Business Intelligence Ops platform Datalogz closes $2.3m Series Seed after successful Fortune 500 pilots

Datalogz mission is to end Business intelligence analytics sprawl.

Business Intelligence Ops platform Datalogz announced the closing of a $2.3M Series Seed round. The round was led by Squadra Ventures, with participation by Berkeley SkyDeckTrajectory Ventures, and Mana Ventures.


[Datalogz CEO Logan Havern Presenting at Berkeley SkyDeck’s Demo Day on September 27, 2022]


Octane Completes $407 Million Asset Backed Securitization and AAA Rating from S&P

MORE OCTANE FINTECH NEWS

Octane Launches "Octane Preferred", B2B Loyalty Program with Exclusive Benefits
Octane Surpasses $1B in Originations in 2022

New York City-based fintech Octane Lending which is revolutionizing the buying experience for major recreational purchases, closed a $406.9 million securitization (“OCTL 2023-1“) collateralized by its fixed-rate installment power sports loans. This is the largest of Octane’s seven transactions to date and the first to receive a AAA rating from both Standard & Poor’s (S&P)* and Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA)**.

OCTL 2023-1 issued five classes of fixed-rate notes: Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D, and Class E, which S&P* and KBRA** rated as AAA/AAA, AA/AA+, A/A+, BBB/BBB, and BB/BB+, respectively, in a private offering pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. This transaction follows a period of significant growth and expansion into new markets for Octane.

Through this issuance, the company continued to diversify its investor base with seven new investors, which is a testament to the strength and growth of the program. Additionally, due to significant investor demand, Octane was able to secure an upsize of the transaction from an initial target issuance of $305.2 million to $406.9 million in notes. Truist Securities acted as lead book-runner and structuring agent, with J.P. Morgan as joint book-runner.

“We’re pleased and grateful to see such strong interest from our institutional investor partners, particularly in the current market environment, and will leverage their support to bring our fast, easy buying experience to even more customers,” said Steven Fernald, Chief Financial Officer at Octane. “Our capital markets strategy is one of Octane’s many differentiators and we will continue to build on the strength of both our program and underlying business in the future.”

In both of Octane’s two asset-backed securitizations in 2022,  OCTL 2022-1 and OCTL 2022-2, the senior class of notes were rated AAA by Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA)** and AA by S&P*. The company has now completed nearly $2.3 billion of asset-backed securitizations since launching the program in December 2019.


Fintech Marco secures $200 million financing toto Enable LatAm Exporters' Access to the Global Economy

Financial Tech Platform Marco is Targeting a $350 Billion Gap in Latin America Trade Finance

Marco lent $100 Million faster than any other LatAm fintech in 2022, financed over $254 million in under two years of operations and saw 1,500%+ CAGR in financing with no losses between 2021 and 2022.

Financing led by MidCap Financial and Castlelake in Marco, the first tech-enabled trade financing platform built for small and medium-sized businesses in Latin America and the United States— announced today it has received a $200 million credit facility from leading middle market lender MidCap Financial and global asset-based private credit specialist, Castlelake. Marco has also announced it raised $8.2 million in equity funding, led by Arcadia Funds LLC. The new funding will support Marco's growing client base and portfolio to expand its trade finance platform and suite of trade services aimed at closing the $2 trillion global trade finance gap that disproportionately impacts small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

SMEs power global business. They account for more than 50% of all employment worldwide, — 80% in developing countries — represent 90% of all businesses and contribute up to 40% of GDP in emerging economies. However, the biggest obstacle to their growth is access to financing; banks reject 50% of SME applications globally and fewer than 10% of SMEs in Latin America (LatAm) have access to financing despite accounting for 90% of all businesses in the region. Banks have largely retreated from SME trade lending following a tighter regulatory climate driven by the 2008 financial crisis. Legacy lenders fail to understand SME risk and depend on outdated, lengthy financing processes that stifle growth of small and mid-sized businesses. This has led to a $2T global trade finance gap — estimated at $350 billion in (LatAm) — that blocks too many exporters from global markets.

Marco takes a unique approach to closing this trade finance gap: it couples smart decision models with best-in-class industry experts. The company is the first operating system for SMEs in trade in LatAm addressing the most pressing problem in today's lending climate: providing them the liquidity and tools they need quickly, seamlessly, and during bear market cycles.

Marco unleashes the big power of small businesses by simplifying, accelerating, and reimagining cross-border trade with cutting-edge technology. Its tech-powered risk solutions outperform traditional financing methods, enabling SMEs to receive a decision within days instead of weeks and 24-hour approval turnaround, accelerating their ability to participate in the global economy.

"Marco is addressing one of the most pressing yet under-recognized economic issues of today: the ongoing inability for small exporters in emerging markets to swiftly access capital," said co-founder and COO Peter D. Spradling. "We believe that when there's economic uncertainty is exactly the time when lenders should help businesses. The umbrella should be given to businesses when the forecast shows rain, not when it's sunny."

The credit facility and equity financing follow a year of significant growth for the three-year-old fintech. Last year, Marco lent $100 million faster than any other LatAm fintech, it has financed over $254 million with zero losses since inception and saw 1,500%+ CAGR in funding between 2021 and 2022. Marco aims to fund $750 million by the end of 2023, focusing on target segments in the U.S. and across LatAm, specifically in MexicoEcuadorColombia, and Peru, where total exports exceed $490 billion.

