Posted by AGORACOM
at 3:17 PM on Friday, February 14th, 2020
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Silver has fared better than some of its metal peers against the
backdrop of a disease-threatened global economy, in part because of its
dual role as both a precious and industrial metal.
“The monetary value of silver underpins the vast majority of its
price, and if the metal had only industrial demand working for it, the
price would be under $5 an ounce,†says Gold Newsletter editor Brien
Lundin. “Silver’s precious side means it will outperform industrial
metals in the months ahead.â€
Futures prices for silver, which settled at $17.497 an ounce on Feb.
12, have fallen by more than 2% this year. Silver hasn’t done as well as
gold, which has seen futures prices rise by roughly 3% over the same
period.
Gold has “risen on the back of monetary concerns, but that trend has
been obscured by two geopolitical events,†Lundin says: the U.S.
“dustup†with Iran following the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, and the coronavirus outbreak. Gold rallied on these geopolitical concerns,
then fell as fears subsided. “Unfortunately for silver, that rising
trend has not been clear enough to prompt speculators to bet on silver
along with gold,†he says.
Still, silver has been spared the steeper declines experienced by other industrial metals, such as copper, which has fallen 7% this year.
China is the world’s second-largest consumer of silver after the
U.S., and “the enhanced uncertainty in China surrounding the coronavirus
fears is taking a toll on silver prices,†says Matthew Miller, an
equity analyst at CFRA Research.
“While weaker industrial demand is likely to remain a headwind, CFRA
predicts continued appreciation in safe havens in 2020, and we see a
high probability that silver will outperform gold,†he adds.
This year, the market is likely to see continued growth in physical
silver investment and in the commodity’s use as an industrial metal,
according to The Silver Institute’s recently released views on the 2020
global silver market. “There will be times when silver will have to
contend with issues, such as the current health crisis in China, which
could hit that country’s economy hard,†the institute says.
However, silver’s use as an industrial metal accounted for just over
half of total global demand in 2019, and growth in the metal’s
“industrial offtake†is expected to resume this year, following two
years of marginal losses, the institute says. It sees a 3% rise in
silver industrial demand in 2020, with the electrical and electronics
sector accounting for the bulk of the gains.
Meanwhile, investment in physical silver, in the form of silver
bullion coins and bars, is set to climb for a third consecutive year,
the institute adds.
“The international silver market is poised to experience higher
silver prices in 2020, even coming off the 4% increase in 2019,†says
Michael DiRienzo, executive director of the Silver Institute, which
pegged the 2019 average at $16.21, based on the London Bullion Market
Association silver price. Last year, a marked shift toward looser
monetary policies—as the U.S.-China trade war fed concerns about the global economic outlook—underpinned silver, the institute says.
The institute projects this year’s average silver price at $18.40,
which would mark a 13% rise from 2019 to a six-year high. “We base this
on current global economic health and geopolitical uncertainties
throughout important economies,†DiRienzo says. “Buttressing this
forecast…is a return to silver industrial demand growth, coupled with a
robust increase of 7% in silver physical investment.â€
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 2:45 PM on Friday, February 14th, 2020
SPONSOR: BetterU Education Corp.
aims to provide access to quality education from around the world. The
company plans to bridge the prevailing gap in the education and job
industry and enhance the lives of its prospective learners by developing
an integrated ecosystem. Click here for more information.
India’s EdTech industry is the second biggest in the world
India is home to the second-highest number of EdTech companies (327), followed by Brazil (275), the United Kingdom (245) and China (101).
Indian EdTech startup company BYJU’S is leading the way with the highest amount of venture capital raised.
EdTech acquisitions are on the rise with almost 200 acquisitions in the EdTech space since 2003.
RS Components has released a new report that analyses Crunchbase data, alongside a survey targeting teachers, to reveal the state of educational technology (EdTech). The report reveals the countries that are investing in EdTech the most and the EdTech companies that are leading the way.
The US has the highest number of EdTech enterprises, with 43% (1,385) of all EdTech company headquarters being based in the US.
India is home to the second-highest number of EdTech companies (327),
followed by Brazil (275), the United Kingdom (245) and China (101).
Sweden’s EdTech companies see the highest success rate in securing venture capital, with 57% of companies backed by VC funding.
Indian EdTech startup company BYJU’S is leading the way with the highest amount of venture capital raised.
EdTech acquisitions are on the rise with almost 200 acquisitions in the EdTech space since 2003.
RS Components has
analysed Crunchbase data on EdTech companies to reveal who is investing
in EdTech the most. The report looks at the countries that are home to
the most EdTech companies, as well as those that have raised the highest
capital, are receiving the most funding and have made the most
acquisitions. The full ‘State of EdTech’ report can be found here.
Which countries are leading the way in EdTech enterprises?
With a predicted market value set to reach $252 billion
in 2020, EdTech startups are on the rise all over the world. At the
heart of this surge is the US, with an overwhelming majority of 43% of
the world’s EdTech enterprises having their headquarters located in the
United States. The country’s population size, large economy, and tech
and innovation hubs, such as Silicon Valley, are likely to contribute to
its success.
India has the second-highest number of EdTech startups, with 10%
being located in the country. Brazil (9%), the UK (8%), and China (3%)
all make it into the top 5 countries leading the way in EdTech.
The countries home to the highest number of EdTech company headquarters:
Which countries are top for venture capital (VC) funding in EdTech?
