South Africa’s Taxman Is Coming for Online Earners
South Africa’s revenue service (SARS) is intensifying efforts to identify and tax online earners, from influencers to crypto traders, using platform data and advanced analytics. The crackdown arrives as more Africans generate income outside traditional employment, raising compliance challenges for small creators. Meanwhile, Nigerian‑based solar firm Sun King announced a cross‑border expansion into Ethiopia backed by a deal worth roughly US$130 million, aiming to power millions of off‑grid households. The article also profiles Amina Asu‑Beks, founder of AI‑driven shopping assistant Prizeless, highlighting her self‑taught tech journey and entrepreneurial success.
Scott Sports Appoint Hsuan Boon Tan as New Co-CEO
Scott Sports announced that Hsuan Boon Tan will join Pascal Ducrot as co‑CEO, replacing Juwon Kim who returns to majority owner Youngone Corp. The co‑CEO structure, first introduced in August 2024, follows a disputed leadership change earlier this year. Ducrot...
SAP, 렐티오 인수로 ‘AI 준비 데이터’ 전략 본격화
SAP announced an agreement to acquire cloud‑native MDM specialist Reltio, aiming to strengthen its Business Data Cloud (BDC) platform. The deal, whose financial terms remain undisclosed, will enable SAP to transform master data from both SAP and non‑SAP sources into...
Vanity-Led Demand: Vitagen Taps Female Audience with Beauty-Focused Drinks
Malaysia Dairy Industries is targeting women over 25 with Vitagen Collagen Less Sugar, a probiotic drink that adds marine collagen and vitamin C while cutting sugar. The product leverages the growing vanity‑led demand for functional beauty, positioning gut health and skin...
Samsung Prepares PCIe 5.0 QLC SSD with Custom RISC-V Controller Design
Samsung unveiled a custom RISC‑V based controller for its upcoming BM9K1 PCIe 5.0 SSD, marking a shift from Arm‑based designs. The drive targets sequential reads up to 11.4 GB/s and projected writes near 10 GB/s, using QLC NAND for high density. Samsung claims...
Due-Diligence Gaps Fuel Uptick in M&A Disputes in 2025 – Survey
A BRG survey of over 200 deal professionals found that 46% of M&A disputes in 2025 stemmed from due‑diligence gaps, the highest level since the study began. Earn‑out disagreements surged to 35%, up 11 points, while purchase‑price allocation issues fell...
Cedar Hill Capital Leads $1.5 Mn Round in Fraud Intelligence Startup Sign3
Early‑stage VC Cedar Hill Capital led a $1.5 million financing round for Gurugram‑based fraud‑intelligence startup Sign3. The round also included existing backer Smile Group and angels such as Rajesh Sawhney, Dinesh Agarwal, Anup Agarwal and Vinay Bagri. Sign3’s AI‑native platform, used by...
How to Build an Award-Winning Social Media Campaign
The ET Trendies Awards recognize India’s most viral and effective influencer and social‑media campaigns, judging impact, brand metrics, and business results. Winners start with a human insight‑driven story, then choose a single platform—Instagram Reels, YouTube, or X—and tailor content to...
Bajaj Finserv To Invest ₹400-₹450 Cr In AI Startups, Launch Dedicated Fund
Bajaj Finserv announced a plan to invest between ₹400 cr and ₹450 cr (approximately $48‑$54 million) in AI‑focused ventures during FY27, combining a new dedicated private‑equity fund with direct balance‑sheet investments. The AI‑focused AIF, managed by its alternative‑investment arm Bajaj Alts, aims to...
Vietnam Proposes Environmental Fuel Tax Cuts Amid Middle East-Driven Oil Volatility
Vietnam's finance ministry has drafted a resolution to halve the environmental protection tax on gasoline and cut diesel levies by 50%, lowering rates to VND 1,000 per litre for petrol and VND 500 for diesel. The tax currently represents about 6.7% of...
