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Validus, a Singapore-based SME lending platform, secures $50 million in debt financing to help businesses in Indonesia

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Validus, a Singapore-based digital SME lending platform, secures $50M debt financing to help enterprises in Indonesia

StrongSingapore-based small and medium-sized enterprise lending platform has raised $50 million in debt financing from HSBC as a part of ASEAN Growth Fund strategy.

Validus will use the funds raised to support the financial inclusion of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia by addressing the challenges they face in accessing finance.

64.2 million SMEs account for 61% of Indonesia’s GDP. according to the Indonesian Ministry of EconomyThe growth potential is large. These SMEs employ about 119.6 million people, which is 97% of the overall workforce in the country. However, only about 17.5 million SME players use the web ecosystem and e-commerce. Indonesian SMEs face significant challenges in accessing finance, mainly due to stringent operational, reporting and security requirements of economic banks, according to 2017 World Bank reportAccording to a World Bank report, despite government initiatives, only about 20 percent of bank loans go to SMEs.

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Vikas Nahata (CEO) and Nihkilesh Goel co-founded the corporate in Singapore in 2015. They developed a supply chain-focused lending model that leveraged custom data access through partnerships with traditional banks and international institutions. The company has since expanded to include Indonesia (Batumbu), Thailand (Siam Validus) and Vietnam (Validus Vietnam).

“Traditional banks in the SEA region still rely on traditional methods of assessing small business credit and are overly dependent on historical financial data and collateral secured by real estate,” Goel said. “In a region where GDP is growing at 5-6% annually, small businesses need access to stable and affordable working capital to grow their businesses and contribute to job creation and nation building. This is where Validus plays a major role as the largest provider of financing to small and medium-sized enterprises in the entire ASEAN.”

Its users are SMEs that borrow mainly for short-term working capital needs, Goel told TechCrunch, while lenders include large international institutions (Citi, HSBC, FMO, Credit Saison, OikoCredit) and leading local banks (CIMB Niaga, Bank Mandiri) in Indonesia and Thailand. Goel mentioned that one among its differentiators is its 100-plus unique partnerships across the Southeast Asian region.

“Validus is the largest SME financing marketplace in the Southeast Asian region in terms of outstanding loans or monthly loan disbursements. We currently disburse an average of $150 million in new loans per month,” Goel said.

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(Left) Vikas Nahata, Co-founder and Executive Chairman (Right) Nikhilesh Goel, Co-founder and Group CEO
Image sources: Strong

Over the past three years, the startup has seen growth in each revenue and net profit.

“We have grown our consolidated Group revenue by 69% CAGR over the last three years and more importantly, our Indonesia business, which is our largest market out of the four countries we operate in, has been net profit positive and cash flow positive for the Group since 2022,” Goel told TechCrunch. “Our EBITDA margins are over 50% and at the consolidated Group level, we are targeting cash flow positive by early next year.”

The company employs greater than 300 people in five countries but didn’t disclose how many purchasers it has.

It has raised roughly $75 million in total equity funding. Its previous investors include Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, Vertex Growth, FMO, 01Fintech, NongHyup Financial Group, Norinchukin Bank, Aizawa Asset Management, and Lotte F&L.

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This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com

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Black Memphis Community claims that she is besieged from the pollution emitted by the new supercomputer Elon Muska

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The new Elon Musk project in the amount of $ 6 billion in artificial intelligence in Memphis, Tennessee raises the fears of some residents and environmental supporters who claim that it reflects wider tensions between the rapid expansion of the technology industry and its impact on local communities.

According to residents and conservators in the south -western Memphis, where the object – Nicknamed “Colossus” – is positioned, positioned, Expressed worries The website emissions can affect each public health and the surrounding environment.

Although Musk, through his company, XAI, promised to cut back dangerous emissions, the approach to power supply doesn’t leave room for such limits that ought to be used, local experts say.