The Miami-based fintech — which also has offices in Montevideo and New York — plans to expand its ecosystem to continue providing SMEs with critical trade finance products, such as factoring, purchase order financing, and asset-based lending, and to grow its exporter-focused trade services suite.

Marco's leadership team includes industry experts Barry Kastner and Fred Leder who jointly have almost a century of experience in asset-backed lending. The company recently hired its chief technology officer, Nik Bougalis, who previously served as director of engineering at fintech company Ripple Labs, where he spent the past decade building a more open and accessible financial system. At Marco, Bougalis will leverage this experience, leading a growing team of engineers working to democratize and streamline access to financing for SMEs today - and developing the vision and infrastructure for the cross-border trade ecosystem of the future.

"We're extremely proud to have provided small businesses with more than $250M of liquidity in two short years, but the best is yet to come," said Marco co-founder and CEO Jacob Shoihet. "Our team is working on some revolutionary products that address exporters' critical needs, crafted by our new CTO, Nik Bougalis. Our new financing comes during a tremendous period of growth at Marco and demand for our services and will help us meet the pressing liquidity demands of small exporters who are increasingly vital to a healthy, thriving, and resilient global and borderless economy."

About Marco
Marco is on a mission to simplify and accelerate cross-border trade by providing reliable working capital and critical tools for SMEs in the United States and Latin America. It addresses the $1.5 trillion global trade finance gap by developing proprietary risk models that process data in real time to dynamically assess risk and mitigate capital loss. The company is the first operating system for SMEs in trade in LatAm addressing the most pressing problem in today's lending climate: providing them the liquidity and tools they need quickly and seamlessly. Marco unleashes the big power of small businesses by simplifying, accelerating, and reimagining cross-border trade with cutting-edge technology. . Founded in 2020 by Peter D. Spradling and Jacob Shoihet, Marco is headquartered in Miami, FL, with additional offices in New York and Montevideo. For more information on how Marco can help power your business with working capital, please visit marcofi.com.

About MidCap Financial
MidCap Financial is a middle-market focused, specialty finance firm that provides senior debt solutions to companies across all industries. As of September 30, 2022, MidCap Financial provides administrative or other services for over $43.6 billion of commitments*. MidCap Financial is managed by Apollo Capital Management, L.P., a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, Inc, pursuant to an investment management agreement. Apollo had assets under management of approximately $523 billion as of September 30, 2022, in credit, private equity and real assets funds. For more information about MidCap Financial, please visit http://www.midcapfinancial.com. For more information about Apollo, please visit http://www.apollo.com.


Narrative partners with Equifax to enable customization of financial datasets

Automotive businesses can now use Narrative to create custom cuts of select Equifax audience segments

Narrative, the world's leading data collaboration platform, today announced a partnership with Equifax, a global data, analytics and technology company, to streamline access to and activation of unique wealth, economic and credit-based audience data from Equifax for automotive businesses. The partnership is designed to give marketing and analytics teams the ability to create custom segments from Equifax datasets and deliver them to activation endpoints with just a few clicks.

"Equifax understands that the automotive industry—with its continued effort to improve marketing ROI, consumer affordability challenges and a crowded syndicated data marketplace—requires quick and easy access to highly specific and impactful insights that can help improve the customer experience and ultimately conversion," said Lena Bourgeois, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Automotive Services at Equifax. "Making our insights available on Narrative's data collaboration platform enables automotive businesses to create unique, targeted segments that can help deliver personalized messages to their target audiences."

Narrative's easy-to-use, no-code software enables marketers to filter proprietary financial-based datasets from Equifax according to precise criteria to create custom audience segments that meet their specific needs and use cases. Users can then send their customized datasets directly to marketing activation endpoints including advertising platforms like The Trade Desk.

"Robust financial datasets from Equifax are a unique and valuable source of insights for companies around the world," said Nick Jordan, founder and CEO of Narrative. "With their data available through Narrative's data collaboration platform, it's now easier than ever for businesses to access the specific insights they need at a price that works for them."

Equifax solutions assist marketers in achieving more targeted, meaningful interactions across the customer journey with datasets that help financial services and consumer marketing firms gain a more complete picture of households' financial and economic positions.

The Equifax datasets now available through Narrative's data collaboration platform include:

  • Auto Segments
  • Income360® Digital
  • Discretionary Spending Dollars™ Digital
  • Economic Spectrum™ Digital
  • Economic Cohorts™ Digital
  • Ability to Pay Index™ Digital
  • Aggregated FICO Segments
  • Credit Card Segments
  • Mortgage Segments

For more information on the Equifax datasets available through Narrative's data collaboration platform, please visit www.narrative.io/data-partners/equifax.

Narrative

Narrative is the data collaboration platform that makes it easy to buy, sell, and win. Narrative eliminates the inefficiencies in data transactions that hold businesses back from maximizing the success of their most important data-driven initiatives. Innovative brands and direct-to-consumer companies leverage Narrative's technology to fuel powerful data strategies, build data monetization businesses, power growth marketing, and inform product development. Founded in 2016, Narrative is a private company headquartered in New York City.

Equifax

At Equifax (NYSE: EFX), we believe knowledge drives progress. As a global data, analytics, and technology company, we play an essential role in the global economy by helping financial institutions, companies, employers, and government agencies make critical decisions with greater confidence. Our unique blend of differentiated data, analytics, and cloud technology drives insights to power decisions to move people forward. Headquartered in Atlanta and supported by more than 14,000 employees worldwide, Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America, Central and South AmericaEurope, and the Asia Pacific region. For more information, visit Equifax.com.


