Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:16 AM on Thursday, December 27th, 2018
Filed a Form S-1 Registration Statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Company’s registration statement included a prospectus pertaining to the resale of up to 500,000,000 shares of its Common Shares, issuable to K&J Funds, LLC, a selling stockholder, pursuant to a “put rightâ€
Agreement permits the Company to “put†up to ten million dollars ($10,000,000) in shares of its common stock to K&J over a period of up to thirty-six months or until $10,000,000 of such shares have been “put.â€
ESCONDIDO, Calif., Dec. 27, 2018 – MARIJUANA COMPANY OF AMERICA INC. (“MCOA†or the “Companyâ€) (OTC: MCOA), an innovative hemp and cannabis corporation, is very pleased to announce that it has filed a Form S-1 Registration Statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This is an important step in helping the Company to raise the necessary capital to fund its projects and expand its operations in 2019.
The Company’s registration statement included a prospectus pertaining
to the resale of up to 500,000,000 shares of its Common Shares,
issuable to K&J Funds, LLC (“K&Jâ€), a selling stockholder,
pursuant to a “put right†under an investment agreement (the “Investment
Agreementâ€), dated December 20, 2018, that the Company entered into
with K&J. The Investment Agreement permits the Company to “put†up
to ten million dollars ($10,000,000) in shares of its common stock to
K&J over a period of up to thirty-six months or until $10,000,000 of
such shares have been “put.â€
The total amount of shares of common stock that can be sold in the
prospectus would constitute approximately 20.08% of the Company’s issued
and outstanding common stock, assuming that the selling security holder
will sell all of the shares offered for sale.
Don Steinberg, CEO stated: “We are extremely excited to have K&J
as our financial partner for MCOA. They understand the history of the
Company, our clear vision for the future and the enormous market within
our reach, as reflected by this substantial commitment. This funding
will give us the capital needed to expand our hempSMART brand into
Europe and Asia in 2019 and prepare for our continued expansion into the
hemp industry as a grower and processor in California and other areas.”
“We are happy that we are moving away from relying on convertible
debt financing with variably priced conversion terms that are less
favorable to our shareholders to equity financing. This will show the
strength of our market capitalization and help to build a stronger
balance sheet as we continue to execute our aggressive growth plans for
2019. I believe our shareholders will begin to fully appreciate our
long-term strategy as we continue to realize an increase in revenue from
our significant investments over the last couple of yearsâ€, said the
Company’s CFO, Jesus Quintero.
This is the culmination of several steps including the filing of Form
10, filing all SEC quarterly and annual filings timely, completing
several financial statement audits by a PCAOB registered firm,
appointing independent directors and uplisting to the OTCQB. The Company
is executing its business plan and will continue to do so with its
operational initiatives in 2019 with the necessary capital in place.
A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become
effective. The registration statement is contingent upon it being made
effective after review by the SEC. This press release is not an offer
for the sale of securities in the United States or in any other
jurisdiction where such offer is prohibited, and such securities may not
be offered or sold in the United States absent an SEC effective
registration or an exemption from registration under the United States
Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
About Marijuana Company of America, Inc. MCOA is a corporation which participates in: (1) product research and development of legal hemp-based consumer products under the brand name “hempSMART™â€, that targets general health and well-being; (2) an affiliate marketing program to promote and sell its legal hemp-based consumer products containing CBD; (3) leasing of real property to separate business entities engaged in the growth and sale of cannabis in those states and jurisdictions where cannabis has been legalized and properly regulated for medicinal and recreations use; and, (4) the expansion of its business into ancillary areas of the legalized cannabis and hemp industry, as the legalized markets and opportunities in this segment mature and develop.
About Our hempSMART Products Containing CBD The
United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not recognized CBD
as a safe and effective drug for any indication. Our products containing
CBD derived from industrial hemp are not marketed or sold based upon
claims that their use is safe and effective treatment for any medical
condition as drugs or dietary supplements subject to the FDA’s
jurisdiction.
Forward Looking Statements This
news release contains “forward-looking statements” which are not purely
historical and may include any statements regarding beliefs, plans,
expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking
statements include, among other things, the development, costs and
results of new business opportunities and words such as “anticipate”,
“seek”, intend”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “project”, “plan”, or
similar phrases may be deemed “forward-looking statements” within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual
results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking
statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others,
the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects, the future U.S.
and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company’s
reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of
cannabis-based products. These forward-looking statements are made as of
the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update
the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual
results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking
statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations
and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can
be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or
intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of
the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk
factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-12G, our
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from
time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For more
information, please visit www.sec.gov.
For more information, please visit the Company’s websites at:
Tags: Hemp, Marijuana, Marijuana Stocks, weed Posted in Marijuana Company of America | Comments Off on Marijuana Company of America $MCOA Announces Filing of Registration Statement on Form S-1 to Receive up to $10M to Fund Expansion $AERO $CBDS $CGRW $APH.ca $GBLX
A learning crisis in India seems imminent even as educational reforms
surge ahead. Provision of schools does not guarantee the availability
of necessary facilities in schools. The gap is still wide when compared
to the enrolment of children in the school and learning outcome.
Captain Indraani Singh, Founder, and CEO, Literacy India talks about
online education in India, technological advancements and Literacy India
helping out students with the educational program.
How can online education transform the Indian education sector?
Education in India is a dire need to help reduce unemployment and
increase economic activity in the country. The setting up of physical
schools is a time taking and expensive process, thereby slowing down the
pace of eradicating education gap. While online education helps to
reach more students in the least amount of time and is not expensive
either. Therefore, online education can increase the speed of education
in our country where digitization is spreading rapidly as well.
Besides, online learning enables students to engage with the subject
matter, interact with course videos and learn at their own pace, which
also reduces dropouts as its more engaging, interesting and makes
students more familiar with using computers. On the other hand, it
allows teachers to assign, monitor and evaluate coursework remotely,
apart from highlighting the areas of students which need improvement.
How does Literacy India help drop-out students in the transition to education?