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Gas turbines, which largely supply the object, emit various nitrogen and formaldehyde oxides as by -products, together with other substances that help weaken the exhausting ozone layer, and the inhabitants largely black, mainly the staff’ Boxtown community in Boxtown, say, they are saying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8RU4DV2W8Q

Similar to reporting from the data center of 4 million square feet planned for construction Virtually in the Alabamian courtyards, who had nothing to say of their construction, the Musk project was carried out no matter the inhabitants of Memphis and is based on Luce for temporary turbines, whose environmental groups will not be really applicable to the Musk company, and the inhabitants are increasingly nervous that lack of take care of their health and well -being.

As Sarah Gladney, a resident living three miles from the extensive object and has a state of lungs, said: “Our health has never been taken into account, the safety of our communities has never been, never, was never considered.”

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Memphis, like many other communities throughout the country – including rural counties in Alabama – is challenges related to environmental protection after regulatory changes during Trump’s administration, which alleviated the control of pollution and moved specializing in the issue of environmental justice. At the same time, support for emerging technologies was increased, akin to artificial intelligence, an area particularly interesting by Elon Musk.

Mayor of Memphis Paul Young He expressed support In the case of a Muska project, emphasizing the potential economic advantages and tax revenues. However, some residents are concerned about the environmental risk that development may be for the community.

“We look, it’s an opportunity to completely transform our economy,” said Young. This “the game is changing.”

This characteristics attracted the anger of the open representative of Tennessee Justin Pearson, a democrat who lives near the object. Rep. Pearson criticized each the lack of necessities for permission to the object and the proposed economic advantages for the inhabitants of Memphis in his comments to CNN.

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“It’s a real gas plant in the middle of the neighborhood and you don’t need any permission?” Rep. Pearson said. “Something drastically and significantly disappointed in our control system and balances.”

He continued: “If you look at where these data centers support, it is always in poor communities”, in keeping with the legislator, there is no “hope” that the federal government will help them protect them.

(Tagstranslate) memphis

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This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Why the new Porn Law Anti-Revenge disturbs experts on freedom

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Proponents of privacy and digital rights increase the alarms over the law, which many would expect to support: federal repression of pornography of revenge and deep cabinets generated by AI.

The newly signed Act on Take IT Down implies that the publishing of unjustified clear photos-vigorous or generated AI-I gives platforms only 48 hours to follow the request to remove the victim or face responsibility. Although widely praised as an extended win for victims, experts also warned their unclear language, loose standards for verification of claims, and a decent compatibility window can pave the way for excessive implementation, censorship of justified content and even supervision.

“Large -scale model moderation is very problematic and always ends with an important and necessary assessment speech,” said India McKinney, Federal Director at Electronic Frontier Foundation, a corporation of digital rights.

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Internet platforms have one 12 months to determine a means of removing senseless intimate images (NCII). Although the law requires that the request to be removed comes from victims or their representatives, he only asks for a physical or electronic signature – no photo identifier or other type of verification is required. This might be geared toward reducing barriers for victims, but it could possibly create the possibility of abuse.

“I really want to be wrong in this, but I think there will be more requests to take photos of Queer and trance people in relationships, and even more, I think it will be consensual porn,” said McKinney.

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), a co-person of the Take IT Down Act, also sponsored the Safety Act for youngsters, which puts a burden on platforms to guard children from harmful online content. Blackburn said he believed Content related to transgender individuals It is harmful to children. Similarly, the Heritage Foundation – conservative Think Tank behind the 2025 project – also has he said that “keeping the content away from children protects children.”

Due to the responsibility with which they encounter platforms, in the event that they don’t take off the image inside 48 hours of receiving the request: “By default it will be that they simply take it off without conducting an investigation to see if it is NCII or whether it is another type of protected speech, or whether it is even important for the person who submits the application,” said McKinney.

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Snapchat and Meta said that they support the law, but none of them answered TechCrunch’s request for more information on how they’d check if the person asking for removal is a victim.

Mastodon, a decentralized platform, which hosts his own flagship server, to which others can join, told Techcrunch that he could be inclined to remove if he was too difficult to confirm the victim.

