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VTS Earns 2021 Great Place to Work Certification™

VTS

VTS, the commercial real estate industry’s leading leasing, marketing and asset management technology platform—is proud to be Certified™ by Great Place to Work® — the global authority on workplace culture, employee experience, and leadership behaviors proven to deliver market-leading revenue, employee retention, and increased innovation—for 2021. The prestigious award is based entirely on what current employees say about their experience working at VTS. This year, 95% of employees said it’s a great place to work which is 4 points higher than average U.S. companies. “We are thrilled to be Great Place to Work-Certified™, as VTS considers employee experience to be a top priority, ” said Nick Romito, Chief Executive Officer of VTS. “We’re incredibly proud to have a team of talented, hard-working, innovative, and passionate employees, who have made VTS the workplace it is today and furthermore this recognition possible. What makes VTS such a great place to work is the people — our diversity is something that has always been of the utmost importance to us, and that’s reflected in the strength of our workforce.” VTS prides itself on company culture and values, while understanding that its staff is deserving of the best the industry has to offer. Its competitive perks package includes generous leave policy for primary and secondary caregivers, unlimited paid time off, flexible work schedules, along with an annual stipend for continued education. In the Great Place to Work Certification™ process, 96% agree that VTS’ management shows appreciation for good work and extra effort—proving hard work and creativity rarely goes unnoticed at VTS. “Great Place to Work Certification™ isn’t something that comes easily–it takes ongoing dedication to the employee experience,” said Sarah Lewis-Kulin, Vice President of Global Recognition at Great Place to Work. “It’s the only official recognition determined by employees’ real-time reports of their company culture. Earning this designation means that VTS is one of the best companies to work for in the country.” VTS continues to make significant investments to ensure it is recruiting the best people and providing them with a workplace and culture that they love coming to every single day to do their best work. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on work-life balance, VTS has reevaluated and upgraded its employee benefits and perks to assist in the transition to remote work, including providing a budget for setting up a work from home space; hosting group wellness, meditation, and workout sessions every week via Zoom conducted by qualified instructors; offering a coach focused on aiding employees through challenges related to COVID-19, careers, relationship and overall well-being; and much more. VTS is also deeply committed and has made significant investments in its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, fundamentally believing in the importance of, and responsibility to, create an environment that celebrates diverse ethnicities, experiences, and points of view. To that end, VTS has an employee-led Diversity and Inclusion Working Group and an annual Strategic Diversity and Inclusion Plan (SDIP) to raise the bar. According to Great Place to Work research, job seekers are 4.5 times more likely to find a great boss at a Certified Great Place To Work. Additionally, employees at Certified workplaces are 93% more likely to look forward to coming to work, and are twice as likely to be paid fairly, earn a fair share of the company’s profits, and have a fair chance at promotion. VTS continues to experience rapid growth, and is actively hiring within various roles throughout the organization. Visit vts.com/careers to learn more. About VTS VTS is commercial real estate’s leading leasing, marketing, and asset management platform where the industry comes to make deals happen and real-time data comes to life. The VTS Platform captures the largest first-party data source in the industry, which delivers real-time insights that fuel faster, more informed decision making and connections throughout the deal and asset lifecycle. VTS Data, the industry’s only forward-looking market dataset, and VTS Market and Marketplace, the industry’s first integrated online marketing solution, give landlords, brokers, and tenants unparalleled visibility into real-time market information and the direct connectivity to execute deals with greater speed and intelligence at every point in the planning, marketing, leasing, and asset management cycle. More than 60% of Class A commercial space in the US and 12B square feet of commercial real estate globally is managed on the VTS platform. Our user base includes over 45,000 CRE professionals including respected industry leaders like Blackstone, Brookfield Properties, LaSalle Investment Management, Hines, Boston Properties, Oxford Properties, JLL, and CBRE. To learn more about VTS, and to see our open roles, visit www.vts.com. About Great Place to Work Certification™ Great Place to Work® Certification™ is the most definitive “employer-of-choice” recognition that companies aspire to achieve. It is the only recognition based entirely on what employees report about their workplace experience – specifically, how consistently they experience a high-trust workplace. Great Place to Work Certification is recognized worldwide by employees and employers alike and is the global benchmark for identifying and recognizing outstanding employee experience. Every year, more than 10,000 companies across 60 countries apply to get Great Place to Work-Certified. About Great Place to Work® Great Place to Work® is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees worldwide and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Their employee survey platform empowers leaders with the feedback, real-time reporting and insights they need to make data-driven people decisions. Everything they do is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a great place to work For All™. Learn more at greatplacetowork.com and on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Contact Details Elise Szwajkowski +1 212-402-3495 eszwajkowski@marinopr.com Company Website https://www.vts.com/

