LeddarTech Makes a Welcome Return to In-Person Events as a Lead Sponsor and Exhibitor at Tech.AD 2021 in Berlin, Germany

The Westfield AutoSweep POD

Westfield’s AutoSweep POD, the UK’s first fully autonomous pure electric road sweeper, featuring LeddarTech’s Leddar Pixell.

LeddarTech joins Tech.AD Europe as the Lead Sponsor and as both a presenter and exhibitor at this live event at the Titanic Chaussee Berlin, Germany, on July 1-2, 2021. Join LeddarTech either in person or digitally by registering today at autonomous-driving-berlin.com.

QUEBEC CITY, June 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — LeddarTech®, a global leader in Level 1-5 ADAS and AD sensing technology, is excited to be reigniting its physical event calendar as a lead sponsor and keynote speaker of Tech.AD. Tech.AD has long been recognized as one of Europe’s leading technical ADAS and AD conferences. LeddarTech’s CTO Pierre Olivier will serve on the honorary jury for the 8th Annual Tech.AD Europe Awards. These awards honor individuals and organizations who have designed exceptional solutions or products that contribute to ADAS/AD automotive development.

With a focus on environmental sensing that reimagines ADAS and AD solutions, the LeddarTech team will be participating in several capacities at this event.

Keynote presentation: July 1, 2021, 4:45 p.m. – 5:05 p.m. CET

Topic: Sensing Modalities, Sensor Fusion, and Perception for Autonomous Driving. The speaker, Pierre Olivier, Chief Technology Officer of LeddarTech, will explore the challenges and exciting opportunities facing the ADAS and AD business community.

World Café session: July 2, 2021, 1:15 p.m. – 3:35 p.m. CET

Topic: Sensor Café – Object Fusion vs. Raw Sensor Fusion – What Is the Superior Solution? Moderators: Reza Rashidi Far, PhD, and André Malz, PhD, of LeddarTech’s Strategic Product Management division.

Exhibition booth (6): July 1-2, 2021.

LeddarTech will feature solutions that solve critical sensing and perception challenges across the automotive and mobility value chain. LeddarTech will present these solutions through an innovative approach of on-site and live-streaming demonstrations of:

  • Mobility and ITS sensors, including the recently released Leddar™ Sight LiDAR and the award-winning Leddar™ Pixell;
  • LeddarVision™, a sensor-fusion and perception solution that delivers highly accurate 3D environmental models for L1-5 autonomy;
  • Special Feature: the Westfield AutoSweep, the UK’s first fully autonomous pure electric road sweeper, featuring the Leddar Pixell.
The Westfield AutoSweep POD

Westfield’s AutoSweep POD, the UK’s first fully autonomous pure electric road sweeper, featuring LeddarTech’s Leddar Pixell.

“Our technical teams from Israel, Germany, and Italy are excited to be joining our esteemed colleagues, peers, and partners at Tech.AD. Our much-anticipated return to in-person events is especially significant as we will be showcasing our customer Westfield’s autonomous AutoSweep POD, which features the Leddar Pixell,” stated Daniel Aitken, Vice-President, Global Marketing, Communications, and Product Management at LeddarTech. “Tech.AD provides an excellent opportunity to engage with many leaders in the industry both virtually and in person, and we look forward to demonstrating our latest technology, sharing our vision, and engaging with our customers,” Mr. Aitken continued. “Tech.AD is making all efforts to implement precautions to ensure a safe and fulfilling event for all delegates, and I welcome you to visit us in person or online during the event in July,” concluded Mr. Aitken.

For more information about Tech.AD, visit autonomous-driving-berlin.com.

Prior to Tech.AD register for the Automotive IQ Webinar: June 29, 2021, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET

Topic: A Clean Sweep: How Adopting Autonomous Vehicle and EV Technology Is Paving the Way to Increased Road Sweeper Efficiency and Safety While Reducing Environmental Impact. Join Pierre Olivier, CTO of LeddarTech and Julian Turner, CEO of Westfield Technology Group, for this Automotive IQ hosted event.

Register here.

