Jio Platforms Limited (Jio), a subsidiary of India-based Reliance Industries Ltd. (Reliance), has recently added two tech giants Facebook and Google to its roster of high-profile investors.

Subsequently, the mentions of ‘investment’ in Reliance’s filings have grown multifold as compared to Q2 2020, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Reliance’s retail sales dropped due to shuttered stores in Q2 2020. However, keyword mentions related to grocery and e-commerce rose for filings released in Q3 2020, as the company sees a massive opportunity in the market, despite established players like Amazon and Flipkart. Interestingly, Reliance Retail opened 69 new stores in the quarter. At the same time, Jio launched grocery delivery services across 200 cities in May 2020.

Another interesting trend identified by GlobalData’s Filing Analytics Tool was the rise in smartphone-related mentions in the company’s filings. Jio plans to launch a smartphone in partnership with Google for less than US$50.

iKala, a human-centered AI company, raises US$17 million Series B to expand its global footprint.

Following its exceptional growth in the cloud and digital transformation industry since Series A round of funding early last year, iKala established a new division in June: iKala Commerce. The new solution consolidates AI-powered influencer database KOL Radar, and AI social commerce solution Shoplus, to provide an integrated solution and holistic customer data insights for the region’s social commerce players.

The fund injection will propel iKala’s R&D investment, drive innovation in AI technologies to propel digital transformation and build integrated solutions for new retail in Southeast Asia and beyond. The latest round of funding takes the company’s total funding to US$30.3 million and will be used to further fuel iKala’s AI and digital technologies innovation. Equally, it signals the company’s expansion into new markets including Indonesia and Malaysia, while strengthening its position in its existing key markets of Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Vietnam, and Japan.

Peace One Day is hosting a Live Global Digital Experience on the 21st of September for #PeaceDay, the UN International Day of Peace.

This groundbreaking, free virtual event will be broadcast live to every continent, connecting the most incredible and inspiring international speakers, actors and musicians for a full day of online digital experience to raise awareness of Peace Day, and ultimately spread the message of peace and non-violence throughout the world.

There will be 7 live-streamed panel discussions throughout the day, which will cover a variety of topics from women on the frontlines of action to spotlights on local heroes. These panels will feature inspiring individuals who are distinguished experts in their fields, sharing their profound insight of peacekeeping, technology, education, mental health, virology, business and entertainment.

The Peace One Day Live Global Digital Experience, produced by Jeremy Gilley, the founder of Peace One Day, and co-produced by Jude Law, is designed to showcase activity globally, in the hope that 4 billion people will be exposed to the Peace Day message in just 24-hours. Some of the world’s most high-profile thought leaders and celebrities, united in their message of peace and non-violence, will be featured. Go to https://vimeo.com/446784297

With only 10 years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the Peace One Day Live Global Digital Experience is united with the 100 national governments, cities, businesses, NGO’s and others who are committed to halving global violence by 2030. The broadcast is designed to support the wider Peace One Day objectives of making 4 billion people fully aware of Peace day by 2025, providing Peace & Sustainability Education Resources to all 193 UN Member states and raising global awareness of Goal 16; Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

Ensuring that the entire global community has access to the message of peace and non-violence in the 75th year of the United Nations, this incredible digital experience is free to register and not to be missed. Unite with millions around the world for a day filled with hope, reflection and connection. Visit: https://www.peaceoneday.org/Main/PeaceDayLive

Universal Music China, a division of Universal Music Group (UMG), announced the launch of Magic Muses, China’s first label dedicated solely to film soundtrack and score, created to support China’s global film and TV industry.

The first domestic label to be launched by Universal Music China in more than a decade - Magic Muses will work closely with local artists and composer talent to create bespoke musical works for high-profile film and TV projects in China. In recent years, China’s film and TV industry has expanded rapidly, it boasts the largest number of cinema screens per country in the world, and has ranked as the world’s second-largest movie market in terms of box office since 2012, behind only the U.S.

The launch of Magic Muses will firmly establish the label as the definitive and authentic home for film soundtracks in China, providing musical excellence and promotional impact for future box office releases, partnering to raise the reach of projects domestically and abroad.

The label will be run by veteran film marketing executive Kelvin Hou, who has been appointed as CEO, effective immediately. Hou was previously the founder and former CEO of China’s top online movie database & community Mtime. The label will be based in Beijing, at the heart of China’s film industry.

