Connect with us

Technology

Dubai Duty Free Partners with TerraPay, Empowering 100 million+ Customers for Instant Digital Wallet Payments at Dubai Duty Free

Published

on

DUBAI, UAE, Feb. 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — TerraPay, a global money movement company, has joined forces with Dubai Duty Free (DDF), the world’s largest single airport retailer, to revolutionize the shopping experience for over 100 million customers. This strategic partnership enables travellers to make purchases using their home-country digital wallets, driving a new era of convenience and accessibility in payment solutions.

Through this association, Dubai Duty Free will gain access to TerraPay’s extensive global network of more than 3.7 billion mobile wallets, and its effective cross-border payments infrastructure, to accept users’ preferred payment methods. By integrating digital wallets into its payment ecosystem, Dubai Duty Free empowers customers to shop with ease, offering a seamless alternative to existing payment methods.

In 2025, digital wallets are poised to dominate the global payments landscape, with projections indicating they will account for 52% of the world’s e-commerce sales volume and 30% of point-of-sale transactions. Additionally digital wallets are expected to account for 35% of all cross-border payment methods this year, reflecting a growing consumer preference for speed, convenience, and accessibility.

With TerraPay’s global reach, leading mobile money operators such as Airtel Money, M-PESA, and MTN MoMo are already on board, enabling their users to shop at Dubai Duty Free using their home-country wallets. 

Commenting on the partnership, Ambar Sur, Founder & CEO at TerraPay, said, “Our partnership Dubai Duty Free, the world’s largest single airport retailer, opened up new avenues for seamless digital wallet payments within its vast network at Dubai International and Al Maktoum International Airport utilizing TerraPay’s robust cross-border payment infrastructure that has enabled us to deliver faster, more innovative, and transparent cross-border payment solutions to our partners around the world. This collaboration highlights the shared vision of TerraPay and Dubai Duty Free to redefine convenience and accessibility in payments, creating an inclusive ecosystem that puts customers first. This comes at a right time, with the launch of TerraPay’s Wallet Interoperability Council, to pave the way for the future of wallet interoperability, empowering consumers, and businesses to transact effortlessly across borders.”

Ramesh Cidambi, Managing Director of Dubai Duty Free, said, “We are reinforcing our commitment to empower our customers to make purchases using payment methods of their choice. Dubai Duty Free has always been at the forefront of harnessing technology and partnerships to offer the best to our customers, and now with access to TerraPay’s vast network, we’re excited to offer this new payment solution.”

“TerraPay aligns with our commitment to extend the reach of financial inclusion globally, which enables us to open up new and innovative forms of acceptance for a large segment of unserved populations, and we are proud of that,” added Cidambi.

With a shared dedication to providing diverse and forward-thinking payment solutions, TerraPay and Dubai Duty Free embark on a journey to redefine convenience and accessibility in retail transactions. This partnership not only reflects the adaptability of the retail industry but also showcases the transformative power of collaboration in shaping the future of global commerce.

About TerraPay

TerraPay simplifies global money movement, providing a single connection to one of the most expansive cross-border payment networks regulated in over 30 global markets. The platform enables payments to 150+ receiving countries, 210+ sending countries, over 3.7 billion mobile wallets, 7.5 billion bank accounts, and more than 12 billion cards. TerraPay is on a mission to create a borderless financial world, making money transfers instant, reliable, transparent, and fully compliant. Founded in 2014, TerraPay operates in over 12 countries and has built the global digital wallet interoperable network, driving financial inclusion even in the most remote markets. TerraPay is headquartered in London, with offices in cities like Bangalore, Dubai, Bogota, Dar es Salaam, Kampala, and Singapore. Backed by leading investors including the IFC (World Bank), Prime Ventures, Partech Africa, and Visa, TerraPay continues its rapid global expansion.

About DDF

Dubai Duty Free (DDF) is the company responsible for the duty free operations at Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum Airport.

Founded in December 1983, DDF recorded first-year sales of US$20 million and has grown into one of the biggest travel retail operators in the world with a sales turnover of US$2.164 billion in 2024.

Now employing over 6,000 people, the operation has consistently raised the benchmark for airport retailing, and it continues to grow.

Currently operating around 40,000 sqm of retail space across Dubai International and Al Maktoum International airports, Dubai Duty Free has continued its investment in the development and expansion of its retail offer.

For more information, please contact: Juveria Samrin, juveria.n@terrapay.com  

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1222771/TerraPay_Logo.jpg

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/dubai-duty-free-partners-with-terrapay-empowering-100-million-customers-for-instant-digital-wallet-payments-at-dubai-duty-free-302366362.html

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

CHAI, A Leading Social AI Platform, Launches Creator Feed for UGAI

Published

on

By

CHAI, a Palo Alto-based social AI platform, launches creator feed, boasts 1M+ daily users, over $20M in revenue, and aims to deliver it’s mission of user-generated AI.