Ameriflight places order for 20 Natilus Aerospace autonomous feeder cargo aircraft valued at $134M

Natilus Announces Purchase Agreement with Ameriflight for 20 Cargo Aircraft – Bringing Total Orders to $6.8 Billion for 460+ Aircraft  

  • Ameriflight placed an order for 20 Natilus autonomous feeder cargo aircraft valued at $134M in a strategic move to be the first regional U.S. carrier to develop a new roadmap for the future of air freight operations.
  • Total commitments for Natilus are now $6.8 Billion for the delivery of 460+ aircraft.
  • Natilus aims to address pilot shortages using its autonomous technologies.

Natilus, a U.S. corporation designing and producing the world’s first autonomous aircraft for efficient and sustainable freight transport, has announced that Ameriflight, an industry leader in freight operations, has become the first regional U.S. carrier to sign an Aircraft Purchase Agreement with Natilus. The Ameriflight agreement for 20 Natilus Kona feeder aircraft valued at $134M brings total commitments to $6.8 billion for delivery of 460+ aircraft.

Ameriflight is the nation’s largest Part 135 cargo airline, serving 200 destinations throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and South America – with more than 1,500 weekly departures. As a critical part of the supply chain with UPS being its largest customer, Ameriflight’s primary business is moving high-priority air freight to and from remote areas across the country for overnight express carriers.

“Through this strategic partnership, we are positioning Ameriflight to build the roadmap for the future in cargo operations and be the first regional operator for Natilus in the United States,” said Alan Rusinowitz, President and Chief Operating Officer of Ameriflight. “Our goal is to grow our product and transform the way we do business through innovation and collaboration, and now through this new partnership with Natilus, Ameriflight will connect the world safely within a sustainable business model.”

“Innovation in design allows the Natilus fleet to carry more volume at lower costs, and the exploration of new sustainable fuels will lower carbon emissions,” explained Aleksey Matyushev, Co-Founder and CEO of Natilus “The Ameriflight agreement is a major move forward for the air cargo industry to strengthen the regional supply chain”.

The Natilus fleet of carbon fiber, blended-wing-body designed cargo aircraft offer a 60% reduction to cost of operations and cuts carbon emissions by half – enabling the opening of new and emerging markets in remote areas, where larger aircraft do not have the runway capacity and/or infrastructure to land, through both scheduled and specialized operations. This will provide needed medicines, food and other important goods to develop these outlying areas.

“Developing autonomous solutions that are purpose-built to address the needs of the air cargo market is one important step toward developing more robust long-term solutions,” continued Matyushev. “Autonomous technologies seek to utilize labor more efficiently by allowing a single pilot to control multiple aircraft, helping address the dire pilot shortage”.

About Ameriflight

Ameriflight is the nation’s largest Part 135 cargo airline. Founded in 1968, Ameriflight has grown from a small air charter and cargo service carrier to an international operator with 14 bases, 1,500 weekly departures, and 200 destinations. The company is headquartered in Dallas, TX and has more than 500 employees including over 150 pilots and over 100 aircraft. Ameriflight provides feeder services for overnight express carriers, as well as on-demand cargo charter services for customers with an array of priority shipping needs through its Expedited Supply Chain Solutions department. For more information, visit us at ameriflight.com.

About Natilus

Natilus was founded in 2016 to democratize the air cargo transport industry by designing and manufacturing a new fleet of blended wing body (BWB) autonomous freight aircraft that will commoditize airfreight while reducing air freight emissions by half. Natilus aircraft use existing ground infrastructure and standard air cargo containers to produce an innovative turnkey solution for customers.

The Natilus family of cargo aircraft includes:

  •     Kona – 3.8 ton payload short-haul feeder UAV
  •     Alisio – 60 ton payload medium/long range UAV
  •     Nordes – 100 ton payload long-range UAV

 

Follow us on LinkedIn: @Natilus.

Natilus Fact Sheet: https://natilus.co/natilus-faqs/

Media Kithttps://natilus.co/media-kit/


From Startup to Scaling Up and the critical transition from Founder to CEO

An overlooked key to growth: How well you transition from Founder to CEO determines how your company scales

A critical aspect of a startup's growth that is often overlooked, or not set as a component of a roadmap, is how well you transition from Founder to CEO. Which determines how your company scales.

Seed-stage Founders do everything. You have to early on. But when your startup starts to grow you can’t, "and shouldn’t", keep doing it all yourself.

That transition from startup to starting up is the biggest failure point in becoming a scalable organization, and then an enterprise. It is mission-critical to prepare ahead to empower the organization by wearing fewer hats, implementing measurable objectives, and holding each team member accountable for hitting their MBO's.

This is a fantastic podcast and read from NFX Ventures that talks about all the things you don't learn in school, only in the trenches, and the systems Founder CEOs use to transition into a high-growth organization.

This essay is adapted from the NFX Podcast: The Strategies of Elite CEOs, with Avishai Abrahami. Listen to the full podcast.

The transition from Founder to CEO is a watershed moment in your company, and in your life. A great Founder creates something from nothing. A great CEO takes the next step, and builds mechanisms of success. They turn that vision into a well-functioning machine.

NFX General Partner Gigi Levy-Weiss reveals how to get there, with special guest Avishai Abrahami, the founder of Wix. Avishai built Wix into a company of about 5,000 people, with 1.4 billion in revenue.

