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Foundation Partners Group Invests in Digital Transformation of End-of-Life Space

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The nation’s second largest provider of funeral services launches Afterall and acquires Cake to meet growing demand for end-of-life services

WINTER PARK, Fla., Oct. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Foundation Partners Group, the second largest provider of funeral services in the United States, today announced the launch of Afterall, a new digital platform that simplifies how families find and choose local funeral homes. The company is also announcing the acquisition of Cake, a trailblazer in online end-of-life planning tools and resources. These initiatives represent a significant step toward modernizing the funeral service landscape and integrating various services into a single platform.

The global end-of-life planning market is a nearly $30 billion dollar industry,* estimated to grow upwards of six percent* through 2030 as the baby boomer population ages. Unlike other industries, which have answered the consumer call for highly personalized yet streamlined experiences, end-of-life planning has largely lacked a more comprehensive solution until now.

“The launch of Afterall with the acquisition of Cake are critical first steps in streamlining and simplifying the end-of-life experience,” said Chris Blackwell, interim CEO of Foundation Partners Group. “We meet with families going through the end-of-life experience every single day and many wish they were better prepared and had easier ways to move through the process. We believe this is just the start in changing the end-of-life category for the better.”

Foundation Partners Group Launches Afterall

Afterall is launching as one of the largest online funeral service providers, featuring Foundation Partners Group’s robust portfolio of more than 250 funeral homes, cemeteries and direct-to-consumer cremation services together in one place, along with helpful online resources, free digital obituary services and a memorial store. With Afterall, instead of endless online searches and phone calls to compare funeral providers, families can visit one website to find a local funeral home they trust, as well as the right services to fit their unique needs.

“From an increase in cremation to a myriad of non-traditional celebrations of life, families are seeking choice in all facets of end-of-life care,” said Lee Senderov, chief marketing and digital officer of Foundation Partners Group. “The goal of Afterall is to make this once complicated and overwhelming process easy and simple, allowing families more space and energy to honor their loved ones.”

Foundation Partners Group Acquires Cake

In conjunction with the launch of Afterall, Foundation Partners Group has made the strategic decision to acquire Cake, a pioneer in providing online resources and digital planning tools. Since its launch, over 100,000,000 people have used Cake’s extensive catalog of more than 5,000 articles and planning tools to navigate the intricacies of end-of-life planning including wills, funeral arrangements, advance care directives, estate settlement and grief. 

“Navigating the end-of-life journey can be a fragmented and confusing experience for families during one of the most stressful and challenging times in their lives,” said Suelin Chen, Ph. D, founder of Cake. “Cake was founded with the vision that other life milestones – like having babies or getting married – had online tools to make the process easier. This just wasn’t true for the end-of-life category. We are excited to join Foundation Partners Group with the launch of Afterall to continue this mission to bridge the gap.”

Long-term growth plans for Afterall include providing more comprehensive resources and tools for all stages of the end-of-life experience and more.

For more information on Afterall, visit www.afterall.com. 
For more information on Cake, go to www.joincake.com.
*https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/end-life-planning-market-report 

About Foundation Partners Group
Winter Park, Florida-based Foundation Partners Group is one of the industry’s most innovative providers of funeral services and the second-largest funeral home group in the country based on the number of families served. Foundation Partners owns and operates a network of over 250 funeral homes, cremation centers and cemeteries across 21 states. Our deep understanding of technology and customer experience-centered approach allows us to deliver truly innovative and compassionate care to the families we serve. Visit www.foundationpartners.com to learn more.

About Afterall
Afterall is a digital platform helping families to find the right funeral services for their individual needs. Developed by Foundation Partners Group in 2024, Afterall brings together local funeral homes, cemeteries and direct-to-consumer cremation providers, along with tools and resources to make the end-of-life experience as easy as possible. Visit www.afterall.com to learn more.

About Cake
Cake is the leading platform for end-of-life planning and navigating mortality, serving millions of people each year. With thousands of articles and innovative planning tools, Cake is a one-stop-shop for all aspects of death and end-of-life including healthcare, funerals, financial and legal concerns, making meaning in your life, and curating your digital legacy. Visit www.joincake.com to learn more. 

Media Contact:
Kristin Wooten
kristin@babbitbodner.com
404-680-2524

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/foundation-partners-group-invests-in-digital-transformation-of-end-of-life-space-302264963.html

SOURCE Foundation Partners Group

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Blue Owl Capital Expands Tennis Player Sponsorship to All Grand Slam Tournaments in 2025

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Blue Owl to place logo patches on dozens of athletes competing across the Australian Open,
French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open

Jordan Thompson named as Blue Owl’s dedicated athlete ambassador for the Australian Open

NEW YORK, Jan. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Blue Owl Capital Inc. (“Blue Owl”) (NYSE: OWL), a leading alternative asset manager, announced today a marquee sponsorship agreement to expand their presence at all Grand Slam tournaments in 2025 and become the exclusive financial services partner for professional tennis’ Player Patch Program.

