UTU app in Milan Shopping Streets
Ampverse launches Southeast Asia-focussed fund for esports talents [Press Release]
Ampverse, the newly established gaming and esports media company, announces the launch of the Ampverse Creator Fund, a fund dedicated to champion and reward gaming and esports talent across Southeast Asia.
In line with Ampverse’s vision to build an ecosystem that enables a community of gaming influencers, esports talent, and professional teams maximise their full creative and commercial potential, the fund will recognise the influence and contribution of gaming talent signed with Ampverse through offering a regular dividend in addition to normal fees.
Ampverse said it also works with brands to create entertainment content with formats that are unique to gaming across its three units of creator network, talent management, and publishing.
Digital rewards platform UTU launches tax refund product, allowing more cash back for European spree [Press Release]
The Singapore-based digital rewards platform UTU announces the launch of its tax refund product and tax-free app, UTU Direct, stating that it aims to provide shoppers and tourists from around the world with 85 per cent VAT refunds. The amount of refund is increased from 55-60 per cent refund that tourists currently receive.
With UTU Direct, users can consolidate all their purchases and track transactions throughout the refund process, until they receive the money and cashback to their preferred credit card.
Also Read: Blockchain accelerator TRIBE introduces OpenNodes to build an innovation melting pot
To use UTU Direct, tourists simply need to bring the tax refund form issued by any tax-free shopping operator to UTU Customer Service Counters at airports, city centres, or UTU’s lounge at via Montenapoleone in Milan – all of which can be easily located using the UTU Tax-Free app. International shoppers in Italy can also bring any tax refund form issued within Italy by any tax refund operator to the UTU Service Counter, and using UTU Direct receive 85 per cent of the tax refund amount back.
The tax-free shopping sector has long been operating through a paper-based system shrouded in opaque commissions, meaning shoppers do not receive as much VAT refund as they are entitled to.
UTU is co-founded by Asad Jumabhoy, a VAT refund veteran that brings with him teams from across France, Italy, and Singapore, to focus on customer-centricity for VAT refunds.
Google acquires CloudSimple, to accelerate a fully integrated VMware migration solution [Press Release]
Google announces that it has acquired CloudSimple, a provider of high performance, dedicated environments to run VMware workloads in the cloud. This acquisition builds on Google’s existing partnership with CloudSimple, announced earlier this year, with the main goal to accelerate a fully integrated VMware migration solution with improved support for customers.
VMware is widely used by enterprises due to its on-premises environments to run a variety of workloads: business applications such as ERP and CRM; databases such as Oracle and SQL Server; development and test environments; virtual desktops; and reporting and analytics systems. Google notes that acquiring VMWare is also its answer to enterprise customers to migrate whatever workloads to the cloud wherever and however they want, leveraging on existing investments with as little toil as possible.
Through the partnership, customers can migrate their VMware workloads from on-premises data centers directly into Google Cloud VMware Solution by CloudSimple, while also creating new VMware workloads as needed. Customers can do all the migration without having to re-architect existing VMware-based applications and workloads, which helps them operate more efficiently and reduce costs, while also allowing IT staff to maintain consistency and use their existing VMware tools, workflows, and support.
Tezos Southeast Asia partners Tribe Accelerator to launch training programme for developers [Press Release]
Tezos Southeast Asia (“TSA”) has announced its partnership with Tribe Accelerator at the Singapore Fintech Festival 2019 to run its training programme for developers within the region on the Tezos blockchain.
Tribe is a Singapore-government-backed blockchain accelerator, and this partnership aims to equip more developers with the necessary competencies to develop on Tezos, and subsequently enabling them to build blockchain solutions for real-world applications. The training will commence in the first quarter of 2020.
The training programme will largely focus on the technical know-how of Tezos blockchain, coupled with Tribe’s experience to enable the developers with the capabilities to architect blockchain applications on top of Tezos to solve real-world needs. The initial run will be focused on a select small group of trainers who will then transfer their knowledge to their students.
“By enabling trainers with a good knowledge of Tezos blockchain technology, they will be able to amplify the impact in their respective teams through the continual transfer and sharing of knowledge to new learners”, said Caleb Kow, President of TSA.
On-demand coffee chain Fore Cofee announces a collaboration with Airy to further location expansion [Press Release]
Fore Coffee, a technology-based coffee network that claims to use 100 per cent of Indonesia’s Arabica coffee beans, officially announces a strategic partnership with Airy, the online accommodation operator in Indonesia. The partnership will see the expansion of Fore Coffee to 1,000 locations throughout the archipelago.
Also Read: Fore Coffee secures US$8.5M funding from East Ventures
As the two companies share the same mission with one another, this strategic partnership enables Fore Coffee to be closer to its customers, as well as introduce Indonesian Arabica coffee to a broader audience. On the other hand, Airy’s consumers can enjoy the convenience of having modern coffee network facilities during their stay.
Currently, the first Fore Coffee store at the Airy location is brewing at Airy Syariah Fatmawati Wijaya 10, South Jakarta. It will soon open in several Airy properties that spread across 100 cities in Indonesia.
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