Building the Right Team Is Key for Emerging Managers
Emerging private equity managers are increasingly recognizing that talent is the cornerstone of successful fundraising and future deal execution. Building a cohesive team with complementary skill sets, industry expertise, and cultural alignment can differentiate a nascent firm in a crowded...
GPs Are Setting the Table Stakes
General partners (GPs) launching new private‑equity funds are re‑examining their term sheets to strike a balance between luring limited‑partner capital and preserving the fund’s economic upside. Tightening economics—such as higher GP‑catch‑up or lower carried interest—helps protect returns but can make...
Are PE’s Best Days Behind It? An LP and GP Discuss
In the latest "Commitment Issues" podcast, Brookfield’s David Nowak and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s Dale Burgess examine how private‑equity firms are adapting to a market with slower capital distributions and more challenging fundraising. They argue that limited partners now demand...
Q&A with Whit Matthews: Fundraising Has Been ‘Especially Difficult’ for Emerging Managers
Whit Matthews, chief investment officer at HighVista Strategies, told Buyouts Insider that fundraising has become "especially difficult" for emerging private‑equity managers. He explained that limited partners (LPs) are tightening their due‑diligence standards and demanding clearer evidence of value creation. Matthews...
Finding the Right Partners Is Pivotal for New Funds
Limited partners (LPs) are increasingly demanding that emerging fund managers rigorously vet their third‑party service providers. The expectation is that these managers will prioritize partners who can demonstrate strong compliance, technology, and cost efficiency. By selecting high‑quality administrators, auditors, and...
New Managers Chart a Differentiated Course
New private‑equity managers are positioning themselves with differentiated investment theses despite a challenging fundraising environment. They argue that unique sector focus, technology integration, and ESG considerations will resonate with limited partners (LPs) seeking fresh sources of alpha. While capital inflows...
REITs Boosted by UK Property Renaissance
UK REITs like Picton Property Income and Custodian Property Income are benefiting from a quiet property market upturn, delivering positive total returns of 6.7% last year. Picton's £405 million ($514 million) REIT, focused on industrial and retail assets, posted a 4.9% yield...
HR Hiring Rises as Firms Respond to Compliance Pressure and Employment Law Changes
Employment in HR and accounting roles across UK SMEs jumped 9.9% year‑on‑year, while wages surged 16.4%, outpacing overall salary growth. The spike follows the 2025 Budget and anticipates the upcoming Employment Rights Act, prompting firms to build internal compliance capability....
Booking Holdings to Consolidate B2B Operations Under Single Global Structure
Booking Holdings announced it will merge the strategic partnership units of Booking.com, Priceline and Agoda into a single global B2B organization. The restructure aims to give travel partners a unified point of contact, consolidate supply, technology and teams, and boost...
Intellias Bags ‘Happiest Places to Work in India’ Certification
Intellias, a global AI‑enabled product engineering firm, earned an 8.9 score on the Happiness Index, securing the "Happiest Places to Work in India" certification. The rating exceeds the 7‑point threshold required for the award and reflects high employee engagement across...
Graphene-Info Releases a New Edition of Its Graphene Investment Guide
Graphene-Info has released a new edition of its Graphene Investment Guide, updating financial data and market analysis for public graphene companies. The guide notes that despite ongoing revenue challenges, most covered firms have seen share price gains over the past...
CNBC Daily Open: Trump's 'Favorite Thing' Is Iranian Oil
Donald Trump announced he would "take" Iran's oil, hinting at a direct seizure of the Kharg Island export hub. The Pentagon is reportedly preparing weeks‑long ground operations, with thousands of troops redeployed to the Middle East. The threat has lifted...
Westpac: Triple Hike Expected to Take Cash Rate to Highest Seen Since GFC
Westpac has revised its outlook, expecting the Reserve Bank of Australia to lift the cash rate to 4.85% by year‑end, the highest level since the Global Financial Crisis. The bank predicts three consecutive 0.25‑percentage‑point hikes in May, June and August,...
Why Risk Alone Doesn’t Get You to Yes
Security leaders often present technically sound risk briefings, yet executives delay action because risk data alone doesn’t compel decisions. The gap lies in translating exposure into business‑focused consequences that align with revenue, compliance, and operational goals. Executives need clear, stakeholder‑specific...
