Market Newsdesk

GRAFTON, Ontario, Nov. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As Covid-19 continues to disrupt livelihoods and shutter industries, we could all use a feel-good story of resilience, and businesses lending one another a helping hand.

For Grafton entrepreneur Terry Carruthers, creative collaboration has kept her Soups2Go business on the front burner, and helped find jobs for her staff. Soup’s on thanks to working together with local business leader Jim Corcoran, owner and general manager of Ste. Anne’s Spa in Grafton.

With nowhere to cook her hot serve takeout items and staff facing reduced hours, Corcoran has provided a mobile accessory kitchen right next to Ste. Anne’s Bakery, and hired Carruthers’ workers to dish out her tasty soups and delicious hot takeout foods. The partnership has also helped Carruthers find a building to make her seven different soups and grow her business nationally.

“It’s a collaborative relationship, and one that I hope continues,” says Corcoran, a celebrated entrepreneur who exemplifies how local business people working together can create solutions to help one another in tough times.

He had a brand new kitchen truck he wasn’t using and she had the staff and homemade takeout foods loved by locals, but nowhere to go. Joining forces has resulted in an uptick in sales at the bakery from residents, spa clients and spa staff, and Carruthers is once again happily handcrafting delicious dishes made with fresh local ingredients, and cooking up expansion plans.

“One of the things about crisis is that it brings out creativity and collaboration, and in this case incredible generosity,” she says. “I had never met Jim prior to this pandemic, but he’s been the silver lining in this situation.”

Carruthers has come up against endless challenges and devastating letdowns since the initial mandated shutdowns in the spring. She was temporarily shut out of her commercial kitchen in the nearby Ontario Agri-Food Venture Centre in April, and recently was denied approval to continue renting her new location in the canteen kitchen at the local arena, where she had added staff and a side hustle of hot takeout, including fish and chips, chili and burgers.

She faced financial loss, and the heartbreak of laying off her canteen staff and not being able to feed her following. “Soup is the ultimate comfort food at a time when comfort is important,” says Carruthers. “We offered the community a sense of normalcy during these uncertain times.”

Thanks to Corcoran’s helping hand, Carruthers is once again feeding the community they both so deeply care about. She has also added more to her soup pot – the task of renovating the heritage building she bought from Corcoran in order to grow her Soups2Go business. The new location will feature a hot takeout food service, plus locally-made retail products, including those from Ste. Anne’s Bakery.

As Soups2Go forges forward, learning to improvise and adapt, many Canadian businesses have been upended by the pandemic and also work tirelessly to make a comeback. Ste. Anne’s Spa is once again fully booked, but Corcoran suffered a loss of $4 million in revenue and increased debt because of the pandemic.

“I look forward to the day when this is behind us,” says Corcoran, who used the downtime to do improvements at the premiere resort, and support his staff, community and local businesses.

Carruthers believes a brighter future is simmering, one that she’ll help make happen by “conquering every challenge that comes my way… one bowl of soup at a time.”

Attention Editor:

 
For info, interviews,
and photos
, please contact Wanda Hoehn
at
905-349-3704 x2007 or [email protected].
 

ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Kearney, a leading global management-consulting partnership in more than 40 countries, and Interos, providers of the leading AI-based supply chain risk management solution, today announced the immediate availability of INSITE™. The solution is the first end-to-end offering for early detection of distressed suppliers throughout multi-tier supply chains. It provides rapid triage and response – including actionable insights to meet emergent supplier needs, as well as identification of alternative sources.

“Our extensive experience optimizing supply chains of many industries has given us the knowledge and expertise that help our clients create resilient operations. The global pandemic, new policies and regulations have created unprecedented systemic challenges. This unique combination of Kearney’s industry knowledge and Interos technology platform for early detection and rapid response has become essential for sustained resilience.” said Ryan Elliott, Partner at Kearney.

Already deployed to assist the U.S. Department of Defense and its suppliers in optimizing performance of the most complex supplier ecosystems, INSITE is now available to commercial organizations. INSITE provides the total stack of capabilities needed to discover, assess and triage at-risk suppliers. These include: multi-tier mapping of physical and digital supply chains; rapid financial, operations, geographic, and governance risk-assessment; ongoing monitoring; and actionable plans for its most at-risk suppliers in 30/60/90 day intervals.  