AnyMind Group, a technology company in the marketing, entertainment, HR and direct-to-consumer industries, has announced the appointment of Vaibhav Odhekar to its board of directors, and Siddharth Kelkar, Aditya Aima and Dinesh Kailash Kumar to its management team as managing directors.

Odhekar will continue to lead India and the Middle East for AnyMind Group, and will join other board of director members: Kosuke Sogo, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of AnyMind Group, Rohit Sharma, Chief Operating Officer of AnyMind Group, Otohiko Kozutsumi, Chief Commercial Officer and co-founder of AnyMind Group, and Keizo Okawa, Chief Financial Officer of AnyMind Group.

AnyMind Group’s board of directors also includes external officers: Shogo Ikeuchi, Advisor to Board of Directors for Recruit Holdings Co Ltd, Supriya Singh, Head of South Asia Investments for JAFCO Asia, and Hak Kim, Portfolio Manager for SPARX Group.

Furthermore, the company announced three additions to its management team. All three joined AnyMind Group from POKKT Mobile Ads after the latter was acquired by AnyMind Group in March 2020.

Siddharth Kelkar has been appointed as Managing Director, Performance Business. He will be responsible for equipping performance marketers with the right set of tools by AnyMind Group globally, including offerings by POKKT Mobile Ads, AdAsia and CastingAsia. Before joining POKKT Mobile Ads, Kelkar held leadership roles in SVG Media, CNBC TV18, The Times Group and Reliance Games.

Aditya Aima has been appointed as Managing Director, Agency Business, and provides marketing, creative and advertising agencies in Southeast Asia with the right capabilities across AnyMind Group’s suite of solutions. Aima formerly held leadership positions in Culture Machine Media, Astro Malaysia, Bloomberg TV and Turner Broadcasting System.

Dinesh Kailash Kumar is now Managing Director, Product, with a main focus on POKKT Mobile Ads’ products. He previously held product-related roles in InMobi, Microsoft IDC Bangalore, Yahoo!, Conformia Software Labs and IonIdea.

Since starting operations just over four years ago, AnyMind Group has expanded into four industries, operates across 17 offices in 13 markets with a headcount of over 750 staff, made five acquisitions, and raised a total funding of US$62.3 million.

Varnish Software, a pioneer in high-performance content delivery software, has opened a new regional Headquarters in Singapore and appointed Peter Löfling as General Manager for operations in the Asia-Pacific Region.

Peter Löfling joins the business as regional General Manager for APAC, having amassed more than 20 years experience in building and deploying successful streaming and CDN businesses, with previous roles at the likes of Cisco and Ericsson.

Earlier this year Varnish Software established an office in Tokyo, Japan, and is now taking the next steps in expanding it’s APAC organization with its new commercial headquarters. Singapore was chosen as the location for the APAC headquarters due to its impressive pool of technical talent and strong international trade and transport links. By having offices based in Japan and now Singapore, Varnish is able to easily serve customers across the region with locally-based support teams.

Varnish Software is offered as a subscription-based software, in addition to its professional services that help ensure best practice usage of its products. Varnish Enterprise is available for on-premise, cloud and hybrid infrastructure.

Transaction Network Services (TNS) has appointed payments industry veteran John Tait to the newly created position of Global Managing Director for its FinTech Payments business.

Based in Australia, Tait takes responsibility for TNS’ payments teams across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific regions, which now serve customers in over 60 countries. Tait has a strong understanding of TNS’ business having originally joined the company in 2016 as Managing Director for Asia Pacific and taking on a position on the TNS Asia Pacific Advisory Board in 2018. In 2019, Tait’s role was expanded to include management of the newly acquired ADVAM business.

Tait has more than 25 years of payments experience, holding senior roles at Indue, First Data and National Australia Bank prior to joining TNS.

During his tenure at TNS, Tait has helped the company expand into new markets and, more recently, has been pivotal to the successful integration of ADVAM. At ADVAM, he devised a customer led strategy and go to market plan that enabled the business to solidify its market leading solution set for its diverse client base.

As a trusted partner to the payments industry, TNS offers a broad portfolio of secure commerce solutions that include parking reservations, unattended payments, point-of-sale services, ATM connectivity and managed processing. In 2020, TNS celebrates 30 years of being a worldwide provider to global companies in the most mission critical industries. Many of the most prestigious financial institutions, POS ISOs, ATM deployers and transaction processors rely on TNS for secure and resilient connectivity. TNS’ secure network is supported 24x7x365 from Network Operating Centers in the US, UK and Australia.