PropTech is helping the real estate investors find new opportunities with reduced risk during pandemic

The global commercial real estate segment has now grown into an important market for both official investors and others. Many policies and growths favoring investors have contributed heavily to the real estate segment’s growth. Even though countries were under pandemic-induced lockdown, the commercial real estate segment continued to grow, and it picked up speed in Q1 of 2021. Even though the initial phase of the pandemic had slowed down the growth of the real estate segment, it came back to form with ease as the companies embarked on growth trajectories. Various reports from the industry suggest that the real estate segment grew by more than 21 percent in the Q1 of 2021. Even though the second wave of the pandemic had halted the progress, the investors did not step back.

Fraction ownership gained immense popularity, and with PropTech platforms offering best-in-class services, a safe investment haven was created. People who invest in commercial properties enjoyed new opportunities with reduced risk and optimized returns. It is a well-known fact that the commercial real estate segment is crowded, and relators are striving to find new opportunities. PropTech helps the investors in the diversification of portfolios across locations and asset classes.

 

 

Zebra Technologies has announced that it will soon be acquring Antuit.ai

 

Zebra Technologies, a company that focuses on helping enterprises achieve a performance edge, has recently made an announcement that plans are in motion to acquire Antuit.ai. The transaction for the same is expected to be done by the end of this year, and it will be following all the customary closing conditions. The latest acquisition of Antuit.ai is expected to boost Zebra’s appeal towards consumer product companies. Furthermore, Zebra had also acquired Adaptive Vision and Fetch Robotics as a part of its strategic acquisition plan. A new machine vision and industrial scanning portfolio were also revealed by Zebra.

Zebra’s chief product & solutions officer, Bill Burns, has stated that the company’s main focus is now on productivity and visibility, which will be enhanced following the latest acquisition. He furthermore added that Zebra’s latest acquisitions would create more attractive value for its customers who are looking for solutions that have dynamic optimization of labor, inventory management, and advanced planning capabilities. Antuit.ai is well-known in the artificial intelligence SaaS segment and for merchandising and forecasting. Antuit.ai was founded in 2013, with the focus being on advanced supply chain and analytical forecasting solutions. However, Antuit.ai expanded its offerings following the acquisition of Prognos.

 

Turkish Shipyard Ares Design and Develops A Robust Anti-Submarine Drone

Turkish shipyard Ares and its defense sector have recently said that it has designed and developed a brand new unmanned anti-submarine warfare vessel. The defense sector will be planning to mass-produce the anti-submarine drones. It also stated that the most ambitious ULAQ DSH/ASW project was successfully passed laser-guided firing tests. It will be entering into the service with Turkey's military before seeking export contracts.

This new vessel will also be exported to Oman, Qatar, and African and South American countries as they are Turkey's potential customers. Ares and defense technologies company Meteksan Savunma which recently launched a surface warfare version of the ULAQ, which was Turkey's first armed unmanned surface vessel, will also be helping Turkey in making these drones.

These new anti-submarine drones systems are said to have a 400-kilometer range and can travel up to 65 kph. The companies said the surface warfare variant would also have special day and night vision capabilities. It is encrypted with communication infrastructure and can be easily operated from mobile vehicles from sea platforms such as aircraft carriers, decks, or other frigates.
 

 

Omnilytics Announces Its Intent to Acquire Supahands

Omnilytics has announced its intent to acquire data labeling platform Supahands for $20 million. Following this acquisition, Omnilytics will focus on its strategic acquisition drive that will improve its core functions and technological capabilities.

With the rapid evolution of the e-commerce landscape in the recent times, Omnilytics as a fashion analytics and insights software has grown to keep up with the shifting consumer demands. The acquisition of Supahands will enable Omnilytics to fill a critical gap in its existing tech capabilities.

Supahands was founded in 2014. It is a highly-regarded data labeling platform that develops training data to enable clients to launch and scale high-performing artificial intelligence applications for their business

"Accelerating the adoption of AI is at the heart of our business at Supahands, having witnessed firsthand the tangible benefits that artificial intelligence and machine learning can bring to our clients as they strengthen the different pillars of their business from analytics to deployment. We are proud to be joining forces with Omnilytics who share our same vision of revolutionizing the retail tech ecosystem with unparalleled service and innovation while still serving our existing and new clients in other industries," said Mark Koh, CEO and Co-Founder of Supahands.