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — CHAI, a social AI platform based in Palo Alto, has launched it’s creator feed – it showcases the most popular user-generated AI, UGAI.

With more than one million daily active users and $20 million in revenue, CHAI is evolving into an app with broad, general adoption.

What is CHAI? CHAI is a social AI platform where users can create their own AI. Since its launch three years ago, CHAI has experienced significant growth, particularly among Gen Z users. Now, to support further growth and wider adoption, CHAI has redesigned its brand.

Can you use CHAI AI in a browser? As of March 2025, no. CHAI is focused on delivering the most engaging social AI experience by hiring talented engineers to refine its app. While there are currently no plans for a web app, this may change in the future.

Is CHAI AI safe? CHAI has implemented a range of safety features that allow users to engage in dynamic chats while encouraging them to stay within established guidelines. By building better AI, CHAI aims to enhance user value and experience.

What makes CHAI special? CHAI is designed to be the most engaging social AI, delivering highly entertaining conversations. Many users rely on it to craft interactive stories and immersive experiences.

Why do people love CHAI? CHAI employs advanced AI techniques to increase the entertainment value of its bots. Users chat with AI to write interactive novels and have engaging conversations, supported by a variety of genres that appeal to avid novel readers.

Sometimes regarded as the best free AI chatbot, CHAI is paving its way to widespread adoption of conversational social AI for entertainment.

Who is the founder? William Beauchamp first started building CHAI with his sister in Cambridge UK in 2020. After building the first AI chat platform they relocated to Palo Alto.

Are they hiring? CHAI is a rapidly growing company that is known for paying very high salaries with an intense culture focused on delivering results and iterating quickly. Apply on CHAI’s website.

Press Contact:

Tom Lu
+1 (626) 594-8966
https://www.chai-research.com/

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chai-a-leading-social-ai-platform-launches-creator-feed-for-ugai-302402304.html

SOURCE Chai

Continue Reading

Technology

China on track to achieve growth target for 2025, say experts and business leaders

Published

on

By

BEIJING, March 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — A news report from chinadaily.com.cn:

China is expected to achieve its annual growth target of around 5 percent this year and present more business opportunities for both domestic and foreign companies, with its intensified efforts to spur innovation and further boost consumption and investment, economists and business leaders said at the “CEO: Grow with China” Roundtable hosted by China Daily on Friday.

“China’s economy is right on track to meet its preset annual growth target of around 5 percent for 2025, supported by its ultra-large domestic market, strong innovation capability, as well as a string of supportive policies aimed at boosting consumption and emerging industry investment,” said Lin Shen, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of World Economics and Politics.

Government policies aimed at fostering innovation and developing emerging industries have been steadily implemented. Fiscal policies and other innovation-friendly measures will play a crucial role in sustaining economic growth throughout the year, Lin said.

Lin highlighted the structural shifts in the economy, where new growth drivers are replacing old ones, and stressed that new quality productive forces, including AI-powered manufacturing, have begun to take hold. “Our new quality productive forces, coupled with AI empowerment, have integrated well with the manufacturing and the real economy. There will be significant progress in application scenarios.”

“Even though there are certain geopolitical headwinds, we are still very optimistic about China’s economic prospects this year as the country’s fiscal and monetary policies go hand in hand,” said Ole Gerdau, chief operating officer at Deutsche Bank China.

According to him, consumption will be the key driver of the economy, roughly contributing to two-thirds of China’s growth this year. The trade-in program, for which funding has been doubled, is expected to have a positive impact on consumption.

Gerdau said the emergence of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is changing people’s perception about China’s innovation strength and technological advancements. “This creates a wake-up moment for the world that now might be the time to invest in China. We expect this year to be the turning point where international investors are going to shift their focuses and have a higher allocation into the Chinese market,” he said.

China is prioritizing new quality productive forces and enhancing financial services to enterprises in its economic agenda for the year, as policymakers announced recently the rollout of a raft of supportive measures aimed at creating new growth drivers for the world’s second-largest economy.

The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, said late on Thursday that it will reduce the reserve requirement ratio and interest rates as appropriate based on the domestic and international economic and financial situation as well as the performance of financial markets.

The A-share benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.81 percent to close at 3419.56 points on Friday, while the ChiNext Index, tracking China’s Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, jumped 2.8 percent to close at 2226.72 points.

The National Development and Reform Commission recently announced that it would establish a national venture capital guidance fund, with the goal of enhancing, strengthening and expanding innovative enterprises. The fund is expected to attract nearly 1 trillion yuan ($138 billion) in capital from local governments and the private sector.

The participants at the roundtable emphasized that emerging sectors like artificial intelligence have great potential in China, presenting new opportunities for enterprises.