Blue Owl’s logo will be featured on the shirt of select players competing across men’s singles, women’s singles, mixed doubles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles competitions at this year’s Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open tournaments. In addition to Blue Owl’s presence on the courts, the firm will be featured in iconic Melbourne transit hubs, social media and digital media during the Australian Open in an effort to raise brand awareness within the country and the broader APAC market.

Blue Owl Chief Marketing Officer Suzanne Escousse said, “Just as Blue Owl is redefining alternative investing, we are supporting established and emerging professional players who are redefining the game of tennis. Tennis is a truly worldwide sport requiring peak performance in critical, high-pressure moments. This is the same ethos that underpins Blue Owl and allows us to focus on delivering results for our international client base. Following the success of our involvement with the Patch Program at the 2024 US Open, and given Blue Owl’s established presence within the country, Australia is the perfect place to kick off our presence across Grand Slam tournaments.”

Blue Owl has also partnered with Australian tennis professional Jordan Thompson, who will serve as the firm’s Athlete Ambassador at the 2025 Australian Open – January 12-26 in Melbourne. Most recently, Thompson won the men’s doubles at the 2024 US Open, where he was wearing a Blue Owl patch, and was a men’s doubles finalist at Wimbledon in 2024. He has also registered victories over several top-10-ranked opponents in singles competitions and previously represented Australia at the Olympics and the Davis Cup. Thompson will be one of several competitors wearing Blue Owl’s logo throughout the tournament.

Jordan Thompson said: “Blue Owl is focused on delivering excellence for its clients, which makes it a great fit for a partnership with professional tennis players. Support from firms like Blue Owl is tremendously beneficial for players who are preparing for career-defining events, especially the four Grand Slams. Our shared core values, including striving for success in every step of our journeys, whether that be in the financial services industry or competing as a professional athlete, is a perfect match. Alongside my coaches, my doubles teammate(s) and tennis fans, Blue Owl will play a key role for me here in Melbourne at the 2025 Australian Open.”

About Blue Owl

Blue Owl (NYSE: OWL) is a leading asset manager that is redefining alternatives.

With $235 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2024, we invest across three multi-strategy platforms: Credit, GP Strategic Capital, and Real Estate. Anchored by a strong permanent capital base, we provide businesses with private capital solutions to drive long-term growth and offer institutional investors, individual investors, and insurance companies differentiated alternative investment opportunities that aim to deliver strong performance, risk-adjusted returns, and capital preservation.

Together with over 1,050 experienced professionals, Blue Owl brings the vision and discipline to create the exceptional. To learn more, visit www.blueowl.com.

Media Contact

Nick Theccanat
Principal, Corporate Communications & Government Affairs
Nick.Theccanat@blueowl.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blue-owl-capital-expands-tennis-player-sponsorship-to-all-grand-slam-tournaments-in-2025-302348626.html

SOURCE Blue Owl Capital

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Wayfair and Google Cloud Announce Expanded Partnership to Transform Online Retail with Gemini

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With Google’s advanced Gemini models and Google Workspace, Wayfair is now able to enhance product catalog, employee productivity, and customer experience

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Wayfair and Google Cloud today announced an expanded partnership to significantly enhance the online retailer’s product catalog with Google’s advanced Gemini models on Vertex AI and to improve employee collaboration by deploying Google Workspace to its thousands of employees worldwide. By using Google’s AI technologies, Wayfair has already seen improvements in workforce efficiency and operational cost savings.

“At Wayfair, we believe gen AI is the key to unlocking the next generation of retail experiences,” said Fiona Tan, Chief Technology Officer at Wayfair. “With Google Cloud, we’ve been able to efficiently scale and enrich our product catalogs, enabling us to support a more seamless and engaging shopping experience for our customers.”

Gemini on Vertex AI for Automated Catalog Enrichment

In the fast-paced world of e-commerce, surfacing the right products at the right time is crucial. Wayfair is already seeing results from its use of Gemini on Google Cloud, including:

Faster Time-to-Market: Instead of manually tagging each new product across its 30 million product portfolio, Wayfair is using Gemini on Google Cloud to automatically categorize products, reducing the time needed to curate new and update existing product listings by 67%.Significant Cost Savings: By removing the tedious process of manually tagging attributes like color and style, Wayfair estimates it will drive hundreds of thousands in cost savings per year.Better Listing Quality: Gemini’s ability to analyze images opened up new possibilities for Wayfair, such as automatically catching errors in product dimensions listed in the catalog, leading to better customer satisfaction.Improved Customer Experience: Increasing the accuracy of product attributes like color and subject, and improving the coverage of these attribute tags in the catalog, improved conversion rates when customers use these filters by ~2%.More Responsible Content Management: With Gemini, Wayfair now has a scalable, AI-augmented process for identifying and flagging inappropriate materials.

