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TA Associates Announces Strategic Growth Investment in Accion Labs – Yahoo Finance

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TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm, today announced that it has completed a strategic growth investment to join Basil Technology Partners (“Basil”) as an investor in Accion Labs (“Accion”), a digital-focused software product engineering company specializing in emerging technologies. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200326005064/en/” data-reactid=”20″>This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200326005064/en/

Founded in Pittsburgh, PA in 2011, Accion is a leader in helping technology companies and enterprises leverage the power of emerging technologies. Accion’s expertise ranges across advanced UX, artificial intelligence and machine learning, big-data/analytics, migration to cloud/SaaS and re-engineering of legacy platforms, process automation, mobility, augmented reality and IOT. The company’s clients include software product companies, e-SaaS firms, e-business organizations and enterprises undergoing a digital transformation across a range of industries such as healthcare, financial services, technology and fintech. Accion has more than 2,600 engineers across 14 offices within the U.S., Canada, the UK and Asia-Pacific.

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“We are very pleased to welcome TA Associates as an investor in Accion,” said Kinesh Doshi, Founder & CEO of Accion Labs. “In choosing to partner with TA, Accion and the Basil team were particularly attracted by the firm’s global presence, long history of investing in the technology sector and experience in growing portfolio companies through M&A. We believe that TA will prove to be a valuable partner as we seek to further grow Accion organically and through acquisitions, with a particular focus on the U.S. and European markets.”

“TA is delighted to invest in Accion, an innovative leader in the growing digital engineering space,” said Aditya Sharma, Principal at TA Associates Advisory Private Limited. “We are excited by Accion’s rapid growth, strong global leadership team, expertise in emerging technologies, proprietary accelerators and IP, and deeply integrated customer relationships. We look forward to a close collaboration with the Accion management and Basil teams in the company’s next phase of growth.”

Management and strategy consulting firm Zinnov estimated the annual spend on digital engineering across all industries at $160 billion in 2018, with approximately 60% of that expenditure in the U.S., followed by Western Europe and Asia-Pacific. The firm predicted a compound annual growth rate for the sector of 19% to $380 billion through 2023.

“Spending in the digital engineering market is being driven by technology and business model innovations, growth in technology companies, including start-ups, and the emergence of a global digital ecosystem,” said Dhiraj Poddar, Managing Director at TA Associates Advisory Private Limited. “With its innovative and solutions-driven approach, we believe that Accion is well-positioned to continue capitalizing on these trends and further grow its market share in this vibrant industry.”

“As a niche technology provider that we believe is disrupting the IT services space, Accion has been an ideal fit for Basil,” said Rajeev Srivastava, Executive Chairman & Managing Partner, Basil Technology Partners. “It has been truly gratifying to be involved with Accion since inception, helping to drive strategy and growth at this leading-edge business.”

“We welcome the opportunity to work with TA, leveraging their deep U.S. market experience to help scale Accion organically and through M&A,” added Sameer Kanwar, CEO & Partner, Basil Technology Partners.

Mr. Sharma and Mr. Poddar will join the Board of Directors of Accion Labs.

K&L Gates LLP served as U.S. counsel, Lexygen India served as Indian counsel, KPMG served as tax advisor and Avendus Capital served as investment banker to Accion Labs and Basil Technology Partners. Goodwin Procter LLP served as legal counsel and Ernst & Young served as tax advisor to TA Associates. TA Associates Advisory Private Limited also advised on the transaction.

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="About Accion Labs ” data-reactid=”30″>About Accion Labs