“COVID-19 has been a galvanizing moment for the third-party risk management industry, as unanticipated risk — hidden deep in physical and digital supply chains — is being exposed, and organizations are being negatively impacted,” said Jennifer Bisceglie, CEO and founder of Arlington, Va-based Interos. “INSITE makes it possible for federal and commercial entities to not only continuously monitor for physical and digital supply chain risk end-to-end, but to also triage and quickly remove that risk altogether.”

About
Kearney

As a global consulting partnership in more than 40 countries, our people make us who we are. We’re individuals who take as much joy from those we work with as the work itself. Driven to be the difference with our clients, our communities, and in society, between a big idea and making it happen. For more information, visit www.kearney.com.

About Interos

Interos protects customers’ brand and operations from risk in their extended supply chains and business relationships. The first AI-powered platform for eliminating multi-party, multi-factor risk from 3rd, 4th to nth tier parties, Interos automates discovery, detection, and response to financial, operations, governance, geographic, and cyber risk. Designed by experts and leveraging the company’s 15 years of experience in managing the world’s most complicated supply chains, Interos provides real-time risk management for the largest commercial brands in manufacturing, financial services, and aerospace and defense. For more information, visit www.interos.ai.

Media Contact:
Rachel Forsyth
[email protected]

CERRITOS, Calif., Nov. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Korea Ginseng Corp. (KGC) is pleased to announce that its CheongKwanJang Brand of Hong Sam Won is now available at select BJ’s Wholesale Club locations. Hong Sam Won is a delicious beverage containing Korean Red Ginseng and comes in a pack of 30, 1.7 fluid ounce pouches. Consumers can simply drink it directly from the pouch or pour it into a cup.

Hong Sam Won is caffeine-free and includes ginger, cinnamon, Jujube fruit and goji berry extracts and has no artificial coloring or artificial preservatives. Korean Red Ginseng extract has been added to help consumers naturally maintain healthy energy, productivity, and focus without the unwanted side effects of caffeine. Key health benefits of Korean Red Ginseng include immune support, fatigue recovery, sustainable energy, healthy brain function and healthy blood circulation.

“We are very excited to partner with BJ’s Wholesale Club to make our popular Hong Sam Won wellness drink available to consumers at select BJ’s clubs,” said JP Yoon, U.S. General Manager for KGC. “We think BJ’s members will really enjoy Hong Sam Won with the added benefits Korean Red Ginseng has to offer.”

Adam Goodman, Vice President of Sales for KGC, added, “For more than 120 years, Korea Ginseng Corp. and its CheongKwanJang brand, the World’s No. 1 brand of Ginseng, have been dedicated to providing the world’s best Korean Red Ginseng. Hong Sam Won uses only the best Korean Red Ginseng plants that have matured to a full six years for maximum potency. Regardless of when consumers use it in their day, they will enjoy the benefits of ginseng.”

About Korea Ginseng Corp.

For more than 120 years, Korea Ginseng Corp. and its CheongKwanJang brand, the World’s No. 1 brand of Ginseng, has been dedicated to providing the world’s leading Korean Red Ginseng. Key benefits of ginseng overall include supporting a healthy immune response; supporting healthy energy and stamina levels; supporting healthy brain function and blood circulation; and supporting menopause relief. Korean Red Ginseng is also rich in antioxidants. For more information or to purchase a variety of Korea Ginseng Corp. products, please visit https://www.kgcus.com/. You can also follow Korea Ginseng Corp. on Facebook: www.facebook.com/KGCUS, Twitter: www.twitter.com/KGCUS, Instagram: www.instagram.com/KGCUS, and YouTube: www.youtube.com/KGCUS .

Media Contacts:

David Gutierrez, Dresner Corporate Services, (312)780-7204, [email protected]
Joanne Tedesco, Dresner Corporate Services, (573)355-7855, [email protected]

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/35ef3147-e309-4f64-bf2f-b3b1eb24f436

DALLAS, Nov. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Symphony RetailAI, provider of the industry’s leading AI-enabled platform and customer-centric solutions that deliver profitable growth for retailers and CPG manufacturers, today announced that Buy-Low Foods LP is implementing Symphony RetailAI’s Retail Data Management platform for a singular view of operations and to support its omnichannel business.