June 16, 2021 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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NHS Test and Trace strengthen their cyber defences with Risk Ledger

Stockwood Strategy

NHS Test and Trace has selected British cyber security company Risk Ledger to manage cyber security risks in their supply chain as a proactive measure to mitigate the increasing risks the NHS and other critical national infrastructure organisations face from supply chain cyber-attacks. The Risk Ledger platform will give the UK government funded service all the tools they need to manage cyber security risks in their supply chain at speed for a low per-supplier cost - at least 60% cheaper than traditional solutions. Cyber security risks in the supply chain can include third parties failing to encrypt sensitive data when it is being transferred. NHS Test and Trace, established to track and help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus in England, will take advantage of Risk Ledger's key innovation which is its secure 'social network' allowing organisations to connect and share risk data securely, quickly, and easily. This gives organisations like NHS Test and Trace unparalleled visibility of their supply chain and a comprehensive set of data to identify, measure and mitigate supply chain security risks at scale. Major supply chain cyber security breaches at Solarwinds and Microsoft in recent months have put the challenge of securing supply chains at the top of the agenda for organisations around the world. Minister for Digital Infrastructure, Matt Warman MP said: “The government is working tirelessly to secure the nation online and grow the UK's £8.9 billion cyber security industry as we build back better from the pandemic. We're helping SMEs develop innovative products and services and it's great to see Risk Ledger, one of the firms we've supported, win this contract to protect the Test and Trace system and support the national effort against coronavirus.” Risk Ledger's client base includes organisations like BAE AI, City of London Police, Telenor, Schroder's Personal Wealth and ASOS. Risk Ledger CEO and Co-Founder Haydn Brooks said: "NHS Test and Trace is essentially the biggest new start-up in the UK healthcare market so we are delighted they have chosen to take advantage of our ability to provide enhanced visibility of their supply chain risks. I am proud we will be part of the effort to secure this incredibly important supply chain. "Healthcare organisations and their supply chains handle lots of highly sensitive data and have a high rate of data breaches. We have already seen during the COVID-19 pandemic that bad actors are actively targeting supply chains to access data and cause disruption” added Haydn Brooks. Risk Ledger is a rising star of the UK's growing cyber security scene having won competitions run by the UK Government's National Cyber Security Centre, the tech industry body TechUK and most recently a winner in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport’s ‘Most Innovative UK Cyber SME of the Year’ competition in May. The company is also a member of the UK Government backed LORCA programme (London Office of Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement). About Risk Ledger Risk Ledger is a British company that manages cyber security risks in supply chains. Th process of supply chain security risk management ensures third parties who deliver critical services, have access to data, corporate networks, or any other status of business trust, maintain a good base level of cyber security controls to prevent bad actors using the third party as an attack vector. In 2019, Risk Ledger won the ‘Cyber Den’ competition at the 2019 CyberUK event run by the UK Government’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). At the time, Ian Levy, Technical Director at the NCSC said: ‘Our mission is to make the UK the safest place to do business online. We run the Cyber Den competition with DCMS to identify and provide a springboard for the most promising cyber security start-ups in the UK. Risk Ledger beat some excellent competition at this year’s Cyber Den event because their platform approaches supply chain security in a novel way that could revolutionise the way organisations understand the cybersecurity of their supply chains which is at the root of so many security incidents.’ Notable achievements - Risk Ledger was a finalist in the 'Most Innovative New Technology Award' category at the 2021 Water Industry Awards. - In March 2021, Risk Ledger won the South Summit Industry 4.0 innovation competition. - In May 2021, Risk Ledger was announced as a runner up in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport’s ‘Most Innovative UK Cyber SME of the Year’ competition. Contact Details Risk Ledger Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://riskledger.com/

June 16, 2021 05:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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PCMA Continues its Nationwide Expansion with the Addition of Maryland to our Lending Footprint

