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Maybank Announces Strategic Investment in Funding Societies, Southeast Asia’s Largest MSME Digital Finance Platform

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SINGAPORE, Sept. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Maybank, a dedicated banking partner to more than 1 million small and medium enterprises across ASEAN, today announced a strategic investment in Funding Societies | Modalku (Funding Societies), the largest unified digital finance platform for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Southeast Asia. In conjunction with this investment, Maybank will explore collaborative synergies with Funding Societies to promote inclusivity and bridge funding gaps within the communities it serves.

The transaction represents the inaugural investment under a new initiative at Maybank to strategically invest and partner with best-in-class digitally-enabled organisations across ASEAN. This investment forms part of Maybank’s approach to accelerate innovation to serve the MSME community. It aligns with Maybank’s M25+ strategic thrust, aiming to accelerate digitalisation through ecosystem orchestration within and beyond the banking sector.

Established in 2015, Funding Societies is a regional financial technology company that specialises in providing financing to MSMEs. Since its inception, Funding Societies has disbursed over US$4 billion in business financing, positively impacting more than 100,000 businesses across Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Dato’ Khairussaleh Ramli, President & Group CEO of Maybank, stated, “Maybank has consistently championed small and medium enterprises– the backbone of ASEAN economies. Our investment in Funding Societies underscores our commitment to driving financial inclusion, in line with our purpose of Humanising Financial Services. By leveraging our banking expertise alongside Funding Societies’ innovative digital platform, Maybank is committed to fostering a robust SME ecosystem and ensuring a brighter, more sustainable future for all.”

Co-founder and Group CEO of Funding Societies, Mr Kelvin Teo expressed, “We are honoured by Maybank’s support, reflecting a shared commitment to serve MSMEs in Southeast Asia. This partnership reaffirms our dedication to extending credit access to underserved MSMEs that face cash flow management challenges – an area we are progressively expanding to help these businesses fulfil their business potential.”

About Maybank
Maybank is among Asia’s leading financial groups and Southeast Asia’s fourth largest bank by asset with close to 44,000 employees worldwide. The Group has an international network of some 2,600 offices in 18 countries including all 10 ASEAN countries and also present in international financial centres such as London, New York, Hong Kong and Dubai. With a purpose to Humanise Financial Services and guided by its M25+ strategy, Maybank provides any array of value-based solutions established on sustainable and ethical principles to meet its customers evolving needs. These extensive range of products and services, include consumer and corporate banking, investment banking, Islamic banking, stock broking, insurance and takaful and asset management. (www.maybank.com)

About Funding Societies
Funding Societies is the largest unified SME digital finance platform in Southeast Asia. It is licensed in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, registered in Malaysia, and operates in Vietnam. The FinTech company provides US$1 billion annually of business financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In recent years, it has made strategic milestones including its acquisition of regional digital payments platform CardUp and co-investment into Bank Index in Indonesia.

Funding Societies | Modalku is backed by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, CGC Digital (the digital arm of the Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad), SBVA (previously SoftBank Ventures Asia), Peak XV Partners (previously Sequoia Capital India), Alpha JWC Ventures, SMBC Bank, BRI Ventures, VNG Corporation, Rapyd Ventures, Endeavor, EBDI, SGInnovate, Qualgro, and Golden Gate Ventures among others.

It has received accolades through the years including: Brands for Good (2019, 2023), Global SME Excellence Award, Global SME Finance Awards by IFC (2021-2023) Global Startup Awards (2020), MAS FinTech Award (2016, 2021), Singapore’s Fastest-Growing Companies 2024 (a list of 100 companies compiled by The Straits Times and Statista), High-Growth Companies in Asia-Pacific 2024 (a list of 500 companies compiled by the Financial Times and Statista). 

For more information, please visit: www.fundingsocieties.com

 

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SOURCE Funding Societies

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Meet With Culture: Exquisite Craftsmanship of Traditional Chinese Architecture

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BEIJING, Dec. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The Temple of Agriculture in Beijing played a significant role during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Over nearly 600 years, 25 emperors personally visited or sent ministers to perform spring farming ceremonies and offer sacrifices to Shennong, the god of agriculture.

 

Built in 1420 during the Yongle reign, the temple’s predecessor was the Temple of Mountains and Rivers in Nanjing. When Emperor Zhu Di moved the Ming capital to Beijing, he constructed a larger temple inspired by the Nanjing temple, which gradually evolved into the Temple of Agriculture.

The Taisui Hall, the largest building complex in the temple, now serves as a major exhibition hall of the Beijing Ancient Architecture Museum, showcasing models of classical Chinese buildings and demonstrating the solemnity of royal architecture.

Ancient Chinese architecture is predominantly wooden-structured, chosen for its availability, versatility, and earthquake resistance. Artisans developed sophisticated techniques in material selection and construction. The wooden framework consists of columns, beams, girders, and purlins, with innovative structural forms like lifting-beam and piercing-bracket structures.

A unique architectural element is the dougong (bracket sets), which supports weight and connects beam frames with column walls. Mortise-tenon joints were invented to create elastic frameworks by connecting different components.

While discussing the Temple of Agriculture, it’s worth noting another remarkable example of architectural hierarchy which could be found in the Temple of Heaven. The hierarchy of architectural designs reflected social stratification, with eave structures like the triple-layered eaves of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest representing the highest-level architectural design.

Over centuries, the Temple of Agriculture has transformed from an imperial garden to a public park and a museum for historical architecture, now standing as a significant cultural landmark that symbolizes China’s agricultural civilization and architectural heritage along Beijing’s Central Axis.