China’s AI-led innovation is also throwing up opportunities for businesses like Rolls-Royce, said Troy Wang, executive vice-president of Rolls-Royce Greater China.

“China’s focus on innovation-driven growth is making it continue to be an important country for Rolls-Royce, and it’s so much more than just a market for us,” Wang said.

“Rolls-Royce just achieved a record year in 2024 in terms of business performance and we’re confident about 2025,” he said, adding that the company is building Beijing Aero Engine Services Co Ltd, a joint venture in Beijing, into a world-leading digitally enabled aeronautical engine repair and overhaul shop.

Rani Jarkas, chairman of Cedrus Group, said that the development of AI requires a large amount of electricity, chips, and applications, and China has it all. “Technology speaks for itself,” he said.

“I think the innovation will continue and the opportunities will grow for Chinese companies going abroad and for foreign companies to come to explore the market and set up local units here,” he said.

Huang Yanxiang, co-founder and CEO of Shanghai CarbonNewture and ESG expert, said the current wave of AI-led innovation in China is transforming industries by integrating AI with manufacturing, boosting efficiency, and giving rise to new business models. For CarbonNewture, this means deeply integrating AI into its carbon accounting platforms, improving data analysis and reporting capabilities to deliver more precise and actionable insights.

The roundtable was jointly organized by China Daily Institute for Corporate Communication and China Services Information Platform.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/china-on-track-to-achieve-growth-target-for-2025-say-experts-and-business-leaders-302402346.html

SOURCE chinadaily.com.cn

Continue Reading

Technology

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Launches to International Space Station

Published

on

By

WASHINGTON, March 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Four crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission launched at 7:03 p.m. EDT Friday from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a science expedition aboard the International Space Station.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Dragon spacecraft into orbit carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. The spacecraft will dock autonomously to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 15. Shortly after docking, the crew will join Expedition 72/73 for a long-duration stay aboard the orbiting laboratory.

“Congratulations to our NASA and SpaceX teams on the 10th crew rotation mission under our commercial crew partnership. This milestone demonstrates NASA’s continued commitment to advancing American leadership in space and driving growth in our national space economy,” said NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro. “Through these missions, we are laying the foundation for future exploration, from low Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars. Our international crew will contribute to innovative science research and technology development, delivering benefits to all humanity.”

During Dragon’s flight, SpaceX will monitor a series of automatic spacecraft maneuvers from its mission control center in Hawthorne, California. NASA will monitor space station operations throughout the flight from the Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA’s live coverage resumes at 9:45 p.m., March 15, on NASA+ with rendezvous, docking, and hatching opening. After docking, the crew will change out of their spacesuits and prepare cargo for offload before opening the hatch between Dragon and the space station’s Harmony module around 1:05 a.m., Sunday, March 16. Once the new crew is aboard the orbital outpost, NASA will broadcast welcome remarks from Crew-10 and farewell remarks from the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 crew, beginning at about 1:40 a.m.

Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

The number of crew aboard the space station will increase to 11 for a short time as Crew-10 joins NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Don Pettit, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner. Following a brief handover period, Hague, Williams, Wilmore, and Gorbunov will return to Earth no earlier than Wednesday, March 19.Ahead of Crew-9’s departure from station, mission teams will review weather conditions at the splashdown sites off the coast of Florida. 

During their mission, Crew-10 is scheduled to conduct material flammability tests to contribute to future spacecraft and facility designs. The crew will engage with students worldwide via the ISS Ham Radio program and use the program’s existing hardware to test a backup lunar navigation solution. The astronauts also will serve as test subjects, with one crew member conducting an integrated study to better understand physiological and psychological changes to the human body to provide valuable insights for future deep space missions.

With this mission, NASA continues to maximize the use of the orbiting laboratory, where people have lived and worked continuously for more than 24 years, testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to operate future commercial destinations in low Earth orbit and explore farther from our home planet. Research conducted at the space station benefits people on Earth and paves the way for future long-duration missions to the Moon under NASA’s Artemis campaign and beyond.

More about Crew-10
McClain is the commander of Crew-10 and is making her second trip to the orbital outpost since her selection as an astronaut in 2013. She will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73 aboard the space station. Follow McClain on X.

Ayers is the pilot of Crew-10 and is flying her first mission. Selected as an astronaut in 2021, Ayers will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73. Follow Ayers on X and Instagram.

Onishi is a mission specialist for Crew-10 and is making his second flight to the space station. He will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73. Follow Onishi on X.

Peskov is a mission specialist for Crew-10 and is making his first flight to the space station. Peskov will serve as a flight engineer during Expeditions 72/73.

Learn more about NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission and the agency’s Commercial Crew Program at:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasas-spacex-crew-10-launches-to-international-space-station-302402325.html

SOURCE NASA

Continue Reading

Trending