PCMA

PCMA, the pioneer and leading voice in Non-Bank Private Client Lending, announces the expansion of our Private Client services to the state of Maryland - Company NMLS ID: 237710. The expansion of Private Client Lending into Maryland highlights the continued commitment of PCMA’s plan of providing expanded prime credit options and increased liquidity to high-capacity households around the country. Maryland’s housing market continued its strong sales pace in 2021 with March sales figures of 7,964 units sold, which outpaced the previous year’s sales of 7,148 by 11.4%. An indicator of how fast the market is moving, median days on market, dropped to just 7 days in March. “We have been watching the macro and socio-economics of Maryland for a couple years and now seemed like a great time to introduce our firm to this market. The high-end housing market in Maryland remains red hot, with no sign of slowing down anytime soon, “said John R. Lynch, CEO and Founder of PCMA. “All cash settlements in Maryland are accelerating. Over the past 2 years the increase in all cash purchases for investors and second-homebuyers climbed; highlighting the lack of true financing available to meet the needs of these esteemed borrowers,” said Lynch. “Our comprehensive Private Client Catalogue that includes OMEGA, ZENITH and ULYSSE provide the credit solutions the High Net-Worth residents of Maryland deserve.” PCMA’s expansion into the Maryland market comes on the heels of both internal and external growth of the company. PCMA continues to experience an unprecedented growth of new loan originations since the start of 2021, increased loan amounts for high valued estates, and continued national expansion with Texas, North Carolina, and South Carolina to come online in the next 90 days. PCMA is the leading Non-Bank Private Client lending organization serving the needs of their mass affluent and high net worth clientele. PCMA offers qualified individuals and institutions bespoke lending solutions across all major residential asset classes. PCMA is a diversified financial enterprise offering private client solutions through a direct to consumer and distributed retail business model. PCMA strives to build trusting and enduring relationships by putting clients and professional partners at the center of all they do. PCMA is headquartered in Orange County, CA. Additional information is available at www.pcma.us.com Contact Details PCMA Private Client Lending Jason Jepson +1 949-394-7033 jason.jepson@pcma.us.com Company Website https://pcma.mortgage/

June 15, 2021 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Secta Finance innovates the £10b private school fees model, making affordable finance options for parents

Stockwood Strategy

Fintech business Secta Finance has launched today to transform how private school fees are paid. Families are spending circa £10b every year to pay school fees for over 620,000 children and over the years there has been no innovation on the termly bill payments. Secta Finance has set out to change this and become an enabler for many more families considering private schooling but feel it is currently unaffordable. In collaboration with a number of financial institutions, Secta Finance has created a range of flexible and highly competitive finance plans that enable parents (and would-be parents) to spread the cost of private school fees over many years in a simple affordable way. The Secta Flexiplan enables parents to use the equity in their home to secure a facility that allows parents to draw funds flexibly within the first 5 years. Parents only pay interest on the amount they actually drawdown. If they don’t need to draw funds there is no cost. Parents can decide how much they draw; their monthly repayment amounts (subject to a minimum) and the term they repay over (up to 30 years). Also, there are no early repayment fees if they choose to repay in full. Below is an example* of how a Secta Flexiplan could be used to finance 5 years of private education. This example is based on one child, annual school fees of £15,000 per year and with the Secta Flexiplan being repaid over a period of 10 or 20 years. However, the amount borrowed, the term over which it is repaid and the monthly repayments can be adjusted to suit individual circumstances and preferences. Secta Finance has made it quick and simple for parents to get indicative quotes from their online platform. Thereafter they can engage with a qualified advisor to discuss their options and tailor a plan to suit their needs. Joe Hill, founder and CEO of Secta Finance commented: “How parents pay for private school fees is no longer fit for purpose. They are still paying large lump sums, sometimes, with expensive and inflexible means using credit cards or unsecured loans, that simply is not sustainable. Secta has set out to challenge this approach with a fresh lens and a clear pathway for parents to handle this significant expense. We want to create manageable and affordable finance solutions for school fees, much like the financial products people consider when buying a house or a car.” Contrary to popular belief, private education is not confined to the wealthy, but many middle class parents place a very high value on it and want to provide the benefits of a private education for their children. However, the costs can be prohibitive, especially for families with more than one child. Annual average school fees are in excess of £15,000 for day schools and in excess of £30,000 for boarding schools. Factoring in additional costs, a private education can cost an average of £325,600 per child for day school and £469,700 for boarders starting their schooling in 2019. Unsurprisingly, many parents find this a struggle. Research completed by Killik and Co suggests that private day school fees have increased by 403% since 1990. “Many parents make significant sacrifices to give their children a private school education. But it doesn’t have to be that way. It makes sense to have a solution whereby parents can spread the cost over a longer period of time if they wish (up to 30 years), to reduce the strain on their finances, but still be able to give their children a private education,” added Joe Hill. There are more than 2,500 independent schools in the UK catering for approximately 620,000 pupils. This represents about 7% of all UK school children and 18% of pupils over aged 16 years and older. The estimated school fee market value is approximately £11 billion. Secta Finance is working closely with schools who are keen to offer meaningful finance options for their parents. The company is also collaborating with independent financial advisors who are seeking flexible, efficient options for their clients. Parents are also directly engaging with the online platform to find out more about the options available to them. Looking ahead Joe Hill added: “We are creating opportunities for parents, for schools and for children. By offering finance solutions which are affordable, simple to understand, we will create a sustainable path for better outcomes. Our strategic aim is to expand the opportunity of private education to many more families and enable a sustainable relationship for parents and schools through the products that we offer”. ENDS *This is an indicative quote and does not constitute an offer or advice. Interest rate and solution terms will depend on your circumstances and the amount of the loan. Before you make a loan application, we will carry out a full review to establish your needs and preferences and if you meet the criteria, we will give advice and make a recommendation to you. All loans are subject to status. Please note that our product calculators show an indicative rate only and may not be suitable for you. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up with your repayments. About Secta Finance Our mission is to relieve the pressure of private school fees by providing innovative, affordable finance solutions to parents. In doing so, we bring the outstanding benefits of private education within the reach of many more families, everywhere. Secta Finance Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Contact Details Secta Finance Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://www.sectafinance.co.uk/

