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Women-Friendly Wellbeing App Launched by Scottish Entrepreneur

Starting out as just a handful of women in a local Facebook group during the Covid lockdown, Robyn Drummond has since expanded the reach of her fitness, nutritional and positive mental attitude to food advice, and is now reaching new heights with the launch of a user-friendly mobile app.

Thanks to the launch of an all-new mobile application, the sphere of influence of Robyn Drummond’s unique combination of fitness, nutrition and psychological support for women continues to grow. IOS and Android compatible, the Robyn Drummond Fitness app is available at Apple’s App Store and Google Play.

Aged just 24, but already an established coach by the outbreak of Covid-19, the pandemic forced Drummond – reluctantly – online. With a friend’s help she began teaching to a Facebook community of just 20 women local to her home in Fife, Scotland. But word of her engaging approach to helping women improve their health and increase their confidence spread rapidly. Soon more than 1,000 women were subscribing, leading to the launch of her own website. The development of the Robyn Drummond Fitness app adds greater convenience and the scope for adding more services.

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A Healthy Relationship with Food and Body Image:

With a growing community and rapidly expanding reach, Drummond’s app contains hundreds of pre-recorded workouts, nutritional guides, quick and unfussy recipes and education videos – all available on demand 24/7. Users can set their step goals, nutritional targets or chosen fitness programmes (E.g., improve fitness levels, 15-minute workouts, fat loss, tone up) and have it synced automatically to their app for their own exercise programme. There are routines for improving strength, cardiovascular, core, flexibility and mobility. Everything, in fact from someone who wants a high intensity workout, to getting toned, through pre-and-post natal routines, to workouts for women experiencing menopause and other seated routines for those with mobility struggles.

But it is in the nutritional tips and her more general advice about women’s relationship to food and dieting that sets the Robyn Drummond approach apart.

“A lot of our members are women aged between 30 and 55 who feel like they are carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders,” says Robyn Drummond. “They just want to eat healthily and quickly, but have tried every diet and are confused. Is it okay to eat after 8pm? Will I gain fat if I eat foods with fat in them? Are carbs good – or bad? There’s so much confusion – so we try to simplify things and debunk all these faddy ideas. It’s all about helping women develop a positive mindset when it comes to food and health and body image.

“It’s my mission to help women like themselves a little more,” continues Drummond. “That involves getting them a bit more active so they can enjoy life and not feel guilty about eating a bit of cake.”

The Robyn Drummond Fitness app integrates with health and fitness apps, such as Apple Health, MyFitnessPal, Chronometer etc. It is available on a subscription basis, for £14.99 a month.

B2BTradeCard Support Children’s Air Ambulance with Generous Fundraising Commitment

Chorley-based incentive, loyalty and advertising services solutions provider B2BTradeCard will raise funds to cover 10 missions (£3,500 per mission) for Children’s Air Ambulance over the next 12 months., as part of a generous fundraising commitment.

Starting with an immediate cash donation of £3,500, further funds will be raised with planned activities such as sponsored events organised by the charity, as well as the company’s own events, including its annual golf day and members event at the AO Arena, and also by enabling customers to donate using loyalty points from B2BTradeCard’s loyalty solutions.

The Children’s Air Ambulance is a lifesaving transfer service for critically ill babies and children. Its helicopters complete journeys four times faster than those taken by road, reducing the risk of further complications and helping to save lives.

When a child is too sick to travel, it can also fly medical teams and bespoke equipment to them from across the UK, so that they can receive specialist treatment at their local hospital.

B2BTradeCard CEO Craig Parsons said: “We’re really pleased to have chosen Children’s Air Ambulance as our charity partner for the next year. It’s their tenth anniversary, so we decided a good goal would be to cover the cost of ten lifesaving missions.

“Two of our team, account managers Alex and Bex, have already signed up to abseil from Liverpool Cathedral in July and we’re looking to complete a number of further major team events going forwards, and to get our members involved too.

“We’re also baking each week, in turn, and also currently collecting all our old clothes together to donate. The team have collectively got right behind the idea and we’re confident of achieving our goal for such a fantastic charity partner, saving children’s lives across the country.”

