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

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology taps Canonical for cloud computing overhaul

New OpenStack and Kubernetes deployments improve computing performance for researchers, ease management pains for IT staff

THUWAL, Saudi Arabia, June 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Canonical, the publisher of Ubuntu, announced today that it is working with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), a postgraduate university in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, on a major upgrade of its cloud computing infrastructure. The project makes it easier and more economical for KAUST to manage its cloud environment while ensuring the high levels of computing performance that researchers need.

Even by the standards of most universities, KAUST’s computing requirements are intense. The institution is dedicated exclusively to scientific and technological research, with all students undertaking PhD or master’s studies. Its network must be able to support a wide variety of workloads without downtime.

Since 2015, the university had been operating a homegrown OpenStack private cloud in which researchers provisioned computing resources on demand. But as usage grew, the system became harder for the IT team to manage. Worse, it was prone to outages, which slowed projects and, once complete, made it harder for peer reviewers to access project data.

“If we were going to scale up, we knew we needed a strategy that was more manageable, more reliable, and made it easier to implement upgrades and new services,” said Arindam Chakraborty, Senior Systems Specialist at KAUST. “We began exploring infrastructure-as-code, and we realized that the best option would be to switch to a trusted third-party platform with dedicated support.”

KAUST chose Canonical to design and implement a new, on-premises OpenStack cloud. Based on Canonical’s Charmed OpenStack, the new cluster is twice the size of the old system, going from 10 to 20 nodes. And with Ubuntu Advantage for Infrastructure support, Canonical prevents or rapidly resolves any OpenStack issues that KAUST encounters, before they affect research.

Another benefit is that the new deployment has caused no operational disruption or need to learn a new system. That’s because the university’s legacy OpenStack platform was already using Canonical’s open-source software, and Ubuntu was by far the most widely used operating system on campus.

“Canonical offered the best server/annum cost on the market for the level of support we were looking for, and we are very pleased with the results,” Chakraborty said. “The change has meant increased performance and improved uptime for our students and staff. And with Canonical handling implementation and operational issues, our IT team is free to work on other things. Problems are resolved more quickly, and from a manpower perspective, we’re saving money.”

Alongside the OpenStack migration, KAUST also has transitioned to DevOps and containers with Canonical’s Charmed Kubernetes, a turnkey, Kubernetes-conformant platform optimised for multi-cloud environments.

Adopting Kubernetes has transformed the way that KAUST researchers access computing resources. Rather than self-provisioning virtual machines, users can simply consume services via the cloud without having to worry about where or how they are running. Canonical’s support covers Kubernetes as well.

“We’re delighted to be working with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology,” said Nicholas Dimotakis, VP of Field Engineering, Canonical. “The university’s experience shows that organizations don’t have to struggle with their cloud implementations and that, by selecting the right technology partner, they can operate their infrastructure far more economically while enhancing computing performance.”

About King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Established in 2009, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is a graduate research university devoted to finding solutions for some of the world’s most pressing scientific and technological challenges in the areas of food, water, energy, and the environment. With 19 research areas related to these themes and state-of-the-art labs, KAUST has created a collaborative and interdisciplinary problem-solving environment, which has resulted in over 11,000 published papers to date.

With over 100 different nationalities living, working and studying on campus, KAUST has brought together the best minds and ideas from around the world to advance science and technology through distinctive and collaborative research. KAUST is a catalyst for innovation, economic development, and social prosperity in Saudi Arabia and the world. For additional information, visit: www.Kaust.edu.sa

About Canonical
Canonical is the company behind Ubuntu, the leading OS for container, cloud, and hyperscale computing. Most public cloud workloads use Ubuntu, as do most new smart gateways, switches, self-driving cars and advanced robots. Canonical provides enterprise security, support, and services to commercial users of Ubuntu. Established in 2004, Canonical is a privately held company.

Contact:
Cathy Wright
Offleash on behalf of Canonical, the publisher of Ubuntu
canonical@offleashpr.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

Nyxoah BETTER SLEEP Trial Reaches its Primary Endpoints

REGULATED INFORMATION 
INSIDE INFORMATION

Nyxoah BETTER SLEEP Trial Reaches its Primary Endpoints

Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium – 7 June 2021, 7:00 am CET / 1:00 am ET – Nyxoah SA (Euronext Brussels: NYXH) (“Nyxoah” or the “Company”), a medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative solutions to treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), today announced that the BETTER SLEEP trial reached its primary safety and performance endpoints.

The BETTER SLEEP trial was designed to assess the long-term safety and performance of the Genio® bilateral hypoglossal nerve stimulation system (the “Genio® system”) in 42 adult OSA patients with and without Complete Concentric Collapse (CCC) of the soft palate.