June 15, 2021 04:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust Announces Amendments to Trust Agreement and Management Agreement and Update on Sales of Properties

Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust

Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust (the “Trust”) announced today that it has obtained certificateholder approval to amend its Amended and Restated Pass Through Trust Agreement, dated January 30, 2021 (the “Trust Agreement”), to modify the definition of “Targeted Disposal Period” to extend the sales period for the retail properties to July 31, 2025. In addition, the certificateholders approved amending the Trust Agreement and the Trust’s Management Agreement, dated January 30, 2021, to modify the requirement that Hilco JCP LLC, the manager of the Trust, obtain a broker’s opinion of value for each property on a quarterly basis so long as the manager does not forgo obtaining a broker’s opinion of value for any property for two consecutive quarters. Copies of the amendments can be found in the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, located under SEC Filings on the Trust’s website: www.ctltrust.net. As previously announced, the Trust has adjusted its marketing and sales strategy to be consistent with these amendments. The Trust anticipates selling three of its retail properties to Copper Retail JV LLC, the Trust’s tenant (the “Tenant”) pursuant to rights-of-first offer with respect to these properties by the end of the third quarter of this year. There can be no assurance that such sales to the Tenant will close, however, the Trust expects that there will be substantial interest in these properties in the event that the sales to the Tenant do not close. In addition, the Trust has begun marketing its six warehouse distribution centers for sale and has already received significant interest in these properties. The Trust’s marketing process for these distribution centers is still in the early stages, but the Trust expects the sales to close by the end of the year. The Trust has also commenced marketing 25 retail properties containing landlord or tenant options to terminate to investors that are looking to develop these properties instead of operating them on a long-term basis pursuant to the existing master lease. The Trust has already received strong interest in these retail properties. There can be no assurance regarding the timing of the closing of the sales of any of these properties or that the prices obtained for the properties will be at prices acceptable to the Trust. About Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust (the “Trust”) was established to acquire 160 retail properties and 6 warehouse distribution centers (the “Properties”) from J.C. Penney as part of its Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. The Trust’s operations consist solely of owning, leasing and selling the Properties. The Trust’s objective is to sell the Properties to third-party purchasers as promptly as practicable. The Trustee of the trust is GLAS Trust Company LLC. The Trust is externally managed by an affiliate of Hilco Real Estate LLC. The Trust is intended to be treated, for tax purposes, as a liquidating trust within the meaning of United States Treasury Regulation Section 301.7701-4(d). For more information, please visit www.ctltrust.net. Forward Looking Statement This news release contains certain “forward-looking statements”. All statements other than statements of historical fact are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by the use of forward looking terminology such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “our vision,” “plan,” “potential,” “preliminary,” “predict,” “should,” “will,” or “would” or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology and include, but are not limited to, the Trust’s expectations or beliefs concerning future events and stock price performance. The Trust has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While the Trust believes these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond its control. These factors, including those discussed in the Trust’s Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), may cause its actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, please refer to the Trust’s filings with the SEC that are available at www.sec.gov. The Trust cautions you that the list of important factors included in the Trust’s SEC filings may not contain all of the material factors that are important to you. In addition, in light of these risks and uncertainties, the matters referred to in the forward-looking statements contained in this news release may not in fact occur. The Trust undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law. Contact Details Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust Larry Finger | Principal Financial Officer +1 310-526-1707 lfinger@ctltrust.net IRRealized, LLC Mary Jensen | Investor Relations +13105261707 mary@irrealized.com Company Website https://ctltrust.net/about/default.aspx