A Rising Female Hospitality Leader: Kassidy Angelo, Managing Director of Gioia Hospitality Group
Kassidy Angelo left a finance career at J.P. Morgan to become Managing Director of Gioia Hospitality Group, steering the rapid rise of Daniel’s, a Florida steakhouse brand. Within a year the Fort Lauderdale location earned a Michelin Guide recommendation, and...
How Oz Hair & Beauty Took on the Giants without Losing Its Soul
The Iconic’s CMO on How Customers Are Building Its Next Chapter
European Markets Mixed as Iran Tensions Push Oil Prices Higher
European markets opened lower on Monday but quickly split, with Germany's DAX barely down 0.04%, while the FTSE 100 rose 0.59% and France's CAC 40 edged up 0.05%. The divergence follows a 50% jump in Brent crude since the Iran...
Employer Ordered to Compensate Manager for "Extremely Harsh" Dismissal
The Fair Work Commission ruled that a senior manager at Tamworth Dementia Respite Service was dismissed in an “extremely harsh” manner after taking leave for a psychological injury and being falsely accused of financial mismanagement. The Commission found the accusations...
10 European Startups to Watch in 2026
A curated list of ten European biotech startups founded since 2021 showcases rapid progress toward clinical milestones and sizable financing. Companies such as Isomorphic Labs, Draig Therapeutics and Adcytherix are moving from platform development to first‑in‑human trials, backed by funding...
Ex-Brookfield VP Claims Wrongful Firing Over Charlie Kirk Post
Former Brookfield Asset Management senior vice president Jennifer Kipley filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination after an Instagram post referencing Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump. She contends the post, made on a personal account, was misinterpreted and triggered an online...
#243 SecurePrint3D Founder Ranjith Gopalakrishnan on Building the Infrastructure for Distributed AM
SecurePrint3D, founded in 2023, unveiled a patented hardware‑enforced print‑authorisation system designed to close the authorisation gap in distributed additive manufacturing. The technology embeds cryptographic controls directly into 3D printers, ensuring only approved digital files can be produced. Founder Ranjith Gopalakrishnan...
Google Gemini Sends More Traffic To Sites Than Perplexity: Report via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Google Gemini more than doubled its referral traffic to websites between November and January, posting a combined 115% gain after the Gemini 3 rollout. In January Gemini sent 29% more visitors than Perplexity worldwide and 41% more in the U.S., reversing...
Prices of Asia-Pacific's Fertilisers, Petrochemicals Set to Surge on Iran War: ADB
The Asian Development Bank warns that the Iran‑Israel conflict is driving sharp increases in fertilizer and petrochemical prices across the Asia‑Pacific. Methanol benchmark prices rose about 25% in two weeks, while urea and ammonia costs surged after Qatar’s QAFCO halted...
Quo: App Spotlight
Quo, the rebranded OpenPhone, is a cloud‑based VoIP platform that consolidates calling, texting, contact management, and lightweight CRM functions for businesses. The app lets users keep their phone numbers abroad, record calls, and set business‑hour auto‑replies, turning a smartphone into...
D2C Innerwear Brands XYXX, DaMENSCH Scale up in FY25, Profitability Remains Elusive
India’s D2C men’s innerwear startups XYXX and DaMENSCH posted strong top‑line growth in FY25, with XYXX’s revenue rising 46% to roughly $22.5 million and DaMENSCH’s up 34% to $14.2 million. Despite the scale boost, both firms remained loss‑making, though XYXX cut its...
Mega Deals Power Sullivan & Cromwell and Wachtell to Summit of Global Q1 M&A Ranking
Sullivan & Cromwell topped the global M&A legal‑advisor rankings for Q1, handling 36 transactions worth just under $178 bn—about 18% more than runner‑up Wachtell, which closed 23 deals for $149.6 bn. Their lead was boosted by advising OpenAI on a $110 bn equity raise...
