Fintech PR
‘The Cloud’ Secures $12 Million in Series B Funding, Acquires Leading UK Food Tech Startup KBOX, Aiming for Expansion in Europe
- Part of Abu Dhabi’s Hub71, The Cloud secures $12 million in Series B funding, with MENA Moonshots among the new investors, reflecting broad market confidence
- Strategic acquisition of KBOX adds 200 locations in the UK to The Cloud’s global portfolio, purchased for an undisclosed amount, signaling a strategic move into the European market with expansion planned in the UK, Lithuania, Belgium, and the Netherlands
- Founder & Chairman Georges Karam, alongside strategic investors, positions The Cloud as a disruptor in the food tech sector, aiming for a dual listing in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh by 2027 with a target of 8,000 locations
DUBAI, UAE, Feb. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The Cloud, a Hub71 food tech startup, has announced the successful first close of its $12 million Series B funding round out of a total $30 million it is raising. The funding round saw participation from a new investor, MENA Moonshots, showcasing confidence in The Cloud’s ambitions to innovate and expand.
This milestone, coupled with debt financing from Aluna Partners, and the strategic acquisition of the UK-based food tech startup KBOX, marks a significant stride for The Cloud, founded by Georges Karam, towards redefining the virtual dining landscape in the GCC and Europe.
With a vision deeply rooted in leveraging in-house technology to disrupt the food industry, The Cloud’s acquisition of KBOX strategically expands its global footprint by 200 locations in the UK. This move underlines the company’s commitment to driving innovation and asserting leadership in the food tech sector, setting the stage for rapid expansion across the UK and other strategic European markets such as Lithuania, Belgium, and Netherlands.
The Series B funding, a balanced mix of equity and debt, is a testament to The Cloud’s business model and its vision. Having initially raised $10 million in the Series A funding, this round brings The Cloud’s total funds raised to $22 million, which highlights the company’s capacity to attract strategic partners like MENA Moonshots. The investments extend beyond capital, providing invaluable expertise and access to networks as The Cloud ambitiously eyes new markets and innovative dining solutions.
Georges Karam, Founder & Chairman of The Cloud, shared his enthusiasm for the new developments, stating: “Our Series B funding and the acquisition of KBOX cement our role as disruptors in the global food tech sector. With a cumulative $22 million raised to date, we’re not only eyeing new markets but are set on increasing our market share in existing territories. Our in-house developed technology and strategy for further acquisitions underscore our belief in the industry’s consolidation and our commitment to scaling strong homegrown brands internationally. Looking forward, we continue to actively eye more strategic acquisitions while also seeking to raise further capital.”
Stefano Sciacca, Managing Director at Aluna Partners, said, “The online food delivery market is a mega trend that is here to stay. We believe that The Cloud will gain significant market share in the UK market through the acquisition of KBOX. Having looked at many food tech business models, we believe The Cloud is emerging as a global market leader and are excited to support such a fast-growing venture.”
The additional capital from the Series B funding will be instrumental in accelerating growth, with a significant portion earmarked for international expansion, enhancing operational capabilities, and further developing The Cloud’s proprietary technology platform.
With a presence in 7 countries and 91 cities, and ambitions to reach 8,000 locations by the end of 2027, The Cloud is on track for a dual listing in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, marking a new era of growth for the virtual chain in the EMEA region. As the company advances on this growth trajectory, it remains committed to its mission of transforming the global dining experience, empowering restaurateurs, and setting new benchmarks for quality and innovation in the food tech industry.
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Fintech PR
REALTY ONE GROUP INTERNATIONAL’S PRESIDENT, CORY VASQUEZ, TAKES REINS IN NEW ERA OF GROWTH
Network of Raving Fans Fuels the Opening of New Realty ONE Group Locations Around the World
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif., Sept. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Realty ONE Group International, a modern, purpose-driven lifestyle brand and ONE of the fastest-growing franchisors in the world, is ambitiously entering a new era of growth pioneered by a dream team of leaders, including its new president, Cory Vasquez.
The UNBrokerage, as it’s known in real estate, just surpassed 20,000 real estate professionals worldwide as the brand’s popularity continues to soar because of its 100% commission model and comprehensive offering of business coaching, support, tools and marketing.
