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Moet breaks trend for alcohol companies with Snapchat game
 Alcohol brands like Heineken and William Grant & Sons have concerns about using Snapchat as a marketing platform because they don’t think the app’s age-filtering feature is effective. But that’s not a hurdle for Moët.

The luxury champagne company, which is more than 250 years old, is launching a Snapchat game this week called “Moët & Chandon Tower Toss” as part of its holiday campaign “The Greatest Entertainer.” To play the game, two people take turns swiping up to shoot a champagne cork at a four-layer Moët champagne tower on a table. Each player has 10 seconds to toss as many corks as they want, receiving points based on precision and which tier they target. Moët placed paid ads on Snapchat Discover to direct users to play the game.

“We don’t want to just buy people’s attention through media — we want to get their attention naturally in a customized way,” said Christine Ngo Isaac, marketing director and head of U.S. consumer engagement for Moët & Chandon. “Snapchat is an open ecosystem and has done a good job in building a customer experience outside of traditional advertising.”

Agency Attention helped Moët develop the game, which the brand claimed is Snapchat’s first two-player game. While the game was designed for Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook users can also play a web version through special links.

But one big question for alcohol brands marketing on Snapchat is how to ensure they accurately target people of legal drinking age, which is 21 in the U.S. After all, marketers from Heineken and William Grant & Sons have said it was hard to verify the ages of recipients of ads on Snapchat. But Ngo Isaac disagrees.

“The statement that Snapchat has an age-gating problem is not completely true. I think the problem is many alcohol brands just take a piece of content from other platforms and amplify it through Snapchat,” she said. “For this specific game, our paid ads on Discover target people over 25, even older than the legal drinking age.”

In addition to Snapchat’s own ad-targeting capacities, Moët also asks players to enter their birthdates before playing the game. “We use double verification to ensure that we are not presenting alcohol content to minors,” said Tom Buontempo, president of Attention. “Targeting in general has become more sophisticated on Snapchat. It is working with many third-party vendors to make sure that their ads reach the right audience.”

But that’s not saying alcohol brands face no limitations in marketing on Snapchat. Moët and Attention originally designed the game differently: Winners would have a chance to unlock an exclusive geofilter and then share it with their Snapchat friends after completing the game. But Moët ended up dropping the geofilter idea because it was extremely difficult to prevent Snapchat users from sharing the geofilter with people under 21 on the platform, according to Ngo Isaac.

“We thought of all the possible scenarios that could damage the Moët brand,” she said. “We take the age issue very seriously, which is why we don’t have a company account on Snapchat. We are still experimenting with the platform.”

A Snapchat blog post said 44 percent of Snapchat users in the U.S. look to friends and family for recommendations on alcohol purchases, compared to 19 percent of non-Snapchatters. Bud Light, Shock Top, Smirnoff and Jameson have all used Snapchat’s ad products like Snap Ads, holiday filters and lenses, according to the company blog.

“We use the same type of age registration as similar ad platforms. All new Snapchat [users] enter their date of birth when they sign up for the app, and we then age-gate,” said a Snapchat spokesperson. “We also don’t serve alcohol ads to users with improbable ages that fall at the upper end of the age ranges on our platform.”

The spokesperson said around 80 percent of Snapchat users are above 18 but declined to specify how many are over 21. But Ngo Isaac said Moët has found “the next generation of drinkers” on Snapchat, older millennials around 30-34, whom Moët wants to target.

“Snapchat is no longer just a teenager app,” she said. “It is becoming a more general advertising platform.”

Image courtesy of Attention

Output: Champagne company Moët has launched a game on social media platform Snapchat, aimed at over 25s, despite wider industry concerns regarding Snapchat's age-filtering capabilities. Both Heineken and William Grant & Sons have previously cited difficulties in verifying recipient ages on Snapchat. Moët's marketing director, Ngo Isaac, believes that the issue other firms experience is with their targeting, arguing that they "just take a piece of content from other platforms and amplify it through Snapchat".


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PageFair and AppNexus help to make partners GDPR compliant
 As the deadline for compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) draws ever closer, publishers and adtech players are urged to ensure their supply chain partners meet requirements, with both PageFair and AppNexus recently launching offerings that look to enable this.

Earlier this week PageFair announced the launch of Perimeter, a self-styled “regulatory firewall” that will enable publishers to monetise their websites without the use of personal data by blocking all non-compliant third parties from entering the adtech chain, circumventing the need for individual adtech players to gain consent.

For instance, when publishers install PageFair Perimeter on their properties it will block adtech that uses unique identifiers without the consent of the consumer. Meanwhile, adtech vendors that use “ethical data” – non-personal data – will be whitelisted.

This GDPR-friendly tool enables: frequency capping; attribution; impression counting, click counting; view-through counting; conversion counting; and fraud mitigation, all without personal data.

Perimeter has been in development for two years and also works to fix the challenges associated with third party data leakage which will become illegal under GDPR, according to Pagefair.

To do this, it blocks all third parties from accessing personal data unless both publisher and consumer have given their consent, in theory protecting both the publisher and advertiser from legal risk.

Additionally, the tool provides publishers with a ‘consent system’ which will allow them to collect consent on behalf of their adtech partners, and interoperate that consent with other compliant consent management platforms.

Blanchfield said: “We built Perimeter to enable all media owners to operate within a clean and ethical data/media industry that prevents brands from being exposed to risk under the GDPR, and enables relevant advertising to sustain the online media industry”.

The initiative comes just weeks after AppNexus, an adtech outfit that has offerings catered to the buy- and sell-side of the market, introduced a new role dedicated to helping its partners shift their business models around upcoming regulatory requirements.

The role, as vice-president of strategic and regulatory affairs, was filled by Uli Hegge, formerly vice-president of strategic market development for AppNexus in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

It will see Hegge both support the company’s efforts to be compliant in new regulations – chiefly the European Union’s GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive – while also helping its partners create compliant business models, in recognition of the “lack of clarity” from regulators over how the rules affect individual players, Hegge told The Drum.

While legal and technical teams within businesses are already "advanced" on GDPR compliance, how the new rule book will affect their sales and business process is as yet unclear, Hegge said. As such, his role will be focused on helping develop business models for AppNexus’ partners that are compliant with new regulation.

However, regulators and legislators across Europe have failed to provide the industry with a full set of requirements on how GDPR will be interpreted, according to Hegge.

"You can read quite a few interpretations into the law as it is out there today, we don't have many common notes on it coming from regulators and legislators," Hegge bemoaned – a common theme among the industry.

There are two key areas of GDPR, consent and "legitimate interest", that directly affect adtech players, but guidance on these topics remains "unclear", Hegge said.

The UK's regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), has delayed the publication of its final guidance – originally pledged to be published in June – until 'early 2018' as it waits for the Article 29 Working Party of European Data Protection Authorities (WP29) to agree on its Europe-wide consent guidelines. The regulator published further guidance on legitimate interest this month, however final guidance has also been pushed back to 2018.

This means an adtech company with an existing consent solution – or one that is currently in progress – has to work in an “environment of uncertainty”, since whatever it implements now may be contradicted by the final guidance, IAB UK's head of policy and regulatory affairs, Yves Schwarzbart told The Drum.

This air of uncertainty is a "pan-European question mark", Hegge asserted.

AppNexus' approach is to err on the side of caution. Hegge believes there is an argument to be made by publishers that they have 'legitimate interest' to support their business with advertising, therefore the adtech shop is taking a "conservative approach" to its GDPR preparations in the possibility that broad consent is required.

"Whatever kind of consent is needed, if you are prepared for the most extensive one, that's fine, then you can scale back. On the other hand, if you would be caught out without any proper learning and the tech isn’t in place – this shouldn’t happen," he said.

To support its partners and the wider industry with GDPR, the company will provide an open source tool to help players achieve compliance, conceptualise what the user experience will look like, plus how the rules will influence the way advertising is traded.

"We want to put that into the hands of our partners to learn and be prepared for any scenario that comes up," Hegge said.

Output: Digital advertising firms PageFair and AppNexus are addressing publishers and adtech firms' needs as implementation of the EU's General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) approaches. PageFair's Perimeter, a "regulatory firewall", will allow publishers to monetise websites without using users' personal data by blocking non-GDPR-compliant firms from being included in the adtech chain. AppNexus has created the role of vice-president of strategic and regulatory affairs to help its partners change their business plans to accommodate the new regulations. It is also offering an open-source tool to help firms with compliance.


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Ad buyers find Amazon client services hard to work with
 For the past year and a half, Theresa Moore, vp of platform partnerships at Pixability, has been trying to buy video ads on Amazon to no avail. A few months ago, Moore — who said trying to build a relationship with the e-commerce giant has been an “interesting journey” — thought she finally had an in.

Amazon’s user-experience team responded to an email she sent, but instead of giving her the direction she needed to buy, it offered her a $100 Amazon card to learn about her experience trying to contact the company. Moore was flabbergasted: “I told them, keep your $100 and give me the contact information of someone at the company who can help me make progress.” She said she didn’t get a contact, but she kept the $100.

Moore is one of many ad buyers trying to work with Amazon but finding it difficult to secure an Amazon rep and then start the process of advertising through Amazon’s suite of ad offerings, including its in-house team Amazon Media Group, self-serve marketing suite Amazon Marketing Services and programmatic solution Amazon Advertising Platform.

“It’s at a level where you can only develop a relationship with Amazon if you know someone,” said one ad buyer at a large agency who asked for anonymity.

Another ad buyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, said their large agency has begun forming a relationship with Amazon after a year of “stalking,” but only because of a major client’s spend.