Telstra Business Launches Managed IT Service for SMB Market
Telstra Business announced a new managed IT service aimed at small‑ to medium‑sized enterprises with up to 500 staff. The offering bundles IT support, security and maintenance into Basic, Standard and Premium tiers, each featuring a 24/7 service desk and...
Gulf Crisis Drags Down Gold Demand
Indian jewellery retailers are seeing a sharp decline in Gulf sales as the West Asia conflict intensifies. March sales in key Gulf markets fell up to 70% year‑on‑year, hitting chains like Malabar Gold & Diamonds, Kalyan Jewellers, Joyalukkas and Titan’s...
Australia Amends Policies to Ensure Commodity Security
The Australian government is amending the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Act to give Export Finance Australia (EFA) new authority to underwrite, guarantee and finance additional cargoes of fuel, fertilizer and other strategic commodities. The legislation also creates a $823 million...
Webjet Executives Depart as Legal Battle and Suitors Loom
Webjet CEO Katrina Barry resigned after less than two years, amid a wrongful‑dismissal lawsuit filed by former general counsel Meaghan Simpson. The airline’s board confirmed full‑year guidance for the year ending 31 March, but shares plunged to 53¢ AUD (≈$0.35 USD) after rejecting...
Why Faster Corporate Bond Markets Matter for the Real Economy
Recent record‑breaking corporate bond issuance, led by Amazon, has shrunk capital‑raising windows from weeks to mere hours. The speed of credit markets now hinges on rapid interpretation of massive data flows, yet many firms still rely on outdated terminals and...
Laurent Proutière: «We Are a Hybrid, Power Boutique»
Indosuez Wealth Management Asia posted a strong 2025 performance, with assets under management climbing 23% to $23 billion and transactional revenue surging 40%. The unit added $500 million of net new money, driven by a 45% rise in discretionary portfolio management assets...
Facing Section 301, ASEAN Must Reform Systems
The United States is pivoting from tariff‑based pressure to Section 301, using the trade act to label partner institutions as “unfair” and demand reforms. A recent Supreme Court ruling invalidated IEEPA tariffs, prompting the Trump administration to adopt a temporary 15%...
Agency Agenda: Moonfolks' Anish Daryani Sets Eyes on New Market Entries This Year
Moonfolks CEO Anish Daryani announced the agency’s next regional expansion into Vietnam, following a recent launch in Brunei. The plan uses a hub‑and‑spoke model with Indonesia as the central hub and local specialists in each market. Daryani also highlighted a...
Pizza Pizza Releases Q4 and 2025 Annual Results
Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp. reported modest growth in its fourth quarter and full‑year 2025 results. Same‑store sales rose 0.2% in Q4 and 0.9% for the year, while the royalty‑pool system generated $164 million in the quarter and $635.5 million annually, up roughly...
London Drugs President Clint Mahlman to Retire
London Drugs announced that longtime president and COO Clint Mahlman will retire on May 29, 2026 after a 41‑year career that began as a part‑time stock boy. The board named veteran technology executive Nick Curalli, who has spent over three decades at...
Pinterest Bets Measurement and SMBs Will Boost Performance Revenue
Pinterest has reorganized its monetization team, appointing Vik Gupta as VP and GM of Monetization and Sumanth Jagannath as VP of Measurement. The duo will fuse product, engineering and data‑science functions to tighten ad measurement and attribution, targeting greater spend...
As Kansai’s Deep Tech Push Gains Speed, Can GSE 2026 Take It Global?
Kansai’s metropolitan area of Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe is being positioned as Japan’s next global deep‑tech hub. The regional METI office and the Union of Kansai Governments announced a ¥10 trillion (≈$63 billion) investment plan through 2027, targeting 100 unicorns and 100,000...
Big Retailers Say UK Jobs at Risk From Guaranteed Hours Reforms
The UK Employment Rights Act, set to take effect in April, will extend guaranteed‑hours protections to workers on zero‑hour and low‑hour contracts, alongside new rights on sick pay, sexual harassment and parental leave. The British Retail Consortium warns that more...