About LeddarTech

LeddarTech is a leader in environmental sensing platforms for autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems. Founded in 2007, LeddarTech has evolved to become a comprehensive end-to-end environmental sensing company by enabling customers to solve critical sensing and perception challenges across the entire value chain of the automotive and mobility market segments. With its LeddarVision™ sensor-fusion and perception platform and its cost-effective, scalable, and versatile LiDAR development solution for automotive-grade solid-state LiDARs based on the LeddarEngine™, LeddarTech enables Tier 1-2 automotive system integrators to develop full-stack sensing solutions for autonomy level 1 to 5. These solutions are actively deployed in autonomous shuttles, trucks, buses, delivery vehicles, smart cities/factories, and robotaxi applications. The company is responsible for several innovations in cutting-edge automotive and mobility remote-sensing applications, with over 95 patented technologies (granted or pending) enhancing ADAS and autonomous driving capabilities.

Additional information about LeddarTech is accessible at www.leddartech.com and on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Contact:
Daniel Aitken, Vice-President, Global Marketing, Communications, and Product Management, LeddarTech Inc.
Tel.: + 1-418-653-9000 ext. 232
daniel.aitken@leddartech.com

Leddar, LeddarTech, LeddarSteer, LeddarEngine, LeddarVision, LeddarSP, LeddarCore, VAYADrive, VayaVision, and related logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of LeddarTech Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other brands, product names, and marks are or may be trademarks or registered trademarks used to identify products or services of their respective owners.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2f336faf-ccca-4167-939e-c1dfcfc4c897

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/84aebadf-f893-466e-8144-9b31e4d79c26

Layout International Partners with Sophi.io to Fully Automate Print Production

Combining Layout International’s NewsPublish and Sophi.io’s smart AI and ML engine reduces the hours long process of print laydown to just minutes

TORONTO, June 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sophi.io, a suite of AI-powered optimization, prediction and automation tools developed by The Globe and Mail, has partnered with Layout International, a supplier of cutting-edge enterprise technology, to transform print production. Sophi will provide the smart AI/ML technology to fully automate the end-to-end print production workflow to save publishers time and money and enable them to focus on creating high quality content.

Print laydown is typically a long and arduous process, involving multiple editors and page designers and taking hours to complete. Without the rigid constraints of a template, Layout International customers will now have the opportunity to create a print-ready paper that is indecipherable from a paper prepared by human page designers, and the entire process takes just minutes. And for Layout International’s over 200 customers, this partnership means seamless integration of Sophi into their current NewsPublish editorial workflow.

“We’re excited that working with Sophi.io enables us to offer our customers cutting edge new capabilities in the form of an end-to-end automated print solution that dramatically increases efficiencies. Our customers will be able to run and rerun their print paper in just minutes, whenever they chose, all within the NewsPublish Enterprise content management system that they already use daily,” said Jean-Michel Habis, CEO of Layout International.

The Sophi suite of tools is designed to identify an organization’s most valuable content (not the most popular content, but the content that drives conversions or retention or the metric that matters most to that organization) and place it in the most valuable places across their digital entities, or behind a paywall when the subscription revenue outweighs the predicted advertising revenue. In addition to NewsPublish powered by Sophi.io, Sophi provides site automation, a fully dynamic, real-time, personalized paywall, and analytics solutions to publishers across the world.

“Print laydown is a massive undertaking,” said Greg Doufas, Chief Technology Officer at The Globe and Mail. “We see this partnership with Layout International giving publishers the freedom to focus on content creation and the specific design elements that page designers want to spend their energy on. The best part is that NewsPublish powered by Sophi.io is getting better and smarter every day, so Layout International customers will always be on the cutting edge of technology with this solution.”

To learn more, please visit www.newspublish.org or email sales@layoutintl.com.

About Layout International
Layout International (www.layoutintl.com) meets the growing technological needs in the market by providing highly customizable enterprise solutions. They serve more than 200 clients, supplying them with cutting-edge technology to improve the way they work. They enable many organizations to digitally transform their processes, migrate and integrate to work on a single platform.

Layout International Media Contact
Ghassan Halawi
Vice President of Sales, Layout International
+961 70 855685
ghalawi@layoutintl.com

About Sophi.io
Sophi.io (https://www.sophi.io) is a suite of AI-powered optimization and prediction tools that helps content publishers make important strategic and tactical decisions. Sophi solutions range from Sophi Site Automation and Sophi for Paywalls to Sophi Analytics, a decision-support system for content publishers. Sophi is designed to improve the metrics that matter most to your business, such as subscriber retention and acquisition, engagement, recency, frequency and volume.