Digital agency PMG had a similar experience. PMG started reaching out to Amazon about two years ago and didn’t gain traction with the company until a year in, when its client, retailer Cole Haan, expressed interest in spending with Amazon, according to Price Glomski, evp of digital strategy at PMG. That led the agency to acquire eight contacts at Amazon and start building its own internal Amazon practice. In the past year, the agency has spent well into seven figures on the platform, working on campaigns for large clients like Beats By Dre, Glomski said.

But even when ad buyers have an Amazon rep and footing within Amazon, they don’t necessarily get the answers they need quickly.

The makeup of Amazon’s internal client services teams is murky. None of the five ad buyers Digiday spoke with for this story know how Amazon’s client services teams are structured or how many people each has. There is a general understanding that AMG, AMS and AAP all have their own teams, and one ad buyer, who prefers anonymity, believes Amazon has teams structured around specific brands rather than agencies. Still, this person said, “You never have a holistic idea of what’s going on.” An Amazon spokesperson said the company does not reveal how many people work in each division or how many teams fall under client services.

Moore said after months of pestering Amazon, she finally secured her own rep who directs her to other groups within the company that might be able to assist her. But that’s where the help stops.

“It’s such a black box,” said Moore. “They’ve been really nice, but the groups at Amazon don’t know who does exactly what I want, which is to run video ads.”

Even PMG, with its eight contacts and several Amazon campaigns under its belt, has trouble navigating Amazon’s internal client services teams.

“The teams have really focused expertise, so when you ask a question about another ad product or product road map, it tends to get lost in translation, and you have to be directed to another product team,” Glomski said. “Fortunately, the Amazon team we work with is really good, but even they come back to us and say, ‘Sorry, it’s a development in progress.’”

Ad buyers said Amazon is following the playbooks of other ad platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, which were slow to make their client services teams available to agencies and ad tech providers while developing ad offerings. Rather, they initially focused on building relationships with large brands.

“Amazon definitely gives more interest and more resources to the larger brands,” said one ad buyer. For instance, one brand this person works with has its own assigned Amazon contact.

Moore is not surprised that Amazon would take this approach. “At the end of the day, brands are the ones that have the creative and the customers,” she said. “Amazon can get the information they desire straight from the brands without having too many chefs in the kitchen.”

“Everything Amazon does is to benefit Amazon,” said another ad buyer. “Everything they’ve built, from their tech stacks to their ad units to their content pages is all to benefit them, so why wouldn’t they go to brands with the big budgets first?”

But this might not be the best tactic for Amazon, as ad buyers at agencies and brands with smaller budgets get antsy about spending on the platform. PMG’s smaller clients, for instance, are eager to spend more on Amazon. Glomski said PMG estimates another $20 million to $25 million is on the table for Amazon from the agency’s midsize brands.

“You can tell [Amazon] is continuing to grow, so for some of our smaller clients, which are still good brands, they just don’t have as much mind share for them,” said Glomski. “What needs to happen quickly in order for advertisers to not get frustrated with Amazon is for Amazon to start building out their strategic group to help grow and train advertisers that will be in the system.”

Amazon has made strides in the past year, like bringing training teams to select agencies and making client service hires. The fact that Amazon’s user-experience team is reaching out to ad buyers like Moore also shows the company is considering ad buyers’ efforts to advertise with the behemoth.

“Agency relationships are very important to us,” said Seth Dallaire, vp of worldwide sales and marketing for Amazon Media Group. “We’ve made investments in both agency development and services as our advertising business grows, and this will continue to be the case.”

Some agencies are seeing the effects of these investments. “They’ve gotten much better in terms of having contacts you can work through, and they’ve made themselves more available to agencies,” said Kevin Packler, vp and director of Amazon services at independent agency The Tombras Group.

But Glomski warned that until the majority of ad agencies and smaller brands feel they are getting the attention they need from Amazon, other platforms with robust client services teams like Google and Facebook will continue to retain more market share. This is especially true, he said, when it comes to transparency and data, another area in which Amazon is known for being a black box.

“With Google and Facebook, any CMO can go in and pick apart different aspects of their marketing strategy,” said Glomski. “If Amazon can provide optics to performance on a daily and hourly level, which is what most marketers today need, that will create a sense of trust and willingness to spend $10,000 dollars a day on Amazon.”

Output: Ad buyers looking to advertise on Amazon report their frustrations with Amazon's client services teams in increasing numbers. Agency sources have spoken of their experiences "stalking" Amazon for a year before making headway, and even then, one anonymous source has said that Amazon's service is so murkily structured that "you never have a holistic idea of what’s going on”. PMG's digital strategy EVP Price Glomski argues that to retain agency buy-in, Amazon needs to "provide optics to performance on a daily and hourly level", as competitors Google and Facebook continue providing more transparent client services.


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Antibiotic use concentrated in small number of UK dairy farms
 A small number of the UK’s dairy farms account for an outsized proportion of antibiotic use, according to new research, suggesting that closer scrutiny of antibiotic prescribing practices could help bring down their use.

A study published in the BMJ publication Vet Record found some farms were using “extremely high levels” of antibiotics in their cattle. While most of the dairy farms surveyed showed lower than average use compared with the averages for all livestock reared in the UK, some outlying farms with high levels of use stood out.

The researchers were unable to pinpoint why this small number of farms should exhibit such high use, but said that identifying these hotspots and the reasons their administration of the drugs is so high could prove a big help in reducing antibiotic use.

The use of antibiotics in farming is of increasing concern. On Wednesday, M&S and Waitrose for the first time published data on the use of the medicines in their farming supply chain, showing that both were below the industry average in their usage.

Antibiotics are more widely used in farming than in human health, in the UK and around the world, and experts are worried that the over-use of such medicines could be imperilling human health, by encouraging the growth of resistant bacteria.

The chief medical officer for England, Dame Sally Davies, has repeatedly said that the rapidly increasing resistance to antibiotics and the rise of resistant “superbugs” is one of the greatest threats to human health, which could make even routine operations life-threatening in future. The World Health Organisation called earlier this year for the strongest antibiotics to be banned from use on farms, owing to the likelihood that their use in agriculture would result in them becoming ineffective in human medicine.

Data on antibiotic use in farming is hard to find, as the government collates only national level statistics on the tonnage of the medicines used, rather than breaking it down into finer detail that might reveal prescribing practices across sectors and geographically.

The new study examined 358 dairy farms over a 12-month period, including more than 81,500 cows in its sample – about 7% of all the dairy cows in England. Most of the drugs used were administered by injection.

In the study, the top 25% of farms used just over half – about 52% – of the total antibiotics used across the sample. It is not known why this small number of farms accounted for such high usage.

The researchers said their work should provide a benchmark for future studies of antibiotic use. The called for “targeting the reduction of antibiotics among the minority of high users, while maintaining high standards of health, welfare and production [as a] fast and effective first step to reduce [antibiotic use] at farm, practice and national levels.”

Lucy Coyne, a veterinarian at the University of Liverpool, said the work was timely and welcome and provided insight into how antibiotic use could be reduced. “Through improved antimicrobial use data and a continuation of a united and proactive approach, there should be confidence in the UK dairy sector achieving the reduction target by 2020.”

The government said last month that sales of antibiotics to treat animals in the UK had fallen by 27% in the two years from 2014 to 2016. There was also a drop of 83% in sales of colistin, an antibiotic of last resort that is critical for human health,

Output: High antibiotic use is concentrated in a small percentage of UK dairy farms, according to new research. The study, which investigated 358 farms, housing 7% of England’s dairy cows, found that although most farms surveyed used lower levels of antibiotics than UK livestock averages, 25% of farms were using 52% of the drugs. The researchers could not identify the reasons for such concentrated high use, but said that studying such farms could reduce the use of antibiotics in the sector. Use of antibiotics in farming is causing growing concern about antibiotic resistance and resultant threats to human health.


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LG ventures into AI market with ThinQ
 [ETNEWS] LG Electronics announced on Dec. 21 the launch of its global artificial intelligence brand ThinQ.

The Korean tech firm will use the ThinQ brand for all its future AI products and services. In addition a ThinQ Zone will be set up at the CES 2018, which will be held in January in Las Vegas to promote the brand.

ThinQ communicates through Wi-Fi, utilizes an open platform to acquire knowledge and accumulates intelligence through a deep learning technology. The primary goal of the brand is to provide an optimized AI experience for customers’ daily life in consumer electronics products and services.

LG plans to build a differentiated AI image centering on consumer electronics. The company will use the ThinQ logo on all its products with AI technology, even on separate product brands such as Dios, Tromm and Whisen.

The ThinQ products can be equipped with external AI technology such as Naver’s Clova or Amazon’s Alexa as well as LG’s proprietary AI technology DeepThinQ. For this, the firm initiated three strategies -- open platform, open partnership and open connectivity.

LG has made 2017 the first year of “AI home appliance” and has laid the foundation for AI-leading companies. In January, the company released the first AI learning for space learning, and introduced AI appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines and robot cleaners.

In addition, the company has been focusing on building AI home appliances and service infrastructure by installing wireless internet in all household appliances. In June, the company’s AI Laboratory was established under the CTO division to develop the technology that can recognize, infer and learn from voices, images and sensors.

“Global companies have been fiercely boosting their marketing efforts to take the lead in the AI industry. We plan to continue leading the AI market by spreading the concept of human centered AI with our ThinQ brand,” said Han Chang-hee, director of global marketing at LG Electronics.