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Accion Labs, founded in 2011, is a Pittsburgh-headquartered global technology firm specializing in working with technology firms and IT organizations in the emerging technologies such as Rich Internet Applications, Service-Oriented Architecture, SaaS, Cloud, Open-Source, BI/DW, Mobility, Automation, DevOps and Big Data. Spread over 12 global offices, Accion has an engineering headcount of more than 2,250 employees. Accion clients include software product firms, e-SaaS firms, e-commerce organizations and e-business organizations. Accion engages with its clients in a range of collaborative, white-box engagement models that include extended teams, turn-key project and professional staffing. Accion specializes in building new products and re-engineering legacy products to leverage emerging technologies and best practices. Led by an entrepreneurial management team that believes in execution, outcome and continuous learning, Accion Labs has been recognized as one of Pittsburgh’s fastest growing companies by the Pittsburgh Business Times and one of America’s fastest growing companies by Inc. magazine. For more information, please visit www.accionlabs.com.” data-reactid=”31″>Accion Labs, founded in 2011, is a Pittsburgh-headquartered global technology firm specializing in working with technology firms and IT organizations in the emerging technologies such as Rich Internet Applications, Service-Oriented Architecture, SaaS, Cloud, Open-Source, BI/DW, Mobility, Automation, DevOps and Big Data. Spread over 12 global offices, Accion has an engineering headcount of more than 2,250 employees. Accion clients include software product firms, e-SaaS firms, e-commerce organizations and e-business organizations. Accion engages with its clients in a range of collaborative, white-box engagement models that include extended teams, turn-key project and professional staffing. Accion specializes in building new products and re-engineering legacy products to leverage emerging technologies and best practices. Led by an entrepreneurial management team that believes in execution, outcome and continuous learning, Accion Labs has been recognized as one of Pittsburgh’s fastest growing companies by the Pittsburgh Business Times and one of America’s fastest growing companies by Inc. magazine. For more information, please visit www.accionlabs.com.

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="About Basil Technology Partners Pte. Ltd.” data-reactid=”36″>About Basil Technology Partners Pte. Ltd.

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Basil Technology Partners Pte. Ltd. is a licensed fund manager in Singapore and is the advisor to Basil Technology Fund. Basil is a specialist technology investor that identifies and invests in niche technologies that are disrupting the IT services space. Basil has a hands-on approach to investing that leans heavily on identifying niche technology services companies, acquiring significant stakes and being involved as an active operating partner in each of the portfolio companies to drive strategy, growth – both organic and inorganic – and exits. Basil has developed a reputation within the technology community in SE Asia, India and the U.S. for funding, growing and successfully exiting technology and tech-related businesses. Since 2008, the Basil team members have invested in and actively operated around 14 technology investments, with six successful exits, mostly within 3 – 5 years of investment. In August, 2018 Basil completed a successful third-party fund-raising round from marquee international Limited Partners (LPs) to recapitalize and consolidate their position as an investor in several leading-edge niche technology companies. For more information, please visit www.basilpartners.com.” data-reactid=”37″>Basil Technology Partners Pte. Ltd. is a licensed fund manager in Singapore and is the advisor to Basil Technology Fund. Basil is a specialist technology investor that identifies and invests in niche technologies that are disrupting the IT services space. Basil has a hands-on approach to investing that leans heavily on identifying niche technology services companies, acquiring significant stakes and being involved as an active operating partner in each of the portfolio companies to drive strategy, growth – both organic and inorganic – and exits. Basil has developed a reputation within the technology community in SE Asia, India and the U.S. for funding, growing and successfully exiting technology and tech-related businesses. Since 2008, the Basil team members have invested in and actively operated around 14 technology investments, with six successful exits, mostly within 3 – 5 years of investment. In August, 2018 Basil completed a successful third-party fund-raising round from marquee international Limited Partners (LPs) to recapitalize and consolidate their position as an investor in several leading-edge niche technology companies. For more information, please visit www.basilpartners.com.

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="About TA Associates” data-reactid=”38″>About TA Associates

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="TA Associates is a leading global growth private equity firm. Focused on targeted sectors within five industries – technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services – TA invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in more than 500 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in high quality growth companies. TA has raised $33.5 billion in capital since its founding in 1968 and is committing to new investments at the pace of over $2 billion per year. The firm’s more than 85 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. More information about TA Associates can be found at www.ta.com.” data-reactid=”39″>TA Associates is a leading global growth private equity firm. Focused on targeted sectors within five industries – technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services – TA invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in more than 500 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in high quality growth companies. TA has raised $33.5 billion in capital since its founding in 1968 and is committing to new investments at the pace of over $2 billion per year. The firm’s more than 85 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. More information about TA Associates can be found at www.ta.com.