Sophi.io Media Contact
Jamie Rubenovitch
Head of Marketing, Sophi.io
The Globe and Mail
416-585-3355
jrubenovitch@globeandmail.com

Zoom Launches Zoom Phone Appliances, Empowering the Hybrid Workforce

Zoom Phone Appliances Provide an All-In-One Desk Phone Solution for Calls and Meetings, with Hardware Solutions from Poly and Yealink

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) today announced the launch of Zoom Phone Appliances, a new category of hardware optimized for the hybrid workforce, from home offices to shared huddle spaces, addressing use cases across industries. Zoom Phone Appliances combine Zoom technology with hardware from Poly and Yealink to provide video and audio capabilities and touch display, in an all-in-one desk phone solution for HD video meetings, phone calls, and interactive whiteboarding.

“Zoom continues to demonstrate fast pace of innovation and ability to scale globally with its robust cloud phone offering, Zoom Phone,” said Elka Popova, VP of Connected Work Research at Frost & Sullivan. “Zoom Phone has always been a disruptive alternative to legacy phone solutions and the new appliance program further enhances its value proposition by enabling businesses to video-enable workspaces with purpose-built appliances that are easy to procure, deploy, and manage.”

“The traditional workplace is evolving and adapting, and our goal is to empower the workforce to accomplish more by blurring the lines between voice and video,” said Graeme Geddes, Head of Zoom Phone and Zoom Rooms at Zoom. “The new Zoom Phone Appliance program boasts a selection of purpose-built Zoom Phone hardware from Poly and Yealink, streamlining communications, removing friction, and enabling a powerful communications experience.”

Zoom Phone Appliances simplify licensing, installation, use, and management, benefitting both the end users and IT departments. Additional highlights of Zoom Phone Appliances include:

  • A full-featured desk phone with powerful Zoom capabilities. Zoom Phone Appliances are always on, and always ready for instant communication and collaboration. Easily start ad-hoc or scheduled meetings, make and receive phone calls, check voicemail, and virtually collaborate with content sharing and annotation
  • Centralized management through Zoom Admin Portal: Simplified, scalable, centralized management with remote provisioning and updates
  • No additional licensing required: Login to a Zoom Phone Appliance with your Zoom account and create an instant office experience
  • Personalized for the user: Syncs with the user calendar, status, meeting settings, and phone for an integrated video-first unified communications experience
  • Simplified onboarding with Zero-touch provisioning: Minimizes need for IT support with a simplified set-up and user experience
  • Touch display with interactive whiteboarding: Collaborate with colleagues with interactive whiteboarding that can easily be exported and shared
  • Zoom Certified: Zoom Phone Appliances are introducing a new certified hardware category, ensuring these devices are purpose-built for an optimal Zoom Phone and meetings experience. More devices will be added to this category over time

The inaugural class of Zoom Phone Appliances features innovative solutions from two Zoom hardware partners — Poly and Yealink — with others to follow.

Poly CCX 600 Desk Phone and CCX 700 Desk Phone with integrated video camera

“We are excited to be among the first to integrate a native Zoom experience into our Poly CCX family, as Zoom Phone Appliances,” said John Lamarque, Vice President and General Manager, Voice Collaboration, Poly. “This brings the Zoom platform that we all know and love front and center on the device’s touch display, providing a powerful and immersive experience.”

Yealink VP59 Smart Video Phone

“We are delighted to unveil the new, reliable, and cutting-edge VP59 video phone, a Zoom Phone Appliance,” said Alvin Liao, Vice President of Product, at Yealink. “The VP59 video phone’s touch display will be powered by Zoom’s industry-leading video communications platform, providing customers with a user-friendly interface and intuitive experience.”

Zoom Phone Appliances are available through the Zoom Hardware-as-a-Service program as well as from authorized Poly and Yealink resellers. To learn more about Zoom Phone Appliances, visit the Zoom Phone Appliances website and read our blog.

About Zoom
Zoom is for you. We help you express ideas, connect to others, and build toward a future limited only by your imagination. Our frictionless communications platform is the only one that started with video as its foundation, and we have set the standard for innovation ever since. That is why we are an intuitive, scalable, and secure choice for individuals, small businesses, and large enterprises alike. Founded in 2011, Zoom is publicly traded (NASDAQ:ZM) and headquartered in San Jose, California. Visit zoom.com and follow @zoom.

