NICOSIA, Cyprus, March 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Global iGaming platform BC.GAME has announced plans to expand upon its first esports team led by a quintet of world-class players. The BC.GAME ESPORTS team will compete on the global stage in 2025 against the world’s best CS2 players and be complemented by the formation of new BC.GAME teams.

The creation of BC.GAME ESPORTS in 2024 has expanded the BC.GAME brand and spotlighted the platform’s innovative iGaming offerings. In the process, it’s raising the profile of the five acclaimed CS2 players who will compete for top prizes in major tournaments in 2025 and beyond.

Tactical FPS game Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) is one of the world’s most popular esports games, attracting international teams that compete for millions of dollars in prize money. The BC.GAME ESPORTS team is composed of CS2 pros jkaem (Norway), nawwk (Sweden), Cypher (UK), pr1metapz (Germany), and Nexa (Serbia). Their combined skill and experience have equipped the team to challenge for prizes on the CS2 circuit.

Since forming in 2024, BC.GAME ESPORTS has already secured the Euproleague S17 Championship, United21 S23 Championship, and qualified for IEM Dallas 2025, making a bold statement on the international stage. At the IEM Dallas 2025 Europe Closed Qualifier, BC.GAME ESPORTS’ jkaem ranked second in player ratings (1.43), showcasing the team’s exceptional form.

30-year-old jkaem, who serves as team Rifler, boasts over 190,000 followers and a CS2 K/D (kill/death) ratio of 1.23. Four team members have a positive K/D ratio, with their credentials burnished by their coronation as Euproleague Season 17 Champions.

The early success of the BC.GAME ESPORTS team lays a strong foundation for further tournaments in 2025 while supporting BC.GAME’s broader goals of integrating crypto and esports. Through mainstreaming decentralized gaming economies, BC.GAME aims to unlock new experiences for players and fans alike.

While supporting its core CS2 team as the year progresses, BC.GAME ESPORTS plans to expand into more esports titles and collaborate with global teams and tournament organizers. In doing so, it aims to establish itself as the most influential esports brand in the Web3 era.

About BC.GAME ESPORTS

Founded in 2024, BC.GAME ESPORTS is an esports organization committed to global brand development and building authentic connections with the gaming community. Its CS2 team, formed of five of the world’s best Counter-Strike 2 players, has already enjoyed early tournament success. As BC.GAME ESPORTS expands into other esports, its founding team will be complemented by additional players that will challenge for top prizes while inspiring a new generation of gamers.

Learn more: BC.GAME ESPORTS

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Leveraging Reasoning models to Simplify Market Entry and Global Sourcing for SMEs

HANGZHOU, China, March 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group (“Alibaba International”) announced today that its artificial intelligence (AI)-driven business-to-business (B2B) search engine, Accio, has surpassed 1 million users within five months of launch. To further empower small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), two new features—Business Research and Deep Search—are now available, offering AI-driven solutions for market entry and global sourcing.

Recent AI Momentum at Alibaba

Accio is an AI-native application designed to simplify global trade for SMEs. Built on Alibaba’s foundational technologies—including the Qwen large language model available as open-source—Accio leverages reasoning models fine-tuned with real industry data across the internet. These models power Accio’s multilingual capabilities and ability to generate precise market insights and actionable sourcing strategies.

“Reaching 1 million users is just the beginning. Our goal is to consistently refine our toolkit, enabling SMEs to seamlessly integrate AI functionalities into their workflows,” said Kuo Zhang, President of Alibaba.com, a leading platform for global B2B e-commerce and a business unit of Alibaba International. “With the enhanced Accio, anyone can now turn vague product ideas into actionable plans in minutes, not months. Everyone can get a shot at becoming an entrepreneur.”

Business Research: From Insights to Execution

Accio’s Business Research streamlines market analysis by automating labor-intensive tasks like data collection and trend tracking. Instead of juggling scattered reports, users input broad goals—such as launching a product in a new region—and receive structured, real-time reports on consumer demand, pricing trends and competitive landscapes. The tool identifies high-potential niches, and even generates ready-to-use business plans with cost estimates and supplier recommendations. This allows SMEs to act swiftly on opportunities without months of groundwork.