Gemini for Workspace to Enhance Employee Productivity

In addition to catalog enrichment, Wayfair is also leveraging Gemini for Google Workspace to improve the productivity of employees and create better experiences for them. Wayfair has had success using Gemini in Gmail, Google Docs, and more to help employees streamline and collaborate on tasks like drafting and responding to emails, summarizing and proofreading documents, building presentation templates, and more. Wayfair is also finding success using Gems, which are customized versions of Gemini to help with tasks or get deep expertise in new areas. With Gemini for Workspace and Gems, Wayfair has seen a boost to employee productivity, enhanced collaboration, and improvements in creativity across the organization.

“Wayfair is redefining what’s possible in retail with Google Cloud’s generative AI,” said Matt Renner, President, Global Revenue at Google Cloud. “By harnessing the power of Gemini and Google Workspace, Wayfair is not only automating complex tasks and boosting employee collaboration, but also creating more personalized and engaging experiences for every shopper. This is a prime example of how AI can transform businesses and deliver tangible benefits to customers and employees.”

About Google Cloud

Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner.

About Google Workspace

Google Workspace is a suite of productivity apps, including Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Docs, Meet, Vids, and more, that are trusted by more than 3 billion users and over 10 million paying customers. Google Workspace helps people and teams do their best work across any device, from anywhere. AI has been used in Google Workspace for years to improve grammar, efficiency, security, and more with features like Smart Reply, Smart Compose, and malware and phishing protection in Gmail. Now, Gemini for Google Workspace brings AI into the entire suite.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wayfair-and-google-cloud-announce-expanded-partnership-to-transform-online-retail-with-gemini-302348276.html

SOURCE Google Cloud

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MaryRuth’s Celebrates TikTok Shop Super Brand Day With Exclusive Offers and Viral Favorites

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LOS ANGELES, Jan. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — MaryRuth’s, the trusted leader in liquid vitamins and wellness products, is thrilled to announce its participation in TikTok Shop’s Super Brand Day from January 12 to 18, 2025. For this exclusive event, MaryRuth’s is celebrating with up to 40% off shopwide and exclusive multi-pack bundles of their top-selling products including viral favorites.

MaryRuth’s Liquid Morning Multivitamin + Hair Growth became a social media sensation in 2024, with over 369,000 bottles sold and 18,000 5-star reviews from customers who rave about its convenience, taste, and powerful benefits for health and hair growth. With these exclusive deals on TikTok Shop, MaryRuth’s aims to make its most-loved products even more accessible to its community to kick off healthy habits in 2025.

“We are so thrilled to be part of TikTok Shop’s Super Brand Day,” said MaryRuth Ghiyam, Founder and CEO of MaryRuth’s. “Our mission has always been to help people feel their best with high-quality, delicious, easy-to-use wellness products, and this event allows us to reach even more people with great deals on the products they love.”

Customers can take advantage of up to 40% off all products on MaryRuth’s TikTok Shop and shop specially curated bundles, including multi-packs of the Liquid Morning Multivitamin + Hair Growth. Designed to support overall health as well as hair thickness, hair growth, and skin health, this multivitamin has become a must-have for many health-conscious individuals.

MaryRuth’s will also showcase engaging TikTok content to celebrate this partnership, including product demonstrations, customer testimonials, and exclusive offers for TikTok users.

Mark your calendars for January 12-18, 2025, and join MaryRuth’s in celebrating TikTok Shop Super Brand Day. Don’t miss this opportunity to shop viral favorites and stock up to support your wellness for the new year and beyond!

About MaryRuth’s
MaryRuth was inspired to help empower others to take wellness into their own hands after seeing how health issues personally impacted her loved ones. As a health educator, nutritional consultant, culinary chef, and mom to 4 children, MaryRuth was driven to formulate a delicious, easy-to-take multivitamin with quality ingredients for her clients and family. This led to the creation of what is now America’s #1 best-selling liquid multivitamin. Through our growing product line, we aim to continue what was MaryRuth’s original mission: helping you to create small, healthy habits to move forward every day.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/maryruths-celebrates-tiktok-shop-super-brand-day-with-exclusive-offers-and-viral-favorites-302339675.html

SOURCE MaryRuth Organics

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