When it comes to the success rates of the world’s EdTech companies in
securing funding, it’s countries like Sweden, China and Italy that come
to the fore, with over half of their EdTech startups successfully
securing funding.
Sweden leads the way, with 57% of its EdTech startups being successfully funded, and with organisations like Swedish EdTech Industry
claiming that: “Sweden will become the leading country in the world in
exploiting the opportunities and effects of digitalisation in the
education system†it’s clear that there is significant confidence in
the industry.
Sweden is also home to key initiatives in the EdTech field, such as EdTech Sweden
– an annual event, hosted in Stockholm, that is a combination of a
conference, exhibition and a networking event where experts in the field
share and discuss best practices and new digital solutions that promote
learning.
The countries where the highest proportion of EdTech companies are securing funding:
Where are EdTech companies receiving the most funding?
Just under one third (31%) of EdTech companies have successfully
attracted VC funding, with 1,019 enterprises in the industry attracting a
total of $14 billion. When it comes to the average amount of funding
each EdTech company attracts, China is where companies come out on top,
with an average of $43.9 million being invested into individual EdTech
companies.
Luxembourg is a close second, with EdTech companies here attracting
an average investment of $35.4 million each. Compare this with the US,
home to the most EdTech companies where each attracts an average of
$16.6 million, and it’s clear that countries like China and Luxembourg
are putting a much higher value on EdTech.
Which EdTech companies are leading the way?
India is home to the EdTech startup, BYJU’s, which has raised the highest amount of capital, at $969 million. Following shortly behind are China’s Yuanfudao at $544m and Zhangmen at $499m.
Seven of the highest funded companies are based in the US, with the
likes of Coursera, Laureate Education and 2U Inc. attracting a total of
$313.1 million, $400 million and $426.8 million, respectively.
Have EdTech acquisitions increased?
According to Crunchbase, there have been almost 200 acquisitions in
the EdTech space since 2003. While few were made between 2003 and 2009,
acquisitions have been on a steady rise since the early 2010s, with 37
acquisitions in 2018, 36 in 2017 and 33 in 2016.
The most notable acquisition in the space was LinkedIn’s $1.5 billion
purchase of Lynda in 2015. The company, now known as LinkedIn Learning,
is a provider of online video courses taught by industry experts in
software, creative, and business skills.
A spokesperson from RS Components comments:
“EdTech is clearly seeing a huge boom at the moment, with
acquisitions on the rise and its market value set to hit $252 billion
this year, so it’s great to see tech entrepreneurs all over the world
bringing their talents to the industry.
“With more than 40% of EdTech companies setting up their headquarters
in the US, it looks like the country is becoming a hub for EdTech
startups. However, with companies in China and Luxembourg receiving the
highest proportion of funding and the likes of Sweden, Italy and Austria
being home to the most companies that are successfully securing
funding, it’s clear that there are opportunities for EdTech startups all
over the world.â€
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 1:40 PM on Friday, February 14th, 2020
SPONSOR: CardioComm Solutions (EKG: TSX-V)
– The heartbeat of cardiovascular medicine and telemedicine. Patented
systems enable medical professionals, patients, and other healthcare
professionals, clinics, hospitals and call centres to access and manage
patient information in a secure and reliable environment.
mHealth Market growing due to increasing chronic disease menace according to a new research report
The mHealth market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 33.5% during the forecast period.
The increasing usage of smartphones and connected devices and surging
geriatric population, prevalence of chronic diseases, focus on
patient-centric healthcare services, and demand for remote patient
monitoring services are driving the adoption of mobile health (mHealth).
The mHealth market sizegenerated
$23.0 billion in revenue in 2017, which is predicted to grow at a CAGR
of 33.5% during the forecast period (2018–2023), to ultimately reach
$132.2 billion by 2023.
The term refers to the provision of healthcare services via mobile phones and other telecommunication devices.
Blood glucose monitors, blood pressure monitors, multiparameter
monitors, electrocardiograph (ECG) monitors, sleep apnea monitors, and
pulse oximeters are among the various connected devices available. Among
these, blood glucose monitors are expected to experience the fastest
growth in the market, at a CAGR of 31.9%, during the forecast period.
This would be due to the growing prevalence of diabetes, as a result
of the changing lifestyle and food habits of people across the
world.Blood glucose monitors, blood pressure monitors, multiparameter
monitors, electrocardiograph (ECG) monitors, sleep apnea monitors, and
pulse oximeters are among the various connected devices available. Among
these, blood glucose monitors are expected to experience the fastest
growth in the market, at a CAGR of 31.9%, during the forecast period.
This would be due to the growing prevalence of diabetes, as a result
of the changing lifestyle and food habits of people across the world.
The rising incidence of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cancer,
stroke, heart diseases, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD), is one of the key mHealth market growth drivers. Patients
suffering from such conditions need continuous monitoring and strict
adherence to medication schedule.
With mHealth devices and apps, patients can not only monitor their
own condition, but also receive timely advice from their doctors,
without having to go anywhere. In addition, several mHealth apps alert
patients about any anomalies and drug dose time.
The availability of 3G and 4G internet is also leading to the rising
adoption of smartphones, which, together with the increasing awareness
on the advantages of mHealth, is driving the market. Additionally,
mobile devices are increasing penetrating across developing regions; as
per the 2017 African Mobile Trends Paper, 960 million people or around
80% of the African population were mobile phone subscribers.