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200326005064/en/” data-reactid=”40″>View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200326005064/en/

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Contacts” data-reactid=”41″>Contacts

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="For TA Associates
Marcia O’Carroll
TA Associates
+1 617-574-6796
mocarroll@ta.com” data-reactid=”42″>For TA Associates
Marcia O’Carroll
TA Associates
+1 617-574-6796
mocarroll@ta.com

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Philip Nunes
BackBay Communications
+1 617-391-0792
phil.nunes@backbaycommunications.com” data-reactid=”43″>Philip Nunes
BackBay Communications
+1 617-391-0792
phil.nunes@backbaycommunications.com

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Stephen Fishleigh
BackBay Communications
+44 203-475-7552
stephen.fishleigh@backbaycommunications.com” data-reactid=”44″>Stephen Fishleigh
BackBay Communications
+44 203-475-7552
stephen.fishleigh@backbaycommunications.com

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="For Accion Labs
Amy Halter
+1 724 260 0347
amy.halter@accionlabs.com” data-reactid=”45″>For Accion Labs
Amy Halter
+1 724 260 0347
amy.halter@accionlabs.com

<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="For Basil Technology Partners
Richa Dsouza
Basil Technology Partners Pte. Ltd.
+65 6243 6801
richa@basilpartners.com” data-reactid=”46″>For Basil Technology Partners
Richa Dsouza
Basil Technology Partners Pte. Ltd.
+65 6243 6801
richa@basilpartners.com

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Lenders Rally After India’s Central Bank Eases Investment Curbs – BNN Bloomberg

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(Bloomberg) — Indian banks and shadow lenders rose Thursday after the country’s central bank eased capital requirements for a unique type of investment, a move that may free up more funds for loans.

The gains came after the Reserve Bank of India issued Wednesday modified rules on lenders’ required provisions for exposure to alternative investment funds, or AIFs, that invest in the lenders’ borrowers. Under the new policy, a lender needs to set aside capital only for the amount the AIF invested in the debtor company, and not the entire investment of the lender in the AIF.

Shares of Piramal Enterprises Ltd., which reported among the biggest provisions for such investments, closed 1% higher after rising as much as 6% during the day. A gauge of financial services firms climbed 1%, the most since March 1.

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Lenders led the rally in the broader market, with the NSE Nifty 50 Index registering its best day since beginning of the month.

The RBI’s softening stance came after industry players raised concerns over clarity and uniformity after it announced in December restrictions on lenders’ exposure to AIFs that hold stakes in their borrowers. The latest move will likely help firms including Piramal, HDFC Bank Ltd. and IIFL Finance Ltd. reverse some of their relevant provisions made previously, according to analysts at Citigroup Inc. and Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Read more: India’s Crackdown on Financial Risks Puts Industry on Watch

“Select private banks and NBFCs like Piramal had provided for their entire AIF exposure during 3Q and could see some write-backs in 4Q if they decide to reverse the excess provision,” Jefferies analyst Bhaskar Basu wrote in a note.

Regulators introduced a flurry of new rules last year to prevent a buildup of financial stress at a time when India’s economy remained resilient in the face of rising interest rates, slowing global growth and unabated geopolitical tensions.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

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What is Islamic halal investment and why is it on the rise?

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The global Islamic halal economy is set to reach a market value of $7.7 trillion by 2025, more than double the $3.2 trillion it reached in 2015 and significantly higher than the $5.7 trillion it was valued at less than three years ago in 2021, according to industry experts.

A report by the General Council for Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions revealed last year that the global Islamic funds market has grown by more than 300 percent over the past decade, with nearly $200bn now under management globally.

The statistics depict a rise in both demand for halal – or “sharia compliant” – investments and opportunities.

Investing is permitted under Islam, but certain aspects of investment practice – such as charging or paying interest – are not. This has traditionally meant a lack of opportunities for Muslim savers and investors in the past.

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What is halal investment?

Halal is an Arabic term meaning “permitted” and stipulating that:

  • Transactions cannot involve “riba” (interest).
  • Investments must not be made in “haram” (unlawful) assets or commodities such as pork products, alcohol or military equipment, among others.
  • Investments cannot be made based on “gharar”, which has been described as “highly uncertain transactions or transactions that run contrary to the idea of certainty and transparency in business”.

“Halal investment is basically managing your money and finances in line with your faith,” Omar Shaikh, director of Islamic Finance Council UK (UKIFC), told Al Jazeera. “Muslims believe that earning money in a way which is halal is better than earning money (even if that is more) in a way that is harmful to society and against the morals of the religion.”