Buy-Low Foods, a wholesaler, corporate retailer and food distributor, is one of the largest privately owned companies in Western Canada. To enable centralized ownership and flow of data to support its omnichannel business, Buy-Low Foods needed a unique and single view for all its retail operations. The company has five divisions, which until now each had its own ERP system, adding unnecessary costs and complexity to the business as it continues to grow and expand its retail footprint.

“Eliminating the complexity of many different ERP systems can’t be overemphasized when you consider the improvements to the efficiencies of our internal processes – including buying power – as we establish a singular view of products,” said Dan Bregg, President, Buy-Low Foods and Associated Grocers. “In addition to the tremendous efficiencies we’ll gain through having one integrated master data and product information management system, we can very effectively eliminate friction in e-commerce.”

Buy-Low Foods evaluated the market offerings of five major solution providers to choose which MDM and PIM solution would suit its needs. In the end, Symphony RetailAI was chosen because of its experience in multi-format operations and based on references from retail and wholesale customers.

“One of our core values is ‘easiest to do business with’,” said Graeme Cooksley President, Chief Operating & Revenue Officer, Symphony RetailAI. “Part of this ease is the elegance our platform has evolved to over decades. For example: Buy-Low Foods works with independent retailers and cannot dictate the activities of stores, so it requires flexibility. Symphony RetailAI works both with the vertically integrated retailer and wholesaler models seamlessly. There’s no need for added integration layers, and this saves time, money and eliminates complexity.”

Find out more about Symphony RetailAI Master Data Management.

About Buy-Low Foods

Buy-Low Foods is a proudly 100% Western Canadian privately-owned company whose core values are quality, integrity, a commitment to total customer satisfaction and recognition of the importance of our responsibility to the environment. At Buy-Low Foods our mission is to contribute to the health and well-being of our communities by providing a broad range of safe, healthy and affordable food and household products as well as relevant, convenient services. Our ultimate, overarching goal is to add value to people’s lives; especially our loyal customers and our dedicated associates.

About Symphony RetailAI

Symphony RetailAI offers the industry’s leading AI-enabled platform accompanied by a suite of customer-centric solutions that deliver profitable growth for retailers and CPG manufacturers. Symphony RetailAI’s innovations span the retail value chain from customer insights, agile merchandising, promotion optimization, personalized marketing, fresh and center store management, to demand forecasting and inventory management. Our role-based solutions and CINDE, the industry’s first personal decision coach, provides users predictive analytics and prescriptive recommendations that make it easier to identify growth opportunities, activate plans and realize profit and revenue growth, from supplier to shelf. A strong global partner ecosystem helps us serve more than 1,200 organizations worldwide – including 15 of the top 25 global grocery retailers and 25 of the top 25 global CPG manufacturers – all through the Microsoft Azure Cloud. Symphony RetailAI is a SymphonyAI company. 

Connect with Symphony RetailAI on social media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SymphonyRetail
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/symphonyretailai/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SymphonyRetail/

About SymphonyAI

SymphonyAI is the fastest-growing private group of B2B AI companies, backed by a $1 billion commitment to deliver next-generation AI solutions for transforming the enterprise. SymphonyAI addresses use cases in healthcare and life sciences, retail and CPG, industrial manufacturing, energy, oil & gas, media and entertainment, defense, and financial services. Since its founding in 2017, SymphonyAI Group has grown rapidly to a group of seven companies with a combined revenue run rate of more than $300 million. Over 2,000 talented leaders, data scientists, and other professionals operate the group under the leadership of one of Silicon Valley’s most successful serial entrepreneurs, Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, founder of the Wadhwani Foundation. More at SymphonyAI.

Media Contact

Adrienne Newcomb
Ketner Group Communications (for Symphony RetailAI)
[email protected]

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LPL Financial LLC (Nasdaq:LPLA), a leading retail investment advisory firm, independent broker-dealer and registered investment advisor (RIA) custodian, today announced that financial advisors Jerry Giordano and Joseph Praino have joined LPL Financial’s broker-dealer and corporate RIA platforms, leveraging LPL as custodian. Giordano and Praino reported having served approximately $350 million in advisory and brokerage assets*. They join LPL from HSBC Securities.