Further, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had claimed that
around half of the total 3.4 billion smartphone and tablet users would
download healthcare apps in 2018.
Therefore, as more people purchase mobile communication devices and
realize their advantages in the area of health and wellbeing, the market
for mHealth will keep prospering.
Tags: EKG, mhealth, small cap stocks, stocks, tsx Posted in CardioComm Solutions | Comments Off on #Mhealth Market growing due to increasing chronic disease menace according to a new research report – SPONSOR: CardioComm Solutions $EKG.ca – $ATE.ca $TLT.ca $OGI.ca $ACST.ca $IPA.ca
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 1:00 PM on Friday, February 14th, 2020
SPONSOR: Datametrex AI Limited
(TSX-V: DM) A revenue generating small cap A.I. company that NATO and
Canadian Defence are using to fight fake news & social media
threats. The company announced three $1M contacts in Q3-2019. Click here for more info.
Deepfakes and deep media: A new security battleground
In anticipation of this new reality, a coalition of academic institutions, tech firms, and nonprofits are developing ways to spot misleading AI-generated media
Their work suggests that detection tools are a viable short-term solution but that the deepfake arms race is just beginning
Deepfakes — media that takes a person in an existing image, audio
recording, or video and replaces them with someone else’s likeness using
AI — are multiplying quickly. That’s troubling not only because these
fakes might be used to sway opinions during an election or implicate a
person in a crime, but because they’ve already been abused to generate pornographic material of actors and defraud a major energy producer.
In anticipation of this new reality, a coalition of academic
institutions, tech firms, and nonprofits are developing ways to spot
misleading AI-generated media. Their work suggests that detection tools
are a viable short-term solution but that the deepfake arms race is just
beginning.
Deepfake text
The best AI-produced prose used to be closer to Mad Libs than The Grapes of Wrath, but cutting-edge language models can now write with humanlike pith and cogency. San Francisco research firm OpenAI’s GPT-2 takes seconds to craft passages in the style of a New Yorkerarticle or brainstorm game scenarios. Of greater concern, researchers
at Middlebury Institute of International Studies’ Center on Terrorism,
Extremism, and Counterterrorism (CTEC) hypothesize that GPT-2 and others
like it could be tuned to propagate white supremacy, jihadist Islamism,
and other threatening ideologies.
Above: The frontend for GPT-2, AI research firm OpenAI’s trained language model.Image Credit: OpenAI
In pursuit of a system that can detect synthetic content, researchers
at the University of Washington’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer
Science and Engineering and the Allen Institute for Artificial
Intelligence developed Grover,
an algorithm they claim was able to pick out 92% of deepfake-written
works on a test set compiled from the open source Common Crawl corpus.
The team attributes its success to Grover’s copywriting approach, which
they say helped familiarize it with the artifacts and quirks of
AI-originated language.
A team of scientists hailing from Harvard and the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab separately released The Giant Language Model Test Room,
a web environment that seeks to determine whether text was written by
an AI model. Given a semantic context, it predicts which words are most
likely to appear in a sentence, essentially writing its own text. If
words in a sample being evaluated match the top 10, 100, or 1,000
predicted words, an indicator turns green, yellow, or red, respectively.
In effect, it uses its own predictive text as a benchmark for spotting
artificially generated content.
Deepfake videos
State-of-the-art video-generating AI is just as capable (and dangerous) as its natural language counterpart, if not more so. An academic paper
published by Hong Kong-based startup SenseTime, the Nanyang
Technological University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute
of Automation details a framework that edits footage by using audio to
synthesize realistic videos. And researchers at Seoul-based Hyperconnect
recently developed a tool — MarioNETte
— that can manipulate the facial features of a historical figure,
politician, or CEO by synthesizing a reenacted face animated by the
movements of another person.
Even the most realistic deepfakes contain artifacts that give them
away, however. “Deepfakes [produced by] generative [systems] learn a
data set of actual images in videos, to which you add new images and
then generate a new video with the new images,†Ishai Rosenberg, head of
the deep learning group at cybersecurity company Deep Instinct, told
VentureBeat via email. “The result is that the output video has subtle
differences because there are changes in the distribution of the data
that is generated artificially by the deepfake and the distribution of
the data in the original source video. These differences, which can be
referred to as ‘glimpses in the matrix,’ are what the deepfake detectors
are able to distinguish.â€
Above: Two deepfake videos produced using state-of-the-art methods.Image Credit: SenseTime
Last summer, a team from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Southern California trained a model
to look for precise “facial action units†— data points of people’s
facial movements, tics, and expressions, including when they raise their
upper lips and how their heads rotate when they frown — to identify
manipulated videos with greater than 90% accuracy. Similarly, in August
2018 members of the Media Forensics program at the U.S. Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA) tested systems that could detect AI-generated videos from cues like unnatural blinking, strange head movements, odd eye color, and more.
Several startups are in the process of commercializing comparable deepfake video detection tools. Amsterdam-based Deeptrace Labs
offers a suite of monitoring products that purport to classify
deepfakes uploaded on social media, video hosting platforms, and
disinformation networks. Dessa has proposed techniques for improving deepfake detectors trained on data sets of manipulated videos. And Truepic raised an $8 million funding round in July 2018
for its video and photo deepfake detection services. In December 2018,
the company acquired another deepfake “detection-as-a-service†startup —
Fourandsix — whose fake image detector was licensed by DARPA.
Above: Deepfake images generated by an AI system.