Top-line results from the BETTER SLEEP study showed:

  •  A statistically significant mean reduction in Apnea Hypopnea Index (AHI) from baseline to six months post implantation in the whole cohort (CCC and non-CCC patients)
  •  A statistically significant mean reduction in AHI from baseline to six months post implantation in the CCC patient subgroup
  •  42.9% of the study population had CCC

The Company expects to announce additional data with respect to the study as further analyses are conducted.

Dr. Richard Lewis, MBBS, FRACS, Principal Investigator of the BETTER SLEEP study, from Royal Perth Hospital and the University of Western Australia commented: “The top-line results of the BETTER SLEEP study are extremely encouraging. The most impressive aspect of the results is the responder rate of the CCC patient subgroup. These patients are excluded from unilateral hypoglossal nerve stimulation, but the BETTER SLEEP results showed a significant reduction in AHI in these patients following treatment with the Genio® system, which is the first device designed to deliver bilateral stimulation of the hypoglossal nerve. Overall, we have achieved a very high responder rate in both CCC and non-CCC patients, and the treatment with the Genio® system was well tolerated. We look forward to publishing this data in a leading medical journal.”

Olivier Taelman, CEO of Nyxoah, stated: “We are excited by the top-line data, with the primary performance and safety endpoints met, supporting our belief that the Genio® system’s bilateral stimulation of the hypoglossal nerve, has the potential to provide positive clinical outcomes for patients with CCC. We already engaged with the EU Notified Body to review these study data, with the goal of expanding the CE-marked indication to include CCC patients. In parallel, we plan to initiate dialogue with the FDA to further discuss the Genio® system as a potential treatment option for patients with CCC.” Mr. Taelman continued, “Additionally, we observed a 70% responder rate in the non-CCC patient subgroup based on the Sher criteria, which strengthens our confidence in ongoing study outcomes.”

About BETTER SLEEP Trial
BilatEral Hypoglossal Nerve StimulaTion for TreatmEnt of ObstRuctive SLEEP Apnoea, or BETTER SLEEP, is a multicenter, prospective, open-label, two-group clinical trial, designed to assess the safety and performance of the Genio® system for the treatment of OSA in adult patients with and without CCC. The BETTER SLEEP trial includes a subgroup of CCC patients who are currently contraindicated for unilateral hypoglossal nerve stimulation. The trial was authorized by the Australian and New Zealand regulatory authorities and is being conducted in nine local medical centers. The primary safety endpoint was the incidence of device-related serious adverse events six months post-implantation. The primary performance endpoint was the change in the AHI score from baseline to six months post-implantation measured by counting the number of events (apnea or hypopnea) that occur per hour collected during an overnight sleep study. Patients with moderate to severe AHI scores between 15 and 65 and aged between 21 and 75 years were eligible for enrollment if they failed, refused, or did not tolerate PAP treatment. Patients with a body mass index above 32 kg/m² were excluded.

About Nyxoah
Nyxoah is a medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative solutions to treat OSA. Nyxoah’s lead solution is the Genio® system, a CE-marked, patient-centered, minimally invasive, next generation hypoglossal neurostimulation therapy for treatment of moderate to severe OSA. OSA is the world’s most common sleep disordered breathing condition that is associated with increased mortality risk and comorbidities including cardiovascular diseases, depression and stroke.

Following the successful completion of the BLAST OSA study in patients with moderate to severe OSA, the Genio® system received its European CE Mark in 2019. The Company is currently conducting the BETTER SLEEP study in Australia and New Zealand for potential CE-mark indication expansion, the DREAM IDE pivotal study for potential FDA approval and the post-marketing EliSA study in Europe to evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of the Genio® system.

For more information, please visit www.nyxoah.com.

Caution – CE marked since 2019. Investigational device in the United States. Limited by U.S. federal
law to investigational use in the United States.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes certain disclosures that contain “forward-looking statements,” including, without limitation, statements regarding Nyxoah’s expectations regarding the Genio® system; planned and ongoing clinical studies of the Genio® system; the potential advantages of the Genio® system; Nyxoah’s goals with respect to the development, regulatory pathway and potential use of the Genio® system; and the utility of prior clinical data, including data from the BETTER SLEEP study, in potentially obtaining FDA approval of the Genio® system. Forward-looking statements are based on Nyxoah’s current expectations and are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and assumptions that are difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ.  Forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as of this date, and Nyxoah undertakes no duty to update such information except as required under applicable law.

Contacts:
Nyxoah
Fabian Suarez, Chief Financial Officer
fabian.suarez@nyxoah.com
+32 10 22 23 55

Gilmartin Group
Vivian Cervantes
vivian.cervantes@gilmartinir.com

Attachment

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