Zoom Public Relations
Farshad Hashmatulla
Product PR Manager
press@zoom.us

Cloudbeds Introduces New Payments Solution to Further Streamline Hotel Operations

The fully integrated, easy, and secure payments solution is now available in the US, Canada, Europe and United Kingdom, to save Hoteliers time and money.

SAN DIEGO, June 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cloudbeds, the fastest growing hospitality management platform, announced the launch of a fully integrated payments solution and a new Financial Services division in the US, Canada, UK, and EU. Cloudbeds Payments is a robust payment solution that provides hoteliers an affordable and efficient method of managing all types of payments. Cloudbeds Payments features a state-of-the-art terminal, transparent fees, built-in reporting, analytics, security, and world-class (in-house) support that hoteliers need to focus on their guests rather than time-consuming payments acceptance and reconciliation.

A video accompanying this announcement is available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8a6b2363-8d1b-4e56-9a1c-44eeda1b9bfb

Typically, hospitality payment solutions are complicated and are time-consuming, which impacts guest relations with inconsistent and slow customer service while consuming too much hoteliers’ time with management and reconciliation. Hoteliers can now avoid manual card entry and lengthy verification processes with third-party vendors. Instead, payments are quick, easy, and completely integrated into the Cloudbeds platform.

“The best part about Cloudbeds Payments is that it’s fully integrated into their existing interface,” says Tarek, Finance Manager, Convo 212 in Athens, Greece. “My guests pay directly on my website and it’s immediately reflected in their reservation and on our reports. It accepts all credit card payments, handles the verification process and makes reconciliation a breeze.”

“Our previous payments process was very lengthy – manual card entry, the verification process, reconciliation, chargebacks, disputes – it took too much time and effort. Cloudbeds Payments helped us speed up every aspect of the customer payment process. It’s easy and efficient for guests to book and for us to manage,” remarks Austin, Property Manager at Rancho Caymus Inn in Napa Valley, California. “Cloudbeds Payments saves our staff so much time.”

In keeping with its focus of innovating to help hoteliers build revenue, save time, and increase guest satisfaction, the Cloudbeds’ Financial Services division has built a next-generation solution that will save properties 10 to 15 hours per month in reconciliations. In addition to its world-class support team, Cloudbeds Payments offers an in-house dispute management team composed of industry experts who intimately understand the hospitality business to better support hoteliers and guests. Cloudbeds expects to roll out Payments to additional countries in the upcoming months, including Australia, Brazil, and New Zealand.

“Cloudbeds is on a mission to empower lodging businesses with every tool they need to emerge from the pandemic successfully,” says Richard Castle, Co-Founder, and COO. “Cloudbeds creates a seamless experience that elevates every aspect of their business – from how their staff operates to their guest experience. Our payments solution is the first of several upcoming financial services designed to help lodging businesses spend more time with their guests and less time managing their property.”

About Cloudbeds

Founded in 2012, Cloudbeds is the fastest growing hospitality management platform in the world. Its SaaS platform provides tools to manage better properties of all types and sizes, allowing property managers/owners more time to focus on their guests while building revenue, driving bookings, and increasing operational efficiencies. Trusted by more than 20,000 hotels, hostels, inns, and alternative accommodations in more than 155 countries, the Cloudbeds suite is a fully integrated platform of capabilities designed to help properties unify their management, reservations, and booking systems, grow revenue, and automate workflows with confidence and ease. For more information, visit www.cloudbeds.com.

Media Contact:

Austin Edgington
austin@austinedgecomms.com

 

Madison Realty Capital Originates $278.5 Million Construction Loan for Three Multifamily Projects and Luxury Condominium in Austin, Texas

Portfolio Includes 734 multifamily apartments, 1,264 planned multifamily units, and 117 luxury condominium residences

NEW YORK, June 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Madison Realty Capital, a fully integrated real estate private equity firm focused on debt and equity investment strategies, today announced it has provided a $278.5 million construction loan for a portfolio of four assets located in Austin, Texas to Reger Holdings, LLC, a New York-based real estate investment and development company led by CEO Gordon Reger, a third-generation member of the Reger/Mader family who founded the company.