Beyond developing fully trained systems, a number of companies have
published corpora in the hopes that the research community will pioneer
new detection methods. To accelerate such efforts, Facebook — along with
Amazon Web Services (AWS), the Partnership on AI, and academics from a
number of universities — is spearheading the Deepfake Detection
Challenge. The Challenge includes a data set of video samples labeled to
indicate which were manipulated with AI. In September 2019, Google
released a collection
of visual deepfakes as part of the FaceForensics benchmark, which was
cocreated by the Technical University of Munich and the University
Federico II of Naples. More recently, researchers from SenseTime
partnered with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore to design DeeperForensics-1.0, a data set for face forgery detection that they claim is the largest of its kind.
Deepfake audio
AI and machine learning aren’t suited just to video and text synthesis — they can clone voices, too. Countlessstudies
have demonstrated that a small data set is all that’s required to
recreate the prosody of a person’s speech. Commercial systems like those
of Resemble
and Lyrebird need only minutes of audio samples, while sophisticated
models like Baidu’s latest Deep Voice implementation can copy a voice
from a 3.7-second sample.
Deepfake audio detection tools are not yet abundant, but solutions are beginning to emerge.
Several months ago, the Resemble team released an open source tool dubbed Resemblyzer,
which uses AI and machine learning to detect deepfakes by deriving
high-level representations of voice samples and predicting whether
they’re real or generated. Given an audio file of speech, it creates a
mathematical representation summarizing the characteristics of the
recorded voice. This enables developers to compare the similarity of two
voices or suss out who’s speaking at any given moment.
In January 2019, as part of its Google News Initiative, Google
released a corpus of speech containing “thousands†of phrases spoken by
the company’s text-to-speech models. The samples were drawn from English
articles spoken by 68 different synthetic voices and covered a variety
of regional accents. The corpus is available to all participants of ASVspoof 2019, a competition that aims to foster countermeasures against spoofed speech.
A lot to lose
No detector has achieved perfect accuracy, and researchers haven’t
yet figured out how to determine deepfake authorship. Deep Instinct’s
Rosenberg anticipates this is emboldening bad actors intent on
distributing deepfakes. “Even if a malicious actor had their [deepfake]
caught, only the [deepfake] itself holds the risk of being busted,†he
said. “There is minimal risk to the actor of getting caught. Because the
risk is low, there is little deterrence to creating deepfake[s].â€
Rosenberg’s theory is supported by a report
from Deeptrace, which found 14,698 deepfake videos online during its
most recent tally in June and July 2019 — an 84% increase within a
seven-month period. The vast majority of those (96%) consist of
pornographic content featuring women.
Considering those numbers, Rosenberg argues that companies with “a
lot to lose†from deepfakes should develop and incorporate deepfake
detection technology — which he considers akin to antimalware and
antivirus — into their products. There’s been movement on this front;
Facebook announced
in early January that it will use a combination of automated and manual
systems to detect deepfake content, and Twitter recently proposed flagging deepfakes and removing those that threaten harm.
Of course, the technologies underlying deepfake generators are merely
tools — and they have enormous potential for good. Michael Clauser,
head of the data and trust practice at consultancy Access Partnership,
points out that the technology has already been used to improve medical
diagnoses and cancer detection, fill gaps in mapping the universe, and
better train autonomous driving systems. He therefore cautions against
blanket campaigns to block generative AI.
“As leaders begin to apply existing legal principles like slander and
defamation to emerging deepfake use cases, it’s important not to throw
out the baby with the bathwater,†Clauser told VentureBeat via email.
“Ultimately, the case law and social norms around the use of this
emerging technology [haven’t] matured sufficiently to create bright red
lines on what constitutes fair use versus misuse.â€
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 12:18 PM on Friday, February 14th, 2020
SPONSOR: New Age Metals Inc.
The company owns one of North America’s largest primary platinum
group metals deposit in Sudbury, Canada. Updated NI 43-101 Mineral
Resource Estimate 2,867,000 PdEq Measured and Indicated Ounces, with an
additional 1,059,000 PdEq Ounces Inferred. Learn More.
Don’t expect a U-turn in palladium’s epic rally
The silver-white metal, used to remove toxic emissions from the exhaust fumes of petrol and hybrid cars, has surged more than 200 per cent over the past five years and last month hit a record of more than $2,500 an ounce
Correlation may not be proof of causation but it is difficult to see
any other explanation for London’s catalytic-converter crime wave than
the record-breaking rally in palladium prices. The silver-white metal,
used to remove toxic emissions from the exhaust fumes of petrol and
hybrid cars, has surged more than 200 per cent over the past five years
and last month hit a record of more than $2,500 an ounce. At the same
time, thefts of catalytic converters in the UK capital jumped — from 867
in 2015 to 8,248 in 2019, according to the Metropolitan Police.
The force has urged car owners to be vigilant and consider buying
protective sleeves for their catalytic converters. After nearly a decade
of undersupply, the world is now critically short of palladium and its
sister metal rhodium. In part, this reflects sluggish supply. Production
of these metals is constrained because they are mined as a byproduct of
platinum and nickel — commodities where new projects have been few and
far between.
At the same time, demand is booming. Tougher emissions legislation
and stricter vehicle-testing regimes in the wake of Germany’s
“Dieselgate†scandal saw the automotive industry buy a record 9.7m
ounces of palladium last year, according to Johnson Matthey, a producer
of catalysts. That is why industry executives say talk of a palladium
bubble is misplaced. “I don’t want to mention a name but there has been a
senior car company that has experienced a real shortage in rhodium,â€
Neal Froneman, chief executive of producer Sibanye-Stillwater, told the
Financial Times last week. “You can’t run deficits and consume surface
stockpiles and inventories for ever and a day.