The advisors have teamed up with KM Capital Group, an existing LPL firm in Purchase, N.Y., that is dedicated to providing clients with personalized care, comprehensive wealth management and financial planning. “We are independent advisors sharing office space and ideas. Instead of operating in silos, we’re able to collaborate with other tenured advisors with valuable experience,” Giordano said, noting that Praino has been his mentor for more than 10 years.

After 26 years working in banks, Praino believes the move to independence provides him with the freedom and flexibility to serve his clients’ best interest. “No one is making decisions for me or telling me what products I should or shouldn’t offer to clients,” Praino said.

Giordano added, “LPL lets me operate my practice as I see fit, which opens the door for me to better serve my clients. I have the autonomy to access products and information that were not previously available. With more options, I feel I can now select a product mix based on what’s best for my clients instead of offering a cookie cutter strategy. This, coupled with LPL’s innovative capabilities, will help me take my business to the next level.”

Marc Stein, managing director and owner of KM Capital, stated, “This is an exciting time for everyone at our firm. The addition of Joe and Jerry to our team is a special accomplishment that really cements the foundation of our organization. They share our client-centric values and both bring a significant amount of expertise and banking experience, which helps round out the team.”

Stein founded KM Capital last year when he joined LPL from Cetera with a plan to scale the company from an individual practice into a firm. “I laid out a vision, and LPL has given us the tools to execute on it,” Stein said, referring specifically to the support from LPL’s recruiting team, business consultants and Marketing Solutions. Advisor Robert Blair joined the firm earlier this year as managing partner, and they are supported by a three-member office staff.

Rich Steinmeier, LPL Financial managing director and divisional president, Business Development, said, “We welcome Joe and Jerry to LPL and are proud to support their new independent practices. We also congratulate KM Capital on its continued growth. Our goal is to be a strategic partner to our advisors by understanding their businesses and delivering the relevant capabilities, technology and support that enables them to be successful in meeting the needs of their clients and managing their business. We look forward to a long partnership with the entire team at KM Capital.”

Learn more about KM Capital Group. Read about other firms that recently joined LPL in the LPL Financial News and Media section of LPL.com.

Advisors, find an LPL business development representative near you.

About LPL Financial


LPL Financial (https://www.lpl.com) is a leader in the retail financial advice market and the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer**. We serve independent financial advisors, professionals, and financial institutions, providing them with the technology, research, clearing and compliance services, and practice management programs they need to create and grow thriving practices. LPL enables them to provide objective guidance to millions of American families seeking wealth management, retirement planning, financial planning and asset management solutions.

Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor. Member FINRA / SIPC.

KM Capital Group and LPL Financial are separate entities.

*Based on prior business and represents assets that would have been custodied at LPL Financial, rather than third-party custodians. Reported assets and client numbers have not been independently and fully verified by LPL Financial.

**Based on total revenues, Financial Planning magazine June 1996-2020

Throughout this communication, the terms “financial advisors” and “advisors” include registered representatives and/or investment adviser representatives affiliated with LPL Financial LLC, an SEC registered broker-dealer and investment advisor.

Connect with Us!

https://twitter.com/lpl

https://www.linkedin.com/company/lpl-financial

https://www.facebook.com/LPLFinancialLLC

https://www.youtube.com/user/lplfinancialllc

Media Contact:


Lauren Hoyt-Williams
(980) 321-1232
[email protected]