Umar Munshi, co-founder and managing director of Islamic finance group Ethis, said sharia compliance is key, but institutions and investors looking for ethical investments need to go even further to ensure a business is completely ethical.

“The actions of a business must not have a negative impact on society or the environment,” Munshi told Al Jazeera. “So it’s not only compliant, but refraining from having a negative impact. Investing in a tobacco company, for example, may be sharia compliant, but it’s not good for society.”

How does halal investment work?

One example of halal investment is Islamic business financing, which works using new models of profit-sharing, sharia-compliant insurance and sukuk, an Islamic financial certificate that represents a share of ownership.

Unlike with conventional bonds – a form of IOU that investors can buy in order to receive interest payments – sukuk investors receive partial ownership of a business and then receive profit payments, which are generated over time. These payments are made instead of interest in order to ensure sharia compliancy.

“Islamic finance as a sector is barely 30 years old, with the past 15 years seeing the most development,” Shaikh from UKIFC said. “It takes time to educate and create awareness and as this has happened, more banks have focused on servicing the demand for halal investing. This in turn helps to create more products, which then creates more demand.”

Stock markets used to be the traditional modes of investment for many [Marcin Nowak/Anadolu via Getty Images]

A Goldman Sachs report published in December 2022 estimated that by 2075, five of the world’s 10 largest economies – India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Egypt – will have Muslim populations amounting to more than 850 million people.

As the population rises, so does its demand for financial products. According to the State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2023, published by research group DinarStandard, some $25.9bn was invested into sharia-compliant investments in the financial year 2022-23, marking a 128 percent year-on-year growth.

“In general, it [halal investment] is on the rise. People are a lot more educated and more aware of how their dollar impacts the socioeconomic landscape globally,” said Siddiq Farid, co-founder of SmartCrowd, a real estate investment platform based in Dubai.

“They are a lot more cautious, too, hence leading to more ethical investing, which halal investing is a big component of. It’s on the rise, particularly around the younger generation. The millennials, they are a lot more aware socially. People realise exactly where their money is going and how it’s being used.”

An increase in opportunities for halal investing and their ease of access are also cited as reasons driving the rise in demand.

Israel’s war on Gaza and its impact

More recently, the rise in demand for halal investments has received an additional boost as consumers boycott brands seen as supporting Israel and its war on Gaza.

The war, which has seen more than 32,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza, has “adjusted” the mindset of these investors, Farid said.

“Halal investment has been increasing steadily and it has accelerated further in the past six months, mostly among millennials and people under 40,” he said.

“But in the past, it’s more of these people just looking for something halal. As long as it’s not haram, it’s fine. Now, there’s more awareness of not only halal, but halal aligned with values and faith. All these boycott movements have got people much more aware that something may be halal, but you might not necessarily want to use it, be associated with it or invest in it.”

bds
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has made many people consider where their money goes before they spend or invest it, say experts [Martin Pope/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images]

How has technology contributed to the rise of halal investing?

FinTech Magazine reported in December last year that while Muslims make up nearly a quarter of the world’s population, barely one percent of financial assets qualify as sharia compliant. This is set to change, say experts, with the arrival of “fintech” – financial technology that can make investing much more accessible for ordinary consumers and individual investors.

“Muslims are generally not as well educated when it comes to investing, and this is partly due to a lack of available options for them as Muslims. Even basic information pertaining to sharia-compliant investments is often not available to most of the Muslim population,” said Ibrahim Khan, co-founder of the online financial platform Islamic Finance Guru, in an interview with FinTech Magazine.

However, the rise of social media has contributed to an increased awareness and significant growth in sharia-compliant finance. In addition, fintech has made halal investment options, which are often much more convenient and easy to use with a smartphone or laptop, more accessible.

Consultancy group McKinsey & Company published research in January this year showing that “revenues in the fintech industry are expected to grow almost three times faster than those in the traditional banking sector between 2023 and 2028”.

“Your phone is often physically the closest thing to you. Fintechs are able to start from this paradigm and build solutions that are efficient and enhance transparency and choice for retail customers. This is where a lot of the action is at. Many banks are now creating fintech-based solutions or acquiring fintech players,” said UKIFC’s Shaikh.