At some point that turns into a real shortage. And that’s what
happened in rhodium and I dare say it could happen in palladium.â€
Johnson Matthey reckons demand outstripped supply by 1m ounces last year
and says a further rise in automotive demand will push the 11.5m
ounce-a-year palladium market deeper into deficit. While a
coronavirus-induced slowdown in the Chinese car sector could reduce the
size of the shortfall, most analysts expect the market to remain
undersupplied. Standard Chartered estimates China’s car production would
have to plummet 28 per cent before the market deficit is eroded by
declining demand. Assuming that does not happen, prices look set to push
higher unless there is a sudden mobilisation of stockpiles. These
include a stash of the metal owned by Russian miner Norilsk Nickel.
It was purchased from the country’s central bank many years ago and
Johnson Matthey reckons 1m ounces there might be available, but no one
is really sure. For nervous car owners, a protective device for their
catalytic converters still looks like a sound investment.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 8:53 AM on Friday, February 14th, 2020
Status of Cultivation Licence Application for Cannabis Production Facility in Low, Quebec
Company is pleased to update shareholders that it has addressed outstanding issue and has provided Health Canada with the required information requested. The Company is now awaiting the issuance of its standard cultivation license.
TORONTO, Feb. 14, 2020 — North Bud Farms Inc.(CSE: NBUD) (OTCQB: NOBDF) (“NORTHBUD” or the “Company“) provides shareholders with the following corporate update:
Status of Cultivation License Application for Cannabis Production Facility in Low, Quebec
As previously announced, the Company was informed on a conference
call with the regulators in late January of one outstanding item that
was required before the Company could be issued its cultivation licence.
The Company is pleased to update shareholders that it has addressed
this outstanding issue and has provided Health Canada with the required
information requested. The Company is now awaiting the issuance of its
standard cultivation licence.
Board of Directors Change
Dr. Teresa DeLuca has advised the Company of her desire to step down
from the Board of Directors effective immediately in order to focus on
her other professional obligations.
“Dr. DeLuca served on the Board since the Company’s initial listing
in 2018 and we would like to thank her for her service and wish her well
in her future endeavors,†said Ryan Brown, Executive Chairman of
NORTHBUD.
About North Bud Farms Inc. North Bud Farms Inc.,
through its U.S. subsidiary Bonfire Brands USA, has acquired cannabis
production facilities in California and in Nevada. The Salinas,
California 11-acre farm is actively cultivating cannabis in its 60,000
sq. ft. of licensed greenhouse production space. The Reno, Nevada
property is located on 3.2-acres of land which was acquired through the
acquisition of Nevada Botanical Science, Inc. a world class cannabis
production, research and development facility with 5,000 sq. ft. of
indoor cultivation which holds medical and adult use licenses for
cultivation, extraction and distribution. Through its wholly owned
Canadian subsidiary, GrowPros MMP Inc., the company is pursuing a
license under The Cannabis Act, to cultivate in its state-of-the-art
purpose-built cannabis production facility located on 135-acres of
Agricultural Land in Low, Quebec, Canada.
Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is
defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the
adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-looking statements Certain statements and
information included in this press release that, to the extent they are
not historical fact, constitute forward-looking information or
statements (collectively, “forward-looking statementsâ€) within the
meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking
statements, including, but not limited to, those identified by the
expressions “anticipateâ€, “believeâ€, “planâ€, “estimateâ€, “expectâ€,
“intendâ€, “mayâ€, “should†and similar expressions to the extent they
relate to the Company or its management.
Forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those
regarding the success of the Company’s licence application in Quebec and
the Company’s transition into a revenue generating operational phase of
development are based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates,
analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and
its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments,
as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and
reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are
made, but which may prove to be incorrect.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results,
performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the
forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among
others, the risk factors included in the Company’s final long form
prospectus dated August 21, 2018, which is available under the Company’s
SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.
Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any such
forward-looking statements. Further, any forward-looking statement
speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made. New factors
emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company’s
management to predict all of such factors and to assess in advance the
impact of each such factor on the Company’s business or the extent to
which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to
differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking
statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements to reflect information, events, results,
circumstances or otherwise after the date hereof or to reflect the
occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law including
securities laws. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell
or a solicitation of any offer to buy any securities of the Company.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: North Bud Farms Inc. Edward Miller VP, IR & Communications Office: (855) 628-3420 ext. 3 [email protected]
Tags: Cannabis, CBD, CSE, Hemp, Marijuana, stocks, tsx, tsx-v Posted in North Bud Farms Inc | Comments Off on North Bud Farms $NBUD.ca Provides a Corporate Update – Company Is Now Awaiting The Issuance of Its Standard Cultivation License $CGC $ACB $APH $CRON.ca $OGI.ca
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 8:33 AM on Friday, February 14th, 2020
National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA) and KABN Systems North America Inc. (KABN NA) announced a collaborative partnership to promote Digital Identity management and usage in Canada through a 3 year exclusive partnership launching at the 2020 Fintech and Financing Conference and Expo (FFCON20) to be held in downtown Toronto on March 23-24, 2020.