For more information go to https://theairambulanceservice.org.uk/childrens-air-ambulance/ or www.b2btradecard.com.

London Chef Celebrates the King’s Coronation With Sushi Making

Makiko Sano, a professional sushi chef and owner of The Suzu House restaurant and cooking school, is celebrating the King’s Coronation by spreading the joy of Japanese cuisine and honouring England’s influence on her personal and professional life. She’s offering a Coronation voucher that allows the holder to bring along a guest for free to take part in a sushi-making class at her popular London school. 

Based in Hammersmith, The Suzu House serves traditional Japanese cuisine in an intimate setting and also offers hands-on cooking classes. Through Makiko’s instruction, students of all ages can learn how to make popular Japanese dishes like sushi, ramen, dumplings and even mochi. 

A personal chef with years of experience, Makiko has catered private events and cooked for high-profile clients like Stanley Tucci and Hayley Atwell. She’s also a teacher specialising in delicious and healthy Japanese cuisine. In addition to her classes at The Suzu House, she also teaches at a sixth form college. 

Her decision to celebrate the King’s Coronation with a cooking class gift voucher isn’t based solely on her desire to spread happiness through cooking. Makiko has personal ties to England and Buckingham Palace.

Born in Japan, Makiko made the decision years ago to marry a foreigner and relocate to the UK. Her grandmother, the only person who gave her her blessing, was overjoyed with their decision to make England their new home. At 80, her grandmother travelled from Japan to London for Makiko’s wedding. During the trip, she visited Buckingham Palace, whereupon she bowed deeply with heartfelt gratitude toward Her Majesty on Makiko’s behalf.

In 2007, Makiko was invited to Buckingham Palace to cook and serve sushi, an experience that sticks with her to this day. She’s since been invited back three more times to prepare sushi. 

“I remain profoundly grateful for this incredible country which has given me both business opportunities as well as wonderful friendships throughout many memorable experiences. This month marks a momentous occasion – the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. The joyous event will undoubtedly be felt by all.” – Makiko Sano

The versatile chef and teacher is also an author. She’s published three books on sushi and Japanese cuisine, two of which have been translated into many languages. Her fourth book, which focuses on ramen recipes, is being released in June of this year. 

While Makiko’s work is deeply rooted in Japanese culture and cuisine, she remains grateful for England and the opportunities she’s had since moving here. The Coronation voucher for The Suzu House is her way of celebrating the King’s reign and also giving people a way to embrace the art of sushi making. 

Learn more about Makiko Sano’s culinary work, teachings and books at  https://makikosano.com/

London Officially Crowned the Biggest UK “Suntrap” City!

A new study by the team at Betway provides the ultimate sun-seekers travel guide by revealing the best spots for guaranteed sun, with The Big Smoke coming out on top as the biggest suntrap in the UK.

Taking a seedlist of some of the most populated cities around the world, the team ranked them on their sunshine credentials to discover which are the best spots to catch some rays. 

The team considered various factors when ranking each city, such as the average number of daylight hours in the year, which month of the year has the most sun, average annual temperature, the number of beaches/distance to the nearest beach, average annual rainfall and how windy the area is (km).

Although the weather in the UK is famously unpredictable, those living in London have slightly more exposure to sunshine compared to other parts of the country, with the English capital scoring 44.6/70 overall in the report.

The report found that London has one of the highest annual average temperatures in the UK, coming in at 11.1°C.

Reading follows closely behind as the second biggest suntrap in the UK, with an overall score of 39.6/70. The report found that Reading has one of the highest number of average annual daylight hours in the UK, with an average day length of 11:15.

Manchester was ranked the third biggest suntrap in the UK, with an overall score of 29.6/70. Although the ‘rainy city’ didn’t score too highly for average annual temperature, least amount of rainfall or number of sunshine hours, the report found Manchester comes out on top as the least windy city in the UK, with an average speed of 15.8km.