June 11, 2021 01:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust Issues Monthly/Quarterly Reporting Package for May 2021

Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust

Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust (“the Trust”), has filed a Form 8-K containing its monthly/quarterly report for the period ended May 31, 2021. A distribution of $0.085991 per trust certificate will be paid on June 10, 2021 to certificateholders of record as of June 9, 2021. Additional information can be obtained on the Monthly Distribution Statement, which can be found on the Trust’s website at https://www.ctltrust.net/. About Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust (the “Trust”) was established to acquire 160 retail properties and 6 warehouse distribution centers (the “Properties”) from J.C. Penney as part of its Chapter 11 plan of reorganization. The Trust’s operations consist solely of owning, leasing and selling the Properties. The Trust’s objective is to sell the Properties to third-party purchasers as promptly as practicable. The Trustee of the trust is GLAS Trust Company LLC. The Trust is externally managed by an affiliate of Hilco Real Estate LLC. The Trust is intended to be treated, for tax purposes, as a liquidating trust within the meaning of United States Treasury Regulation Section 301.7701-4(d). For more information, please visit https://www.ctltrust.net/. Forward Looking Statement This news release contains certain “forward-looking statements”. All statements other than statements of historical fact are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by the use of forward looking terminology such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “our vision,” “plan,” “potential,” “preliminary,” “predict,” “should,” “will,” or “would” or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology and include, but are not limited to, the Trust’s expectations or beliefs concerning future events and stock price performance. The Trust has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While the Trust believes these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond its control. These factors, including those discussed in the Trust’s Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), may cause its actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, please refer to the Trust’s filings with the SEC that are available at www.sec.gov. The Trust cautions you that the list of important factors included in the Trust’s SEC filings may not contain all of the material factors that are important to you. In addition, in light of these risks and uncertainties, the matters referred to in the forward-looking statements contained in this news release may not in fact occur. The Trust undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law. Contact Details Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust Larry Finger | Principal Financial Officer +1 310-526-1707 lfinger@ctltrust.net IRRealized, LLC Mary Jensen | Investor Relations +13105261707 mary@irrealized.com Company Website https://ctltrust.net/about/default.aspx

June 09, 2021 05:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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The Summer Travel Rebound is Here: How Airbnb Is Making Travel Easier