Digital Identity program to be launched at 20: RISE
TORONTO, ON / February 13, 2020 / The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA) and KABN Systems North America Inc. (KABN NA) announced today they have formed a collaborative partnership to promote Digital Identity management and usage in Canada through a 3 year exclusive partnership launching at the 2020 Fintech and Financing Conference and Expo (FFCON20) to be held in downtown Toronto on March 23-24, 2020.
View photos
With finance and fintech touching virtually every business and entity
of people’s lives, the NCFA and KABN NA will be embarking on awareness
and education programs on the value of having a secure, re-usable online
identity that can reduce identity fraud and replace the need to show
credentials every time you need to prove your online identity.
KABN Systems North America Inc. is a Canadian Fintech company that
specializes in continuous online Identity Verification, Identity
Management and Monetization and is currently in the launch phase of its
digital banking and financial services platform, Pegasus Flyte.
KABN NA recently announced that it has executed Definitive Agreements
with Torino Power Solutions (CSE:TPS), subject to all necessary
approvals, Torino will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares
in the capital of KABN NA, which will constitute a fundamental change of
the Company and that will result in a reverse takeover (the “RTO“) of Torino by KABN NA.
The theme for the 6th annual FFCON20 is RISE, focused on increasing
the success and sustainability of Canada’s fintech and financial sector
fostering partnerships between fintech companies and financial
institutions, opening investment channels and connecting emerging talent
with markets. KABN will be a prominent partner of this event and all
other events that the NCFA presents over the next 3 years.
FFCON20 facilitates thought-provoking and relevant discussions,
lively debates and personal networking for the cross-pollination of
ideas and experiences. The two-day event also provides a variety of
competitions where investors can find deal flow and companies can get
direct access to prominent investors. FFCON20, at its core, brings
markets to life and provides an open forum for collaboration between
emerging companies and major stakeholders.
“Identity is a key component of the online fintech environment and
consumers are becoming more aware of its value and vulnerability. We’re
very excited to partner with KABN North America to educate consumers and
businesses on the value of digital identity in the marketplace, how to
protect it and how to manage it.” Craig Asano, Founder and CEO, NCFA
“We are excited to have the opportunity to partner and work with the
NCFA and leverage their leadership in the Fintech sector and create
leadership in the digital identity arena. KABN is focused on
collaboration with industry stakeholders and supports educating North
Americans about the value of digital identity, to create better use of
our private data.” Ben Kessler, CEO, KABN Systems North American Inc.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association
(NCFA) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education,
market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding
opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works
closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a
vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. For more
information, please visit: ncfacanada.org
Tags: canadian fintech, crypto, fintech, Kabn Posted in KABN | Comments Off on National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association and #KABN Systems North America enter multi-year exclusive partnership to promote Digital Identity in Canada
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 8:28 AM on Friday, February 14th, 2020
SPONSOR: KABN Systems North America Inc. A Fintech platform focused on Verifying, Managing & Monetizing Online Identity. KABN’s mission is to create a world-class suite of products and services that support the decentralized market economy, globally enabling consumers to manage their digital identity and other data to create value-based relationships in the financial and loyalty services arena.
Kirsten Gillibrand’s new bill would establish a US data protection agency
The Data Protection Agency would enforce federal privacy laws out of the hands of the FTC.Issie Lapowsky
Members of Congress still haven’t written the rules of the road for consumer privacy in America. But on Thursday, Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand introduced a new bill that would at least appoint a traffic cop.
February 13, 2020
Members of Congress still haven’t written the rules of the road for
consumer privacy in America. But on Thursday, Democratic Sen. Kirsten
Gillibrand introduced a new bill that would at least appoint a traffic
cop.
The so-called Data Protection Act of 2020 would create the country’s
first data protection agency to oversee how privacy laws in America are
enforced and guide Congress on the development of those laws. The agency
would be empowered to impose penalties on companies that violate
people’s privacy, taken them to court, field consumer complaints, and
launch investigations.
In a blog post, Gillibrand wrote that the country faces an inflection
point similar to the post-9/11 days when the government realized it
needed to shore up national security and established the Department of
Homeland Security to do it.
“As our country and economy continue to evolve with the digital age,
we face a national crisis as our personal data gets targeted — and not
just for marketing by brands, but also to establish if we can access
certain jobs, loans, or prices on products,” Gillibrand wrote.
“Americans should be able to go to an institution that will look out
for, and actively work to protect, their privacy and freedom.”
The agency would enforce current privacy laws and any future laws
Congress passes and have rule-making authority to determine how those
laws are carried out. Specifically, the agency would be able to conduct
impact assessments on companies deploying “high-risk practices” with
regard to data. That includes companies using data to profile people on a
large scale. The bill also gives the agency the power to regulate
consumer scoring in sensitive areas like housing, employment and
education.
The agency would have subpoena power and the ability to take
companies to court over violations of federal privacy law. It would also
closely monitor large companies — both in terms of revenue and in terms
of the amount of data they collect — and ask for reports from these
companies, to ensure they’re complying with the law. Meanwhile, the
agency would be tasked with guiding Congress on emerging technologies
and representing the United States in international deals regarding
privacy.
Today, the federal privacy laws that do exist, like the Children’s
Online Privacy Protection Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act, are
enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC Act also prohibits
unfair or deceptive practices, a law that the agency has used to punish
companies like Facebook for their privacy scandals. But consumer
advocates have always said the FTC lacks teeth, primarily because the
agency can’t levy fines on first-time offenders. Some federal privacy
bills that have been introduced recently, including one sponsored by
Washington Democrat Sen. Maria Cantwell, would change that, creating a
new privacy bureau within the FTC and giving it more punitive powers.