By Alex Lee (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)

Powered by The Investor and ET News.

Output: LG Electronics has launched a new brand for its work on artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The South Korean company will market all its future AI products and services under the ThinQ name, incorporating the new logo on products including those which use its other product brands Dios, Tromm and Whisen. LG established an AI laboratory earlier this year, and has been working on building AI home appliances and wireless infrastructure. As well as being compatible with Amazon's Alexa, the technology also makes use of LG's own proprietary system, DeepThinQ.


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Saatchi & Saatchi, DNA and Mindshare make notable appointments
 This week has seen another wave of appointments and departures at brands, media owners and agencies. The Drum has rounded up the key moves from the EMEA, APAC and North America regions below.

Debenhams

Debenhams has created three new managing director roles as part of an internal restructure that has seen the business pivot around three units: Beauty and Beauty Services, Fashion and Home, and Food and Events.

Two of the new managing director roles will be filled internally. The retailer's marketing director Richard Cristofoli will take up the new role of managing director of beauty, beauty services and marketing, while retail director Ross Clemmow will broaden his role to become managing director for retail, digital, food and events.

The last role will be filled by Steven Cook, former chief merchant of Canada’s luxury retailer, Holt Renfrew, who will join Debenhams in January 2018 as managing director of fashion and home.

The Guardian

The Guardian has appointed John Mulholland, editor of the Observer, as editor of the newspaper's US division.

Mulholland has been editor of the Sunday paper since 2008, having joined as deputy editor in 1998. He will take on the top US job for the Guardian in spring 2018 when his replacement at the Observer will also be named.

He had been serving in the role on an interim basis since April to cover Lee Glendinning, who was on maternity leave. However, he returned to the UK to reprise his Observer duties during the Autumn.

But with this latest shake-up and Mulholland's return to the helm for the Guardian US, Glendinning has become executive editor for membership. Natalie Hanman, who currently holds the role, has become assistant editor for the global publication as a result.

Merkle

Merkle has appointed Julia Crawley-Boevey as head of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for EMEA to help drive its growth strategy for the region.

In the role Crawley-Boevey will be responsible for both sourcing the companies best aligned with Merkle’s aims, leading all deal activity and overseeing post-acquisition integration.

Prior to joining Merkle, Crawley-Boevey was head of global business strategy and M&A at digital marketing agency iCrossing, where she oversaw the launch of new agency services and identified key investment priorities. She also led a team dedicated to the marketing services sector at Results International, the leading advisor on M&A and fundraising, where she advised Periscopix on its acquisition by Merkle.

Bench

Bench has appointed Dan Johns, the former chief operating officer of IPG Mediabrands Australia, as a member of the marketing platform’s advisory board to accelerate growth with APAC enterprise clients.

Johns will act as a key advisor to Bench, supporting the company’s growth across the APAC region and spearhead the company’s new enterprise division.

Kantar

Kantar has appointed Katie McClintock as chief executive of its insights division (Kantar TNS and Kantar Millward Brown) in Singapore. Katie will take up the position in January.

Katie joins from MasterCard, where she led marketing planning, insight and strategy development in APAC. Prior to this, Katie was regional CEO at Kantar Added Value, part of the consulting arm of the Kantar business. She also held the position of insights director, APAC for PepsiCo.

Mindshare

Mindshare, a part of GroupM, has announced the appointment of M K Machaiah (Mac), as chief innovation officer of South Asia.

In this role, Mac will lead the integrated approach to consumer engagement and strengthen brand propositions across all consumer touchpoints including traditional, social and experiential.

FCB Ulka

FCB Ulka brought on board Shalini Rao to lead strategic planning for the Horlicks portfolio.

Shalini comes with close to two and a half decades of marketing experience across FMCG brands, such as (Marico, Gillette, Mars), B2B (Tetra Pak) & Service (Taj Hotels).

Partners + Napier

Julie DeRoller has been promoted to senior vice president, group director at Rochester-based Partners + Napier. DeRoller has led and built the newly rebranded Vine Creative Studios group over the course of her 13-year career at the agency, most recently as vice president/creative and account director. DeRoller started at Partners + Napier in 2005 as a senior art director working on Constellation Brands.

DNA

DNA has promoted long-time agency executive Chris Witherspoon to president and chief growth officer, a new position at the agency. The agency also announced that award-winning creative director Scott Fero is being promoted to executive creative director. The moves put in place an extended leadership and management team designed to accelerate the agency’s already fast-paced growth.

Odysseus Arms

Odysseus Arms has added to its account team, bringing on Gillian McBrayer as an account supervisor on Carlo Rossi, Andre Champagne and Barefoot wines; and Caroline Sinclair as a junior strategist. McBrayer joins from San Francisco shop Venables Bell & Partners, while Sinclair, a native of Sweden, has held various strategic and creative positions at San Francisco firms Blue Truck Inc. and Cross Marketing PR.

Saatchi & Saatchi New York

Saatchi & Saatchi NY appointed Michelle Kunken as an executive creative director. She will report directly to chief creative officer Javier Campopiano and will work across a variety of clients. Most recently Michelle was an ECD at KBS and oversaw creative development and production on AdCouncil, Boar’s Head, Monster and Vanguard.

Want to get your career on the move? Check out The Drum Job page and follow @TheDrumJobs for updates.

Output: Michelle Kunken has been appointed executive creative director (ECD) at Saatchi & Saatchi New York, reporting to chief creative officer Javier Campopiano. Fast-growing agency DNA has promoted Chris Witherspoon to president and the newly created position of chief growth officer, while at GroupM's Mindshare, M K Machaiah has been named as chief innovation officer of South Asia.


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Blue Origin steps up rocket tests for space tourism
 We might witness several new space vehicles blast off with a human crew onboard for the first time next year. One of them could be Blue Origin's New Shepard launch system. According to Jeff Ashby, the private space corporation's director of safety and mission assurance, Blue Origin is "about roughly a year out from human flights, depending on how the test program goes." Ashby spoke at the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference just a few days after his company successfully sent Crew Capsule 2.0 to suborbital space with "Mannequin Skywalker" on board.

The recent test fight carried 12 experiments from paying customers to space and is the first flight for the New Shepard launch system in a year. Blue Origin always intended to use its technology for space tourism, but like its peers it still has to conduct test flights before its spacecraft can start blasting off with paying civilians. Based on Ashby's statetment, though, the company still isn't 100 percent sure of its timeframe, so its manned mission could be delayed. Ashby said:

"We're probably a year and a half, two years out from when we're actually able to fly tended payload. We're about roughly a year out from human flights, depending on how the test program goes. We have a bunch more tests to do, and we'e going to fly some human test flights before we put paying people in the rocket."

Blue Origin is but one of the private space corporations planning to launch manned flights next year. Boeing and SpaceX, both recipients of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, also intend to conduct their first crewed test flights in 2018. Blue Origin, however, is aiming to conquer suborbital space, while the other two are preparing to ferry NASA astronauts to the ISS.

Output: Privately funded aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services firm Blue Origins New Shepard launch system is approximately one year from launching a programme of manned spaceflights. The system has been used for a test flight with the company's Crew Capsule 2.0 to suborbital space. The company will be competing against Boeing and SpaceX, which both plan to launch manned test flights next year.


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AI to add $957bn to India's GDP by 2035: Accenture
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Accenture sees AI adding a whopping $957 bn to GDP by 2035

Accenture sees AI adding a whopping $957 bn to GDP by 2035

Mumbai, Dec 21 (PTI) American tech major Accenture has said artificial intelligence (AI) alone will contribute a whopping USD 957 billion to the gross domestic product by 2035 when the domestic econom

Mumbai, Dec 21 (PTI) American tech major Accenture has said artificial intelligence (AI) alone will contribute a whopping USD 957 billion to the gross domestic product by 2035 when the domestic economy is slated to touch the USD 10 trillion-mark by many estimates.

“Artificial intelligence could add USD 957 billion to the economy by changing the nature of work to create better outcomes for businesses and the society,” Accenture said in a report today.

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The report said the emerging technological area will add 1.3 per cent to the economy per annum, which will lift up the national income by 15 per cent by 2035.

According to Accenture’s baseline projection, India will a USD 6.4 trillion economy by 2035, and AI will add another USD 957 billion to, taking the overall size of the economy to USD 7.355 trillion.

“There’s strong early evidence that AI can play a key role in unlocking socioeconomic value here,” its senior managing director and chairman for India Rekha Menon said.

The estimate from the global tech major comes even as analysts and business leaders continue to come up with their estimates on the size of the Indian economy in future, to illustrate the important role it will be playing the world.

Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council chairman Bibek Debroy today pegged the economy to grow to USD 6.5-7 trillion by 2030, and further grow to up to USD 10 trillion by 2040, from the present USD 2.4 trillion.

Earlier, Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani had said the country could be a USD 10 trillion economy by 2030.

For its estimate of AI adding USD 957 billion by 2035, Accenture said it has studied the country’s strengths in AI across the pillars of universities, startups,large businesses, policymakers and multi-stakeholder partnerships.

However, a comparison with other countries in the G20 grouping suggests “India lags on key indicators of AI development”, it said.

It said even though major technical universities in the country have been doing fundamental research in AI, they are not doing enough to strengthen the AI ecosystem around them like their global counterparts like the Cambridge.

On startups, it said the size of funding received is substantially smaller than by those in the US and China, reflecting the limited success of the country’s AI startups.

Accenture said there is a need for the country to build an AI blueprint, bolster research and development, prepare the next generation, democratise data and embrace “smart regulation”.