Literacy India’s technology-enabled remedial education program
Gyantantra Udbhav has helped mainstream thousands of drop-out students.
The program essentially enables these drop-out students who do not
respond well to the confines of traditional classrooms and experience
lack of access to education. The education program combines practical,
intellectual and social attributes to create composite learning modules
to help students complete school curriculum till Class 5. Embedded with
an interactive multimedia interface, the modules are designed with a
systematic instructional approach that makes learning fun, even for
those who lack basic reading and writing skills. The tool tracks minimum
levels of learning based on assessments and outcomes. Once students
complete the program, they are eligible to join any other government
school.
How AI is being used in the system?
Gyantantra Udbhav is an interactive multimedia interface, which
includes modules designed with a systematic instructional approach that
makes learning fun, even for those who lack basic reading and writing
skills. The tool tracks minimum levels of learning based on assessments
and outcomes. It leverages gaming technology embedded with cartoon
characters thereby ensuring effective retention of the information. As
such the program is customized to bridge the learning gap which is of
common existence among this set of children, who either are
out-of-school or in-school children faltering on fundamental concepts.
Understandably, technology and innovation with its various verticals
such as IoT and AI have the ability to ably support the education
mediums and increase efficiency and productivity of those involved like
these children. Thus, it is with the integration of such new age
technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning or virtual
reality that the learning experience will be more interactive and
personalized thereby enhancing and improving access to education and
learning.
Can technology improve engagement and result in better learning outcomes?
The most obvious benefit of technology run education is that it is
subjective to the learner’s ability and level. Through virtual
interactive engagement, it teaches students with different speeds
depending on their backgrounds and more importantly different starting
points. Also, technological education platform is cost-effective and
time-efficient and is flexible to the needs of every single student— be
it on-the-go, class of one, on-demand, gamified or crowdsourced.
How can online education impact India’s education and development landscape?
Education is an important part of a country’s growth and development.
It is not only about employment but also empowerment. Education serves
as the front-runner in transforming the society, economy, and polity for
better. Accompanied with technological advancements, that is online
education, is then a game changer for a nation like India, which has an
enormous population, with approximately 28 percent of children in the
age group 0-14. Gyantantra program has been conceived to meet these very
needs of the country, that is mass education and creating awareness
about social and economic identity in a world marked by technological
innovation. Ultimately, the future of education is to converge into the
India’s new economy, which notably is fast on track to digitization.
Online learning is then a natural step for the future generations and
workforce in order to survive future technological disruptions.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 9:06 AM on Thursday, December 27th, 2018
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Blockchain has already started to level the playing field by disrupting correspondent banking and democratizing payments.
In 2019, blockchain will start to move beyond payments and will begin to unbundle securities, loans and other derivative financial products. Companies like Securitize*, Dharma, Dydx, Compound Finance and The Ocean are all interesting companies working on the next phase of Decentralized Finance (DeFi).
Asheesh Birla is senior vice president of product at Ripple.
The following is an exclusive contribution to CoinDesk’s 2018 Year in Review.
Industries across the board – from cable companies to grocery stores –
are desperately trying to hold on to their most prized possession: the
bundle. The conventional wisdom goes “if you control access and
distribution then consumers have little choice to go anywhere else.â€
Unfortunately for sleepy incumbent bundlers, we’ve seen companies
like Netflix and Amazon unbundle nearly every part of our lives. The
same is now underway in crypto and finance, where some of the largest
financial institutions are seeing their bundles face serious headwinds.
As the unbundling picks up in 2019, I expect it create opportunities
for smart blockchain companies that can find their niche and be
successful. But with that opportunity also comes great risk. If
entrepreneurs and builders get over their skis or promise too much –
like many did in early 2018 – they risk losing credibility and giving
away their first-mover advantage.
Asia Leads the Way
For decades, the largest global financial institutions controlled much of the financial system underpinning the global economy.
Blockchain has already started to level the playing field by
disrupting correspondent banking and democratizing payments. In 2019,
blockchain will start to move beyond payments and will begin to unbundle
securities, loans and other derivative financial products. Companies
like Securitize*, Dharma, Dydx, Compound Finance and The Ocean are all
interesting companies working on the next phase of Decentralized Finance
(DeFi).
Over the last several years, mobile app companies like Grab, Gojek
and Paytm have expanded their offerings to include payments,
investments, remittances, loans and insurance. They are rapidly
capturing newly banked consumers as many Asian economies move from cash
to digital.
Regulators in Asia are providing clearer guidelines on blockchain and
crypto projects, partially because they consider blockchain a catalyst
for economic growth.
Additionally, over 80 percent of all cryptocurrency trading volume is
based out of Asia, so there is strong appetite to build out a workable
infrastructure. If Grab, Gojek, and Paytm can control distribution to a
newly banked set of consumers, they’ll then start to look towards
blockchain to source a better experience for payments, loans and other
derivative financial products.
Back to basics
Over the last few years, the crypto space deviated from the original
vision of financial access, which was well articulated in Satoshi
Nakamoto’s bitcoin white paper. Similar to the internet boom and bust,
nearly every imaginable use case from tracking flower freshness to
Kodakcoin used blockchain as a buzzword to gain influence and attract
eyeballs.
However, just like the early internet, use cases have to match where the technology is in its development stage.
For example, Netflix wouldn’t have been successful streaming TV shows
in the year 2000 when fewer than one percent of people had access to
broadband. In the last few years, it’s become clear that payments are
the one use case where blockchain works today.
In 2019, blockchain will build on this momentum and branch into
decentralized finance applications such as loans and insurance products
that leverage blockchain-based smart contract platforms.
I’ve always found that some of the best building happens in down
markets. As long as builders can stay focused on solving very specific
use cases, we will see more competition, innovation and a much-needed
unbundling.
That’s a great thing for the entire industry.
Disclosure: Ripple’s Xpring is an investor in Securitize.