“We know we have the model of now and of the future and for so many Brokers who are nervous and uncertain, this is an easy plug-and-play to take their office and their real estate professionals to the next level,“ said Kuba Jewgieniew, CEO and Founder of Realty ONE Group International. “I’m proud of how this executive team, with Cory as our new President, is leading with calm and cleverly innovating new ways to keep growing the brand so we can help more people achieve greater success faster.”
Vasquez and industry legend Vinnie Tracey have been Co-Presidents for the last few months until Tracey’s official retirement this week. Tracey will remain an advisor to the thriving brand who recently welcomed 1,200 real estate professionals across ten branches in Florida last month. The conversion of ONE of the country’s top independent brokerages is proof that more entrepreneurs see Realty ONE Group as the model of the future.
Vasquez has almost thirty years of marketing, communications and management experience, nearly two decades of which are in real estate.
Realty ONE Group International claimed the No. 1 spot for real estate franchisors for the third year in a row on Entrepreneur’s highly competitive 2024 Franchise 500® list. The only modern, lifestyle brand in the industry now has more than 20,000 real estate professionals in more than 450 locations in 49 U.S. states, Washington D.C. and 20 more countries and territories.
Learn more at www.OwnAOne.com.
About Realty ONE Group International
Realty ONE Group International is one of the fastest growing, modern, purpose-driven lifestyle brands in real estate whose ONE Purpose is to open doors across the globe – ONE home, ONE dream, ONE life at a time. The organization has rapidly grown to more than 20,000 real estate professionals in over 450 locations across 20 countries and territories because of its proven business model, full-service brokerages, dynamic COOLTURE, superior business coaching through ONE University, outstanding support and its proprietary technology, zONE. Realty ONE Group International has been named the number ONE real estate brand by Entrepreneur Magazine for three consecutive years and continues to surge ahead, opening doors, not only for its clients but for real estate professionals and franchise owners. To learn more, visit www.RealtyONEGroup.com.
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Fintech PR
HTX Ventures: Bitcoin Scripting Advances Unlock Potential for Secure and Scalable BTCFI
SINGAPORE, Sept. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — HTX Ventures, the global investment division of HTX, today released its latest research analysing Bitcoin’s potential and challenges in the field of Bitcoin decentralized finance (BTCFI). The report, titled Exploring the BTCFI Rabbit Hole from the Perspective of Bitcoin’s Programmability, aims to help readers understand the BTCFI sector better, by exploring the evolutionary path of Bitcoin programming, delving into how Bitcoin programming can support various BTCFI applications, showcasing the current real-world BTCFI implementation scenarios, and explaining the underlying logic of BTCFI’s future growth and adoption.
HTX Ventures has been contributing to BTCFI for a long time. As stated in its 2024 Half-Year Investment Report, BTCFI is highlighted as one of HTX Ventures’ six key investment directions in 2024. Some of HTX Ventures’ portfolio companies in the BTCFI sector include Babylon, BounceBit, COREx, and more.
The new report once again shows HTX Ventures’ interest in BTCFI. It begins with the foundations of the Bitcoin contracts, which were laid fourteen years ago by Satoshi. Understanding the basics of Bitcoin programming involves several concepts, including Transaction Outputs (TXO), Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO), scriptSig, and Opcodes. “Bitcoin script programming is about programming money and enabling a specific amount of money to respond to particular input data. By designing the scriptPubKey, opcodes, and the interaction process between users, we can offer cryptographic guarantees for the key state transitions of Bitcoin contracts, ensuring the contracts’ proper execution,” the report points out.
There are some mechanisms to be used to enable the implementation of different types of transactions, including MultiSig, Timelocks, Hashlocks, Flow Control, and SIGHASH. The report explains, “the basic model of Bitcoin programming is where UTXO locking scripts specify verification conditions, unlocking scripts provide data, and opcodes in locking scripts indicate the verification program. The funds can be spent once the verification program is passed.”
There are some core limitations, however, such as only a few verification programs being available, Bitcoin scripts having no computational power, and UTXO unlocking conditions being completely independent.