“What’s needed is a clear, long-term vision, and a multi-stakeholder action plan that balances growth with the ethical questions posed by AI,” Menon said.

This is published unedited from the PTI feed.

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Output: India's economy is predicted to reach $10tn by 2035, with artificial intelligence expected to make up $975bn of the gross domestic product, according to a report by Accenture. The US company said it had based its results on a study of India's universities and businesses from start-ups to large companies, as well as policymakers and multi-stakeholder partnerships, and said India needed to come up with a "multi-stakeholder action plan".


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JPMorgan Chase encouraging mobile wallet use
 BI Intelligence

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

Chase Freedom cardholders will be able to earn additional rewards by paying with Apple Pay, Android Pay, Chase Pay, and Samsung Pay in Q1 2018.

Each quarter, Chase announces rotating categories in which customers can earn up to 5% cashback — the card’s standard is 1% — on up to $1,500 in purchases. Customers can enroll in the benefit through mid-March, though it will apply retroactively to purchases made from January 1.

At its surface, the move is a somewhat confusing one for Chase, which is attempting to promote its own struggling mobile wallet. US mobile wallet adoption is paltry across products, stagnating around 25% at best. But Chase Pay, Chase’s proprietary, QR-code based wallet that launched last fall, is doing particularly poorly.

Despite a nearly $100 million investment in the wallet, just 6% of shoppers had used the platform in the past year, and the retailer’s network of merchants still remains limited, which is stifling adoption. It seems like it would make sense for Chase to promote Chase Pay at the forefront, which is why the inclusion of other services seems counterintuitive at first glance.

But any uptick in wallet usage would likely benefit Chase in the long run.

Specific incentives are the key to adoption and engagement. The force of habit is hard to break, and so it’s tough to get customers to give up card payments, which they’re both very accustomed to and satisfied with, without a strong incentive. Specific incentives, which layer rewards directly tied to paying via mobile on top of existing card or retailer programs, could be a game changer — Samsung’s specific rewards program, for example, has led to vast increases in adoption and engagement. Chase’s program, which encourages customers to continue to pay via mobile over the course of three months, could aid in habit formation and build up repeat usage.

The force of habit is hard to break, and so it’s tough to get customers to give up card payments, which they’re both very accustomed to and satisfied with, without a strong incentive. Specific incentives, which layer rewards directly tied to paying via mobile on top of existing card or retailer programs, could be a game changer — Samsung’s specific rewards program, for example, has led to vast increases in adoption and engagement. Chase’s program, which encourages customers to continue to pay via mobile over the course of three months, could aid in habit formation and build up repeat usage. And Chase could be the benefactor of those gains. If Chase’s plan works, and mobile wallet usage ticks up among Freedom cardholders, the mobile wallet habits that are formed will be around Chase’s Freedom card, ultimately increasing top-of-wallet status for the card and growing the percentage of spending that consumers do on Freedom versus competitors, according to NerdWallet. That ultimately grows loyalty, as well as volume and revenue.

Jaime Toplin, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has written a detailed report on mobile payments that:

Sizes the US in-store mobile payments market and examines growth drivers.

Analyzes headwinds that have suppressed adoption.

Identifies three strategic changes providers can make to improve their results.

Evaluates pockets of success in the market.

Provides actionable insights that providers can implement to improve results.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

Output: From Q1 next year, users of JPMorgan's Chase Freedom wallet will be able to earn rewards when using Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay, in a move aimed at increasing adoption of its mobile wallet. The US mobile wallet market underperformed in 2017, and Chase Freedom struggled in particular, with just 6% of shoppers adopting it, despite a $100m investment. However, by taking a leaf out of Samsung's book, whose specific rewards programme led to a huge increase in engagement, JPMorgan hopes to encourage use of the wallet.


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Glencore faces criminal complaint after Paradise Papers claims
 A watchdog group has filed a criminal complaint against the Anglo-Swiss commodities giant Glencore following revelations from the Paradise Papers.

Human rights campaigners in Switzerland have formally asked the country’s attorney general to investigate how the multinational obtained a copper mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Under Swiss law, the office of the attorney general will be required to assess and formally respond to the criminal complaint lodged by Public Eye.

“With the Paradise Papers, there are now even more elements pointing at embezzlement surrounding the acquisition of mines for the legal authorities to launch an investigation,” the watchdog group said in a statement.

“It’s overdue for [Swiss authorities] to rule on the legality of operations, whose dubious nature has been brought to the fore by the press and NGOs for more than five years.”

The Paradise Papers, files leaked from the offshore law firm Appleby, revealed how Glencore loaned $45m in pledged shares to an offshore firm of the diamond businessman Dan Gertler after enlisting him to help secure a joint venture agreement with the state-controlled mining entity Gécamines in the DRC.

“Glencore shall use its vote at the board of Katanga [Mining Ltd] to have Dan Gertler exclusively mandated to assist Katanga in finalising the terms of the joint venture agreement,” a document in the files stated.

However, Glencore made the loan with the caveat that it would be “immediately repayable on demand” within three months if Gertler failed to secure the contract. Glencore has previously said the loan “was made on commercial terms negotiated at arm’s length”.

The files also reveal Glencore used Gertler to negotiate with the DRC government. It has since distanced itself from Gertler, who was named in a 2001 UN investigation as having given $20m to the DRC president, Joseph Kabila, to buy weapons in exchange for a monopoly on the country’s diamonds.

He is also reported to be the unnamed “DRC partner” identified by the Department of Justice last year in a deferred prosecution agreement with a hedge fund accused of paying bribes to secure access to Congo’s mining interests.

Gertler’s lawyers have said that he denies the UN report’s allegations and that he was not a party to the DoJ agreement, which “does not constitute evidence of anything against Mr Gertler”.

Explaining its decision to file a complaint, Public Eye said: “The recent revelations in the Paradise Papers have added yet more damning elements to this momentous saga.

“In lodging its complaint, Public Eye is asking the office of the attorney general to open legal proceedings, in particular to ascertain whether Glencore has failed, as a company, to prevent illegal practices in upholding its legal duty of care.”

Glencore declined to comment.The development comes one month after Glencore’s head of copper was forced to resign from the board of Katanga Mining amid an investigation into accounting practices by the Ontario Securities Commission in Canada.

Aristotelis Mistakidis and two other executives stepped down after the review raised questions about the “appropriateness” of some of Katanga’s accounting, according to Bloomberg. It also found that management staff and executives were responsible for “overriding the company’s control processes”.

Separately, charities and campaigners have expressed support for the Guardian and the BBC after Appleby commenced legal action against them.

“In Transparency International’s experience, investigative journalism of this type is critical in detecting and deterring corruption,” said Robert Barrington, the executive director of Transparency International UK.

“The extent of wrongdoing and unethical behaviours exposed by the Guardian, the BBC and the other global media partners of the ICIJ [International Consortium of Investigative Journalists] demonstrate the clear public interest in publishing material from the Paradise Papers.”

Rebecca Gowland, Oxfam GB’s head of inequality, said: “Investigations like the Paradise and Panama Papers help lift the lid on the hidden world of tax dodging which costs the poorest countries an estimated $170bn a year in lost revenue.

“Protecting those who expose these tax scandals is vital – public scrutiny is helping drive action to fix the broken global tax system and ensure there is more money to fight poverty worldwide.”

Christian Aid noted that the Panama Papers had prompted the EU to pass a directive requiring greater corporate transparency.

“Leaks such as the Panama and Paradise Papers play a crucial role in … increasing the pressure on politicians and global leaders for further action around the world.”

Appleby has claimed it is “obliged” to sue and that there was no public interest in publication. It has only brought action against journalists in the UK.

Output: Glencore faces investigation by the Swiss attorney general over whether its acquisition of a copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) involved a failure to prevent illegal practices. Human rights group Public Eye lodged a criminal complaint following information revealed in the Paradise Papers, leaked earlier this year from offshore law firm Appleby. The papers revealed Glencore lent $45m to a company belonging to diamond merchant Dan Gertler after using him to help arrange a joint venture with DRC state-controlled mining group Gécamines, on the proviso the loan was immediately repayable if the contract was not granted.


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Leaseholds to be banned on most new build homes in England
 Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has announced new measures to cut out unfair and abusive practices within the leasehold system, including a ban on leaseholds for almost all new build houses.

This comes as part of government action to deliver a fairer, more transparent system for homeowners to help fix the broken housing market and build a Britain fit for the future.

Changes will also be made so that ground rents on new long leases – for both houses and flats – are set to zero.

The government will also make it cheaper and easier for existing leaseholders to buy-out their freehold and there will be better information available about redress for those consumers who face the most onerous terms.

These measures follow a recent consultation where there was an overwhelming response in favour of government plans to tackle the unfair practices in the leasehold sector.

With 1.4 million leasehold houses across England and the number of leasehold sales rapidly growing, the government is taking crucial action to make the leasehold market fairer.

Leasehold generally applies to flats with shared spaces, making multiple ownership more straightforward, but developers have been increasingly selling houses on these terms – adding further costs to over-stretched house buyers.

Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid said:

It’s unacceptable for home buyers to be exploited through unnecessary leaseholds, unjustifiable charges and onerous ground rent terms. It’s clear from the overwhelming response from the public that real action is needed to end these feudal practices. That’s why the measures this government is now putting in place will help create a system that actually works for consumers.