See how the top 10 UK cities ranked in the report: 

 CityScore /70
1London 44.6
2Reading39.6
3Manchester29.6
4Bournemouth28.7
5Brighton28.5
6Liverpool27.6
7Bristol26.1
8Birmingham25.8
9Derby25.7
10Plymouth23.8

The ‘SunTrap Cities’ report conducted by Betway reveals which cities around the world are the best spots for guaranteed sun. To find out more, please visit: https://blog.betway.com/casino/suntrap-cities-the-sunniest-places-in-the-uk-and-beyond/

Pure Drinking Water Without Single-Use Plastics: Unique Bluewater Rainwater Harvesting and Purification Tech by Innovative EV Charging Hub to Bring Drinking Water to Drivers

Bluewater, a global leader in innovating healthy and sustainable water purification and beverage solutions for home, HORECA, and public dispensing applications, are making history with a world-first rainwater harvesting and filtration system. The Scottish city of Dundee will see a state-of-the-art system installed for drivers, using a new EV charging station.

The new charging hub at Clepington Road, central Dundee, features an on-site solar canopy that can provide power for both the electric vehicle charge points and the Bluewater system.  Rainwater that falls on the canopy is collected and processed using multiple stages of advanced water filtration and purification technologies to create chilled and purified drinking water vended from the two on-site Bluewater dispensers. 

“The new EV Hub with Bluewater hydration solutions in Dundee is a game changer because it will provide clean water for the city’s residents and visitors for free, while reducing pressure on municipal resources and helping to build greater water resilience,” said Bluewater founder and CEO Bengt Rittri, one of Sweden’s foremost environmental entrepreneurs.  Rittri added, “In the past, drivers went to a petrol station, filled up the car and often at the same time ended up purchasing a beverage in a single-use plastic bottle.  The Dundee project represents the future of the service station, in being not only zero-emission but also zero-single-use-plastic.” 

Rittri believes the global problem of environmental pollution by plastics and chemicals – increasingly apparent in both marine and freshwater ecosystems – can be fixed using human ingenuity, which is why he is building a purpose-driven beverage organisation focused on innovating creative approaches to using water sustainably.  Bluewater represents the world’s most sustainable drinking water solution that ends the need for environmentally damaging single-use plastic bottles, and their associated high-carbon production and transportation. 

Bluewater UK Events and Venues Managing Director, Philip Russell, noted that Bluewater purification solutions have been verified in independent testing to efficiently remove PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ from tap water, providing peace of mind to consumers by removing up to 99.99% of health-threatening microplastics and chemicals such as toxic PFAS from tap water.  The tests were carried out by Bluewater and verified by the independent worldwide bio-analytical testing group Eurofins.  Russell added, “Fear of what is in tap water has driven millions of people worldwide to use bottled water, but research continues to show the potential health concerns associated with frequent use of bottled water.”  A study published in the journal Water Research and led by Johns Hopkins University researchers detected PFAS substances in 39 out of more than 100 bottled waters tested.  And in 2022, a French study showed that 78 percent of French bottled mineral water tested by the environmental group Agir pour l’Environnnement contained microplastics. 

The combination of low-carbon and sustainable technology solutions being deployed at the new public EV charging hub in Dundee resulted from a unique collaboration between Bluewater, Dundee City Council, and traffic technology group SWARCO.  The new hub features as the latest instalment of Dundee’s efforts to become the greenest city in Europe by investing in sustainable EV structures with 3.9 public EV charge points per square mile. The Bluewater Rainwater harvesting system integrates rainwater storage, controls, pumps, and mains water backup and was developed in close partnership with GRAF – a global market leader in rainwater harvesting technologies. 

In other innovations, the Bluewater system also includes an integrated digital signage solution with weatherproof 55-inch high-resolution video screens, allowing the EV charging hub operator to share information with users filling their reusable water bottles.  The media platform enables enhanced customer experience and the dissemination of high-value business and public service information, which can be used to give advice on how to avoid plastic and live a more sustainable lifestyle.  The screens operate using a built-in secure and stable cloud-based digital signage software developed by Bluewater partner Visual Art, an international leader in digital signage solutions.  The platform gives users complete control of a digital fleet no matter how many screens or where in the world they are located.