YourUpdateTV

As pandemic restrictions gradually lift, travel is looking different. A recent report by Airbnb indicates this travel rebound is not a temporary reaction to these many months of restrictions and isolation. Recently, Communications Leads for North America at Airbnb, Liz DeBold Fusco, teamed with YourUpdateTV on a satellite media tour to discuss major shifts in how people are traveling and how Airbnb is meeting travelers’ new needs. A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/aR4n93mrwzk “We believe this will be the biggest travel rebound in a century,” said Brian Chesky, Co-Founder and CEO of Airbnb. According to Airbnb’s recent Report on Travel & Living, the lines between traveling, living and working are blurring in three key ways: first, people are more flexible over when they can travel, especially as remote working upends traditional seasonality. Second, they are traveling to much more diverse destinations, including small towns and rural areas. And third, they are staying longer in places, if they can work anywhere. Airbnb has introduced more than 100 upgrades across every aspect of their service to meet the coming demand and the fundamental shift in travel. It is one of the biggest top-to-bottom upgrades of the Airbnb service in years. Users will have a better guest experience built around Flexibility. The new Flexible Matching feature will show guests listings that lie outside a specified search, so that they don’t miss out on homes just outside their price range or missing an amenity. These new product upgrades also cater to Hosts. Airbnb is launching a brand new, simplified onboarding process where users can become hosts in just 10 easy steps. Aspiring hosts can even sign up for an “Intro to Hosting” online class or directly message an experienced Host with onboarding questions. Airbnb also redesigned the Welcome to Hosting page for new Hosts to make it easier for new and existing Hosts to manage their listings. If you are looking to share your space this summer and want to learn how to become an Airbnb host yourself, check out Airbnb.com/host About Liz DeBold Fusco: Liz DeBold Fusco is a Communications Leads for North America for Airbnb. Prior to that, she was a Vice President at SKDKnickerbocker, a national public affairs firm, where she provided strategic communications guidance to organizations ranging from the NAACP and Demos to The Rockefeller Foundation and AT&T. Liz has also worked for Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City and New York City First Lady Chirlane McCray as well as the New York State Attorney General. About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content. It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports and Technology. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

June 07, 2021 03:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Haystack Analytics attracts investment, powering tech teams globally and addresses developer burnout

Stockwood Strategy

Engineering insights tool Haystack Analytics, backed by Y Combinator, today announced it has secured a US$1.2m funding round which included participation from Founders Club, Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Entrepreneur First and investors Dan Siroker and Blaine Vess. Founded in 2020 by Julian Colina and Kan Yilmaz, Haystack helps build elite developer teams by providing engineering metrics and alerts proven to drive performance. Haystack improves developer productivity and software quality. Through their integration with GitHub, Haystack is able to provide live data insights that illustrate the entire delivery process from commit to deploy, being able to highlight bottlenecks like code review and team productivity. Using this feedback loop, Haystack users have increased production deployments by 58% and achieved 70% faster cycle times on average. In less than 12 months since launch, Haystack is being used by more than 7,000 developers at tech teams in GoDaddy, Microsoft, The Economist, Indiegogo and Truebill among others as revenues have increased by an average of 36% month on month. Julian Colina, CEO and co-founder of Haystack Analytics commented: “Tech teams and engineers around the world are key assets to any company and shipping software is the heartbeat and competitive advantage they seek. The efforts of developers are at the heart of processes, products and, effectively, the bottom line. Until now, it was difficult for CTOs and engineering managers to objectively know what their roadblocks are or have insights into resourcing levels. Haystack gives visibility by providing metrics and alerts to make sure nothing continues to be stuck. We are helping developers to ship faster and improve their satisfaction”. Research 1 has shown that elite performing engineering organisations are twice as likely to achieve their organisational goals and achieve a 50% higher growth rate over 3 years. It isn't just business objectives that do better, employees of elite performers are almost twice as likely to recommend their team as a great place to work. “Companies with strong technology teams are outperforming those which don't. Technology teams which follow DevOps best practice are less likely to see developers being burnt out, whilst allowing new product ideas to be experimented faster and shipping business value more reliably” added Julian Colina. The funding advances Haystack’s commitment to building intuitive one-click dashboards and alerts using GitHub data. Haystack plans to expand its offering to a greater range of data sources whilst providing an ever greater variety of user-friendly alerts and insights. As companies move to hybrid office/home working environments, Haystack provides insights that teams need to experiment with their workflows to prevent developer burnout whilst shipping faster. “Our mission is to bring the competitive advantage data-driven engineering teams like Google have to everyone. We help teams track their delivery process and optimization opportunities instead of relying solely on gut feelings - resulting in 70% faster delivery on average. It’s been an incredible 12 months and we are well set to achieve much more in the next year” concluded Julian Colina. Ends 1 DevOps Research and Assessment, State of DevOps report About Haystack Analytics Haystack was founded in 2020 by Julian Colin and Kan Yilmaz for tech teams to learn more about roadblocks to their work, improve productivity and importantly identify burnout issues with developers. Haystack helps build elite developer teams by providing engineering metrics and alerts proven to drive performance, improve developer productivity and software quality. Through their integration with GitHub, Haystack is able to provide live data insights that illustrate the entire delivery process from commit to deploy, being able to highlight bottlenecks like code review and team productivity. Using this feedback loop, Haystack users have increased production deployments by 58% and achieved 70% faster cycle times on average. Contact Details Haystack Analytics Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 bilal@usehaystack.io Company Website https://www.usehaystack.io/