Deep Search: Precision Sourcing, Simplified

Deep Search tackles the complexities of global sourcing by adapting to intricate requirements—whether technical specs, certifications or budget constraints. If a query yields few results, it will intelligently refine searches using synonyms or industry terms, mimicking procurement experts. The feature also vets suppliers for compliance and reliability, delivering AI-curated shortlists in minutes. By translating decades of Alibaba’s trade data into an intuitive interface, it empowers newcomers to source like seasoned professionals.

Revamping Global Trade with AI

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A recent Alibaba.com survey of over 4,000 sourcing decision-makers across the US, UK, Germany and France revealed that nearly 64% plan to integrate AI into their sourcing strategies by 2025. Their top motivations include long-term business growth, efficiency improvements and cost reductions.

With global trade projected to exceed $33 trillion in 2024^[1], businesses are increasingly adopting advanced technologies to stay competitive. Tools like Accio address this need by simplifying AI adoption.

Alibaba.com is also undergoing a comprehensive upgrade to incorporate Accio’s capabilities, empowering its 50 million SME buyers and sellers to identify business opportunities and connect with trustworthy suppliers.

To try the new product, please visit: Accio.ai or Accio.com

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About Alibaba International

Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group (Alibaba International) is dedicated to supporting the development of global digital trade with AI-powered technology. It operates various platforms with distinctive business models, covering multiple countries and regions around the world.

Media Contact

Lingnan Cui
Alibaba International
[email protected]

^[1] https://unctad.org/news/global-trade-set-reach-new-high-opportunities-and-challenges-developing-economies-2025#:~:text=Global%20trade%20is%20set%20to,global%20trade%20despite%20persistent%20challenges. 

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SINGAPORE, March 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Pine Labs, a fintech platform, has announced a partnership with Visa (NYSE: V) to introduce Visa Instalment Solutions (VIS) on Pine Labs’ multi-issuer payment solution across key markets in Southeast Asia.

Previously, merchants used to sign up with multiple issuers and deploy multiple payment terminals to process instalment transactions at the point of sale. The collaboration between Pine Labs and Visa will enable merchants more flexibility and affordability to offer seamless instalment payment options for domestic and cross-border transactions. Merchants in Southeast Asia including Courts, Hooga and Chicco will be able to offer this integrated instalment solution.

Visa Instalment Solutions will be first introduced on Pine Labs’ network of merchants in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, and subsequently in Thailand, Indonesia and other Southeast Asia markets.

Dheeraj Chowdhry, Chief Business Officer – SEA, Pine Labs, said, “This collaboration plays on the strength of Visa’s vast global network and Pine Labs’ tech capabilities to provide flexible and intuitive instalment payment options for consumers. Facilitating consumer finance on already approved credit lines using their existing credit cards is expected to be a win-win for cardholders and merchants. It empowers merchants and direct brands to boost ticket and basket size by taking the transaction up the affordability curve. This is further amplified by enablement of cross-border instalments during purchase – a feature that will be a ‘market-first’ across the instalments landscape.”

Commenting on the partnership, Kim Hak J, Head of Products & Solution for Regional Southeast Asia, Visa, said, “According to Visa’s Green Shoots Radar Study^[1], the usage of instalment solutions in Southeast Asia is significantly higher than the Asia-Pacific average. The same study showed that over the past two years, we have observed a notable increase in instalment payments usage, particularly in Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. This trend underscores the growing preference for flexible payment options among consumers in these markets, and we are excited to support this demand through our partnership with Pine Labs.”

As a participant in the program, Harry Higashiura, Chief Executive Officer, Courts Malaysia and Singapore, said, “As the leading omni-channel retailer in electrical, IT and furniture products across Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, we see demand for instalments when it comes to customer purchases. We are thrilled to participate in this initiative by Visa and Pine Labs to enable our customers with more options to pay for their purchases across our stores in the region.”

To know more, please visit www.pinelabs.com.

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_{[1] Visa Green Shoots Radar study – Wave 13 was conducted on January 2024 in 14 Asia Pacific Markets on over 8,000 consumers aged 18-65 years old to uncover insights on consumer sentiments, financial products ownership, payment behaviours and other topics.}

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