The portfolio is comprised of two mixed-use multifamily properties and 317 acres of entitled land with plans to develop 1,264 multifamily residential units, known as the EastVillage, located along the Parmer Lane tech corridor in northeast Austin and a luxury condominium in downtown Austin known as The Linden Residences. Reger Holdings contributed significant cash equity for the construction.

Josh Zegen, Managing Principal and Co-Founder of Madison Realty Capital, said, “This transaction highlights Madison Realty Capital’s solutions-oriented approach and unique ability to serve as a single source financing provider to a highly reputable borrower. Austin is a rapidly growing, vibrant city experiencing exceptional economic growth but faces high barriers to entry. The Parmer Lane tech corridor is home to some of the most prominent Austin employers and some of the nation’s most innovative companies, including Tesla, Apple, Samsung, Oracle, Dell, Facebook, and 3M. However, the city is facing an undersupply of the high-quality housing options that employees in the Parmer Lane tech corridor demand. We look forward to working with Reger, a best-in-class developer with a strong balance sheet, to complete future phases of development in Austin and continue to identify attractive opportunities for our investors and partners throughout Texas and the Southwest.”

“Madison Realty Capital’s senior financing for the EastVillage and the Linden marks an exciting milestone for both projects,” said Gordon Reger.  “We are pleased to work with a single capital source that has the flexibility to finance these diverse projects.”

The mixed-use residences are comprised of two development sites across 29 acres within the over 400-acre master site planned for the EastVillage. The first EastVillage development will offer 312 luxury apartment units across six garden-style apartment buildings with top-tier amenities, including a fitness center, courtyard, dog grooming station and swimming pool. The second EastVillage development will consist of an additional 422 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment units with state-of-the-art finishes, fitness center, game room, yoga studio, and 143,000 square feet of commercial space. Future phases of development for EastVillage involve 317 acres of land approved for 1,264 multifamily units, 240 hotel keys and over one million square feet of commercial space. The EastVillage is adjacent to Samsung’s Semiconductor chipmaking plant, one of Austin’s largest employers, which recently announced plans to expand with a $17 billion chipmaking facility.

Located at 313 West 17th Street in downtown Austin near the State Capital and the University of Texas at Austin, The Linden Residences is a 28-story luxury condominium project that will offer 117 one- to three-bedroom units, 5,196 square feet of ground floor retail and 251 parking spaces. The amenity rich units have been substantially sold to date.

Newmark Executive Managing Director David Douvadjian, Senior Managing Director, Brian Butler, and Director, David Douvadjian, Jr., served as advisors to Madison Realty Capital in the deal.

About Madison Realty Capital

Madison Realty Capital is a New York City based real estate private equity firm focused on debt and equity investment strategies with regional offices in key markets including Los Angeles and Dallas. Founded in 2004, MRC has closed on approximately $14 billion of transactions in the multifamily, retail, office, industrial and hotel sectors nationwide. The firm manages investments in the United States on behalf of a global investor base. MRC is a fully integrated firm with over 60 employees across all real estate investment, development, and property management disciplines. Among other industry recognitions, MRC has been named to the Commercial Observer’s prestigious “Power 100” list of New York City real estate players and is consistently cited as one of the industry’s top construction lenders. To learn more, follow us on LinkedIn and visit www.madisonrealtycapital.com.

Attachments

Nathaniel Garnick/Grace Cartwright
Gasthalter & Co.
(212) 257-4170
madisonrealty@gasthalter.com

Sophi.io Wins Two INMA Global Media Awards

TORONTO, June 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sophi.io, The Globe and Mail’s artificial intelligence-powered optimization and prediction platform, was announced as a winner of the International News Media Association (INMA) Global Media Awards in two categories, Best Use of Data to Automate or Personalize, and Best in Show for North America.

“The INMA Global Media Awards focus on excellence across all areas of the media business,” said Phillip Crawley, Publisher and CEO of The Globe and Mail. “I’m particularly pleased that Sophi’s fully dynamic, real-time, personalized paywall won in two categories, and that Sophi’s ground-breaking automated print laydown technology was nominated for its use with Naviga and Agderposten.”

Sophi also took second place in the categories of Best Initiative to Acquire Subscribers and Best Use of Data to Drive Subscriptions, Content, or Product Design and was shortlisted as a finalist in the following categories: Best Initiative to Register Users, and Best Product and Tech Innovation.