MIRAMAR, Fla., Nov. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Generex Biotechnology Corporation (OTCQB:GNBT) today announced that Richard Purcell, Executive Vice President of Research & Development at Generex and NuGenerex Immuno-Oncology will be featured on the Yo! Dr. Yo Show to provide an update on the company’s COVID-19 vaccine development program. The interview will be live streamed at 2:00 PM on Friday, November 13, 2020 at can be heard at the following link:

https://streamyard.com/6pykxvt9m4

The Yo! Dr. Yo show is hosted by Dr. Ram Yogendra, MD, PhD, a board-certified anesthesiologist specializing in physiology and biometrics. He founded ECA Wellness to apply modern science and technology in order to offer a science-based approach to exercise, diet, and health through on-line collaboration with patients. Dr. Yogendra has built a loyal following for his on-line program Yo! Dr. Yo as he engages the audience with live discussions on popular health and wellness topics. On the show, Mr. Purcell will discuss Generex’ progress with developing the Ii-Key-SARS-CoV-2 II-Key COVID-19 vaccine and the power of the Ii-Key platform for vaccine development. He will also discuss the signed agreements with international partners to finalize development and commercialize the Ii-Key vaccine for global markets.

Mr. Purcell provided an overview of Generex’ vaccine development, “For our COVID-19 vaccine program, we manufactured 33 targeted peptide epitopes from the spike and membrane proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and linked them with our patented Ii-Key. We are finishing the screening of these 33 Ii-Key epitopes using ex-vivo human studies, whereby we test Ii-Key-SARS-CoV-2 epitopes against blood samples from patients who have recovered from COVID-19. Using this proprietary screening method, we can identify how each Ii-Key epitope regulates the immune system through T cell and B cell recognition, which allows us to select the targeted and specific Ii-Key-SARS-CoV-2 epitopes to include in the vaccine formulation. The results of the ex-vivo human blood screen to date are very encouraging, with demonstrated T helper cell activation, no Th2 response, and positive antibody binding in serum. Through targeted immune system regulation, we are developing the Ii-Key COVID vaccine as a “Complete Vaccine” that activates both the cellular and humoral (antibody) responses to provide long-term immune memory for protection from SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19.”

About Generex Biotechnology Corp.

Generex Biotechnology is an integrated healthcare holding company with end-to-end solutions for patient centric care from rapid diagnosis through delivery of personalized therapies. Generex is building a new kind of healthcare company that extends beyond traditional models providing support to physicians in an MSO network, and ongoing relationships with patients to improve the patient experience and access to optimal care.

About NuGenerex Immuno-Oncology

NuGenerex Immuno-Oncology, a subsidiary of Generex Biotechnology, is a clinical stage oncology company developing immunotherapeutic peptide vaccines for cancer and infectious disease based on the CD4 T-Cell activation platform, Ii-Key. NuGenerex Immuno-Oncology (NGIO) has been spun out of Generex as a separate public company to advance the platform Ii-Key technology, particularly in combination with the immune checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. NGIO is currently engaged in a Phase II clinical trial of its lead cancer immunotherapeutic vaccine AE37 in combination with pembrolizumab (Merck’s Keytruda®) for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer. The company has also turned its Ii-Key technology on infectious disease, responding to the coronavirus pandemic with a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development program.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This release and oral statements made from time to time by Generex representatives in respect of the same subject matter may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by introductory words such as “expects,” “plan,” “believes,” “will,” “achieve,” “anticipate,” “would,” “should,” “subject to” or words of similar meaning, and by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. Forward-looking statements frequently are used in discussing potential product applications, potential collaborations, product development activities, clinical studies, regulatory submissions and approvals, and similar operating matters. Many factors may cause actual results to differ from forward-looking statements, including inaccurate assumptions and a broad variety of risks and uncertainties, some of which are known and others of which are not. Known risks and uncertainties include those identified from time to time in the reports filed by Generex with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which should be considered together with any forward-looking statement. No forward-looking statement is a guarantee of future results or events, and one should avoid placing undue reliance on such statements. Generex undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Generex claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements that is contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.

Generex Contact:

Generex Biotechnology Corporation

Joseph Moscato
646-599-6222

Todd Falls
1-800-391-6755 Extension 222

[email protected]

CHICAGO, Nov. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Narrative Science, the global leader in data storytelling, launched the next phase of its Lexio product (narrativescience.com/lexio) during its Humanalytics event, a virtual conference dedicated to the art and science of communicating insight from data. Lexio is a first-of-its-kind augmented data storytelling product that is specifically designed to bring data insights to businesspeople.