Special film by Yeni Rakı Global for the Centennial of the Republic: “Let’s honor our Republic at every table we will set this year”

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Yeni Rakı Global celebrates the centennial of the Republic with a film themed unity and solidarity. Yeni Rakı’s centennial celebration film, which was released on its global social media accounts across Europe on Monday, April 24, emphasizes the message “Let’s honor the Republic not just on October 29, but at every table we will set throughout 2023”.

In a film targeting foreign markets and Turkish citizens living abroad, Yeni Rakı Global, a brand distributed by Mey|Diageo in 30 countries worldwide, calls for the celebration of the Republic’s 100th anniversary by coming together every day, with open arms, at every table set outside the homeland.

The film, shot in Europe and Turkey, captures the enthusiasm of people celebrating October 29th anywhere and everywhere all around the world: on the beach, subway, boat, shops, streets, homes, and roads with their partners, family and friends, and significant others, waving flags, raising glasses, singing, hugging, and embracing. Emphasizing that the first century of the Republic deserves to be celebrated throughout the entire year, not just on a single day, the film sends the message “Let’s honor the Republic in all tables we will set throughout 2023, no matter where you are in the world”.

Tolga Karaçelik directed the commercial film for BLAB İstanbul.

Those living abroad can watch the film on Yeni Rakı Global’s Instagram, Facebook and YouTube accounts, and on Yeni Rakı Germany’s Instagram, Facebook and YouTube accounts.

CREDITS:
Brand: Mey|Diageo
Advertising Agency: BLAB İstanbul
Production Agency: Public Film
Director: Tolga Karaçelik
Post Production: İmaj
VO: Nejat İşler
Music: Comfortnoise

WePlay Ventures announces the launch of Europe’s biggest Acceleration Program for Gaming Startups

WePlay Ventures has launched Europes largest Game Acceleration Program. The game studios will be trained on various aspects of game development during the three-month program. Upon completion of the program, the studios will have the opportunity to receive investments.

London — WePlay Ventures, which recently expanded its operational region to Europe and Central Asia, has launched the largest Game Acceleration Program in Europe in collaboration with key players in the gaming ecosystem. Early-stage gaming studios that develop games for mobile, PC, console, and Web3 platforms in Europe, Central Asia, and Turkey will be able to apply to the program.

During the three-month program, studios will receive training in finance, business development, and strategy, as well as technical areas such as development, art and game design. They will have the opportunity to meet with industry professionals and benefit from their experiences. The gaming studios that successfully complete the program will have the opportunity to test their games with the world’s largest publishers and receive investment from WePlay Ventures.

Physical workspaces will be available in 13 countries

The Game Acceleration Program, created in collaboration with Europe’s top gaming companies, stands out from other programs due to its emphasis on securing the best investment and publishing opportunities. The program aims to foster knowledge-sharing and synergy among participants in the region. While the program will primarily take place online, physical workspaces will be available in 13 countries. Further details on the countries and program will be announced soon.

“We aim to find the most promising yet overlooked gaming studios”

Explaining that they are excited to have been working on this program for a long time, WePlay Ventures Managing Partner Bora Koçyiğit said; “At WePlay, we are committed to supporting early-stage gaming studios in every way we can. We have recognized that these studios require strategic and financial guidance, which forms the foundation of our Acceleration Program.”

“In collaboration with leading stakeholders in the European gaming ecosystem, we have created what we believe will be Europe’s largest game acceleration program. We are confident that the program will surpass expectations and benefit the entire gaming industry in the region,” he added.

Click here to apply and check out the program.

Contact: Oyku Uygan, [email protected]

Manchester-Based Property Investment Firm, Alliance Investments, Reveals a Second Luxury Development Project in Birmingham

Alliance Investments, based in Manchester, has unveiled its second Birmingham project. Neighbourhood Heights will be situated in Edgbaston – just minutes away from the city centre.

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The growing Manchester-based property investment firm has launched the initial available apartments in its most recent luxury development venture in Birmingham, Neighbourhood Heights. The project will entail the construction of 81 one- and two-bedroom apartments, and is scheduled to commence in Q2 of 2023.