Have an opinionated take on 2018? CoinDesk is seeking submissions for our 2018 in Review. Email news [at] coindesk.com to learn how to get involved.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 12:58 PM on Monday, December 24th, 2018
SPONSOR: Esports Entertainment $GMBL – Esports audience is 350M, growing to 590M, Esports wagering is projected at $23 BILLION by 2020. The company has launched VIE.gg esports betting platform and has accelerated affiliate marketing agreements with an additional 42 Esports teams, bringing total to 176 Esports teams. Click here for more information
——————–
The first event held at the Esports Stadium Arlington, which is the newest and largest esports events center in North America.
It’s a $10 million, 100,000 square-foot facility built within the Arlington Convention Center that can seat anywhere from 250 fans to 2,500 fans depending on the event.
Arash Markazi ESPN Senior Writer
The convoy of cars pulling into the parking lot at Esports Stadium
Arlington and the line of fans waiting to enter the building on the
Saturday after Thanksgiving have taken the parking attendants at the
connected Arlington Convention Center by surprise.
“Are you here for the football game?” the attendant asks.
“What football game?” the young driver responds.
“Texas Tech and Baylor,” the attendant says. “They’re playing at AT&T Stadium.”
“No,” the driver says as he pays $10 for parking. “I don’t like football.”
The bewildered look on the attendant’s face upon hearing that a young
man from Texas doesn’t like football was similar to the reaction of
many of the older ushers inside the Esports Stadium Arlington watching
2,500 fans cheering while watching the best Counter-Strike: Global
Offensive players and teams in the world compete in the Esports
Championship Series Season 6 finals.
It was the first event held at the Esports Stadium Arlington, which
is the newest and largest esports events center in North America. It’s a
$10 million, 100,000 square-foot facility built within the Arlington
Convention Center that can seat anywhere from 250 fans to 2,500 fans
depending on the event. It’s the newest addition to a region that is the
home of AT&T Stadium, the $1.5 billion home of the Dallas Cowboys,
and in 2020 will be the home of Globe Life Field, the new $1.1 billion
home of the Texas Rangers, which are all located within a walking mile
of each other.
“The convention center was in need of some physical enhancements and
improvements, particularly in the technology area, and as we started to
look at that we also saw the rapid growth of the esports industry,” said
Jim Parajon, Arlington deputy city manager. “We are very thoughtful in
the business decisions we make, and we do a significant amount of
analysis, and once we complete that analysis, we’re ready to move
forward as fast as we can, especially with these emerging industries.
“We’re not going to be in it in a little way. We’re going to be in it
in a big way. I think you can see that with the Esports Stadium,
AT&T Stadium and the new Rangers ballpark.”
The stadium isn’t really a stadium in the traditional sense compared
to the billion-dollar homes of Cowboys and Rangers. It’s more of a
remodeled convention center space complete with a built-in 85-foot long
LED wall, eight team locker rooms, a player lounge and media room.
There’s also a state-of-the-art production facility equipped with a
studio, data center and control room. The front of the stadium features
retail space, concession stands and a gaming center that is open from
noon to 2 a.m. seven days a week where anyone can hop on a PC,
Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch or Xbox One for one hour for $4 (or $100
for 100 hours).
“We looked at every need for esports from the community level to the
player experience, and we took all of those needs and built it into one
single footprint here in Arlington,” said NGAGE Esports president
Jonathan Oudthone, who will help book and manage the events at the
stadium. “We not only want to host events for thousands of people, but
we want the gaming center to be a local community hub every day. We want
to create an ecosystem for esports in which all these different focuses
are existing in one building.”
Esports Stadium Arlington is just one of many esports-specific
venues, big and small, popping up around the country. The rise of
esports venues doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has been
following it in recent years. The 2018 Global Esports Market Report
estimates that global esports revenues will reach $1.4 billion by 2020
with the global esports audience reaching around 400 million.
In 2017, there were 588 major esports events that generated an
estimated $59 million in ticket revenues, which was up from $32 million
in 2016. The League of Legends World Championship alone generated $5.5
million in ticket revenues.
Populous, a global architectural firm that has worked on more than 50
venues for the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL, helped bring Esports Stadium
Arlington to life and is working on other esports venues around the
country. While there is usually a set seating capacity for arenas and
stadiums that floats around the average of professional sports leagues,
Populous knows that’s not exactly the case with esports. The venues need
to be adaptable to small crowds of 25, small tournaments of 250 and
larger events such as the ECS with 2,500.
The Astralis Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team celebrates after
defeating MIBR to win the FACEIT Esports Championship Series Season 6
finals at Esports Stadium Arlington on Nov. 25 in Arlington,
Texas. Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images
“About five years ago we started doing a lot of research that I’ve
been leading on how we can connect with the esports audience and connect
venues around that,” Populous senior principal and director Brian
Mirakian said. “Esports is still very formational. There’s a lot more
structure that’s happening with leagues such as the Overwatch League
with their regional model, but it’s still a formational sport in terms
of the different leagues and competitions. So the goal is to create a
place where fans can gather for these social experiences and be with
other fans. The live experience is a big driver in what the future of
the sport is going to hold.”
The key from a cost and usage perspective is that none of the esports
venues that are popping up around the country have been built from the
ground up. They’ve been constructed within preexisting structures that
have been previously used as convention halls, nightclubs, sound stages
or movie theaters.
“Looking at it from an adaptive re-use perspective allows you to go
into a building and frankly not have to invest as much as you would with
a new build,” Mirakian said. “And because of that, in Arlington, they
were able to really focus their investment on the fan experience and
technology and do it in a fast-paced project that was over in six months
from start to finish. It was quick and economical and I see that as a
great template for people to get involved in this space. It will evolve
and I think in the very near future you will see purpose-built venues
developed from the ground up, but it takes time. This is really the
start of things to come.”
The birthplace of esports venues in North America began at the corner
of 5th Street and Sycamore Street in Santa Ana, California, which is
one of the more interesting intersections in the country. On one corner
is the historic brick-laced Ramona Building that has been the home of
the Esports Arena for three years, and across the street is the Church
of Scientology of Orange County.
“There’s not a lot of crossover,” Frank Kelley, the director of
operations at the Esports Arena, said with a smile. “I don’t think we
have the same demo.”