But Gillibrand’s bill aims to start fresh with a brand-new agency,
which would assume much of the enforcement power from the FTC. Privacy
groups like the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which worked with
Gillibrand’s office on the bill, view this as a welcome change.
“The FTC has failed over and over again to protect American
consumers,” said Caitriona Fitzgerald, chief technology officer and
policy director at EPIC. Fitzgerald points to the consent decree
the FTC reached with Facebook over privacy issues in 2011. That didn’t
stop Facebook from committing subsequent privacy violations that
ultimately led to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Last year, the FTC
fined Facebook $5 billion, a penalty that Fitzgerald thinks was woefully
inadequate. “The FTC did nothing to ensure this won’t happen again. And
that’s only the latest example,” she said.
The agency Gillibrand seeks to create would be similar to the data
protection authorities that oversee enforcement of the General Data
Protection Regulations throughout Europe. The only difference is in the
United States, there is no comprehensive data privacy law to enforce.
The closest thing the U.S. has to GDPR is the California Consumer
Privacy Act, which only concerns California residents. A new ballot initiative
in California that seeks to rewrite CCPA would create an independent
data protection agency, but that agency would still only protect
Californians.
The avalanche of high-profile consumer privacy failures over the past few years has led to calls
for a strong federal privacy law, including from the tech industry
itself. Gillibrand’s proposal for a data protection agency is a response
to that, but it stops short of proposing new limits on data use itself.
In her blog post, Gillibrand pointed to an array of perceived privacy
violations she wants to prohibit, from fitness apps sharing data with
health insurance companies to Instagram giving advertisers access to
data about its users. Her new Data Protection Agency would be able to do
very little to stop that, unless Congress passed a law that said it
could.
Fitzgerald says she thinks Gillibrand’s bill could be easily
integrated into Cantwell’s comprehensive privacy bill in the Senate.
Another comprehensive consumer privacy bill in the House that was introduced last year also calls for the creation of what it calls a “digital privacy agency.”
But some, like Mary Stone Ross, associate director of EPIC, say that
even on its own, Gillibrand’s bill has value. Ross argues that it
doesn’t matter what privacy laws Congress passes if there’s nobody who’s
going to hold companies accountable. “On one hand it might seem a
little backward, like you’re putting the cart before the horse, building
the enforcement agency before you pass federal consumer privacy law,
but in my mind it’s not,” Ross said. “I think the most important place
to start is enforcement.”
Tags: canadian fintech, crypto, fintech, Kabn, KABN Card Posted in KABN | Comments Off on Kirsten Gillibrand’s new bill would establish a US data protection agency SPONSOR: #KABN Systems North America Inc.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 5:57 PM on Thursday, February 13th, 2020
With 165,000 patients, Empower Clinics (CBDT:CSE) (EPWCF:OTCQB) has a database that almost every medical cannabis and CBD company would kill for. Add in the fact patient visits increased 351% in Q4 and it becomes the kind of company small cap investors have been dying to find as they watch pretender companies melt away.
But it doesn’t end there.
CBD
extraction has been a key element of the company’s vertical
integration. Producing its’ own hemp-derived CBD products for its own
massive patient list just makes sense. However, thanks to an LOI (moving
towards definitive agreement) to JV with extraction experts Heritage
Cannabis, the Company’s 5,000 sq ft facility in Oregon is also planning
to serve big brand 3rd party partners in the USA . Empower brings the
infrastructure, Heritage brings the expertise and balance sheet. The
result is a match made in shareholder heaven with initial annual
capacity of 6,000 Kg at ~ $US 5,000 per Kg, which adds up to $US
30,000,000 in potential revenue.
But It Doesn’t End There
The Company’s CEO, Steven McAuley is Six Sigma certified under the quality initiative of legendary GE chairman Jack Welch. We’ve never seen a Six Sigma certified CEO in the Canadian small cap markets. Never …. which also explains how McAuley has brought Empower so far in just 11 months.
If anyone understands digital, it’s McAuley. So it should come as no surprise the Company just signed an exclusive multi-year, multi-national licensing deal with EuroLife to license its “Cannvas.me” cloud based online education platform for the US and Mexico. Amongst other things, Empower plans to integrate the education platform into its clinics across the United States to help further convert their 165,000 patient database to CBD and medical cannabis through proper education. Â
The site also contains premium content for physicians who need to educate themselves and comes with millions of page views already, as well as, 15,000 opted in subscribers, which explains the $460,000 in licensing over 3 years – but $210,000 of that is Empower stock priced at $0.10 (125% above current market prices, which gives you an idea of the confidence EuroLife principals have in the future of Empower.
P.S. The interview takes place from the floor of the Arizona Cannabis Expo, where Empower has multiple booths and an actual pop-up clinic to acquire new customers in real-time. That’s what happens when you have a company run by a Six Sigma Certified CEO.
Grab your favourite beverage and settle in to watch what may be your next great small cap investment.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 4:18 PM on Thursday, February 13th, 2020
Empower Clinics to license online education technology to provide strategic value to their patients, retail locations, and to their expanding network of franchisees.