Designed by architects with vast experience in the city, Neighbourhood Heights is exactly what Birmingham needs and is set to be the ideal home for young professionals, families and first-time buyers.

With a forecasted completion date of Q2 2025, and a GDV of £20.5m, Neighbourhood Heights will deliver a mix of comfort, connectivity and stylish interior design combined, to create homes that exceed expectations.

In addition to the first-class homes on offer, residents can also enjoy roof gardens, a communal lounge and work from home spaces, a community manager and a dedicated residents’ app which can be used to create clubs and forums, promote local businesses, manage tenancies and more.

Located in the Ladywood area of Edgbaston, one of Birmingham’s most well-known and popular areas. It is also a part of the city that is changing fast thanks to the huge amount of investment underway.

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All apartments at Neighbourhood Heights will be available for sale through Alliance Investments from 24th April 2023, with properties available from £203,496.

Ronald Garrett, Managing Director of Alliance Investments states:

“Our team are delighted to be launching the sales of our second development project in Birmingham.”

“We have a proven track record of the area due to our previous sell out of Park Gate, and are confident of another successful project within Birmingham, due to a 27% house price increase for the city forecast by 2026”

To find out more about investing in Birmingham or purchasing a home within Neighbourhood Heights, please contact Alliance Investments here: https://www.alliance-investments.com/nbhd-heights

True Global Ventures 4 Plus Rebrands Its “Follow On Fund” to “Opportunity Fund” to Deepen the Focus on the Best Generative AI and Web3 Leaders

Generative AI is not just about text or chat tools like ChatGPT or Google’s Bard, nor is it just about creating new images and videos. Web3 is also not just about play-to-earn (P2E) gaming, or Decentralised Finance (DeFi).

Singapore – True Global Ventures (TGV) announced the strengthening of commitment to Generative AI beyond just Web3 with our latest rebranded fund, the “TGV 4 Plus Opportunity Fund”. This rebranding is to better position ourselves to leverage the best growth-stage Generative AI and Web3 investment opportunities during the current market conditions.

Generative AI goes deeper than just text based chats, with more fundamental use cases for productivity gains, additional revenue streams, and even creating unfair competitive advantages for many organisations if they know how to harness them correctly.

Industry transforming technologies like Generative AI are now being used in many more traditional industries like property management, legal firms, consulting advisory, customer service, construction, etc.

Based on TGV’s research, unfortunately many organisations and investors have not prioritised leveraging these disruptive solutions, and so we believe there is still an opportunity for large value creation in these generative AI companies.

The latest fund was previously known as the “TGV 4 Plus Follow On Fund”, which had its first close of US$146 million in June 2022. The General Partners committed over 40% of the current total fund size.

In addition to investing in Web3 leaders with a roadmap to employ Generative AI, the TGV 4 Plus Opportunity Fund will now also invest in growth-stage companies that specialise in Generative AI.

TGV has been investing in early-stage AI companies since 2011, making it an integral part of our investment thesis. While we only started investing in Web3 in 2016, many of the AI companies that we have previously invested in or tracked are now becoming mature and entering their growth-stage phase.

Several of our portfolio companies have already implemented Generative AI solutions into their businesses, particularly in the gaming and open Web3 Metaverses sectors. These solutions can quickly generate new landscapes, virtual items, avatars, non-playable characters, music, and more.


True Global Ventures has also implemented our own Generative AI strategy to use tools to help the fund and our portfolio companies be more efficient in sales, compliance, legal, marketing, communications, etc. The content and topics for our global online conferences also leverage Generative AI, where we usually have 400-500 participants join and weigh in with their diverse views. Now, Generative AI challenges these speakers to create even better content to share.

The TGV 4 Plus Opportunity Fund has invested in two global market leaders so far:

  1. Ledger, the global leader in the digital asset self custody space, which secures more than 20 percent of the world’s digital assets and 30 percent of the world’s NFTs with zero hacks ever. There is also data that shows that Ledger is an anti-cyclical company. During Terra/LUNA, FTX and SVB incidents, its hardware revenue sales went up, showing a high correlation to Gold ETF index price increase.
  1. Animoca Brands, global leader in Web3, which champions true digital asset ownership in the entertainment and open metaverse segments, having gained various accolades including being on the Financial Times (FT) ranking of High-Growth Companies Asia-Pacific 2023 and Fortune’s Crypto 40 list.