The Esports Arena Santa Ana was the first rendition of the
organization’s multiple venues on the West Coast. Since its opening, the
Esports Arena in Las Vegas has opened its doors at the Luxor Hotel
& Casino. Photo by Arash Markazi
Longtime friends Tyler Endres and Paul Ward, who would set up their
computers at a friend’s house and play Halo 2 for hours in high school,
founded the arena in the 15,000 square-foot warehouse that once housed
quinceañera and wedding shops and now is home to more than 120 PCs and
other game consoles. The idea was to give gamers like them a place to
gather and play outside of apartments, garages and internet cafes where
LAN parties had predominantly been held and to give leagues and
organizers a dedicated esports venue to host their events.
“It’s cool to see what I’ve started is expanding,” Endres said. “I
hope all these new esports venues succeed. It validates the industry and
validates what I’ve done and helps create more of a demand. The success
heavily relies on foot traffic and the events, which cost a lot of
money to put on, and you’re not going to have a big event every week.”
With that in mind, Kelly, who used to be the general manager at the
Improv comedy club in Irvine and later booked shows at The Observatory
in San Diego and Orange County, is trying to book non-esports events
such as comedy shows, podcasts and concerts at the Esports Arena on
nights where the main stage isn’t scheduled to be used.
“With esports, you don’t have tournaments every night,” Kelley said,
“so your main stage is not utilized on a nightly basis, and there’s all
these dark periods where you could utilize it. And with my background, I
want to fill the arena with top-notch entertainment on off nights with
hard ticket sales and bring in a different demo than we normally get. In
the future I’d like to merge entertainers with gamers to increase the
popularity of esports, like we saw happen with Drake and Ninja.”
The biggest weekly event at the Esports Arena is “Wednesday Night
Fights.” It’s a night dedicated to the fighting game community with open
tournaments ranging from Street Fighter V to Marvel vs. Capcom. The
weekly event is open to anyone willing to pay a $10 tournament entry
free and was started by Alex Valle, who is the founder of Level Up, a
production company that produces live streaming broadcasts at esports
events.
“I think in the very near future you will see purpose-built
venues developed from the ground-up, but it takes time. This is really
the start of things to come.” Brian Mirakian, Populous senior principal
and director
“We used to play in the arcades, but there’s not that many arcades
anymore, so I decided to host some events. And the very first event I
hosted was in my apartment, and only two people came,” Valle said. “We
then went to a friend’s house and got 20 people and then to a friend’s
garage and got 50, and the next thing we knew Wednesday Night Fights was
born. When Esports Arena first opened, I knew this was going to be the
future. We had over 400 people come out to our first event.”
Earlier this year Esports Arena opened in Oakland’s famed Jack London
Square, and Allied Esports International worked with Endres to open an
Esports Arena inside the Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. While
the Oakland venue is similar in feel and size to the original in Santa
Ana, the Las Vegas arena is unlike anything else in the space right now.
They took over a 30,000-square-foot corner of the casino that once
housed a popular nightclub and put in a 50-foot LED video wall, a
broadcast center and production studio, luxury VIP lounges, private
gaming suites, a vintage video game cocktail bar and a gamer-inspired
menu created by renowned chef (and occasional gamer) Jose Andres.
The Esports Arena Las Vegas played host to the League of Legends
All-Star event and puts on tournaments in games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
and other titles on regular weekends. Provided by Riot Games
“We have very ambitious expansion plans over the next two years, and
when we realized that a location at Luxor was possible, we jumped at the
opportunity to develop our flagship here,” CEO of Allied Esports
International Jud Hannigan said. “Just as Yankees Stadium, Lambeau Field
and The Staples Center are considered their sports’ most aspirational
venues by players and fans alike, Esports Arena Las Vegas will be the
iconic destination in esports.”
Johnny Carson and Jay Leno’s pictures and old NBC logos are still
plastered on the walls of Studio 1 at what was the old home of NBC
Studios and “The Tonight Show” in Burbank, California. The building is
now called Burbank Studios; Studio 1 is now called Blizzard Arena, and
the old pictures and logos are the the last vestiges of “The Tonight
Show” in Los Angeles before Jimmy Fallon moved it to New York in 2014.
Blizzard Arena, which opened last year, is the home of the Overwatch
League with all competitions outside of the grand final taking place on
the old sound stage Carson and Leno used to call home. The 11,000
square-foot sound stage has been transformed into one of the most
visually impressive esports venues in the country with a
13,000-pixel-wide 4 milllimeter LED wall and an LED halo hanging above
the 450 seats. It’s just part of the 74,000 square-foot, five-level
facility Blizzard Entertainment took over and transformed into their new
home last year.
“I was giving a tour one day, and I told some players this is where
Johnny Carson used to do ‘The Tonight Show,'” said Frank LaSpina, senior
producer of Overwatch League and Blizzard Arena. “They just looked at
me confused. So I said, ‘He did ‘The Tonight Show’ before Jay Leno.’ And
I got the same look. They were so young so I said, ‘before Jimmy
Fallon’ and they said, ‘Oh, that’s cool.’ There’s a lot of history here,
and there’s this interesting dichotomy where the future of sports and
entertainment is happening in a facility that has been around since the
1950s. It’s totally up to date, but ‘Days of Our Lives’ still films down
the hallway, so that cool dichotomy still exists.”
Members of Team Pacific compete during the Overwatch League All-Star
event on Aug. 25 at Blizzard Arena in Burbank, California. Photo by
Robert Paul/Provided by Blizzard Entertainment
The Overwatch League currently has 20 teams affiliated with cities
all over the world, but those teams currently play all their regular
season games in Burbank. The tentative plan is for the teams to play in
their home cities as early as 2020, which would be the league’s third
season. The Los Angeles Valient has already announced they will play
their home games at the Microsoft Theater across the street from Staples
Center. It is believed that the Los Angeles Gladiators would play their
home games in the amphitheater being built next to the future home
stadium of the Los Angeles Rams, which will be completed in 2020. Stan
Kroenke owns both the Rams and Gladiators.
