over 100 patents on CO2 technology.

Breakthrough in catalysis research yields success

Covestro and RWTH Aachen University founded the CAT Catalytic Center in 2007. "The scientific community has long had the desire to be able to use carbon dioxide as a supplier of carbon for plastics. Experts have been working on this issue for nearly half a century," explains Walter Leitner.

CO2 forms chemical compounds only with great difficulty. This is the problem that Christoph Gürtler and Walter Leitner's team had to solve.

The team combined industrial and academic expertise. A great deal of creativity, perseverance, and many experiments with catalysts finally culminated in success. The breakthrough was achieved by precisely controlling the reaction between CO2 and the petroleum-based propylene oxide in the presence of a customized catalyst system. "We collaborated closely to develop the right catalyst that led us to success," says Gürtler.

The resulting so-called polyol was introduced to the market by Covestro under the product name cardyon®. It is already being used to produce soft foam for mattresses, adhesives in sports floors, padding in shoes, and in-car interiors. Elastic textile fibers are currently on the threshold of market maturity. Research projects have successfully demonstrated that CO2 can also be deployed for insulating materials made of rigid foam and for surfactants, for example in detergents.

Contributing to resource conservation and the circular economy

The use of CO2 contributes significantly to the circular economy. Replacing conventional crude oil as a carbon source in part with the climate gas CO2 preserves resources. The carbon, in turn, remains in the cycle without being released into the atmosphere. Moreover, initial studies have also shown that this technology makes it possible to produce more recyclable plastics whose components can be more easily recycled. An all-around sustainable innovation.

Launched in 2006, the European Patent Office's Inventor Award distinguishes outstanding European inventors and teams and is one of the most prestigious awards of its kind. The award ceremony will take place online for the first time on June 17 and will be broadcast live on the Internet. Three teams are nominated in the Industry category.

About Covestro:

With sales of €10.7 billion in 2020, Covestro is one of the world's leading polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative, sustainable solutions for products used in many areas of everyday life. In doing so, Covestro is fully aligning itself to the Circular Economy. Its main customers are the automotive and transport industries, the construction industry, the furniture and wood processing industries, and the electrical, electronics, and household appliance industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, healthcare and the chemical industry itself. As of the end of 2020, Covestro produces at 33 sites worldwide and employs around 16,500 people (converted to full-time positions).

Acronis The Global Leader In Cyber Protection, Receives More Than $250M Investment At $2.5B Valuation

* Funding to accelerate growth, expand its portfolio of cyber protection products,

and enable service providers to serve their clients better

Acronis, the global leader in cyber protection, is pleased to announce that it has received more than $250 million funding round from CVC Capital Partners VII and other investors. Acronis will use the funds to further accelerate growth by expanding its unique portfolio of natively integrated cyber protection products. A significant portion of the investment will also be used to further enhance Acronis’ go-to-market initiatives by expanding its broad partner network – most notably, managed service providers (MSPs) – to help them better serve the cyber protection needs of their clients. The investment values the company at more than $2.5 billion.

“Acronis’ talented management and R&D teams have invested significant resources developing an innovative cloud-native ‘MSP in a box’ solution, with integrated backup, disaster recovery, cybersecurity, remote management, and workflow tools,” said Leif Lindbäck, Senior Managing Director of CVC Capital Partners. “Acronis provides mission-critical solutions to more than 10,000 MSPs and half a million small and medium businesses. CVC has a strong track record in cybersecurity and partnering up with successful entrepreneurs, and we are looking forward to teaming up with Serguei Beloussov and the Acronis team to accelerate the company’s growth.”

Acronis Cyber Protect is the first unified cybersecurity and data protection solution that is natively integrated, so service providers can operate these critical functions through a single pane of glass, delivering comprehensive cyber protection at a lower cost.

“With this additional funding, we will accelerate the development of our product portfolio and invest more in our partners’ success,” said Serguei “SB” Beloussov, founder and CEO of Acronis. “Our goal is to develop market-leading technology and help our partners grow their profits, while providing the best protection for their clients.”

Acronis will continue to invest in staff resources, expanding its global sales, partner account management and partner success teams and hiring new technical talent for its research and development centers in Bulgaria, Israel, and Singapore, as well as Switzerland and the United States.