An overlooked key to growth: How well you transition from Founder to CEO determines how your company scales.

Seed-stage Founders have a hand in everything: marketing, hiring, product, sales, everything. You have to early on.  But when your startup starts to grow you can’t – and shouldn’t – keep doing it all yourself. Once you reach 30-50 people, your goal should be to build a team and mechanisms that will do “everything” so that you, the CEO, can focus on leading and managing.

The deceptively simple secret: Elite CEOs build systems.

A few years ago I wrote an essay about what makes a strong startup CEO. Now, together with Avishai Abrahami, the founder and CEO of Wix, we deconstruct how strong CEOs also design strong systems — for hiring, product, speed, measurement, and even systems for failure.

Wix was founded in 2007 and has grown into a company with $1.4B in revenues and 5k+ employees. (Notably, Wix’s own project management tool was even spun out to become Monday.com).

This is how you set the stage for billion-dollar scale.

Hiring Systems

Before we dive into systems, let’s get this out of the way. Don’t worry about spending too much time on hiring. Take the time you need to surround yourself with the right people.

For example, Avishai hired 22 people before he settled on his CMO:

I cycled for 22 people before I found Omer Shai, my CMO. I hired and moved people to different things. I fired people. It was around 22 people that they hired within about a year and a half…When I got to Omer after a few weeks, it was obvious he was on a different level.

The takeaway: Avishai wasn’t afraid to try people out. He moved people around, he fired some people, he hired people in junior positions to see if they might grow into the role. And he took his time.

That said, eventually, it will become impossible to review each hire yourself. At that stage, you have to build a mechanism to look at candidates early:

1. Testing

You can’t tell who is going to be a “super talent” in an interview. That’s why Avishai tests every candidate before they join Wix. I’ve also done this at my companies: I like to give candidates “missions” to accomplish and present as part of the hiring process.

Here’s how Avishai “tests” incoming HR candidates, for example:

We test everyone in HR by letting them interview people who already work at Wix, who we know. That way, we see how well they evaluate somebody that we already know based on an interview. By doing that we’ve created a test that allows us to know how good somebody is.

Lots of Founders push back on this, or worry they will scare away good talent. Don’t worry. It says a lot about a person if they’re willing to demonstrate their skills.

2. Titles Don’t Matter

Wix lets employees set their own job titles. Job titles don’t change salary, roles or responsibilities. I don’t see many companies do this, but I’ve done it many times before and it works well.

This also allows Wix to hire people in junior roles and see if they might be a good fit for more senior positions. That allows you to wait, see who performs the best, and give them that role later on.

3. Fix Mistakes Quickly

When you recruit someone and they’re just okay after a few months, there are two schools of thought: give them a few more months to improve or fix the situation now.

Avishai believes in fixing mistakes quickly, because every hire affects the DNA of the organization. He put it this way:

My philosophy on this is that A players hire A players A+ players hire A+ players. B players hire C players. C players hire D players and D players hire F players, right? And so if you are not on top of that, and you don’t make super talents the majority, especially the managers in the team, you’ll end up with a really bad organization.

4. The “Types” of Talent to Hire

As your company grows, you’ll need people with different types of expertise to work on certain projects. There’s no “one type” of person that will work in every context.

For example, Wix is expanding into building websites for enterprise customers. This type of project requires people with experience with enterprise thinking.

In areas like marketing and product Avishai says tends to skew toward talent over experience:

In marketing and product I prefer people with less experience and a lot of talent so we can teach them how we do things. They don’t have to unlearn anything about how they already work. We teach them how we work. For developers it might be different because it takes a lot of time to be a really good developer, and it’s relatively easy moving from one environment to another…

Talent over experience tends to work well in roles where you already have a solid, effective approach.

Measurement Systems

Most Founders are good at measuring core KPIs, and bad at measuring support tasks. Here’s how we suggest you approach measurement:

1. If you can’t measure it, it didn’t happen.

You are almost certainly not measuring enough. You can’t get an accurate picture of your business from just 5 or so core KPIs.

When I was building my companies, I used to review metrics for about 15-20 minutes each morning. Avishai says his metrics tend to span more than 20 pages.

His policy: “If you can’t measure it, it didn’t happen.”

We measure everything. You can’t take pride in something that is unmeasurable. If you do marketing and you can’t measure an improvement, then it’s worth nothing. It didn’t happen from our perspective. It’s fine if you do things and it didn’t have the effect you wanted.

It’s important to point out that it’s fine if things don’t work. Some failure is good (more on this later). Don’t let fear of failure keep you from getting the full picture.

Here are just a few of concepts behind the data points Wix measures every day:

  • Conversion (on dollars, not percentage-based conversion)
  • Where people come from (what countries, keywords, etc)
  • Conversion on landing pages
  • Ads that work
  • Conversion from each one of those ads to the product
  • What people tried to do on-site
  • What they actually did
  • What they used in order to do that task
  • Correlation of success between what customers tried to do and what they actually did
  • What templates they choose
  • When did they churn
  • Why did they buy
  • What support questions do people ask
  • How much people complete on each website during each interaction

Measuring everything allows you to see what works for your customer and how you can scale it.

2. Share Measurements Widely

If you’re going to measure all these things, make sure you share them. Widely.

As a company grows, there’s some temptation to try to hide the full picture, or make things seem better than they are. But that leads to problems, and will kill innovation before it starts.