After completion of the acquisition-related transaction, Koh will join the Omnilytics Board, and join as the company's CSO.

 

Shopee Becomes Brazil’s Most Downloadable Shopping App, Outrunning Big Players

Shopee, a Singapore-based eCommerce company, becomes the most downloadable shopping app in Brazil in just two years. The company’s game-changing approach has turned the tables around in the country in such a short time. Its approach to ecommerce is simple: in-app mini-games offering coupons to winning users, Reuters reported on Monday.

 

As the report confirms, in Singapore, Shopee just took five years to become Southeast Asia’s most popular ecommerce portal, outdoing two of the big players such as Lazada and Tokopedia. They are backed by Alibaba and SoftBank Group, respectively.

 

 “Shopee has a track record in Southeast Asia of coming into the market late, looking at how others have solved existing problems, and then building a system to leapfrog those issues,” said analyst Jianggan Li at advisory firm Momentum Works.

 

Mr. Li was quoted as saying by Reuters.

 

Apart from its game-changing approach, Shopee’s timing in Brazil was not less than perfect as Covid-19 hit worldwide immediately after the company’s launch in the country. Brazilians, like the rest of the world, resorted to online shopping, as a result. This shift greatly helped the company expand its offerings and win more users across the country. As mentioned above, Shopee offered coupons and so many relevant offers, to grab users’ attention. Now, after two years, the company is all set to lead the Brazilian ecommerce sector from the front.

 

 

Watershed Moment: Covid-19 Has Hugely Impacted Online Shopping

The Covid-19-triggered online shopping shift is considered one of the few plus points the pandemic arrived with. Ecommerce platforms worldwide have found a new lifeline as users are hooked to their home computers, ordering everything. Needless to say, ‘a meal is just a click away’. The most clichéd punch line many ecommerce or food delivery companies have used so far. This ‘click away’ never had an impact on an average user until the pandemic came looking for us last year.

With that said, ecommerce giants worldwide continue to expand their wings as the pandemic has turned the sector’s tables around. Let me tell you something about a Singapore-based company called Shopee that also operates in Brazil. The ecommerce company had just started its operations in the South American country when the pandemic hit the entire world. Even though the initial stages of the pandemic stagnated growth for every class of business, including Shopee in Brazil, the company has come a long way, leading the ecommerce pack in the country. When the governments worldwide, including Brazil, allowed users to order online, Shopee immediately offered coupons and many other related offers, to win more users. As a result, Brazilians responded and made Shopee the most downloaded shopping app in the country, in just two years. Yes, the ‘offer strategy’ has helped, but the pandemic-induced shopping rush made a difference. The ecommerce company rose to country-wide popularity, outrunning Lazada (Ali Baba-backed) and Tokopedia (SoftBank Group-backed).

In a nutshell, Covid-19 has rejuvenated the ecommerce space worldwide and the growth continues to skyrocket as the virus spread seems not to be declining.

 

 

Cargill to Expand its APAC Presence with Aalst Acquisition

Cargill has announced its intent to buy Asian chocolate manufacturer Aalst to expand its presence in the Asia-Pacific region. This acquisition will add to Cargill's growing portfolio of cocoa products that it sells in the APAC.

Aalst has a huge portfolio that features six brands. The company's customer base is spread out in over 50 countries, where it exports industrial, retail, and foodservice clients in key markets such as India, China, Southeast Asia, Oceania, Korea, and Japan.

“The rapidly growing Asian marketplace is increasingly wielding its influence around the globe, sparking inspiration and driving international trends,” said Francesca Kleemans, managing director for Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate Asia-Pacific. “Joining with Aalst strengthens our position in this critical region, enabling us to become the supplier-of-choice for industrial and foodservice customers. With an expanded selection of value-added and specialty chocolate products and deep technical expertise, together we can accelerate innovation, better helping customers create products that continue to surprise and delight.”

After the completion of the acquisition transaction, all the Aalst assets including its manufacturing plant in Singapore, R&D capabilities in Singapore and Shanghai, and over 200 employees across the region will join Cargill’s cocoa and chocolate Asia-Pacific operations.