This year’s competition drew 644 entries from 212 news brands in 37 countries. The judges were 44 global media experts focused on breakthrough results, unique concepts, strong creativity, innovative thinking, and winner synergies across platforms.

“Great use of data with huge impact. Personalizing paywalls is key for success in the digital subscription business for news media. This entry presents more evidence why this is true,” one judge said about the paywall technology. “Their development of user- and content-propensity models is a best practice that others can learn from,” said another judge.

Another judge remarked: “Incredible Artificial Intelligence-driven personalization, and perfect embracing of the need to insert data-science talent into a news organization. Excellent impact and numbers.”

Sophi’s fully dynamic, personalized, real-time paywall uses natural language processing (NLP) to analyze both content and user behaviour to determine when to ask a reader for money or an email address, and when to leave them alone. It can optimize for multiple outcomes simultaneously (such as different bundles or price points) and also works well in cold-start situations.

Sophi is an AI platform that helps publishers identify their most valuable content and leverage it to achieve key business goals, such as maximizing subscriptions. Publishers on four continents now use Sophi’s AI/ML technology to power paywall decisions, website automation and print automation.

Sophi’s automated print laydown solution, which powers Naviga Publisher, earned an honourable mention in the Best Product and Tech Innovation category. An INMA judge commented: “Sophi – as the first of its kind – is a great example of an automated print laydown solution. Amazing to see that the work of the editor is reduced only to the selection of the content. The automation of up to 80% of newspapers’ editorial pages could be a game-changer of the print industry.”

Last year, Sophi also won the Online Journalism Award (OJA) for Technical Innovation in the Service of Digital Journalism, handed out by the Online News Association (ONA), and both the World Digital Media Award and the North American Digital Media Award awarded by The World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) in the category of Best Digital News Start-up.

About Sophi.io
Sophi.io (https://www.sophi.io) was developed by The Globe and Mail to help content publishers make important strategic and tactical decisions. It is a suite of AI and ML-powered optimization and prediction tools that includes Sophi Site Automation and Sophi Dynamic Paywall as well as Sophi Analytics, a decision-support system for content publishers. Sophi is designed to improve the metrics that matter most to your business, such as subscriber retention and acquisition, engagement, recency, frequency and volume.

Media Contact  
Jamie Rubenovitch 
Head of Marketing, Sophi 
The Globe and Mail         
416-585-3355  
jrubenovitch@globeandmail.com

The Impact of Science to Create a Movement; the Case of Fooditive, Pioneer in Plant-Based Upcycled Ingredients

Fooditive Products

Fooditive Product Line

ROTTERDAM, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The challenging year 2020 saw the blossoming of plant-based ingredient manufacturer Fooditive BV, a Dutch company set on revolutionising healthy eating. Through upcycling third – grade and side-streams of fruit and vegetables into 100% natural products, it has created one of the keys to a more sustainable future. It all started with a Jordanian man and his hate for waste and want for change.

Having experienced scarce availability of food during his childhood in Jordan, founder and food scientist Moayad Abushokhedim vowed to create healthy and affordable food for all.

Packed with a strong food science and business background, he developed his own unique process of creating affordable plant-based ingredients, simply using the science of fermentation.

In recognition of his drive for success in the food and beverage industry, Abushokhedim was named as one of the Food100 2020, an award that celebrates changemakers who are working towards transitioning to a sustainable food system.

“For a Jordanian guy like me, who cannot believe he is living his dream of changing the world, receiving this award made me realise that if you can dream it, you can achieve it. And it reminded me that I am not alone in this endeavour because there are so many others in the world who believe in making a difference,” said Moayad Abushokhedim.

Moayad Abushokhedim

Food Scientist and Founder of Fooditive Group

Fooditive’s first product, the game-changing zero-calorie sweetener made from apples and pears, was only just the beginning. Since launching the sweetener, the company has expanded its range of creative products, including a thickening agent made from banana skins, a carrot-based preservative, and an emulsifier made from potato extracts.

The innovation behind Fooditive’s products and its dedication to delivering what consumers deserve have led to the company being nominated for the Foodvalley Champions 2020 award in the category Food & Health. The new collaboration with Frutco AG in Switzerland, which will use Fooditive’s unique continuous fermentation process to produce a sweetener from banana side-streams, is the company’s latest step towards making the world greener and more sustainable.