For now, however, the hub of esports is still in Los Angeles, and the
epicenter of some of the biggest events planned around the world is at
Riot Games, which is the developer and publisher of League of Legends.
The home venue for the League Championship Series, the LCS Arena, is
conveniently located across the street from the company’s campus.
“When we started the LCS in 2013, we had no live audience, and we
were literally separating the teams with curtains,” said Chris Hopper,
head of Esports for North America for Riot Games. “We moved to a
soundstage in Manhattan Beach in 2014, but by 2015 we had the
opportunity to set up shop on campus, and it was a great solution for
all of our needs. We wanted to create a home base where our teams,
talent and staff could build their presence and hone in on their craft.”
A Team SoloMid fan cheers during a match at the LCS Arena in Los
Angeles. The venue is home to the League of Legends Championship Series
during the spring and summer splits. Provided by Riot Games
The LCS Arena seats about 400 fans, and like the Blizzard Arena
stages all the competitions during the regular season before they go on
the road for the finals. While the LCS Spring and Summer finals are held
at NBA arenas such as Oracle Arena in Oakland or TD Garden in Boston,
the League of Legends World Championship finals are often held in
stadiums such at the Bird’s Nest in Beijing in 2017 and Incheon Munhak
Stadium in South Korea in November.
When people talk about the popularity of esports and bring up a
picture or video of a stadium filled for an esports competition, chances
are they’re looking at a League of Legends event.
“There’s always something incredible about going to these massive
venues like the Bird’s Nest,” Hopper said. “As a former soccer player,
there was something special about going to the Seoul World Cup Stadium
and standing on a field where World Cup games took place. We’ve been
lucky to have so many of our events take place in such iconic venues.”
The goal for esports teams and leagues now is to build their own
iconic venues that future fans and players can look forward to visiting
and playing in.
“That day is coming,” Mirakian said. “It’s going to happen sooner than people think.”
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 7:52 AM on Monday, December 24th, 2018
Executed an agreement with Prego International Group AS to develop and integrate certain proprietary technologies in a Global Multi Payment and E-Money Services Platform
Prego, based in Norway, is a global payment solution provider which develops and operates a range of payment services for partners and clients worldwide
Montreal / December 23, 2018 – St-Georges Eco-Mining Corp. (CSE: SX)(OTC: SXOOF) (FSE: 85G1) is pleased to announce that on December 21, 2018, it executed an agreement with Prego International Group AS to develop and integrate certain proprietary technologies in a Global Multi Payment and E-Money Services Platform.
Prego, based in Norway, is a
global payment solution provider which develops and operates a range of
payment services for partners and clients worldwide, including Everyday
Digital, a solution which is Prego`s proprietary white label
alternative e-money and payment platform. Everyday Digital is fully
flexible and configurable, combined on conventional processing platform,
integrated with blockchain technology with real-time processing
providing everything from specific payment functionality to full current
accounts including Direct Debit, Faster Payments, CHAPS, BACS and
contactless Visa & MasterCard debit cards and Closed Loop payment
cards (Virtual Everyday $ cards).
Under the Agreement, ZeU and Prego will share equally the costs of the Services as follows:
– Phase 1 –
preface/innovation lab: USD$675,000, which shall include the setup cost
and license fees of the full platform, prepared for pilot operational
phase (timeline – Q2 2019);
– Phase 2 – pilot
operational: USD$750,000, which shall include full system integration
with “POC” testing and user testing with stress test of the platform in
60 days with a complete report (timeline – Q3 2019); and
– Phase 3 – project launched
and running – upscale/internationalization. It shall include a full
platform, service ready to go, for implementation in multiple global
markets. (timeline – Q4 2019).
“(…) We believe that this
technology agreement will open opportunities to provide blockchain based
services combined with conventional payment services to the market in a
very smart and user friendly way.(…) This agreement will strengthen
both companies market opportunities and will pave the way to many more
new initiatives to come (…) commented Ronald Erikson, Prego Executive
Chairman.
Frank Dumas, President and
CEO of ZeU, indicated that “The team at ZeU is excited to be working
with Prego to provide a key complement to the foundation for its
advanced end-to-end Global Multi Payment and E-Money Services, deploying
proprietary software, and innovative business models. We expect to
leverage the equal revenue sharing agreement between the two companies
to accelerate the development and deployment of our business initiative
(…)”
Other Corporate Matters
BigData on Blockchain
In early December, ZeU filed for an additional provisional patent named ‘System and Method for Augmenting Database Applications with Blockchain Technology’.
The application developed by
ZeU and related to this invention patent provides a migration method
that allows a database application that accesses a local database to be
synchronized with a blockchain. Data to be written into the database,
but requiring synchronization, will be sent to a blockchain for
consensus voting automatically, and only the data that gets consensus is
made to persist and viewed by application. It also allows a software
application to access a local relational database and via a migration
service synchronize the status and data of the database with blockchain.
The data is sent to the blockchain for consensus automatically, and
only thereafter viewed by the application. This approach resolves
transaction conflicts both in local nodes and globally. The invention is
protocol agnostic and ZeU management believe that it could be used as a
gateway to share data between application using different protocols.
Additional Patent Applications
ZeU management is working on
additional patents related to random number generation and encryption
in relation with blockchain application. These technologies are being
developed to be used in payment solutions, gambling industry and secure
messaging.
CSE Listing
ZeU is pursuing its listing process on the CSE and expect to be listed in Q1 2019.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
“Frank Dumas”
FRANK DUMAS, DIRECTOR & COO / President & CEO of ZeU Crypto Networks Inc..
About St-Georges
St-Georges is developing new technologies to solve the some of the most common environmental problems in the mining industry.
The Company controls
directly or indirectly, through rights of first refusal, all of the
active mineral tenures in Iceland. It also explores for nickel on the
Julie Nickel Project & for industrial minerals on Quebec’s North
Shore and for lithium and rare metals in Northern Quebec and in the
Abitibi region. Headquartered in Montreal, St-Georges’ stock is listed
on the CSE under the symbol SX, on the US OTC under the Symbol SXOOF and
on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol 85G1.