Measures to be introduced include:

legislating to prevent the sale of new build leasehold houses except where necessary such as shared ownership

making certain that ground rents on new long leases – for both houses and flats – are set at zero

working with the Law Commission to support existing leaseholders and make the process of purchasing a freehold or extending a lease much easier, faster and cheaper

providing leaseholders with clear support on the various routes to redress available to them

a wider internal review of the support and advice to leaseholders to make sure it is fit for purpose in this new legislative and regulatory environment

making sure freeholders have equivalent rights to leaseholders to challenge unfair service charges

These latest measures follow the government setting out plans in the housing white paper to fix the broken housing market, including making sure councils release more land for housing, building the right homes in the right places and improving affordability and protections for renters and home purchasers.

Further information

These measures relate to England only.

Over 6,000 responses were submitted to the recent government consultation on leasehold practices. The vast majority of responses expressed their concerns about the buying experience and living in a leasehold property. This highlights how the current system is clearly not working in the best interest of those living in or purchasing a leasehold home.

The proposed prohibiting of future houses being sold as leasehold will apply to all houses apart from a few exceptional circumstances where leasehold is still needed – such as houses that have shared services or built on land with specific restrictions.

We will also be continuing to discuss the case for limited exemptions with industry.

The Communities Secretary will be writing to all developers to strongly discourage the use of Help to Buy Equity loans for the purchase of leasehold houses in advance of legislation and to ask those who have customers with onerous ground rent terms to provide necessary redress.

Department for Communities and Local Government statistics estimate there were 4.2 million residential leasehold dwellings in England in the private sector in 2015 to 2016 and of these 1.4 million were leasehold houses. This was a rise on the previous year when in 2014 to 2015, there were 1.2 million leasehold houses.

Output: UK Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has unveiled a series of measures to tackle unfair practices in the leasehold sector, following an overwhelmingly positive public response to a recent government consultation. Javid said the new rules, covering England only, will include preventing the sale of new build leasehold houses, except in instances of shared ownership. Ground rents on new long leases will be set at zero, and freeholders will have the same rights as leaseholders to challenge service charges they deem unfair.


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Direct lending managers plan on lowering hurdle rates
 Many asset managers selling direct lending investment vehicles have made moves to lower hurdle rates in the latest round of fundraising, which would effectively increase their overall fees, according to consultancy bfinance.

Niels Bodenheim, London-based senior director of private markets at bfinance, and Dharmy Rai, associate within bfinance’s private markets department, said: “Some are sounding out the idea; some have already tried to market their latest offerings; most have not (yet) succeeded in taking a step that, for [limited partners (LPs)], would be hard to stomach.”

Hurdle rates are the point at which lucrative “catch-ups” and performance fees kick in, the firm explained.

In a market commenary, Bodenheim and Rai said that, often, the height of a hurdle and the structure that kicks in when it is reached receive less attention than management fee and carry percentages.

This may be because the latter are often open to negotiation while the former are set in fund terms and conditions, they said.

“Yet the hurdle is, arguably, the most important part of the fee leakage puzzle,” they said.

“Indeed, we see examples where managers with lower management fees end up taking home more money purely because they reached the same — net-of-management-fee — hurdles sooner than they otherwise would have done,” said Bodenheim and Rai.

The pair said they did not believe direct lending managers’ hurdle rates had been too high in recent years and that in some cases, the threshold had already been a bit too low.

“There is still, on average, too much leakage in the net performance figures,” they said, adding that in general the hurdle should be no lower than 2% beneath the fund’s expected return.

Although it might be understandable that firms were cutting hurdle rates if expected returns were lower for new funds — in order to keep their business profitable — bfinance said that this did not seem to be the case –– expected returns on funds being raised in 2017 were broadly the same as before, except where strategies were very different.

One explanation could stem from the fact that many private debt funds were run by private equity firms, said Bodenheim and Rai. Staff at these companies expected the same compensation that they received for private equity work.

But this was hard to justify, bfinance said, since private equity managers could generate significant upside but private debt managers could not.

Following noticeable improvement for LPs in management and performance fees for direct lending funds over the last few years, a reduction in hurdle rates could represent a backwards step, Bodenheim and Rai said.

“Hopefully the negative reaction among investors, together with rising competition among fund managers, will dissuade firms from following through on such changes,” they said.

Output: Some managers of direct lending funds have been lowering hurdle rates for their products in recent fundraising rounds. The move effectively boosts overall fees, according to consultancy Bfinance. The consultancy added, however, many managers are yet to take the step, which would be unpopular with limited partners in the funds. The consultancy said hurdle rates within the direct lending market have not been too high in recent years, if anything slight too low in some cases. Hurdle rates are the point at which performance and other fees start being applied to funds.


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GM car owners can order and pay for items while driving
 GM Lets Customers Order Their Morning Coffee With Their Car A simple tap on the dash can make the daily drive more productive for millions of customers

Back

DETROIT — Starting today, General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) is rolling out the automotive industry’s first commerce platform for on-demand reservations and purchases of goods and services. With Marketplace, drivers can now order and pay for their favorite coffee — and much more — on the way to work with a simple tap on the dash.

Marketplace allows customers to order food, find the closest gas station to save on fuel, and make dinner reservations on the go. This means Marketplace gives drivers of eligible Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles the opportunity to more safely interact with a growing number of their favorite brands in retail, fuel, hospitality, food, hotel and transportation through the in-vehicle touchscreen.

Marketplace also features a “Shop” section dedicated to offers specific to GM vehicles, for instance purchasing Wi-Fi data, discounts for an oil change or deals on GM accessories. Simple on-screen notifications can identify relevant offers.

“The average American spends 46 minutes per day on the road driving[1]. Leveraging connectivity and our unique data capabilities, we have an opportunity to make every trip more productive and give our customers time back,” said Santiago Chamorro, vice president for Global Connected Customer Experience, GM. “Marketplace is the first of a suite of new personalization features that we will roll out over the next 12 to 18 months to nearly four million U.S. drivers.”

Leveraging the embedded 4G LTE connectivity, GM is adding Marketplace to millions of existing 2017 and 2018 model-year cars, trucks and crossovers that have compatible infotainment systems, with continued rollout to compatible new vehicles. A separate data plan is not required to use Marketplace.

“For most retailers and consumer brands the daily commute is the only time not accessible in a consumers’ day,” said Chamorro. “Marketplace gives merchants the ability to more safely engage with drivers and passengers in a meaningful way that provides true value for our customers.”

Marketplace is designed to be used while driving. It leverages machine learning from real-time interaction data, such as location, time of day and a driver’s established digital relationship with third-party merchants, to offer highly personalized experiences.

Adhering to industry distracted driving guidelines, as well as GM’s strict in-house safety guiding principles, GM designs its in-vehicle systems to minimize manual interactions, helping drivers keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel.

The first brands accessible through Marketplace include:

GM lets customers buy 4G LTE Data packages, extend their OnStar subscription or receive offers for certified service, parts and accessories for their specific vehicle.

lets customers buy 4G LTE Data packages, extend their OnStar subscription or receive offers for certified service, parts and accessories for their specific vehicle. Starbucks offers another convenient way for customers to order ahead and enjoy their favorite handcrafted beverage or food item. And as part of the Starbucks Rewards™ program, members enjoy more value by earning Rewards towards free food and drink. (Early 2018)

offers another convenient way for customers to order ahead and enjoy their favorite handcrafted beverage or food item. And as part of the Starbucks Rewards™ program, members enjoy more value by earning Rewards towards free food and drink. (Early 2018) Dunkin’ Donuts will help customers start their day off right through an experience that allows DD Perks members to preorder and pay onscreen for their favorite coffee and donut, at their preferred pickup location.

will help customers start their day off right through an experience that allows DD Perks members to preorder and pay onscreen for their favorite coffee and donut, at their preferred pickup location. Wingstop will allow you to skip the wait by re-ordering your favorites and paying ahead, so you can get home in time for the big game

will allow you to skip the wait by re-ordering your favorites and paying ahead, so you can get home in time for the big game TGI Fridays will let customers schedule a table reservation for them and their closest friends and family when they need a break from the week.

will let customers schedule a table reservation for them and their closest friends and family when they need a break from the week. Shell will enable the exceptional driver experience, providing ease of payment and savings with INSTANT GOLD STATUS in the Fuel Rewards® program. Customers’ closest Shell station will be identified and station amenities showcased among the largest fuel station network in the U.S., with the ability to pay in-dash coming soon.

will enable the exceptional driver experience, providing ease of payment and savings with INSTANT GOLD STATUS in the Fuel Rewards® program. Customers’ closest Shell station will be identified and station amenities showcased among the largest fuel station network in the U.S., with the ability to pay in-dash coming soon. ExxonMobil will quickly locate Exxon and Mobil fuel stations with details of what they offer, route you there and get you back on the road faster.

will quickly locate Exxon and Mobil fuel stations with details of what they offer, route you there and get you back on the road faster. Priceline.com gives drivers access to hundreds of thousands of hotels and exclusive hotel savings on the go.

gives drivers access to hundreds of thousands of hotels and exclusive hotel savings on the go. Parkopedia allows drivers to find, reserve and pay for parking, all at the click of a button.

allows drivers to find, reserve and pay for parking, all at the click of a button. Applebee’s ensures customers are never too far from Eatin’ Good in the Neighborhood whether close to home or miles away with the ability to locate their nearest restaurant, order featured menu items and reorder recent favorites through the convenience of their vehicle’s touchscreen.

ensures customers are never too far from Eatin’ Good in the Neighborhood whether close to home or miles away with the ability to locate their nearest restaurant, order featured menu items and reorder recent favorites through the convenience of their vehicle’s touchscreen. IHOP makes it easy for guests to enjoy hot, fresh all-day breakfast favorites like fluffy buttermilk pancakes on the go, thanks to safe and secure on-dash ordering and location service capabilities that help search and find the nearest restaurant for pickup.

makes it easy for guests to enjoy hot, fresh all-day breakfast favorites like fluffy buttermilk pancakes on the go, thanks to safe and secure on-dash ordering and location service capabilities that help search and find the nearest restaurant for pickup. delivery.com empowers the neighborhood economy by enabling customers to order online from their favorite local restaurants, wine and spirits shops, grocery stores and laundry and dry-cleaning providers.