Quickly join Alexandre to study and explore the traditional Chinese architecture.
https://youtu.be/YpA03WiZ9Wc

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SOURCE China International Communications Group

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Second Opinion Expert Announces Filing of U.S. Patent for Method of Generating Medical Opinions Using Artificial Intelligence

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Patent leverages AI technology to improve patient outcomes and reduce cost of care

DANA POINT, Calif., Dec. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — SecondOpinionExpert, Inc. (SOE), a leading healthcare technology company, announced today that it has filed patent application 133902-0002UT01 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office entitled “Method and Apparatus for Generating Automated Medical Opinions Using Artificial Intelligence.” The patent covers the company’s proprietary system that communicates a medical opinion to a user based on a trained model that uses artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML).

“In the near future, we’ll launch our free app, enabling users to access high-quality medical opinions. This innovative app empowers individuals with insightful medical guidance that improves health and saves lives,” said Steve Krause, President of SecondOpinionExpert, Inc.”

Medical second opinions have traditionally been obtained by seeking out another healthcare professional who reviews the patient’s medical records, diagnoses, and tests. However, the rapidly increasing complexity of medical information, the demand for faster turnaround times, and the limitations of human expert availability have created a need for automated systems that utilize AI to generate both first and second medical opinions.

Artificial intelligence has made significant strides in medical diagnostics, including image recognition, predictive modeling, and natural language processing (NLP). These advancements present an opportunity to augment traditional second opinion systems by automatically processing patient medical records, diagnostic tests, and clinical data to generate high-quality first and second medical opinions.

SecondOpinionExpert’s technology increases the quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery, improves healthcare access and empowers doctors and patients to make better informed medical decisions. The HIPAA-compliant patented platform leverages recent advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning and electronic medical record systems enabling the company to provide fast, reliable and secure online medical opinions. The system provides patients greater peace of mind by leveraging the power of AI and ML.

“Our patent-pending AI enabled technology platform provides a cost-effective choice that improves patient care,” said Steve Krause, President, SecondOpinionExpert, Inc. “In the near future, we look forward to launching our user-friendly app that will be initially free of charge. People using our platform will be able to quickly obtain high quality medical opinions while avoiding unnecessary travel time and expense, knowing that they will be getting insightful medical guidance that improves health and saves lives.”

About SecondOpinionExpert

SOE’s mission is to provide innovative medical technology solutions to improve healthcare while reducing costs.

Our patented HIPAA-compliant platform leverages recent advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning and electronic medical record systems, enabling the company to provide fast, reliable and secure online medical opinions to inform both diagnosis and treatment planning. We empower patients, providers and payors to work together to make the best possible medical decisions, leading to better health outcomes and greater peace of mind for patients. SOE’s panel of 400+ board-certified medical specialists are available to render expert opinions informed as needed by AI and genomics.

SOE also owns and/or manages a rapidly growing network of facilities for post-acute care and substance treatment. Our proprietary platform for Electronic Medical Records (EMR) empowers best practices in administration and medical services.

Our proprietary TeleMedics Mobile Platform empowers and chronicles on-site visits from qualified medics or nurses. Mobile staff provide the human connection, capturing vitals and doing diagnostics and therapeutics, with the patient’s doctor participating as needed through live video. We work with our affiliate Intra Care, Inc. to provide superior home health and hospice care. We provide Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) delivered through a strategic relationship with KangarooHealth, in-home respirators delivered and monitored by SOE affiliate Momentum Equipment and Pandemic Response through our MaxVax solution.

Additional information can be found at SOE.CARE

Media Contact

Jay Kilberg, Second Opinion Expert, Inc., 1 917.543.6285, jay.kilberg@soe.care, https://soe.care

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SOURCE Second Opinion Expert, Inc.

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The 6th “My China Story” International Short Video Competition Award Ceremony Held in Harbin

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HARBIN, China, Dec. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The 6th “My China Story” International Short Video Competition Award Ceremony was held in Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province on December 19, 2024.

Du Zhanyuan, member of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and president of China International Communications Group, and He Liangjun, member of the Standing Committee of the Heilongjiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Heilongjiang Provincial Committee, addressed the ceremony respectively. Lan Feng, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Harbin Municipal Committee and director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Harbin Municipal Committee, attended the event. The ceremony was also attended by 300 other people from home and abroad, including Chinese and international video creators, experts, judges, and representatives from the publicity departments at different levels across the country, as well as representatives from various corporations.

For this year, the competition received a total of 59,559 videos from more than 130 countries and regions around the globe. After three rounds of strict comparison and appraisal by more than 30 professional Chinese and international judges from the fields of media, film and television, Internet, and international communication, 112 pieces of all videos finally won awards in different categories.

Heilongjiang, the northernmost and easternmost province of China, boasts a long history and rich culture. Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province, is famous for its local culture, music, art and architecture of Chinese and Western integrated styles as well as its openness and inclusiveness, making the city a unique source of inspiration to tell China stories to the world.

Under the theme of “Heaven of Ice and Snow, City of Charm and Vigor”, this year’s competition highlights the feature of the host city Harbin, attracting a lot of participants to make videos surrounding the topic. From the perspective of international creators, these short videos together present a dynamic Harbin and a charming Heilongjiang, as well as show a real China to the world.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-6th-my-china-story-international-short-video-competition-award-ceremony-held-in-harbin-302337936.html

SOURCE “My China Story” International Short Video Competition Organizing Committee

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