The
Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed and does not accept
responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this
release.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 3:08 PM on Friday, December 21st, 2018
SPONSOR: Good Life Networks (GOOD:TSX-V) Video advertising is the future! Company’s A.I. makes 80,000 calculations / second, targeting 750 million users to deliver higher prices and volume. Revenue was $10,000,650 for the nine months ended September 30th, 2018, a 142% increase from $4,133,231 reported for the six months ended September 30th, 2017. Click here for more information.
————————-
Agencies Have Been Resistant to Change, and They’re Dropping the Ball Again With Programmatic
It should be a huge part of their 2019 strategies
EMarketer predicts that programmatic ad spend will surpass $46 billion in the U.S. this year alone.
They also expect 86.2 percent of all digital display ads will be bought via automated channels by 2020.
With every major technological shift, some companies evolve while
others get left behind. Agencies in the face of programmatic are no
exception. Programmatic has changed advertising for the better, and with
that, it’s also put pressure on traditional agencies to overhaul their
processes.
Traditional agencies have enjoyed long-term contracts that guaranteed
recurring revenues, but programmatic buying and digital platforms like
Google and Facebook upended that model, giving advertisers greater
flexibility and reach with the touch of a button. It’s futile to go
against the current. Research firm MoffettNathanson estimates
that Google and Facebook accounted for more than $5 billion of growth
in advertising spend and for almost 90 percent of online ad growth.
Agencies have traditionally been slow to adapt, but there’s been notable movement in 2018. Programmatic will keep changing the way companies make ad buys, and big agencies will have to step up their tech game. EMarketer predicts that programmatic ad spend will surpass $46 billion in the U.S. this year alone. They also expect 86.2 percent of all digital display ads will be bought via automated channels by 2020. All this current and future programmatic traction obviates the need for agencies to engage in direct selling. A recent study by Centro and Forrester Consulting showed that three-fourths of agencies are beginning to unify their direct and programmatic teams, while just 17 percent said that their direct and programmatic teams have fully integrated.
But talking about the selling model doesn’t tell the whole story.
There are many other factors agencies need to take into consideration as
they make the shift to digital.
The perfect storm could redefine the agency model
The days of watered down macro metrics are over. Brands now realize
programmatic offers a deeper level of granularity and will therefore
demand detailed and timely performance stats around their campaigns.
Agencies already have to work harder to ensure clients are getting the
client service and results they deserve, but this is going to raise the
bar a few notches.
Agencies will also see greater competition from emerging boutique
players. The big holding companies of the world were once the big dogs,
but the boutique agency is gaining strength. Smaller, newer agencies are
arming themselves with tech-savvy folks that are embracing a
programmatic future. What’s the key to their success? They’re nimble and
support disruption and change.
Lastly, M&A activity
is likely to continue in 2019 and beyond. An interesting new report
from consultancy R3 found a 126 percent rise in M&A in the first
three months of the year. Surprising, it was led by consultancies.
Every agency will become a programmatic agency
Rest assured that agencies will have to fight to keep programmatic on
the agency side. Brands are getting smart about data and demanding more
transparency and control, which puts agencies in a position to either
evolve or get left behind. Between dollars saved and the ability to
target their audiences more easily, it’s getting tough for agencies to
sell the value of traditional buying methods.
Programmatic will keep changing the way companies make ad buys, and
big agencies will have to step up their tech game. The days of
storyboarding ads on paper and planning media buys over the phone are
long gone. While it may sound obvious, not every agency has jumped on
the tech bandwagon, and many are struggling to catch up.
One thing is certain: The days of traditional media buying are coming
to an end. This past year showed us that agencies need to decide how
they want to handle these changes and continue to meet their clients’
expectations before it’s too late.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 2:35 PM on Friday, December 21st, 2018
RECENT HIGHLIGHTS
COMPLETED SALE OF FIVE STAR-A.D.S SYSTEMS TO ALMASRIA UNIVERSAL AIRLINES
Announced that AlMasria Universal Airlines of Egypt has decided to
proceed with the installation and activation of the STAR-A.D.S.® System
across all five (5) of its current aircraft fleet, which includes A-320,
A-321, A330 and B737 aircraft.
BOMBARDER JOINT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Joint research and development program with Bombardier and other
industrials and universities of Canada is progressing very positively.
The STAR-A.D.S. ® system which is at the heart of the program, after
having been validated and extensively used by the aircraft
manufacturer, has now been transferred to another flight test vehicle to
complete the flight testing and the data collection.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES APPLICATIONS
Star’s Land System Aided Medical Monitoring system for ground
ambulance applications has undergone a series of demonstrations by a
care organization in North America.
Its airborne parent system, the In-Flight System Aided Medical
Monitoring system (STAR-ISAMM™â€), has now been demonstrated to several
stakeholders of the commercial and civil air ambulance market.
CHECK OUT OUR RECENT INTERVIEW
FULL DISCLOSURE: Star Navigation Systems Group Ltd. is an advertising client of AGORA Internet Relations Corp.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:48 AM on Friday, December 21st, 2018
Jean-Marc Lacoste, President and Chief Executive Officer, Monarques Gold Corporation (MQR), joined Rob Peterman, Vice-President, Global Business Development, Toronto Stock Exchange & TSX Venture Exchange, to open the market
TORONTO, Dec. 21, 2018 – Jean-Marc Lacoste, President and Chief Executive Officer, Monarques Gold Corporation (MQR), joined Rob Peterman, Vice-President, Global Business Development, Toronto Stock Exchange & TSX Venture Exchange, to open the market. Monarques Gold is an emerging gold mining company focused on pursuing growth through its portfolio of projects in the Abitibi mining camp in Quebec, Canada. Monarques Gold Corporation graduated and commenced trading on Toronto Stock Exchange on November 15, 2018.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:37 AM on Friday, December 21st, 2018
SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by
legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based
venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap
companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just
lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap
exits. Click Here For More Information.