Focus on partners

Focusing on its growing partner network is critical to the company’s strategy for rapid growth. In February, the company launched the #CyberFit Partner Program to support the development of cloud-focused resellers and service providers. In March, Acronis made available a new version of Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud – enabling partners to deliver comprehensive cyber protection for all workloads for little to no upfront cost. In April, Acronis introduced a new partner portal, providing easy access to content, tools, and training for partners.

With the new funding, Acronis will expand the support for cloud partners – providing them with additional sales and marketing resources, faster and localized technical support, dedicated partner success managers, and local data centers in 111 locations worldwide.

Phil Goodwin, Research Director, Cloud Data Management for Protection for IDC notes that the investment from CVC will add to the momentum behind cyber protection. “Acronis has been at the forefront of the cyber protection movement, establishing itself as a pioneer in solutions that unify advanced cybersecurity with innovative data protection. By continuing to expand their technical capabilities and partner network, the value they bring to the market will only increase.”

Service providers who are interested in learning more about how they can benefit from Acronis’ partner-focused approach are encouraged to visit https://www.acronis.com/en-us/partners/.

About Acronis

Acronis unifies data protection and cybersecurity to deliver integrated, automated cyber protection that solves the safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security (SAPAS) challenges of the modern digital world. With flexible deployment models that fit the demands of service providers and IT professionals, Acronis provides superior cyber protection for data, applications, and systems with innovative next-generation antivirus, backup, disaster recovery, and endpoint protection management solutions. With award-winning AI-based antimalware and blockchain-based data authentication technologies, Acronis protects any environment – from cloud to hybrid to on-premises – at a low and predictable cost.

Founded in Singapore in 2003 and incorporated in Switzerland in 2008, Acronis now has more than 1,600 employees in 33 locations in 18 countries. Its solutions are trusted by more than 5.5 million home users and 500,000 companies, including 100% of the Fortune 1000, and top-tier professional sports teams. Acronis products are available through 50,000 partners and service providers in over 150 countries in more than 40 languages.

About CVC Capital Partners

CVC is a leading private equity and investment advisory firm with a network of 23 offices throughout Europe, Asia and the US, with approximately US$118 billion of assets under management. Since its founding in 1981, CVC has secured commitments in excess of US$160 billion from some of the world's leading institutional investors across its private equity and credit strategies. Funds managed or advised by CVC are invested in over 90 companies worldwide, which have combined annual sales of approximately US$100 billion and employ more than 450,000 people.

MyCaptain Announces Appointment Of Three New VP's To The Senior Management Team

MyCaptain, an India-based online learning platform has announced today the appointment of three new members to the company’s senior leadership team.

Mr Ajay Dev Sigh, Mr T Shrikanth & Mr Gopal Sharma has recruited to help scale customer Acquisition across channels and strengthen the Technology Bedrock. Together they bring 70 years of experience and will help MyCaptain foray into pro-courses and further grow the courses which they have. 

"We are pleased to welcome, Mr Ajay Dev Singh, Mr T Shrikanth and Mr Gopal Sharma as the new VP’s," said Mohammed Zeeshan, Co-Founder & CEO, MyCaptain. "They join MyCaptain at an exciting time as we continue to drive our strategy forward and build deeper relationships with our customers to fulfil our purpose of helping them decide the career of their choice. The addition of these VP’s complements our team’s skills and experiences, and we are confident they will provide valuable perspectives as we continue to execute our strategy. We look forward to their contributions and are excited they chose MyCaptain"

Mr Ajay Dev Singh has joined MyCaptain as Vice president of Marketing & Customer acquisition. Prior to MyCaptain Ajay was also the head of Marketing and Digital Strategy at Basic First learning where he spearheaded a revenue of 250 crores in 18 months and then with Reliance as the  Vice president of Media and Entertainment

Mr T Shrikanth has joined MyCaptain as Head of Sales for the Professional course vertical. Prior to MyCaptain Shrikanth was the Vice president of sales at The Hindu & Sulekha

Mr Gopal Sharma has joined MyCaptain as Vice president of technology. Prior to MyCaptain Gopal was also the Head of Delivery at ClaimGenius, and then with Infocepts where he headed the Technology team. Also, he is the Co-Founder at Goodyaara.

MyCaptain is a platform which transforms passion into a career, with mentorship from 200 plus professionals who have made a mark in their respective fields, in the most exciting way possible. This platform aims to bring about an education revolution by enabling millions of students to take the first step in their field of interest, such as photography, app development, or spoken poetry, to name a few, and facilitate their growth in the field.