As pioneers of healthy eating, Fooditive’s actions have also a-peel-ed to Gary Clarke, former general manager of Mars International Travel Retail. With more than 20 years of consumer packaged goods experience, Clarke felt that “as a next step, joining Fooditive as a partner seemed like such an obvious thing to do.”

“When I learned about Fooditive’s approach to developing a circular economy and producing foods that are better for you, I really thought they were leading the charge to evolve the food industry. I believe that Fooditive really can drive the industry to a new future for food. One that is not only good for people but also good for the planet, and should we be able to scale this idea then the difference can be enormous”, added Clarke.

Fooditive is currently funding up to €6.5M for the year of 2021 to revolutionize the plant-based food business and create healthy and affordable food for everyone.

Later this year, the company will share its exciting new products, a healthy fat replacer from avocado seeds and a vegan milk formation from peas, so be sure to keep an eye out for Fooditive.

Now that it is backed by even more committed partners and equipped with un-pear-alleled competitively priced ingredients, the Fooditive fever is catching on and inspiring others along the way to think more about what they eat.

About Fooditive BV

In 2018, the plant-based ingredient manufacturer Fooditive BV was established in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The company is committed to making healthy food available for all with its 100% natural ingredients. Since its launch, Fooditive has received several awards for its innovative ideas, sustainable approaches, and contributions to a circular economy, including being nominated for the Index Award 2021.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e2b3b996-6320-474d-a1e0-5ee9f1081913

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5a7837dc-22d9-48cb-a57b-4c6606055081

Contact:
Niki Karatza
niki@fooditive.nl
+31 10 3216167

Madison Realty Capital Provides $30 Million Inventory Loan for Two Luxury Condominiums at Metropica in Sunrise, Florida

NEW YORK, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Madison Realty Capital, a fully integrated real estate private equity firm focused on debt and equity investment strategies, today announced it has provided a $30 million first mortgage loan to Metropica Development for a luxury condominium tower and a ten-acre development site, which includes plans to develop a second 250-unit multifamily tower. The portfolio is part of Metropica, a four million-square-foot master planned community comprised of luxury residences, modern office towers and high-end retail offerings located in Sunrise, Florida.

Metropica Development, led by Joseph Kavana, began construction of the first 263-unit luxury condominium tower in 2017 and has sold 174 units to date. Madison’s loan will be used to support 89 units, representing 101,989 square feet on the upper floors of the first condominium tower as well as the adjacent 250-unit second condominium tower. In addition to the first tower, the Metropica master planned development will include 500 multifamily units, 550,000 square feet of commercial space for luxury retail, dining and entertainment destinations as well as 246 hotel keys.

“We are pleased to deliver a customized and flexible financing solution for the remaining condo inventory in the Metropica Development,” said Josh Zegen, Managing Principal and Co-Founder of Madison Realty Capital. “Madison’s ability to finance residential projects through every stage of development was highly attractive to Metropica, an experienced local development firm, and we look forward to working with Joseph and his team to support this unique and ambitious project.”

Located at 2000 Metropica Way, adjacent to the Sawgrass Mills shopping mall and BB&T Center, the 28-story Metropica Tower offers luxury residences with an average of 1,034 square feet, top-of-the-line finishes and high-concept designs from Oppenheim Architecture and YOO Studio. The tower’s resort-style amenities consist of a saltwater swimming pool, lounges, movie theater, fitness center, massage and yoga centers, and a children’s playroom.

Melissa Rose of JLL Capital Markets arranged the financing from Madison Realty Capital.

 

About Madison Realty Capital

Madison Realty Capital is a New York City based real estate private equity firm focused on debt and equity investment strategies with regional offices in key markets including Los Angeles and Dallas. Founded in 2004, MRC has closed on approximately $14 billion of transactions in the multifamily, retail, office, industrial and hotel sectors nationwide. The firm manages investments in the United States on behalf of a global investor base. MRC is a fully integrated firm with over 60 employees across all real estate investment, development, and property management disciplines. Among other industry recognitions, MRC has been named to the Commercial Observer’s prestigious “Power 100” list of New York City real estate players and is consistently cited as one of the industry’s top construction lenders. To learn more, follow us on LinkedIn and visit www.madisonrealtycapital.com.

Attachment

Nathaniel Garnick/Grace Cartwright
Gasthalter & Co.
(212) 257-4170
madisonrealty@gasthalter.com