Wix shares all their metrics, all the time. Here’s why:

If you’re starting to build a company and you’re making sure you bring in great talent, if you give that talent all the information they need, great things will happen. Even without you doing anything. My belief is: share information as much as you can. All the sales, all the KPIs, what users did, what they didn’t do, all the issues in support…I would send reports to the level that people would just always come back and tell me: this is too much, we need to reduce it. And I would say, just don’t read it. I don’t mind. But I want it to be available all the time.

3. Differentiate between Good Failure and Bad Failure

When you start sharing data widely, it creates a good problem: everyone sees where the failures are.

People are often afraid to see failure. But you can change this perspective by distinguishing between good failures and bad failures.

Good failures happen when an underlying assumption is wrong. Sometimes you execute something well and it just doesn’t work. That’s okay. Now you know not to repeat this experiment.

A key thing to remember as a CEO: you must own the good failures. Avishai points out that this helps create an environment where it’s safe to fail while pursuing new ideas. That’s a good thing.

I would be the first guy to say: ‘it’s my project. I approved it, I wanted it.’ That has to be part of the language of the company. There’s no forum where we look at everything somebody did and say well you did this and it didn’t work. All those tests happen in the background for the organization as part of the day-to-day activity. So by doing that, I think we’ve created much more freedom for people to fail.

On the flipside, bad failure happens when a project is executed poorly. It’s bad because you can’t evaluate the underlying idea if the execution is lacking.

That kind of failure can reflect individual performance.

Speed Systems

In theory, as companies grow they get slower. Avishai identified two reasons that companies get slower.

The first is a lack of urgency. By that he means that an individual employee begins to feel like they have no effect on the company’s trajectory:

A lack of urgency means if you work at Microsoft, you don’t feel Microsoft will be affected by what you do. It might matter to you, to your career, or to your boss, but it’s not going to influence Microsoft’s bottom line.

You overcome this by connecting employees to customers. It’s a way to prove that what you do matters to someone. That’s key to maintaining motivation.

The second reason companies slow down is because of complex decision making. Avishai has put a few Systems in place to simplify the approval process:

1. Every project has a clear owner

Overly long chains of command kill speed. Avishai simplified the chain of command, even as Wix was growing, by creating a sub-company structure.

Each “sub-company” within Wix has a trusted chairman and CEO that can approve projects without sending them up the chain of command.

2. No waiting in line for resources

Having too many ideas and too few resources to execute is a good thing. But there are ways to make sure that those resources are well-distributed throughout teams.

Your team should not have to depend on someone else to get what they need.

For example: If you need UX, or if you need someone to write content and you’re waiting in line things slow down. Wix cut down on wait time by giving each team their own resources (UX, content, etc).

As Avishai put it: There’s no team at Wix that is waiting on someone else to give them resources.

3. Write scalable code or refactor when you need to

How you write code early makes a big difference.

As Avishai experienced with Wix: When you just have two or three services, you can just write them from scratch and that’s okay. But when you grow to a thousand services, you won’t be able to write each from scratch.

His advice: If you’re good technically, you should [write scalable code] from day 1. If not you’re going to have to do some refactoring.

4. Kill useless meetings

As your company grows so will the number of meetings on the calendar. This is toxic. People will wait to pitch ideas in meetings, or end up with meetings with no action items at the end of the day.

Avishai’s advice: Any meeting that doesn’t result in a list of action items is a waste of time. Your goal should be to have about one meeting per day (unless you’re in upper management, where you’re meeting with teams is part of your job description)

5. Redistribute responsibilities within projects to cut down on meetings.

Sometimes, shifting who is responsible for what aspect of a project will naturally decrease back-and-forth.

At Wix, Avishai shifted the responsibility for certain projects from product people to developers. He found that it hugely reduced the number of meetings on those teams:

In most project management, you have a product guy who writes the specs and another guy who will work with the technical team. We found it was way better to say that the owner of the project, the product part, is the developer. He can go to the product guy for clarification – not the other way around. That made a massive reduction in meetings, because the engineers aren’t depending on talking to anybody to do what they want. If they understand it, they’ll do it.

Leading as a CEO

There’s a common distinction made between leaders and managers. The idea is that great leaders (like Founders) tell you where you need to go, even if you don’t want to go there. Managers create operational systems to get you where you want to go.

Avishai has a different take on this common dichotomy. You can’t be a great leader unless you understand the details the way a manager does. Here’s his take:

You can’t inspire people by giving a talk. It only works in a movie. In reality, if you want to talk about project management, build a CRM, build a website –– it’s about the person who leads that product. You have to be excited about the details. They’re going to see that you’re excited about what they do, which is the details. I think you cannot be a leader without knowing a huge amount of the details of why you’re doing what and what it’s like working with the team.

You transition from Founder to CEO by understanding your business, and building Systems that will scale faster than you can as an individual.

You become a great leader by tapping back into what made you a great founder. Use those new Systems to drive your company toward your vision.


GoLogiq Fintech appoints technology industry visionary and venture Investor Peter Bordes to Board of Directors

GoLogiq, Inc. (OTC: GOLQ), a U.S.-based global provider of fintech and consumer data analytics, has appointed tech industry visionary and venture investor, Peter Bordes , to its board of directors.