—————–
I am sticking to my original prediction – Bitcoin will hit 250k by 2022.†– Tim Draper, American Venture Capitalist, Author, Founder of Draper Associates, DFJ and Draper University
Following the ICO boom in 2017, along with Bitcoin’s all time high of
nearly $20k last December, the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry
has gone down a rocky road. As the crypto world is full of surprises,
it’s difficult to predict what’s in store for the future. Yet it’s
interesting to hear what industry insiders and some of the biggest
influencers in the space have to say about their expectations for the
crypto and blockchain industry over the next 12 months and beyond.
Cryptocurrency:
I am sticking to my original prediction – Bitcoin will hit 250k by 2022.†– Tim Draper, American Venture Capitalist, Author, Founder of Draper Associates, DFJ and Draper University
As one of the leading cryptocurrencies, Ether will see its price
reach the $500 mark by mid 2019. The fact still remains that most
blockchain projects across the world are being done in Ethereum. As its
use cases increase and improve globally, we’ll see it continuing to gain
more solid ground as a smart contract protocol.” – David Drake, Founder and Chairman of LDJ Capital
2019 will be an exciting year. We will see several great products
shipped to market, especially from our Binance Labs incubation program,
now taking place on five continents. The projects and teams who are
focused on building and achieving product-market fit will bring more
real use cases to our lives. This will open the gateway to the mass
adoption of crypto.” – Ella Zhang, Head of Binance Labs
The first legitimate national cryptocurrency will be launched, linked
to a fiat currency from a G-20 nation. This digital asset will be in
high demand for combining the benefits of a digital asset with the
stability of a government-backed currency. Mark Zuckerberg’s 2018 New
Year’s resolution to “study cryptocurrencies” will result in one being
integrated into Facebook for payments. The only question is whether they
will use an existing cryptocurrency or a new one created by Facebook.†–
Mitch Liu, Theta Labs CEO
Blockchain:
2018 was a tough year, but we have a longer term outlook for our
industry. The builders have been building in 2018, so for 2019, I think
we will see a lot of real products and real applications coming into the
market.†– Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Binance CEO and Founder
I have been involved in the blockchain space since 2013, actively
developing with Ethereum since January 2015. During this time I have
experienced many ups and downs. Many times I heard how “Blockchain is
over.†However, the fact is that the underlying technological innovation
continues to evolve and to get better. We have more tools today,
documentation, tutorials, and users than ever before and this will
continue to grow as the user interfaces become better and more seamless.
In 2019 we will continue to live the aftermath of 2017. ICOs have been
in winter sleep for most of 2018, following the ICO madness we
experienced, which was initiated by my ERC-20 standard. Nevertheless,
this doesn’t change the fact that ICO’s are a great fundraising
mechanism, for those projects in which a coin offering makes sense.
However, many past token projects were only using ICOs as an opportunity
to collect money without a truly decentralized and functioning token
economy in the background. We need to regain the trust that was lost,
and proposals like my Reversible ICO shows how technology can be the
transaction mechanism and the regulator at the same time. – Fabian Vogelsteller, LUKSO CEO and Ethereum developer responsible for co-creating the ERC-20 Token Standard
You’ll see blockchain companies with differentiated business models
separating themselves from the pack. For the industry to mature and gain
legitimacy, the 2018 shakeout had to happen. As you’ve seen with the
rise of the internet, e-commerce and just about every other big-thought
thing that’s happened in the last 50 years, the gold rush days come to
an end, rules get created and people settle down to do real business.
That’s why we’ve kept our focus, powered forward and invested in
building our vision for the next iteration of the web. For TRON, 2019
will be a year of many innovations. We’re the largest decentralized
content ecosystem in the world, and 2019 will be about showing people
what that means. We’re beginning the year with our first summit, in San
Francisco, where we’ll reveal big details about how we plan to integrate
blockchain with BitTorrent’s peer-to-peer technology. And we’ll follow
that by offering our 100 million monthly BitTorrent users incentives to
create and share more freely and often, delivering an economy of goods
and services within the network.†– Justin Sun, TRON CEO and Founder
2019 will be a historic year for the Blockchain industry. Malta will
issue the first license for operators in this sphere to be able to
operate in a regulated environment. Thus, 2019 will see the
materialization of The Blockchain Island, firmly putting Malta at the
epicenter of this industry. We are aware where the compass is pointing,
which is why blockchain technology will be incorporated into our
ecosystem. In turn, we will soon start witnessing change in the
landscape of how sectors as we know today operate. In fact, as a
Government, we’re looking at using blockchain technology in the public
sector to better the experience of our citizens. 2019 will be an even
more exciting year for Malta. The smallest EU member state will be
amongst the top 10 nations with a National Strategy for Artificial
Intelligence. This will open doors for the exploration of new economic
niches such as esports, gaming and Fintech. Malta’s agility and flexible
approach will ensure that we will remain innovators in the digital
economy.†– The Honorable Silvio Schembri, Malta’s Junior Minister for Financial Services, Digital Economy & Innovation
We hope to see some more progress happening towards the setting up of
a true interoperability standard for optimal communication between
different types of blockchain networks. We believe that there will be
some more hybrid deployments involving the joint use of permissionless
and permissioned blockchain networks, with a focus on real world use
cases where the use of blockchain technology can truly move the needle
forward.†– Nimit Sawheny, Voatz CEO
Blockchain communities and open source communities will see their
lines blurred, as the two become synonymous with one another. Open
source has traditionally been on the cutting edge of innovation and has
garnered massive interest because of its ability to deliver security
through transparency. Decentralization is the latest cutting-edge
technology and it shares that same foundational principle of
transparency. A platform cannot be decentralized if it is proprietary,
as the organization that owns the software code ultimately becomes the
central point of failure.†– Ben Golub, Storj Interim CEO and Executive Chairman
Tokenization:
A quadrillion dollar market is unfolding, driven by the emergence of
security tokens. As currencies are tokenized, as bonds are tokenized, as
equities are tokenized, as currencies and real estate and energy are
tokenized — We are watching the birth of a quadrillion-dollar market.