To allow merchants to efficiently and quickly integrate their content as part of the in-vehicle Marketplace ecosystem, General Motors is working with three main platform partners: Xevo (www.xevo.com) in Seattle, Washington; Conversable (www.conversable.com) in Austin, Texas; and Sionic Mobile (www.sionicmobile.com) in Atlanta, Georgia. Merchants interested in Marketplace can contact the above platform partners or email GM at Marketplace@onstar.com.

General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM) has leadership positions in the world's largest and fastest-growing automotive markets. GM, its subsidiaries and joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Jiefang, and Wuling brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety, security and information services, can be found at http://www.gm.com

# # #

[1] Source: AAA, 2016

Output: General Motors has launched Marketplace, the first automotive commerce platform that allows customers to make on-demand orders and reservations using their vehicle's dashboard. Drivers will be able to reserve tables for dinner, search for the nearest filling station and order food with Buick, GMC, Cadillac and Chevrolet cars. Drivers will also be able to shop for oil change discounts, GM accessory deals and Wi-Fi data. The feature will be offered over 12 to 18 months to about four million car owners in the US, and is intended to be used while driving. Brand partners include Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts.


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Digital 3D printing company Carbon raises $200m in first round
 Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.

Carbon, a digital 3D printing company for manufacturing industries, has announced the first closing in a $200 million series D round of funding from Baillie Gifford, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Adidas VC arm Hydra Ventures, and GE Ventures, among other investors.

Founded out of Redwood City, California in 2013, Carbon describes itself as working at the “intersection of hardware, software, and molecular science” to bring digital 3D printing to manufacturing.

The company hit the headlines in April this year when Adidas announced its Futurecraft 4D shoe, which sports a 3D-printed sole courtesy of Carbon’s technology, and which Adidas plans to mass produce next year.

Carbon said its 3D printing alternative meshes light and oxygen to quickly produce products from a pool of resin. The speed 3D printing technique enables manufacturers to offer mass customization and on-demand inventory that has been difficult to deliver with existing manufacturing methods.

Prior to now, Carbon had raised around $220 million in funding from such companies as BMW, Nikon, and GV (Google Ventures), and with its latest cash injection the company plans to scale its technology across manufacturing.

“The age of digital 3D manufacturing is here, and this funding validates our vision to fundamentally change how the world designs, engineers, makes, and delivers products,” said Carbon CEO and cofounder Dr. Joseph DeSimone. “Since Carbon first introduced digital light synthesis, we have continuously pushed the boundaries and transformed industries, and [we] are uniquely positioned to take digital manufacturing to an entirely new level. This funding will help us realize new classes of workers and business models, where product design and engineering is facilitated by cloud-based computing and a wide range of scanning, sensor, and simulation technologies that enable the creation of perfectly tuned — even personalized — products that have been previously impossible to produce.”

Though 3D printing has held promise for many years, it has yet to take hold in the manufacturing sphere at scale. But it still remains a hot industry for investment. Last month, Markforged raised $30 million to simplify the manufacturing process for 3D printing, while Desktop Metal nabbed $115 million earlier this year to make metal 3D printing more accessible. Elsewhere, HP and Deloitte recently partnered to bring more 3D printing services to manufacturers.

With another $200 million incoming, Carbon should play a big role in advancing the 3D manufacturing movement.

“Through a combination of faster production times, lower costs, and a wider range of materials, Carbon is delivering on the long-standing but elusive promise of 3D manufacturing at scale,” added Peter Singlehurst, investment manager at Baillie Gifford.

Output: 3D digital printing company Carbon has closed a $200m series D funding round, led by Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Sequoia Capital, Hydra Ventures and GE Ventures. Carbon offers the manufacturing industry hardware, software and "molecular science" support. The company is most famous for its 3D-printed show sole for Adidas' Futurecraft 4D shoes; Adidas has invested in the company through its venture capital arm, Hydra Ventures. Carbon had previously raised approximately $220m in funding, with the new capital due to be used for scaling its tech for manufacturing.


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NASA sets 2069 date to reach neighbouring solar system
 N ASA has announced plans for an interstellar mission to search for life outside our solar system.

The US space agency hopes to send a spacecraft to neighbouring star system Alpha Centauri by 2069, which is the 100th anniversary of the first moon landing.

The star system is 24.9 trillion miles away from Earth. It consists of three stars: Centauri A, Centauri B, and Proxima Centauri.

It has been the subject of great scientific interest since an Earth-like planet was discovered orbiting Proxima Centauri in 2016.

The planet, known as Proxima, resides in a "habitable zone" where temperatures are mild enough for liquid surface water.

Astronomers believe there are "almost certainly" other small Earth-like planets capable of harbouring alien life in the star system.

To visit Alpha Centauri a spacecraft would need to travel at a minimum of 10 per cent of the speed of light - nearly 30 million metres per second.

Even if this could be achieved, the journey would take 44 years. This would mean the spacecraft would not reach the star system until the year 2113.

NASA is said to be exploring different options in its approach to the mission, including sending tiny probes powered by lasers.

Scientists believe they may be able to reach a quarter of the speed of light.

Other techniques under consideration include harnessing nuclear reactions, or collisions between matter and antimatter, New Scientist magazine reported.

Output: NASA has aims to send a space shuttle to adjacent star system Alpha Centauri by the year 2069, on the 100th anniversary of the moon landing. The star system, 24.9 trillion miles away from Earth, will be searched for signs of life, inspired by the discovery of an Earth-type planet orbiting the star Proxima Centauri last year. "Proxima" has mild enough temperatures to sustain liquid surface water, which could indicate the ability to sustain life. Any travel would have to be completed at a minimum speed of 30 million metres per second, or 10% of the speed of light.


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Bing should not be overlooked by advertisers: opinion
 With Christmas bells ringing, there are compelling reasons why digital marketers should turn their heads to search engines outside of Google, writes Paul Korber (pictured below), regional vice president of customer success for the Asia Pacific at Marin Software.

We know that once a brand becomes a verb, it’s well and truly in the lead of its competitors. So, it’s no surprise that Google’s dominance in the search marketplace has been firmly held and that advertisers often neglect other search engines in their digital advertising efforts. While Google’s influence still remains comfortably unchallenged, there are compelling reasons that digital marketers should be advertising on other search engines as well.

As an advertising channel, search can be one of the best ways to reach consumers when they’re in the process of actively researching a product. Whether it’s quickly searching for the location of a restaurant, or beginning the research process for a high-consideration purchase like a new car, search is the channel that most businesses need to invest in if they want to be top of mind during the online customer journey.

Paired with retargeting, search advertising technologies have become more advanced and complex over the last decade, and many organisations are still learning how to make full use of the capabilities of paid search advertising. This, combined with a limited search advertising budget, can be a major constraint for advertisers despite clear evidence that the investment is worth it.

It’s unsurprising that Google is still king in paid search investment, with the search engine giant accounting for 81 per cent of desktop searches and 96 per cent of mobile searches. However, Bing is emerging as a player worth considering.

Organisations investing in Google are allocating an average of 83 per cent of their spend to the search company, while those investing in Bing are allocating 20 per cent of their total paid search spend. On average, 72 per cent of organisations are planning to increase their investment in Google over the next 12 months, while 36 per cent plan to do the same on Bing.

Bing is the second largest search engine after Google. According to comScore, Bing receives 6.2 billion searches a month. What’s more, people searching on Bing and Yahoo sites see advertisements that are powered by Bing Ads. According to those stats, that means you can reach one in three people who are searching for information, products and services. By no means am I suggesting you should stop search advertising on Google, just that Bing is hardly deserving of being overlooked by advertisers.

In the words of Old El Paso, “Why don’t we have both?” Advertisers are more likely to get the best return on investment by implementing search advertising across multiple search engines, with statistics showing Google and Bing reach the most consumers. A study by Marin Software found that replicating ad campaigns across search providers is advertisers’ biggest challenge around delivering ROI from paid search. This confirms a major opportunity for advertisers wanting to dominate as much advertising space as possible.

Most good things don’t come without their challenges. In the same report, a ‘lack of funding’ and ‘lack of support for investing in paid search’ was cited as organisations’ greatest challenge when wanting to duplicate search ad campaigns across search providers. This is a challenge that could imminently lead to their fall from the top in the paid search market, literally.

To address this hurdle, one of the most important features Bing Ads has implemented in recent years is the ability to import existing campaigns directly from Google AdWords. This makes the platform’s adoption by new and returning advertisers a painless process. To make cross-publisher management even easier, Bing Ads now offers automated imports to enable advertisers to synchronise their Google campaigns with their Bing counterparts on a recurring basis.

If you’re not already advertising on Bing, chances are your competitors aren’t, either. The relatively low competition on Bing offers the opportunity for advertisers to accrue incremental traffic with the same level of search intent as your Google campaigns. And, the ability to cross-publish ad campaigns via emerging software means that you don’t have to sacrifice your search-ads on Google – or your budget– to do so.