Bordes has been a lifelong entrepreneur with more than 30 years of executive and board experience leading private and public companies across the Fintech, AdTech, AI, media, and technology sectors. He also brings to GoLogiq extensive experience in venture investing focused on disruptive innovation in artificial intelligence, data, ad tech, eCommerce, cloud infrastructure and fintech such as Synctera, Uala, Lendflow, OctaneBloc, Bankingly and Copper Bank.

“I’m fortunate to have known Peter for over three decades and have closely followed his amazing career,” stated GoLogiq interim CEO, Brent Suen. “I’m confident his years’ of experience and accomplishment as a venture investor, board member and business leader will bring tremendous benefits to our growth initiatives.”

Bordes commented: “I am excited to join GoLogiq at this pivotal stage in its growth and development, and particularly as its Fintech ecosystem is now poised to greatly expand from the anticipated closings of the GammaRey and NestEgg acquisitions. I’m looking forward to helping the company pursue its expansion in the U.S. and across global markets and especially helping to advance its mission of serving the large populations of the unbanked and financially underserved.”

Bordes’ appointment follows the recent appointment of Candice Beaumont to the board, and increases the board to five directors with three serving independently.

Peter Bordes Bio

For more than 30 years, Bordes has been an entrepreneur, CEO, board member, and venture investor focused on disruptive innovation in artificial intelligence, big data, fintech, cybersecurity, digital media and advertising, and blockchain technology.

Bordes is the founder and managing partner of Trajectory Capital, a later-stage investing platform and growth fund, as well as Trajectory Ventures, a venture capital platform and collective of operators, founders, and entrepreneurs, focused on advancing technology and industry innovation.

He is the CEO and a board member of Trajectory Alpha Acquisition (NYSE: TCOA), a special-purpose acquisition corporation focused on high-growth innovative technology. He is also co-founder and managing partner of TruVest, a next generation impact real estate investment, development, and technology company.

As an active angel investor and entrepreneur mentor, Bordes has been ranked among the Top 100 Most Influential Angel Investors in the U.S. and on social media. He also serves as a mentor in the Thiel Foundation’s 20 Under 20 Fellowship program.

He currently serves as vice chairman of Ocearch.org, a non-profit world leader in scientific data related to tracking and biological studies of keystone marine species such as great white sharks. He is also chairman of Hoo.be by FNL Technologies, a leading platform for the creator economy.

His other board directorships include:

  • Beasley Broadcast Group (Nasdaq: BBGI), a public media and digital broadcast company providing music, news, sports information and entertainment to over 19 million listeners from 63 stations across the U.S.
  • Kubient (Nasdaq: KBNT), a cloud advertising platform, where he previously served as its CEO and led the company’s IPO and listing on NASDAQ.
  • Fraud.net, a leading AI powered collective intelligence fraud prevention, risk mitigation cloud infrastructure platform for the real-time economy.

Bordes previously founded and served as CEO and chairman of MediaTrust, the leading real-time performance marketing exchange. The company was recognized as the 9th fastest-growing company in the U.S. in 2009. He also founded and served as a member and chairman of the Performance Marketing Association, a non-profit trade association.

Bordes holds a Bachelor’s degree in communication, business, and media studies from New England College.

About GoLogiq
GoLogiq Inc. is a US-based global provider of fintech and mobile solutions for digital transformation and consumer data analytics. Its software platforms are comprised of CreateApp, a mobile app development and publishing platform for small-to-medium sized businesses; AtozGo™, a ‘hyper-local’ app-based delivery platform; AtozPay™, an eWallet for mobile top-up, e-commerce purchases, bill payment and microfinance; and Radix™, a Big Data analytics platform. Visit the company at gologiq.com or follow on twitter: $GOLQ and @gologiq.

GoLogiq Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This press release also contains forward‐looking statements and forward‐looking information within the meaning of United States securities legislation that relate to GoLogiq’s current expectations and views of future events. Any statements that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, through the use of words or phrases such as “will likely result”, “are expected to”, “expects”, “will continue”, “is anticipated”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimated”, “intends”, “plans”, “forecast”, “projection”, “strategy”, “objective” and “outlook”) are not historical facts and may be forward‐looking statements and may involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in such forward‐looking statements. No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward‐looking statements included in this press release should not be unduly relied upon.

These statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Forward‐looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond GoLogiq’s control, which could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. In particular and without limitation, this press release contains forward‐looking statements regarding our products and services, the use and/or ongoing demand for our products and services, expectations regarding our revenue and the revenue generation potential of our products and services, our partnerships and strategic alliances, the impact of global pandemics (including COVID-19) on the demand for our products and services, industry trends, overall market growth rates, our growth strategies, the continued growth of the addressable markets for our products and solutions, our business plans and strategies, our ability to apply to and meet the listing standards and approvals for Nasdaq, NYSE, or other senior exchange, our ability to successfully locate and consummate any contemplated strategic transactions, our ability to successfully complete a merger or acquisition with GammaRey, Nest Egg Investments, or other entity, any approval of the merger or acquisition with Nest Egg Investments or other entity by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), any regulatory approval required of Nest Egg Investment’s subsidiary BeyondTrade Securities, Inc.’s pending name change to Nest Egg Securities, Inc., the structure of any such transaction, timing of such transaction, and the valuation of the businesses after completion of any such transaction, if any, and other risks described in the Company’s prior press releases and in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) including its Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent public filings.  The GammaRey and Nest Egg Investment transactions discussed herein are subject to mutual deliveries and other closing conditions, and neither transaction has closed as of the date of this press release.