Also, Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZs) are going to deliver over $100B
of capital into places where economic stimulus is needed in the U.S. We
are also going to see the first Dapps (decentralized applications) that
hit a million users a day sometime next year. Because we’ve now had our
“Netscape†moment, we now have scalable blockchains that have no
friction (meaning anyone can access it without having tokens) low
latency (meaning it’s fast and scalable and can be by many people) with
EOS as the first general protocol with many to come. It’s the equivalent
of when the first IPhone launched in the App Store.†– Brock Pierce, American Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist, Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation and co-founder of EOS Alliance
I think that the main trend will be securities tokens. The
combination of the power of a distributed ledger with more standardized
securities will open lots of doors in capital creation. Privacy will
continue to be important. There will be an increasing gap between those
with solid technology and those with weak, captive networks.†– Bruce Fenton,
Founder and Managing Director of Atlantic Financial, Board member of
the Bitcoin Foundation and co-founder of the Bitcoin Association
The ability to fractionalize illiquid assets will allow institutions
to offer unique portfolio positioning that suit the preferences of the
investor. Given the transparency involved in a correctly-designed token,
there will be new ways to visualize risk and returns. This will unleash
a new wave of investing that has been bottled up because of asymmetry
of information. Ultimately, tokenization will greatly flatten that
asymmetry, which is what this is all about.” – Sam Tabar, Fluidity Co-Founder
Venture Capital:
2019 is going to be another year of building. We’re squarely in the
phase in which the crypto space is developing the companies, products,
and infrastructure to support the wild valuations we saw in 2017. I
expect we’ll see more consolidation, as both companies and funds
struggle to raise capital. While this might sound gloomy, I think it’s
actually quite healthy. As technology and valuations start to converge
at rational levels again, the stage will be set for the industry to
enter the next phase of maturity.†– Arianna Simpson, Venture Capitalist and Managing Director at Autonomous Partners
We should not forget that token issuers are startups and they have an
even higher burn rate than that of traditional startups. With over $10
billion raised by those crypto startups in 2017-2018, the conversion to
fiat currencies is inevitable. In addition, all the crypto services and
talent have been twice as expensive as for traditional startups. Once
billions of dollars are liquidated to pay bills, it is normal for the
prices of the major crypto currencies to drop. This of course had a
snowball effect: the panic starts and hundreds of entrepreneurs need to
sell crypto to secure capital for product development. Even cryptofunds
whose market capitalization is $10 billion tend to have focused on
equity deals recently. They’ve liquidated part of their crypto portfolio
and hold fiat. In addition, we shouldn’t forget that the main reason
the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks exists are because of the miners.
Miners had to sell as well to maintain their facilities. They’ve
overmined Bitcoin in 2017, assuming the price would keep going up.†– Natalia Karayaneva, Propy CEO and Founder
Naspers To Invest Almost $1bn In Indian Online Businesses
A day after it said it would lead a $540 million investment in education startup BYJU’S, Naspers announced it was making a $660 million investment in Swiggy, India’s largest food delivery platform
It is leading a nearly $1 billion Series H round in Swiggy, along with existing investors DST Global, Meituan Dianping and Coatue Management, and new investors Tencent, Hillhouse Capital and Wellington Management.
Naspers is the most valuable listed company in Africa.Naspers
It’s been a busy week for Naspers, the largest public company in
Africa, as it announced its listing on a secondary exchange in South
Africa and nearly $1 billion in two significant online investments in
India.
A day after it said it would lead a $540 million investment in
education startup BYJU’S, Naspers announced it was making a $660 million
investment in Swiggy, India’s largest food delivery platform. It is
leading a nearly $1 billion Series H round in Swiggy, along with
existing investors DST Global, Meituan Dianping and Coatue Management,
and new investors Tencent, Hillhouse Capital and Wellington Management.
The BYJU’S investment – which includes a “significant portion” by the
Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) – aims to grows the
learning app, which has seen over 30 million students use it. It has
over 2 million cumulative annual paid subscriptions, with an average
engagement of 64 minutes per student daily.
Although it began as a newspaper business over 100 years ago, Naspers
has diversified into pay television, ecommerce and owns a third of
Tencent, the Chinese messaging and gaming giant. It is the largest
emerging markets media and internet company in the world.
It has a large portfolio of investments in India, including online
classifieds business OLX, leading online travel company MakeMyTrip, and
payments company, PayU.
“Indian online consumers will be a significant driver of online
growth in the world, and in addition to food and education,” Naspers
said. “The quality of the best Indian entrepreneurs and their ability to
build innovative businesses that address the unique needs of the Indian
consumer offer unparalleled growth opportunities.”
Naspers is the largest listed company on the Johannesburg Stock
Exchange (JSE), and was the first company in Africa to reach the magical
R1 trillion figure. It is headquartered in Cape Town.
The secondary listing on 27 December on the A2X Markets exchange,
which does not carry additional costs for companies listed in South
Africa, is because A2X offers cheaper transaction fees and is more
tech-savvy.
“A2X is one of a growing number of new exchanges that are leveraging
technology in an effort to reduce trading costs and increase market
transparency,” said Naspers CEO Bob van Dijk. “As one of the world’s
leading technology investors we understand the value of technology and
are pleased to support these efforts by also listing on A2X. We believe
our shareholders will appreciate the added choice of trading venues.â€
Earlier this year Naspers sold a 2% stake in Tencent for nearly $10 billion – to invest in more ecommerce ventures it said at the time – and announced in September it would spin off its MultiChoice satellite television unit
into a separate company, to be called MultiChoice Africa. MultiChoice’s
DStv is the largest satellite pay-television operator in Africa, using a
network of satellites to deliver its signal across the continent.
I write about how innovation is better in Africa. I define innovation
as solving problems, like the real problems we have in Africa. And
solving those problems, solves them for the rest of the world. Africa
isn’t just mobile-first, it’s mobile-only. I spoke about this at TED…
Shapshak is editor-in-chief and publisher of Stuff magazine. Based in Johannesburg, his TED talk on innovation in Africa has had more than 1.4m views.
