Qmerit Accelerates Growth of its North American “Green Energy Transition” platform for installation and maintenance services for the electrification of everything

Qmerit is supercharging its innovative, industry-leading platform that connects EV buyers to its nationwide network of certified and vetted electrical contractors to ensure their EV charging and renewable energy systems are installed and maintained correctly – ensuring maximum ROI.

The electrification service market is $2.5B a year, and there is an acute shortage of qualified, licensed electricians resulting in inconsistent and unreliable service levels state to state. Qmerit simplifies finding properly trained and reliable electrical contractors with an easy to use platform that includes rigorous standards- ensuring every installation creates high satisfaction as evidenced by their industry leading Net Promoter Score of 89. Qmerit was built to solve the difficult problem of delivering exceptional installation and maintenance services nationally at scale using a distributed workforce.

Building on its existing nationwide contractor network in the U.S. and Canada, and deep relationships with fleet managers and leading electric vehicle and charging manufacturers, Qmerit simplifies the installation and integration of technologies for the clean energy transition—from electric vehicle charging hardware and energy storage to solar and microgrid integrations.

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To own an AR future, Niantic wants to build a smarter map of the world

Niantic  is continuing to bet heavily on the idea that it knows where consumer computing is headed, namely toward augmented reality.

The game development startup behind Pokémon GO has some good company with companies like Apple, Facebook  and Snap making similar bets, but stakes are high for the studio that hopes it can build an early advantage in foundational AR infrastructure and bring third-party developers onboard, edging out efforts from companies that are quite a bit larger.

Niantic’s experiments are still being bankrolled by their 2016 first-party hit Pokémon GO, which SensorTower estimates is having its best year ever in 2020. A report from the firm suggests that the title has pulled in more than $1 billion in revenue since the start of the year, a marked increase since 2019 that might be surprising, given the social effects of a pandemic. Those revenues have allowed Niantic to be one of the more active acquirers in the AR infrastructure space, buying up small buzzy AR startups like Escher Reality, Matrix Mill and, most recently, 6D.ai.

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Fintech startup Finch launches hybrid checking and investing app

The fintech company Finch has gone live with an app that’s half digital checking, half digital investing.

Its goal is to lower the barriers to investing for consumers between the ages of 25 and 35.

“Three out of five don't invest,” said Neel Ganu, founder and CEO of Finch. “A lot of them are particularly jaded from the financial crisis and not putting their money to work. The really good news is they are a long way out to retirement, and they have time to turn the ship around and start investing.”

Finch offers a checking account through a partner bank, Evolve Bank & Trust, that has Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage. It provides a brokerage account through Apex Clearing Corp., which has Securities Investor Protection Corporation insurance.

“We are a software company, and we stitch these two accounts together in a super seamless way so that people can start investing and put their money to work,” said Ganu, who previously had been the first employee of the German challenger bank N26 and had worked at National Australia Bank and Fidelity Investments.

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Finch Helps Millennials Turn Their Checking Account Into An Investment Vehicle

Millennials are jumping into the stock market in greater numbers. However, there’s still a sizable segment of Millennials who are afraid of or do not understand investing, therefore they keep their money out of the market. The missed monetary gains of these uninvolved Millennials could mean the difference between retiring or not retiring at all. Instead, this fearful segment of the Millennial generation keep their money safe in a checking account. Neel Ganu realized the money sitting in a checking account should be put to work earning you money, since the interest returns from a bank are nil compared to stock market returns. He and his team created Finch. Finch is a consumer fintech company providing financial accounts to invest your checking account balance on your behalf. The startup is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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Collected But Neglected: Data Could Save The Travel Industry

The travel industry has not bounced back from COVID-19 the way many of us hoped. As Warren Buffet said of crises, “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.” Despite some notable exceptions, the travel industry looks more naked than Tom Hanks marooned on a Pacific beach in Castaway.

Pre-COVID, travel, tourism and hospitality was one of the world’s largest industries and employers at about 10 percent of global GDP. No matter where your company sits on the value chain, you must be asking yourself: How do we survive this? How do we come back stronger?

After cutting costs and maintaining operations, the quest for new revenue opportunities is paramount. The greatest such opportunity is right under your feet, hidden in the data you already own. “There’s gold in them thar hills,” as Mark Twain put it.

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