Another benefit of replicating paid search campaigns across both Bing and Google is that Bing doesn’t force close variants on you. Whilst Google effectively killed off exact and phrase match keywords as we used to know them by forcing a “close variant” matching target onto all AdWords accounts, Bing’s option to include close variant queries as matches, remains just that– an option.

Replicating search ad campaigns across both Google and Bing offers advertisers the best of both worlds. You would be crazy to believe that investing in paid search advertising on Google isn’t worthwhile – just take one look at its monopoly. You could also be making a big mistake by overlooking the benefits of replicating these search campaigns across Bing. Bing increasingly accounts for a huge amount of search traffic, as well as offering a far less cluttered market and open variant queries. Most importantly, replicating search ad campaigns across both Google and Bing will give you an unfair share of search advertising real estate, and who doesn’t want a slice of that?

Output: Digital marketers should consider Bing as an alternative to Google, given it is the second largest search engine and reaches one in three people undertaking searches, according to Paul Korber, Marin Software's head of customer success in the Asia-Pacific region. Bing Ads can be synchronised with Google AdWords and can import campaigns directly from it. Bing receives 6.2 billion searches a month, offering advertisers the chance to target a wider audience by combining their advertising with Google. Around 72% of businesses plan to increase their investments with Google next year and 36% plan to do the same with Bing.


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Mars' porous rocks may be where its missing water is hiding
 Paris (AFP) –

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What happened to all the water that once sloshed in lakes and oceans on Mars? Much of it, researchers proposed Wednesday, may be locked up in stone.

Previous studies had concluded that the water was swept into space by powerful solar winds when the planet's magnetic field collapsed, while some was captured in sub-surface ice.

But this did not account for all the missing water.

To try to track down the rest, an international team of researchers put scientific modelling to the test.

"The results revealed that the basalt rocks on Mars can hold approximately 25 percent more water than those on Earth, and as a result drew the water from the Martian surface into its interior," said a statement from Oxford University, where scientists took part in the study.

As on Earth, chemical weathering and hydrothermal reactions can change minerals in rock from dry to water-bearing, study co-author Jon Wade of Oxford told AFP.

But Martian rock, because of a different composition, is much better at doing so.

Such rocks would have reacted with the surface water on Mars, locking some of it up in their mineral structure, Wade said in an email.

"It is not liquid anymore but physically bound in the mineral," he said -- which means the only way to release the water would be to melt the rock.

On an infant Earth, water-bearing rocks formed in a similar way would have floated on the planet's super-hot surface until they melted, releasing water back to the surface as they did.

But on Mars, not all the rock would have melted and some of the water would have remained trapped in rock that sank straight to the mantle.

"In essence, Mars was doomed by its geochemistry!" Wade said.

Liquid water is a prerequisite for life as we know it. And although it is dry and dusty today, the Earth's neighbour is thought to have been a wet planet once.

In 2015, NASA said almost half of Mars's northern hemisphere had once been an ocean, reaching depths greater than 1.6 kilometres (one mile).

Later that year, a study announced the discovery of "water" remaining on the fourth rock from the Sun, in the form of super-salty brine streaks running down steep slopes.

The latest findings were published in the journal Nature.

© 2017 AFP

Output: Results from scientific modelling carried out by Oxford University have shown that a significant proportion of Mars' water resources could be locked within rock structures. "The results revealed that the basalt rocks on Mars can hold approximately 25% more water than those on Earth, and as a result drew the water from the Martian surface into its interior", said the scientists. Releasing the water now would require melting the rock, as "It is not liquid anymore but physically bound in the mineral", according to the study's co-author John Wade.


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3.5 billion-year-old fossil indicates alien lifeforms on earth
 The surface of planet Earth 3.5 billion years ago was probably quite unpleasant, to put it mildly. There were frequent volcanic eruptions, almost no oxygen and higher chances than today of getting bombarded by large asteroids. Yet somehow a diverse group of life forms was already alive and kicking here, despite such seemingly inhospitable conditions, leading some scientists to presume that the same thing almost surely has happened on other planets as well.

Enlarge Image An example of one of the microfossils discovered in an ancient rock. J. William Schopf

New research published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports microscopic fossils in a 3.5-billion-year-old piece of rock from Western Australia are the oldest such fossils found -- and also the earliest direct evidence of life on our planet.

That makes for an intriguing enough headline, but the new research digs deeper into the nature of the tiny organisms and finds that they weren't all identical: some were primitive photosynthesizers, while others were producers and users of methane.

"This tells us life had to have begun substantially earlier and it confirms that it was not difficult for primitive life to form," said lead author and UCLA paleobiology professor J. William Schopf, in a statement about the research, adding that scientists can't yet be sure how much earlier life may have actually begun on Earth. "But, if the conditions are right, it looks like life in the universe should be widespread."

The organisms in the fossils would likely be poisoned by Earth's oxygen-rich atmosphere today, but they show life might tend to find a way to emerge in environments that would seem to us to be unlivable.

Primitive photosynthesizers like those found in the ancient fossils are thought to live where there is light but no oxygen, which describes the surface of Mars, among other places. The discovery that the earliest life forms here also included methane users is intriguing in light of the fact that Saturn's moon Titan may be covered with large seas of liquid methane.

The time period at which the microorganisms lived, some 3.5 billion years ago, is also interesting because it comes only a few hundred million years after the period known as the late heavy bombardment, when Earth is thought to have been pelted with large asteroids and other pieces of space debris hanging around the inner solar system.

In other words, the living conditions here were not great at the time and yet a diverse roster of organisms still popped up in a relatively short period of time, geologically speaking.

The next obvious question is that, if simple life forms can emerge this easily, shouldn't it also increase the odds that intelligent life forms have also evolved elsewhere? Schopf says the answer to that question is less certain but still promising.

"[This study] confirms it is not difficult for primitive life to form and to evolve into more advanced microorganisms," he explains.

You heard it here first, kids: The career of the future might just be in Martian paleontology, digging up ancient fossils on the red planet -- perhaps on the outskirts of Elon Musk's colony.

Solving for XX: The tech industry seeks to overcome outdated ideas about "women in tech."

Life, Disrupted: In Europe, millions of refugees are still searching for a safe place to settle. Tech should be part of the solution. But is it?

Output: Evidence that life existed on Earth much earlier than previously thought could indicate a greater likelihood of life on other planets. Scientists from the Universities of California and Wisconsin have published research claiming that microscopic fossils found in Western Australia show evidence of life 3.5 billion years ago. These include organisms which use methane to exist, and others which can live in environments with light but no oxygen. The ability for life to develop in such inhospitable conditions makes it more likely life could be found on Mars or other planets, they say.


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Canadian Uber drivers to pay less for insurance than taxi drivers
 Uber drivers will pay a quarter of what taxi drivers do for insurance, according to rates proposed by Manitoba Public Insurance.

MPI has set proposed rates for ride sharing drivers, who work for companies like Uber and Lyft, at about $2,500 annually for drivers operating at all times of the day, every day of the week.

“They’re insured just like a normal driver, except if they want to do ride-sharing services, then they pay a premium over top of what they normally pay,” said Ward Keith, vice-president of business development and communications for MPI, adding that the additional premium is 20 per cent.

Keith said taxicab drivers pay around $10,000 per year.

Under the new rate scheme, taxi drivers who choose to only work in select time categories will be eligible to pay less than the full cost, as will ride-sharing drivers.

Keith says rates for ride-sharing drivers could change in the future, because MPI will track the claims experience of those drivers in a separate pool from other drivers.

“The objective here is to make sure that regular drivers are not subsidizing the insurance rates for ride-share operators, just like they’re not subsidizing the rates for taxi operators today,” said Keith.

The proposed rates are subject to approval by the Public Utilities Board. If approved, they will come into effect March 1, 2018.

Output: Uber drivers in Manitoba are set to pay significantly less for their insurance coverage than taxi drivers in the central Canadian province. According to proposals from Manitoba Public Insurance, Uber contractors can expect rates that are roughly a quarter of those paid by taxi drivers, who pay about CAD10,000 a year ($7,795) for insurance coverage. Taxi drivers who opt to work within an allocated time window will also pay lower rates under the proposal.


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Insurtech Lemonade approved to operate in Arkansas
 Insurtech company, Lemonade, has received a Certificate of Authority to do business in Arkansas.

Lemonade Insurance Co. has been approved to sell property, casualty and marine products in Arkansas with an initial limit to renters insurance. A New York-domiciled property/casualty insurance company offering renters and home insurance policies, Lemonade was created in 2016 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lemonade Inc., a Delaware corporation.

Lemonade offers renters insurance through a mobile application.

In a statement Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr said “Lemonade is a company focused on using technology, artificial intelligence, and bots to innovate the insurance industry while promoting nonprofit giving through its annual ‘Giveback’ program of underwriting profits. I am proud to welcome Lemonade to the renters’ market in Arkansas.”

Lemonade is also a Certified B-Corp, where underwriting profits are contributed to nonprofits. The company receives a flat 20 percent fee, treating premiums as belonging to the policyholders. Lemonade returns “unclaimed money” during its annual Giveback. Giveback is a feature of Lemonade in which undistributed profits each year are donated to causes that customers elect. Lemonade is currently writing business in five other states and seeking to expand operations.

Kerr has granted authority to 28 new companies so far in 2017. Since becoming commissioner in 2015, Kerr has welcomed 63 new companies to Arkansas.

Source: Arkansas Insurance Department

Topics Oklahoma Arkansas

Output: New York-based insurtech Lemonade has been granted permission to operate in Arkansas. The firm has been green-lighted to sell property, casualty and marine coverage in the state. Lemonade will initially be restricted to offering renters insurance in this market.