“Lexio is specifically built for employees that are either not using or not satisfied with their BI dashboards today, by making it easy to understand and use data in a way that has never been done before,” said Narrative Science CEO and co-founder Stuart Frankel. “Unlike today’s typical BI tools, Lexio anticipates what employees need to know so they can make faster and better data-driven decisions. Data without context is useless, and Lexio brings that context and understanding to every single employee in plain language and in a consumer-like experience.”

“By 2025, data stories will be the most widespread way of consuming analytics, and 75% of stories will be automatically generated using augmented analytics techniques,” according to research firm Gartner’s Top Trends in Data and Analytics, 2020¹. “As a result of the shift to more dynamic, in-context data stories for insight monitoring and analysis, after more than 20 years of rising use of visual exploration-based dashboards and reports as the primary way users monitor and explore data, the percentage of time users spend in predefined dashboards will decline.”

Lexio meets the needs of two groups of employees:

• Businesspeople who need data insights to succeed, but don’t have the time or skills to be analysts
• Analytics leaders who are tasked with enabling all of their employees to be data-driven

Lexio started by connecting to Salesforce Sales Cloud, but has now expanded to write automated data stories about any business data. Lexio ingests and analyzes data from any source, such as SaaS applications and data repositories including popular data warehouses like Snowflake and AWS Redshift, and turns it into understandable and easily consumable plain-language stories. Narrative Science unveiled Lexio’s new consumer-friendly experience, including both a social-media-like newsfeed and an augmented data discovery user flow.

Lexio’s newsfeed surfaces the most relevant and insightful data to users through the familiar experience of a dynamic newsfeed. From the newsfeed, users can choose to read longer-form interactive data stories that now include an augmented data discovery experience. Today’s analytic tools, including dashboards and search-based BI tools, require business users to know what question to ask. Lexio has eliminated that need, providing anticipated follow-up questions and related answers within its data stories.

Narrative Science leveraged over ten years of natural language technology innovation and 70+ issued and pending patents to create Lexio’s groundbreaking user experience, enabling businesspeople to understand and use data faster and easier than ever before.

Links:

More information on Lexio: narrativescience.com/lexio
Humanalytics sessions on-Demand: narrativescience.com/humanalytics/stream
Top Trends in Data and Analytics, 2020: narrativescience.com/gartner-top-10-data-analytics-trends-2020

About Narrative Science:
Narrative Science is a leader in developing data storytelling technologies with a vision to put data and analytics in the hands of everyone by combining analytics and natural language technologies with innovative and consumer-like user experiences. The company’s newest product, Lexio, already used by 100+ companies, is the world’s first data storytelling product that is specifically designed for business people rather than for analysts.

Lexio enables employees with any level of analytical skill to understand and use data insights faster and easier than ever before. Lexio helps organizations empower their entire workforce to make data-driven decisions every day, resulting in increased efficiencies and better outcomes across their company.

For more information, visit narrativescience.com or narrativescience.com/lexio.

___________________________________
¹ Top 10 Trends in Data And Analytics. Gartner, May 2020. Rita Sallam, Svetlana Sicular, Pieter den Hamer, Austin Kronz, W. Roy Schulte, Erick Brethenoux, Alys Woodward, Stephen Emmott, Ehtisham Zaidi, Donald Feinberg, Mark Beyer, Rick Greenwald, Carlie Idoine, Henry Cook, Guido De Simoni, Eric Hunter, Adam Ronthal, Bettina Tratz-Ryan, Nick Heudecker, Jim Hare, Lydia Clougherty Jones.

Contact: Anna Walsh, Narrative Science, (248) 709-9155, [email protected] 

NEW YORK, Nov. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — DoubleVerify (“DV”), a leading software platform for digital media measurement, data and analytics, today announced the launch of its Custom Contextual solution for programmatic advertisers. This new offering delivers privacy-friendly targeting by aligning ads to relevant content, in order to maximize user engagement and drive conversion. DV’s Custom Contextual solution will be available on leading DSPs that include: MediaMath, Verizon Media and Xandr.

“Increased privacy regulation and the decision by most web browsers to sunset the use of third-party cookies is ushering a shift away from third-party audience targeting,” said Jack Smith, Chief Product Officer of DoubleVerify. “Our Custom Contextual solution draws on DV’s 10+ years of experience in ontology, brand suitability and content classification and applies this to effectively match relevant ads to audiences at key points of interest or intent.”