Unlike the computation-based Ethereum contracts, Bitcoin contracts are verification-based, which has brought many challenges in developing BTCFI products. Despite the difficulties, “over the ten years of developing Bitcoin contracts, the ingenious use of cryptographic algorithms and signatures has significantly enhanced privacy, efficiency, and decentralization, making BTCFI products possible,” the report states, and starts introducing Bitcoin programming milestones. Innovative tools, such as the Discreet Log Contract (DLC), Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions (PSBT), and MuSig2 bring new solutions to the problems in Bitcoin programming, driving the development of BTCFI.
The Taproot upgrade activated in November 2021 was revolutionary for the Bitcoin ecosystem, allowing Bitcoin to hold in custody large-scale smart contracts with tens of thousands of signatories while concealing all participants and maintaining the size of a single-signature transaction. This makes more complex on-chain BTCFI operations possible and significantly improves privacy and transaction efficiency.
Such technological innovations pave the way for BTCFI’s further development. Then in January 2023, Ordinals were proposed, which aimed to assign each sat a unique identifier and attribute, so as to transform it into a unique NFT. The creation and trading of Bitcoin NFTs were realized, not only expanding the uses of Bitcoin but also allowing users to directly create and trade digital assets on the Bitcoin blockchain. This led to the introduction of BRC-20, a token system for on-chain recording and off-chain processing that uses JSON data’s ordinal inscriptions to deploy token contracts, mint tokens, and transfer them.
The naissance of Ordinals and BRC-20 created trading demand and blue-chip assets for BTCFI. More importantly, they offered many BTCFI projects new ideas based on indexer programming that enhanced Bitcoin’s contract capabilities.
Bitcoin’s programmability has come a long way and made great progress, forming a thriving BTCFI ecosystem with more and more application scenarios of BTCFI arising. The report lastly lists some notable BTCFI implementations, including BTC staking provider Babylon, asset issuance platforms Unisat and Magic Eden, lending protocol Liquidium, BTCFI scaling solution Fractal Bitcoin, and more.
The emergence of BTCFI applications indicates that its market potential is becoming evident. With Bitcoin becoming more and more mainstream, the market demand for BTCFI use cases will also increase, fostering a new financial ecosystem centered around Bitcoin. “The formation of this ecosystem will propel Bitcoin further beyond the ‘digital gold’ narrative, establishing it as an indispensable decentralized financial infrastructure in the global economic system,” the report concludes.
To read the full report, please visit: https://square.htx.com/htx-ventures-exploring-the-btcfi-rabbit-hole-from-the-perspective-of-bitcoins-programmability/
About HTX Ventures
HTX Ventures, the global investment division of HTX, integrates investment, incubation, and research to identify the best and brightest teams worldwide. With more than a decade-long history as an industry pioneer, HTX Ventures excels at identifying cutting-edge technologies and emerging business models within the sector. To foster growth within the blockchain ecosystem, we provide comprehensive support to projects, including financing, resources, and strategic advice.
HTX Ventures currently backs over 300 projects spanning multiple blockchain sectors, with select high-quality initiatives already trading on the HTX exchange. Furthermore, as one of the most active FOF (Fund of Funds) funds, HTX Ventures invests in 30 top global funds and collaborates with leading blockchain funds such as Polychain, Dragonfly, Bankless, Gitcoin, Figment, Nomad, Animoca, and Hack VC to jointly build a blockchain ecosystem. Visit us here.
Feel free to contact us for investment and collaboration at [email protected]
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Fintech PR
HTX Announces Strategic Partnership with IBEX to Jointly Promote Global Bitcoin and Lightning Network Applications
SINGAPORE, Sept. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — HTX, a global leading platform for digital assets, recently announced a strategic partnership with IBEX, a Fintech at the forefront of Bitcoin Lightning Network innovation that leverages the Bitcoin and Lightning Network protocols to offer global settlement solutions. Through the deep integration of Lightning Network technology, this collaboration aims to enhance the payments efficiency, reduce transaction costs on the HTX platform, explore emerging markets together and provide users with more diverse financial services.
IBEX Has Become a Key Advocate in Bitcoin Transactions
As a company dedicated to providing fintech solutions on the Bitcoin Lightning Network, IBEX focuses on reshaping the global payment ecosystem with its innovative crossborder instant settlement capabilities. Founded in 2018, IBEX aims to offer fast, secure, and low-cost settlement solutions through the technological advantages of the Bitcoin Lightning Network. Its platform provides modular API, helping enterprises easily integrate Bitcoin and Lightning Network functions to connect to the global financial network.