Munshi added the selling point for fintechs is the age of the target audience.

“The younger generation is more open to investing online,” said Munshi, whose company operates an online platform and community for alternative finance and investment opportunities.

The same research by McKinsey & Company showed that the fintech industry raised record capital in the second half of the 2010s. Venture capital funding grew from $19.4bn in 2015 to $33.3bn in 2020, a 17 percent year-over-year increase.

As of July 2023, publicly traded fintech companies had a combined market capitalisation of $550bn, double that of 2019, the research said.

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Amazon completes $4B Anthropic investment to advance generative AI – About Amazon

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Amazon concludes $4 billion investment in Anthropic.

Customers of all sizes and industries are using Claude on Amazon Bedrock to reimagine user experiences, reinvent their businesses, and accelerate their generative AI journeys.

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The work Amazon and Anthropic are doing together to bring the most advanced generative artificial intelligence (generative AI) technologies to customers worldwide is only beginning. As part of a strategic collaborative agreement, we and Anthropic announced that Anthropic is using Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its primary cloud provider for mission critical workloads, including safety research and future foundation model development. Anthropic will use AWS Trainium and Inferentia chips to build, train, and deploy its future models and has made a long-term commitment to provide AWS customers around the world with access to future generations of its foundation models on Amazon Bedrock, AWS’s fully managed service that provides secure, easy access to the industry’s widest choice of high-performing, fully managed foundation models (FMs), along with the most compelling set of features (including best-in-class retrieval augmented generation, guardrails, model evaluation, and AI-powered agents) that help customers build highly-capable, cost-effective, low latency generative AI applications.

Earlier this month, we announced access to the most powerful Anthropic AI models on Amazon Bedrock. The Claude 3 family of models demonstrate advanced intelligence, near-human levels of responsiveness, improved steerability and accuracy, and new vision capabilities. Industry benchmarks show that Claude 3 Opus, the most intelligent of the model family, has set a new standard, outperforming other models available today—including OpenAI’s GPT-4—in the areas of reasoning, math, and coding.

“We have a notable history with Anthropic, together helping organizations of all sizes around the world to deploy advanced generative artificial intelligence applications across their organizations,” said Dr. Swami Sivasubramanian, vice president of Data and AI at AWS. “Anthropic’s visionary work with generative AI, most recently the introduction of its state-of-the art Claude 3 family of models, combined with Amazon’s best-in-class infrastructure like AWS Tranium and managed services like Amazon Bedrock further unlocks exciting opportunities for customers to quickly, securely, and responsibly innovate with generative AI. Generative AI is poised to be the most transformational technology of our time, and we believe our strategic collaboration with Anthropic will further improve our customers’ experiences, and look forward to what’s next.”

Global organizations of all sizes, across virtually every industry, are already using Amazon Bedrock to build their generative AI applications with Anthropic’s Claude AI. They include ADP, Amdocs, Bridgewater Associates, Broadridge, CelcomDigi, Clariant, Cloudera, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Degas Ltd., Delta Air Lines, Druva, Enverus, Genesys, Genomics England, GoDaddy, Happy Fox, Intuit, KT, LivTech, Lonely Planet, LexisNexis Legal & Professional, M1 Finance, Netsmart, Nexxiot, Parsyl, Perplexity AI, Pfizer, the PGA TOUR, Proto Hologram, Ricoh USA, Rocket Companies, and Siemens.

To further help speed the adoption of advanced generative AI technologies, AWS, Anthropic, and Accenture recently announced that they are coming together to help organizations—especially those in highly-regulated industries including healthcare, public sector, banking, and insurance—responsibly adopt and scale generative AI solutions. Through this collaboration, organizations will gain access to best-in-class models from Anthropic, a broad set of capabilities only available on Amazon Bedrock, and industry expertise from Accenture, Anthropic, and AWS to help them build and scale generative AI applications that are customized for their specific use cases.

Deepening our commitment to advancing generative AI, today we have an update on the announcement we made to invest up to $4 billion in Anthropic for a minority ownership position in the company. Last September, we made an initial investment of $1.25 billion. Today, we made our additional $2.75 billion investment, bringing our total investment in Anthropic to $4 billion. To learn more about the broader strategic collaboration between Amazon and Anthropic, of which this investment is one part, check out the stories below:

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