DV’s recent global research shows that consumers are more receptive to contextually-relevant ads and reinforces the impact of contextual targeting for advertisers. According to DV’s findings, 69% of consumers would be willing to view ads that were relevant to the content they were consuming, and 44% of consumers have tried a new brand because they were served an ad relevant to the content they were consuming.

DV’s new Custom Contextual solution provides a range of benefits, including increased accuracy, customization, and ease of use and implementation. Importantly, DV’s solution does not depend on any cookie-based tracking — helping us ensure compliance with existing regulations, such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

Advertisers can build targeting segments based on over 430 IAB categories, as well as seasonal, behavioral and dynamic categories — all from a centralized location within DV Pinnacle^®, the company’s unified service and analytics platform. Segments can be tailored to include site, app and language inclusions/exclusions and specific URL keyword lists. Advanced settings — such as the ability to include unclassified content or site and app exception lists that exempt designated supply sources from a brand’s broader suitability controls, can help unlock additional campaign scale. Enhanced controls, such as including only content that has been classified at the page level, can help make targeting more precise.

Semantic Science is at the core of custom contextual targeting — leveraging ontology and machine learning to drive accurate content classification at the page level and ensure the deepest, most accurate coverage. A dedicated team of professional linguists finely tune DV’s Semantic Science technology of content and context in 44 languages.

For more information about DoubleVerify’s Custom Contextual solution, contact [email protected].

About
DoubleVerify

DoubleVerify is a leading software platform for digital media measurement, data and analytics. DV’s mission is to be the definitive source of transparency and data-driven insights into the
quality and effectiveness of digital advertising for the world’s largest brands, publishers and
digital ad platforms. DV’s technology platform provides advertisers with consistent and unbiased data and analytics that can be used to optimize the quality and return on digital ad investments. Since 2008, DV has helped hundreds of Fortune 500 companies gain the most from their media spend by delivering best in class solutions across the digital advertising ecosystem, helping to build a better industry. Learn more at www.doubleverify.com.

Contact: [email protected]

TORONTO, Nov. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In general, dogs and cats make up a comparatively small percentage of research animals in Canada. So it’s likely many Canadians are unaware that lost, abandoned or surrendered pet dogs and cats are used in experimentation.

The Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC), which oversees animal research in Canada, does have rules about where researchers can procure pet dogs and cats—which is usually from pounds and shelters. As well, the organization’s guidelines state that these animals must be acquired legally.

But Liz White, Director of Animal Alliance of Canada and the campaign No Pets in Research says, “Neither the CCAC nor the Canadian public have any real idea as to how many pet dogs and cats are procured for research in Canada each year. On top of that, the research community seems unable to identify where about 11% of these dogs and cats came from. They’re simply categorized as ‘source unspecified’.

“In raw numbers, the most recent data shows 591 cats—or 10% of the total number—listed as ‘source unspecified.’ Meanwhile, 11%, or 1,364, dogs were categorized the same way,” White continued. “How is it possible that research facilities would not know where roughly two thousand research animals came from in a single year?”

The CCAC stipulates that institutions ensure research animals are legally acquired and that pet animals be given maximum time to be adopted, and/or returned to an owner searching for a lost pet. “With so many dogs and cats listed as ‘source unspecified’,” White pointed out, “it would be impossible for the research facility to meet the CCAC guidelines designed to give added protection to lost pets. Equally—and tragically—it would be impossible for someone to find a lost dog or cat, rather than having that pet wind up in research.”

White added that it is critically important to keep lost pets from going to research. “Many of them are subjected to Category D—i.e., painful—experimentation. The most recent figures show that close to 600 randomly sourced pet dogs and close to a thousand randomly sourced pet cats wound up in experiments causing the animal moderate to severe distress and discomfort. In addition, 335 dogs and cats from ‘sources unknown,’ were also subjected to cruel and painful experiments. Pet owners across Canada would be horrified if they knew what might happen to their beloved cat or dog who has gone missing or been stolen.”