Its core advantages include:
- Instant settlement: IBEX’s Lightning settlement system allows global transactions to be completed within seconds, significantly reducing the confirmation time compared with tradfi and defi transactions. For this reason, it is particularly suitable for scenarios requiring instant payments, such as online shopping and international remittances.
- Low transaction fees: Through the Lightning Network, IBEX can substantially lower transaction costs, thus avoiding the high fees associated with traditional blockchain networks. This saves costs for both merchants and consumers.
- High security: IBEX employs advanced encryption technology and multi-factor authentication measures in its system to ensure transaction security and protect user data.
IBEX pays utmost attention to security, reliability, and compliance, offering one-stop solutions for companies operating under various legal frameworks. As the Lightning Network continues to evolve, IBEX has become a key partner for crossborder settlement solutions.
Lightning Network Integration: A New Upgrade for the HTX Platform
As part of the partnership, HTX will integrate IBEX’s Lightning Network technology into its platform, which has entered the testing phase. The Lightning Network is a second-layer protocol designed for Bitcoin, aiming to increase the speed and scalability of Bitcoin transactions. Through this integration, users on the HTX platform will enjoy faster transaction confirmations and lower fees, so user experience and platform competitiveness will be remarkably enhanced.
Apart from technical collaboration, HTX and IBEX will jointly explore various application scenarios, including payments, transfers, and settlements. They also plan to offer deposit/withdrawal services for IBEX on the HTX platform. Both parties will gradually expand into other business areas, thus deepening and broadening their collaboration.
Both parties will also work closely in brand building, social media, campaigns, and marketing. In the future, HTX and IBEX will co-host various marketing campaigns, such as AMA events, press conferences, and other promotional activities to increase brand awareness and attract more users. The two parties will support each other in their respective advantageous markets, thus expanding their market influence globally.
Forge Powerful Alliance to Jointly Explore Emerging Markets
HTX and IBEX will jointly expand global markets, especially the Asian Latin American, and African markets which promise great potential. HTX will leverage its market penetration in these regions and combine it with IBEX’s Lightning settlement system so as to popularize cryptocurrency payments among local merchants and consumers. This will benefit both merchants and consumers with more convenient payment solutions and lower transaction costs.
Strategically, this collaboration between HTX and IBEX will focus on the application of the Lightning Network within HTX and its ecosystem. IBEX will support HTX in exploring the potential of the Latin American and African markets, particularly in areas like deposit/withdrawal channels, local exchange partners, and Opinion Leaders. In addition, HTX will assist IBEX in brand and business expansion in the Asian market, further increasing its global influence.
An HTX spokesperson stated, “Through this strategic partnership, HTX and IBEX will jointly promote the application and popularization of Bitcoin and Lightning Network technology worldwide, providing users with more efficient, secure, and convenient digital asset trading services.”
Ry Sterling, Head of New Markets, EMEA for IBEX also said “The partnership between HTX and IBEX is the first step to connecting the Global South and Asia via the Lightning Network. We look forward to expanding HTX’s LN features as well as opening channels to new markets and to local IBEX LN partners across Asia, Latin America and Africa.”
About IBEX
IBEX offers fintech solutions on the Bitcoin Lightning Network, focusing on real-time global settlement, scalability and regulatory compliance. Their platform provides modular APIs for integrating Bitcoin and Lightning functionalities, allowing businesses to connect to a global financial network. They emphasize security, reliability, and regulatory features, making their services suitable for companies operating under various legal frameworks. The site also highlights the growing adoption and capacity of the Lightning Network, reflecting its increasing role in Bitcoin transactions.
For more details, visit IBEX
About HTX
Founded in 2013, HTX has evolved over a decade from a simple cryptocurrency exchange to a comprehensive blockchain business ecosystem. This expansion covers a wide range of services including digital asset trading, financial derivatives, wallets, research, investments, incubation, and more. As a world-leading portal to Web 3.0, HTX is committed to a growth strategy focused on global expansion, ecological prosperity, wealth effect, and safety and compliance. This approach enables us to offer comprehensive, safe, and reliable services and value to virtual currency enthusiasts around the world, reinforcing our position as a global gateway to Web3.
Contact Details
Ruder Finn Asia
[email protected]
Company Website
https://www.htx.com
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