GoLogiq undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward‐looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for GoLogiq to predict all of them, or assess the impact of each such factor or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward‐looking statement. Any forward‐looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

GoLogiq Contact:
Brent Suen
Interim CEO
GoLogiq, Inc.
Email Contact

GoLogiq Investor Relations:
Ron Both
CMA Investor Relations
Tel (949) 432-7566
Email contact

GoLogiq Media & ESG Contact:
Tim Randall
CMA Media Relations
Tel (949) 432-7572
Email contact


Anything World's generative AI platform enables developers to build in 3D

Anything World, the leading generative AI platform for creators, game development and the metaverse to build 3D animation has launched its web gallery to showcase AI-built models.

Seeing is truly believing when it comes to seeing how their technology completely democratizes the ability for anyone to create 3D animation. So I urge you to watch the YouTube demo above.

The web-based platform features voice-driven creation of virtual worlds, filled with 3D assets, and an automatic animation system, which enables rigging and animations for any 3D model at any time. Models can be utilized in every position, angle and movement in FBX, GLTF, GLB, Collada, and OBJ formats across 3D software across games, films, simulators and other content-rich experiences. Anything World provides direct plugins with Unity.

Anything World's tech is empowering the next generation of creators. We have developed proprietary Machine Learning algorithms which can understand any 3D model and rig and add animations to it. We have access to over 600,000 3D assets and our systems are fully automated and scalable.


OpenWeb is acquiring Jeeng for $100 million to help publishers better target ads and emails

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The Jeeng acquisition will help OpenWeb's publisher clients collect data for subscriptions and ads - Insider

OpenWeb Supercharges Community Economy with $100 Million Acquisition of Jeeng

Jeeng will enhance the community engagement platform's delivery of contextualized marketing and personalized messaging

OpenWeb, the community engagement platform serving over 1,000 leading publishers, today announced it has acquired the proprietary audience management platform Jeeng. The acquisition strengthens OpenWeb's ability to create one-to-one relationships with millions of users. It is the latest milestone in the company's rapid expansion of tools designed to connect brands, advertisers, and publishers to audiences whenever and wherever they're online.

Jeeng supports 150 million unique monthly visitors and over 650 publishers, including VICE Media, The Atlantic, Crain's, HarperCollins, and Vox Media, helping them more effectively build relationships with readers across multiple channels with hyper-personalized messaging. Using AI technology, Jeeng leverages first-party data to deliver highly effective content tailored to users' interests across email, push, and other channels.

The acquisition of Jeeng's proprietary solutions will allow OpenWeb to expand its base of over 100 million active users and 1,000-plus publishers. The world's Top publishers, including The New York Times, Hearst, Yahoo!, Penske Media Corporation, and News Corp, rely on the B2B2C platform to help them host healthy online conversations and build thriving communities.

"This acquisition brings us closer to our goal of  'OpenWeb Everywhere,' giving brands and publishers the ability to communicate with hundreds of millions of users across every online platform they encounter – messaging, email, notifications, newsreaders, interactive conversations and more," said Nadav Shoval, CEO and co-founder of OpenWeb. "With the demise of third-party cookies, collapsing trust in social media, and the segmentation of online audiences, publishers and advertisers need to talk to their users one-on-one, in a personalized way. With Jeeng's capabilities, we can continue to build and strengthen those individual relationships."

"Users are bombarded with messages directed at them online every day, and publishers need a way to break through that noise and deliver curated content," said OpenWeb CFO Haim Sasson. "This unified company will be the definitive partner for publishers and advertisers to move away from the walled gardens of social media and establish more thoughtful, more secure connections with audiences."

"OpenWeb and Jeeng are the perfect fit as we share the same vision," said Jeff Kupietzky, CEO of Jeeng. "OpenWeb is leading the industry in cultivating innovative, safe, and Web3-ready decentralized social experiences. Jeeng has excelled at providing personalized, automated communications with built-in monetization. Together, we're forming a hyper-targeted and first-party data-rich 360 degree experience."

JMP Securities served as Jeeng's financial advisor in the transaction. The acquisition is the third within 12 months for OpenWeb. In January, the data company purchased Hive Media for $60 million, adding expertise and resources to enhance its ability to build new, innovative products to empower publishers' relationships with their audiences. In April, it acquired ADYOULIKE, a global advertising platform, for $100 million. Most recently, OpenWeb raised $170 million in Series F funding, bringing its total valuation to $1.5 billion.

Jeeng's 60+ employees will be integrated into OpenWeb across New York City and Tel Aviv offices.

About OpenWeb 
OpenWeb's mission is to improve the quality of conversations online, building a healthier web where content creators of all kinds are empowered to thrive. As a product company, OpenWeb partners with publishers and brands to build strong, direct relationships with their audiences. OpenWeb's technology empowers its partners to build vibrant communities rooted in healthy conversations and robust social experiences. OpenWeb works with more than 1,000 top-tier publishers, hosting more than 100 million active users each month.