June 07, 2021 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Global investors back fintech KTrade - the ‘Robinhood’ of Pakistan

Stockwood Strategy

Leading Pakistani fintech stock trading app KTrade today announced it has raised $4.5m in a funding round from a range of global investors and institutions led by Hong Kong-based TTB Partners, and HOF Capital from New York. German fintech investor Christian Angermayer, the Managing Partner of German bank Berenberg David Mortlock, and leading Pakistani business families also participated in the round. KTrade is the fintech retail trading app created by KASB Securities, the leading stock brokerage in Pakistan. KTrade provides easy access to financial markets for retail investors much like its global peers such as XP in Brazil, Zerodha and Groww in India, Tiger in China, Flatex in Germany and Robinhood in the US. Since launching in 2019, KTrade has over 200,000 users and aims to reach 10 million Pakistani’s at home and abroad by 2023 to invest in stocks, bonds, commodities and mutual funds through its mobile platform. The Karachi Stock Exchange Index (KSE100) has rallied by 19% per annum over the past 20 years despite regular market cycles. The volumes have increased by 7x over the last 18 months driven by regulatory reforms and increase in retail investor participation. Retail investors now account for over 65% of overall trading volume compared to around 45% 24 months ago. KTrade aims to provide users quick and easy accessibility to this investment opportunity. Ali Farid led the creation of KTrade. He was previously the CFO of UK listed fintech company SafeCharge (acquired by Nuvei) and a Partner at Autonomous Research (acquired by Alliance Bernstein) in London. Ali is a Rhodes Scholar and has been a top ranked Technology Analyst in Europe since 2013. Ali Farid, Co-founder of KTrade commented: “People in Pakistan have traditionally turned to gold or real estate when they consider investment options. However, as the regulatory approach, authority and credibility of the Karachi Stock Exchange has grown, more people are getting comfortable with stock market investing. This is an exciting trend but accessibility to these markets remains a hurdle for millions. KTrade will enable this mobile-first population to participate in the investment opportunity. By connecting these people to companies we can drive capital trapped in unproductive assets into the formal economy which would eventually drive a virtuous cycle of economic growth and higher investments”. Pakistan is emerging on the radar of global investors as the next Indonesia. A large, young and growing middle class and high smartphone penetration have created ideal conditions for technology led disruption. KASB’s aim is to provide retail savers access to financial education, information and financial products and to help them make better financial decisions. “Most people in Pakistan lack access to formal financial products and their savings in real estate or gold offer inferior returns, are inefficient and have high transactional costs. We aim to democratise access to the capital markets and enable them to make stock market investments. The strong demand for KTrade shows that the market is ready for this transformation. Other regional and emerging markets have seen similar evolution led by successful fintech companies” added Ali Farid. “Pakistan and South Asia have some of the most exciting market dynamics and demographics globally, and KTrade is well positioned to take advantage of the democratisation of finance in the region” said Jonathan Bond, Managing Partner TTB Partners who were lead investors in the funding round. “We are delighted to be investing in the latest round of funding for KASB, and to support Ali and his first-class team on their continued journey. We have been extremely impressed by what KASB has built over the past few years, both from a tech perspective and from the educational overlay to investing, which the company has embraced. In particular, we believe that in KTrade, the company has a stellar solution to expanding stock market participation across Pakistan” added Jonathan Bond. About KASB Securities KASB is the leading stock brokerage in Pakistan. It is a member of the Pakistan Stock Exchange and Pakistan Mercantile Exchange and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. KASB’s mission is to democratise investments by giving people in Pakistan easy access to financial information, education and products. It operates KASB Varsity, an online MOOC, and KTrade, the leading stock trading application in Pakistan. KASB’s goal is to channel capital to financial markets by broadening the breadth of the capital markets. Further information visit: https://kasb.com or follow the company on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and through YouTube. Contact Details Stockwood Strategy Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://kasb.com/ktrade/

June 07, 2021 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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