The degree of invasiveness of Category D experiments includes: subjecting animals to major surgical procedures under general anaesthesia; prolonged (i.e., several hours or more) periods of physical restraint; inducing stress, such as depriving them of their mothers; subjecting them to aggression or predator-prey interactions; procedures which cause severe, persistent or irreversible disruption of sensory and motor systems, and the use of inflammatory agents, particularly Freund’s Complete Adjuvant, which can result in severe and lasting side effects.

Because the current situation of pet dogs and cats in research is unacceptable—particularly the failure of researchers and the CCAC to trace the source of so many who wind up in experimentation—the Animal Alliance is calling upon the federal government to:

Prohibit the use of pet dogs and cats in experiments in Canada, by directing funding agencies and health charities to withhold research dollars for any research involving pet dogs and cats.

As well, the Animal Alliance is calling upon the CCAC to:

1. Require research facilities to properly source all research animals, as a prerequisite to receiving the CCAC’s Certificate of Good Animal Practice, as well as public funding dollars;
2. Ensure that dog and cat statistics continue to differentiate purpose-bred animals from those randomly sourced, in order to meet CCAC guidelines on transparency, regarding the use of pets in research; and
3. Prohibit the use of any pet dogs and cats in experiments ranked as Category D or E levels of Invasiveness.

For further information: Liz White: [email protected] or 416-809-4371

www.animalalliance.ca

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HOUSTON, Nov. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Raptor Technologies®, the nation’s leading provider of integrated school safety technologies, today announced that Gray Hall has joined Raptor as Chief Executive Officer. Hall succeeds Jim Vesterman who was Raptor’s CEO since 2012 and will remain on Raptor’s Board of Directors.

Hall’s career spans over 20 years of driving growth at cutting-edge technology companies. He was previously Chairman and CEO of Alert Logic where he grew the company from less than $10 million in revenues to over $125 million in revenues. Prior to that, Hall was co-founder and CEO of VeriCenter where he grew the company to over $80 million in annual recurring revenues.

“I’ve had the privilege of leading two tech companies through sustained rapid growth, while significantly impacting their respective market segments,” said Hall. “The team at Raptor is redefining and modernizing K-12 school safety and I’m excited to be playing a role in building the leading software company in such an important industry.”

“I believe that Gray will be a tremendous leader for Raptor as we continue to expand our partnerships with schools across the United States and follow our mission to protect every child, in every school, every day,” said Vesterman. Under Vesterman’s leadership, Raptor grew from serving 7,000 K-12 schools to serving more than 34,000 schools across the nation. Today, Raptor leads the country in providing K-12 software solutions for Visitor Management, Emergency Management, and Volunteer Management on one integrated technology platform.

“We are delighted to welcome Gray as Raptor’s CEO,” said Bob Nye, General Partner at 
JMI Equity and member of Raptor’s Board of Directors. “His exceptional leadership record, passion for building great teams, and ability to drive company growth will help Raptor continue expanding its market leadership in SaaS solutions for school safety.”

About Raptor Technologies®

Raptor Technologies is the nation’s leading provider of integrated school safety technologies for K-12 schools. Founded in 2002 with the mission to protect every child, every school, every day, Raptor® solutions include: Raptor Visitor Management, Raptor Emergency Management and Raptor Volunteer Management. Raptor’s newest product is Raptor Alert, an Alyssa’s Law compliant mobile panic alert system that expedites rapid response to school or district-wide emergency situations with a simple tap on a mobile device.

Currently, the Raptor system is being used by schools nationwide to screen students, staff, and visitors for COVID-19 via customized health screening questions and to run detailed contact tracing reports.

As of 2020, over 34,000 U.S. schools trust Raptor to help protect their students and staff.

Raptor Technologies is a privately held corporation based in Houston, Texas. For more information, visit www.raptortech.com.

About JMI Equity

JMI Equity is a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software companies. Founded in 1992, JMI has invested in over 150 businesses in its target markets, successfully completed over 100 exits, and raised more than $4 billion of committed capital. JMI partners with exceptional management teams to help build their companies into industry leaders. For more information, visit www.jmi.com.

Media Contact

Ida Yenney, KCPR for Raptor Technologies
818-419-0516
[email protected]