We are glad to rebrand the fund as we see new and good opportunities. Contrary to the popular wait-and-see approach, with a curated pipeline of investments, we select industry leaders with attractive valuations and the potential to generate good returns. Through our global network of partners, we then help them turn real winners in a rapidly growing market,” says Konrad Wawruch, Managing Partner of the TGV 4 Plus Opportunity Fund.


Managing Partner of the TGV 4 Plus Opportunity Fund, Fredrik Adolfsson adds, “We believe that the growth equity market offers significant opportunities for investors, such as family offices, to gain exposure to transformative technologies. Technologies such as Generative AI and Blockchain could make their existing portfolio companies much more efficient and effective, giving them an edge and a competitive advantage.


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About True Global Ventures

TGV4 Plus Opportunity Fund (“Opportunity Fund”) completed its first closing in June 2022 for US$146m. The Opportunity Fund General Partners (GPs) who lead the fund and its Investment Committee, invest more than US$62m of their money into the fund. This represents a total GP commitment of over 40% of the total fund size, one of the highest in the Venture Capital industry.

The Opportunity Fund focuses on investing its capital into selected TGV 4 Plus base fund companies. Some of the existing portfolio companies include Ledger, The Sandbox, Animoca Brands, Chromaway, GCEX, etc. 


The utilisation of Artificial Intelligence, including Generative AI, and web3 technologies like Blockchain, have become integral components for our portfolio companies. These cutting-edge technologies are being leveraged as competitive advantages to drive transformative change and deliver proven products.

TGV has its focus in 20 cities globally, mainly in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Stockholm, Paris, London, San Francisco, New York, etc. Visit us at https://www.tgv4plus.com/, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Inquiries: [email protected]

Research shows vehicle cloning is on the rise in the UK

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Platehunter, a leading seller of DVLA private number plates, have shared their findings relating to the vehicle cloning epidemic in the UK, as cases continue to rise. The research seeks to bring further light to recent DVLA data showing that 12,300 UK citizens, between January 2021 and September 2022, received either fines, penalties or letters for misdemeanors involving other vehicles displaying their registration.


Additional research into the issue by Platehunter found that vehicle cloning has been on the rise for much longer. Their data indicates that 4,021 complaints of vehicle cloning were made in 2018 and 9,384 in 2019. They also found that a staggering 7,400 complaints were reported in 2020 when the Covid pandemic was at its apex.


Vehicle cloning occurs when someone steals or duplicates the private number plates of a vehicle that doesn’t belong to them. Criminals engage in vehicle cloning in order to commit other crimes using the car or to get out of traffic or parking fines. Crimes committed with stolen number plates may lead police to the legal owner of the car. Some criminals will also use vehicle cloning to sell a stolen car to an unsuspecting buyer.


Platehunter Sales Director Jon Kirkbright says, “People come to us because they’ve had the police on their doorstep asking why they made off from a garage without paying. Others have had speeding fines in London when they’ve never been there – all because someone has cloned their plate and used it to commit crimes.”
An uptick in Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology may be propelling the growth of cloned vehicles. Criminals will now target a car of the same make and model and clone the private number plate, making it more difficult for police to catch them. They can also target a vehicle with a clean record and clone the registration.


Police have advised the public to inform the DVLA immediately if they suspect their private number plates have been cloned. Platehunter is making it easy for victims of cloned vehicles to get new private number plates so they can return to the road with peace of mind.


Kirkbright says, “We’ve seen a 300% increase in the purchase of replacement car registration plates in the last 12 months. Buying a cheap number plate from platehunter.com will resolve all problems that come with having a number plate cloned. Best of all, it can be done the same day resulting in no further issues.”


For more information on obtaining new private plates at affordable prices, visit platehunter.com.