Founded in 2015, OpenWeb has over 265 employees in New York CityTel AvivKievSan DiegoCanadaLondon, and Paris and is backed by world-class investors including Georgian, Insight Partners, , Entrée Capital, The New York Times, Samsung Next, Dentsu, and ScaleUp. To date, the company has raised $393 million in funding and is currently valued at $1.5 billion. To learn more about OpenWeb's platform visit OpenWeb.com, or follow @OpenWebHQ on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Jeeng
Jeeng, formerly PowerInbox, provides personalized, automated and multichannel messaging solutions allowing publishers to drive new revenue with personalized audience engagement. With Jeeng, publishers can better own and optimize their audiences – focusing on automated, cross-channel messaging tailored to audience interest, easily managed and supported by a dynamic messaging platform. Venture backed, Jeeng supports 150 million unique users a month from over 650 leading publishers including VICE Media, The Atlantic, Crain's, HarperCollins and Vox Media. For more information about Jeeng, visit www.jeeng.com.


Algorithmic Data DAO stock advisor Delphia closes $60M Series A Round Led By Multicoin Capital

The stock-picking startup with algorithmic and crypto features plans to reward users for access to their data, a model that helped it close a new $60 million Series A led by Multicoin Capital.

The startup’s “share-to-earn” data token model will reward users starting this summer for contributing valuable information, which it will then use to help its model better pick stocks. The company offers two sorts of investing methods, one of which is free (its stock picks) and a long/short blend that is open to accredited investors. Fees paid by the wealthier investors are used to help reward data-providing users, who can get their rewards in the form of either cash or tokens.

CEO of Delphia, Andrew Peek, believes that access to proprietary data will give the firm an edge over other algorithmic investors. Read Andrew's insights on the Series A and journey to building the next generation Web3 Data DAO platform "Delphia – Algorithmic Investing 🤝 Data Dividends"

Related Articles:

Our Investment in Delphia - by Tushar Jain | Managing Partner | Multicoin Capital

Algorithmic Stock Adviser Delphia Raises $60M Ahead of Rewards Token Launch - CoinDesk

Delphia, the premier algorithmic stock advisor that helps people invest smarter together, today announced the closing of a $60 million Series A funding round led by Multicoin Capital with additional participation from Ribbit Capital, FTX Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, FJ Labs, Lattice Ventures, Cumberland, Trajectory Capital Partners, Thomas Bailey from Road Capital and M13. Delphia will use the funds to launch its native rewards token, increase the number of ways users can contribute data, and expand its headcount globally.

Delphia's mobile investment platform is currently available for download on App Store and Google Play. The Company offers long-only actively managed investment strategies with zero management fees and $10 investment minimums, as well as a hedge fund for accredited investors that runs a long-short market neutral strategy of approximately 2,500 US equities.

Delphia's investment platform plans to leverage consumer spending insights, employment patterns and public opinion data derived from social media to deliver algorithmic models that were previously exclusive to top-performing hedge funds. Starting this summer, Delphia's investors will have the opportunity to contribute their own data to the algo-advisor in return for a native token that can be traded freely or redeemed for membership benefits, thus leveling the playing field between institutional and retail investors.

Andrew Peek, CEO of Delphia, commented on the news, "Currently, retail investors are forced to either invest in passive robo-advisors that are designed to achieve average returns, or they can pick stocks directly through platforms like Robinhood or E-Trade — where they're up against the best hedge funds in the world. Delphia gives investors a third choice in the form of a mobile-delivered algo-advisor that leverages machine learning models designed by top hedge fund professionals, expanding access to elite financial products for retail investors."

The Series A funding round brings the total raised by the Company to $80 million and is demonstrative of the continued support Delphia has received from traditional financial institutions as well as firms within the digital asset ecosystem.

"Our new strategic investors and the funds from this round will enable us to share our algorithmic breakthroughs with anyone willing to contribute data or dollars, no matter how big or small. We're most excited about rewarding our members with a true data dividend for helping us build the world's largest user-contributed proprietary data set. We expect this token to help us improve the stock selection algorithm for all the participants in our ecosystem," concluded Peek.

To start investing, you can download the app on the App Store and Google Play, and to learn more about Delphia and its funds, please visit https://delphia.com/.

Investor quotes

Multicoin Capital: "Delphia is a first mover in an exciting new trend of Data DAOs that seek to harness user-owned data to benefit those users. By carefully aligning incentives and collecting otherwise inaccessible data, Delphia has created a sustainable market edge that actually gets stronger with every new user that joins the platform. Data DAOs will become forces to be reckoned with in capital markets as the gap widens between data sources publicly available for purchase and proprietary data sources that can only be managed by DAOs and for the benefit of those DAOs," said Tushar Jain, Managing Partner, Multicoin Capital.

Ribbit Capital: "Investment strategies powered by proprietary data are responsible for a large portion of the alpha captured across financial markets - but these strategies have been reserved exclusively for the world's top institutions. Delphia is a great experiment in financial inclusion, with the potential both to deliver compelling returns to investors and to do so in a way that is broadly accessible," said Nick Shalek of Ribbit Capital.

About Delphia

Delphia is the premier algo-advisor that helps people invest smarter together. Designed by a team of data scientists and academics, Delphia analyzes the personal data shared by its members to make intelligent investment decisions. By converting personal data into investment capital, Delphia aims to change the way we think about our data, investing, and the future of our economy. Delphia is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with teams in New YorkSan Francisco, and London.

Media Contact 
Henri Viès 
M Group Strategic Communications (on behalf of Delphia) 
917.765.1441 
delphia@mgroupsc.com

Delphia (USA) Inc. is a fully-owned subsidiary of Delphia Holdings Corp. Delphia (USA) Inc. is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Quotes are made by investors in Delphia Holdings Corp. This poses a conflict of interest in that investors stand to economically benefit from the success of Delphia (USA) Inc. No compensation was provided.