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Indigo Ag, Maihoulang top 2017 agriculture tech finding deals
 It was an exciting year in farm technology involving a few high profile venture capital exits and some of the largest deals on record.

In fact, funding records for this category and the subcategories within were broken more than once during the course of the year.

Read about how we define Farm Technology here and then check out the largest funding rounds of 2017.

1. Indigo Agriculture – $203 million – Series D

Just this month Indigo Agriculture, the Boston-based microbial crop technology startup, closed its Series D funding round on $203 million, the largest fundraising effort by a farm tech company on record. Indigo’s product portfolio includes microbial seed coatings for corn, soy, wheat, and cotton. These coatings help crops to withstand environmental stressors such as drought, high temperatures, salty soils or low nitrogen and bolster resistance to disease and pests. The company also claims its products produce higher quality crops, such as increasing the protein content of wheat. Indigo does not sell its microbial coated seed product to farmers like most ag input suppliers; instead, the company enters into contracts with farmers, providing them with the seed at the start of the season and then purchasing their harvest for a guaranteed, premium price.

Investors: Investment Corporation of Dubai, Flagship Pioneering, Alaska Permanent Fund, Baillie Gifford, Activant Capital.

Read more about Indigo’s record-breaking round and innovative business model here.

2. Plenty – $200 million – Series A

Indoor vertical farming company Plenty raised $200 million in a Series B round of funding announced in July (at the time the largest farm tech investment though the record did not last the year.) Plenty uses a vertical growing plane to grow leafy greens in a 52,000 square foot South San Francisco facility. The Series B — which brought total funding for the startup to $226 million — is being out to use on new farms and new hires. In November, the company announced its next farm will be in Kent, WA. The 100,000 sq. ft. indoor vertical farm will open in mid-2018 and will represent Plenty’s first “full-scale” farm. The company is also looking to employ roughly 50 new employees. Fellow vertical farming entrepreneur AeroFarms CEO David Rosenberg said at the time: “This is a monster raise, and ultimately competition can be good for the industry to drive further advancement.”

Investors: SoftBank Vision Fund, Affiliates of Louis M. Bacon, the founder of Moore Capital Management, Innovation Endeavors, Bezos Expeditions, DCM, Data Collective, and Finistere Ventures.

Read more about Plenty’s Series A round here. And listen to our recent in-depth interview with Plenty CEO Matt Barnard here.

3. Maihuolang – $150 million – Series A

In what seemed like an outlier for agribusiness marketplaces at the time, China’s Maihoulang raised a $150 million Series A in March of 2017. In light of Farmers Business Network’s most recent round (up next on this list), it is slightly less remarkable now that the year is coming to a close. Maihoulang launched 51mhl.com in 2014, as a marketplace for farm supplies, specialty foods, electric motorbikes, and household appliances covering 23 provinces in China with 218 county offices and 28,500 village services stations, according to Deal Street Asia. Competition is coming from a partnership between Alibaba Group Holding and China’s National Development and Reform Commission, which are starting hundreds of pilot programmes in rural villages and towns in three years.

Investors: Shenzhen New Industry Venture Capital, Weiji Investment, and Qianhai Great Wall Fund.

Farmers Business Network (FBN), a farmer-to-farmer digital network offering data insights, input procurement, and crop marketing services, raised $110 million in Series D funding in November. “We’ve built a phenomenally high-growth business with membership doubling year-on-year to nearly 5,000 farms around the US across 16 million acres, taking on another million acres each month,” Charles Baron, cofounder and VP of product, told AgFunderNews. The company has grown in other ways too: its input procurement business has expanded from selling 170 products initially to over 1,200, it launched a crop marketing business earlier this year, it is expanding into Canada, and its team is now 200-strong, with plans to increase by another 100 in the next 12-18 months.

Investors: T. Rowe Price, Temasek, Acre Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GV (Google Ventures) and DBL Partners.

Read more about Farmers Business Network’s Series D round, IPO plans, and the reactions from ag strategics here.

5. Uptake – $117 million – Series D

Uptake, a data analytics startup that uses sensor data to optimize machinery including farming equipment, raised a $117 million Series D round announced this month. This brings Uptake’s total fundraising to $264 million, $130 million of which was raised in two rounds earlier this year, and it is now valued at $2.3 billion. Uptake is cash flow positive, according to TechCrunch, but said in a statement that the new funds will allow it to speed up its growth.

The company was founded by two cofounders of flash deal site Groupon on the idea that most commercial equipment comes outfitted with some sensors, but little use has been made of the data they produce. Using these sensors, plus additional sensors from outside partners in some cases, Uptake tracks the performance and usage of combines, carts, trucks, and semis, to name a few, in order to gauge optimal use and also machine performance. The software is able to make recommendations to optimize machinery expenses by minimizing downtime among other things.

Investors: Baillie Gifford, GreatPoint Ventures, and Revolution Growth.

Read more about Uptake’s Series D round here.

6. Unnamed Bayer + Ginkgo Bioworks Ag Biotech Company – $100 million

German agribusiness Bayer CropScience and Ginkgo Bioworks, a startup genetically engineering microbes for the flavor, fragrance, and food industries, have partnered with hedge fund Viking Global Investors to invest $100 million in a new, as yet unnamed agtech startup, announced in September.

The new company will focus on manufacturing microbial products to help with nitrogen fixation and minimizing agriculture’s environmental impact by decreasing the amount of chemical fertilizers farmers apply to crops. The new company will be co-located at Bayer’s biologicals R&D facility in West Sacramento, which was created through the 2012 acquisition of AgraQuest, and at Ginkgo’s Boston facility.

AgFunderNews sources say that this mysterious venture will be getting a name and a CEO early in the year.

Read more about the joint venture here.

7. Produce Pay – $70 million – Series A + Debt

Produce Pay, an online platform that connects farmers directly with distributors and pays them for their produce the day after it’s shipped through a lending platform. CoVenture, a software-focused VC from New York City, arranged a $70 million debt facility for the startup alongside leading its $7 million Series A. Farmers are often left waiting for produce to sell before they’re paid, leaving them in a risky financial position post-harvest. Produce Pay is also launching a trading platform to connect vetted growers and distributors all over the world. Produce pay is part of a growing group of agtech startups branching out into fintech to mitigate some of the financial challenges on farms today.

Investors: CoVenture, Menlo Ventures, Arena Ventures, Red Bear Angels and Social Leverage.

Read more about agtech startups venturing into the world of fintech here.

8. 3D Robotics – $53 million – Series D

Back in April, drone startup 3D Robotics (3DR) raised a $53 million Series D round, which included the conversion of some existing debt to equity, though it did not release details. According to Tech Crunch, 3DR has faced a cavalcade of competition in recent years from the likes of dominant Chinese drone manufacturer DJI, management software platform Drone Deploy, and more. 3DR stopped selling consumer drones in 2015 and transitioned to selling software product Site Scan as a service. Site Scan helps users manage flight plans, drone cameras and data transfer to the cloud. Though the company has historically included agriculture as an industry of focus, the company’s website does not currently list it as such. We have reached out to 3DR to find out more.

Investors: Atlantic Bridge, Autodesk Forge Fund, True Ventures, Foundry Group, Mayfield and other undisclosed investors.

Read more about current trends in drones for agriculture here.

9. Protix Biosystems – $50 million

Protix, a Netherlands-based company, raised €45 million ($50.5 million) in equity and debt funding to expand its insect farming business in June. This is the largest investment in the nascent insect farming industry to-date, according to Protix and its investors. Protix farms insects predominantly for animal and aquaculture feed, with feed products in over 12 countries, ranging from pig and poultry to pet food specialties.

Insects are increasingly seen as a viable and low-impact protein alternative, because they can be reared on waste and are much more resource efficient versus other sources of protein and feed such as soy, corn, forage fish and meat. The company acquired Fair Insects, a consortium of breeders growing mealworm, crickets, and locusts. According to Protix, the acquisition will allow the company to serve a wider spectrum of customers from B2B to food markets with protein-rich foods, meal replacements, and health beverages in September.

Investors: Rabobank, Aqua-Spark, Brabant Development Agency (BOM) and other private investors.

Read more about Protix’s record-breaking insect farming round here.

10. Orbital Insight – $50 million – Series C

Orbital Insight, a geospatial analytics startup, that generates macro-level analytics for businesses using satellite imagery and other data raised a $50 million Series C round in March. The company addresses multiple industries, including financial services (i.e. hedge funds), commodities, and agriculture. One of the offerings is tracking of macro-level production flows. AgFunderNews has reason to believe that a new suite of products for agriculture is on the way in 2018.

Investors: Sequoia, Envision Ventures, Balyasny Asset Management, Geodesic Capital, ITOCHU Corporation and Intellectus Partners.

Read more about the entire remote sensing landscape for agriculture here.

Tweet at @AgFunder to tell us how many you guessed!

Output: Last year saw some of the biggest funding deals in agtech, with Indigo Agriculture's record-breaking $203m Series D topping a list compiled by agfundernews.com. In second place was a $200m investment for vertical farmer Plenty, followed by Chinese outfit Maihoulang's Series A injection of $150m and Uptake's $117m Series D. Farmers Business Network received $110m in a Series D round, followed by the $100m collaboration between Bayer and Ginkgo Bioworks. Produce Pay secured $70m in Series A funds and debt, 3D Robotics raised $53m, and Protix Biosystems and Orbital Insight both garnered $50m.