VANCOUVER BC / February 13, 2020 / EMPOWER CLINICS INC.(CSE:CBDT)(OTC:EPWCF)(Frankfurt:8EC) (“Empower” or the “Company“), a vertically integrated and growth-oriented CBD life sciences company is pleased to announce it has signed a letter of intent (the “LOI”) with EuroLife Brands Inc. (EURO) (3CMA) (EURPF) (“EuroLife”), a vertically integrated enterprise focused on the pan-European hemp, cannabinoid, and health and wellness sector, granting Empower an exclusive license of EURO’s “Cannvas.me” cloud based online educational platform in certain jurisdictions. The education technology is to be accessed by employees of Empower’s owned and franchised clinics, patients, and a network of nationwide retailers in the United States.
Under the terms of the LOI, Empower will be granted an exclusive
license of the Cannvas.me platform in the United States and Mexico
(expandable to other jurisdictions). It is envisioned that Empower will
integrate and leverage the robust Cannvas.me platform with its
burgeoning clinic network across the continental United States. The LOI
contemplates a three-year term with a three-year renewable option. An
annual $70,000.00 CAD licensing fee will be paid for the life of the
proposed agreement, and the issuance of $250,000.00 CAD of Empower
common stock at a price of $0.10 per share.
“This next phase in our partnership with Euro is the culmination of
many months of collaboration to create access to the immense amount of
educational content on the Cannvas.me platform.” said Steven McAuley,
Chairman & CEO of Empower. “Empower, as thought leaders in the
medical cannabis sector, need to lead consumer & physician education
providing a branded curated experience starting with our 165,000
patients and then extending through our network of corporate and
franchised clinics.”
“EuroLife’s SaaS based education technology platform will allow
Empower Clinics to educate a consumer, retailer, and medical patient on
an incredibly efficient basis,” said Shawn Moniz, Chief Executive
Officer, EuroLife Brands Inc. “We look forward to working with Empower
and their expanding clinic network in providing unencumbered access to
our online technology solution.”
In 2018 EuroLife launched a consumer education portal for medical and
recreational cannabis consumers. Through many discussions with industry
stakeholders the management team discovered there was significant
demand for a cloud-based education portal for licensed producers, retail
dispensaries and other large to mid-sized companies in the cannabis
sector. Executing on a renewed B2B technology model EuroLife recently
delivered a redesigned budtender education portal for Aphria Inc. (see
February 4, 2020 news release), the global cannabis leader with an
unrelenting commitment to people, product quality and innovation. The
portal allows Aphria to ensure retail employees across Canada are
well-versed in Aphria’s line-up of adult-use brands and enabled with
information to provide superior customer service.
ABOUT EMPOWER
Empower is a vertically-integrated health & wellness brand with
it’s first hemp-derived CBD extraction facility under development, the
Company produces its proprietary line of cannabidiol (CBD) based
products and distributes products through company owned and franchised
clinics, with wholesale partnerships, online channels and with new
retail opportunities nationwide in the U.S. The company is a leading
multi-state operator of a network of physician-staffed wellness clinics,
focused on helping patients improve and protect their health, through
innovative physician recommended treatment options. The company has
commenced activity on how to connect its significant data, to the
potential of the efficacy of alternative treatment options related to
hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) therapies.
About EuroLife Brands Inc.
EuroLife Brands (CSE: EURO) (FSE: 3CMA) (OTCPK: EURPF) is a leading
global markets cannabis brand empowering the medical, recreational and
CPG cannabis industry worldwide through a data-driven CBD marketplace
supported by exclusive and unbiased physician-backed cannabis education
and detailed consumer analytics.
Investors: Dustin Klein SVP, Business Development [email protected] 720-352-1398
For French inquiries: Remy Scalabrini, Maricom Inc., E: [email protected], T: (888) 585-MARI
DISCLAIMER FOR FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains certain “forward-looking statements”
or “forward-looking information” (collectively “forward looking
statements”) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws.
All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are
forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and
projections as at the date of this news release.Forward-looking statements
can frequently be identified by words such as “plans”, “continues”,
“expects”, “projects”, “intends”, “believes”, “anticipates”,
“estimates”, “may”, “will”, “potential”, “proposed” and other similar
words, or information that certain events or conditions “may” or “will”
occur. Forward-looking statements in this news release include
statements regarding; the Company’s intention to open a hemp-based CBD
extraction facility, the expected benefits to the Company and its
shareholders as a result of the proposed acquisitions and partnerships;
the effectiveness of the extraction technology; the expected benefits
for Empower’s patient base and customers; the benefits of CBD based
products; the effect of the approval of the Farm Bill; the growth of the
Company’s patient list and that the Company will be positioned to be a
market-leading service provider for complex patient requirements in 2019
and beyond. Such statements are only projections, are based on
assumptions known to management at this time, and are subject to risks
and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or
developments to differ materially from those contained in the
forward-looking statements, including; that the Company may not open a
hemp-based CBD extraction facility; that legislative changes may have an
adverse effect on the Company’s business and product development; that
the Company may not be able to obtain adequate financing to pursue its
business plan; general business, economic, competitive, political and
social uncertainties; failure to obtain any necessary approvals in
connection with the proposed acquisitions and partnerships; and other
factors beyond the Company’s control. No assurance can be given that any
of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will occur
or, if they do occur, what benefits the Company will obtain from them.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking
statements in this release, which are qualified in their entirety by
these cautionary statements. The Company is under no obligation, and
expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any
forward-looking statements in this release, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by
applicable laws.