Mastodon and other decentralized platforms, comparable to blues or pixfed, could be particularly exposed to the cold of the 48-hour removal rule. These networks are based on independently supported servers, often run by non -profit organizations or natural individuals. Under the law, FTC may treat any platform that is just not “reasonably consistent” with demands of removal as “unfair or deceptive action or practice” – even when the host is just not a business subject.

“It’s disturbing on his face, but especially when he took the FTC chair unprecedented Steps to politicize The agency and clearly promised to make use of the agency’s power to punish platforms and services on ideologicalIn contrast to the rules, the basics, “cyberspace initiative, a non -profit organization dedicated to the end of pornography of revenge, she said in statement.

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Proactive monitoring

McKinney predicts that the platforms will start moderating content before distribution, so in the future they’ve fewer problematic posts.

Platforms already use artificial intelligence to observe harmful content.

Kevin Guo, general director and co -founder of the content detection startup, said that his company cooperates with web platforms to detect deep materials and sexual materials of kids (CSAM). Some of the Hive clients are Reddit, Giphy, Vevo, BlueSky and Bereal.

“In fact, we were one of the technology companies that supported this bill,” said Guo Techcrunch. “This will help solve some quite important problems and force these platforms to take more proactive solutions.”

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The HIVE model is software as a service, so starting doesn’t control how the platforms use their product to flag or delete content. But Guo said that many shoppers insert the API Hive interface when sent to monitoring before anything is distributed to the community.

Reddit spokesman told Techcrunch that the platform uses “sophisticated internal tools, processes and teams for solving and removal”. Reddit also cooperates with the NON -SWGFL organization in an effort to implement the Stopncia tool, which scans live traffic seeking matches with a database of known NCII and removes accurate fittings. The company didn’t share how it is going to be sure that the person asking for removal is a victim.

McKinney warns that this kind of monitoring can expand to encrypted messages in the future. Although the law focuses on public or semi -public dissemination, it also requires the platforms “removing and making reasonable efforts to prevent” senseless intimate images from re -translating. He claims that this will likely encourage proactive scanning of all content, even in encrypted spaces. The law doesn’t contain any sculptors for encrypted services of encrypted messages, comparable to WhatsApp, Signal or IMessage.

Meta, Signal and Apple didn’t answer TechCrunch for more details about their plans for encrypted messages.

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Wider implications of freedom of speech

On March 4, Trump provided a joint address to the congress, wherein he praised the Take It Down act and said he couldn’t wait to sign it.

“And I also intend to use this bill for myself if you don’t mind,” he added. “There is nobody who is treated worse than I do online.”

While the audience laughed at the comment, not everyone considered it a joke. Trump was not ashamed of suppressing or retarding against unfavorable speech, no matter whether it’s the mainstream marking “enemies of individualsExcept for Associated Press from the oval office despite the court order or Financing from NPR and PBS.

Trump administration on Thursday Barred Harvard University From the reception of foreign students, the escalation of the conflict, which began after Harvard refused to follow Trump’s demands to make changes to his curriculum and eliminate, amongst others, content related to Dei. In retaliation, Trump froze federal funds at Harvard and threatened to repeal the status of the tax exemption from the university.

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“At a time when we see that school councils are trying to prohibit books and see that some politicians very clearly deal with the types of content that people do not want to ever see, regardless of whether it is a critical theory of breed, or information about abortion or information about climate change …” McKinney said.

(Tagstotransate) Censorship

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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PO clarous Director General Zoom also uses AI avatar during a quarterly connection

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Zoom CEO Eric Yuan

General directors at the moment are so immersed in artificial intelligence that they send their avatars to cope with quarterly connections from earnings as a substitute, a minimum of partly.

After AI Avatar CEO CEO appeared on the investor’s conversation firstly of this week, the final director of Zoom Eric Yuan also followed them, also Using his avatar for preliminary comments. Yuan implemented his non -standard avatar via Zoom Clips, an asynchronous company video tool.

“I am proud that I am one of the first general directors who used the avatar in a call for earnings,” he said – or fairly his avatar. “This is just one example of how Zoom shifts the limits of communication and cooperation. At the same time, we know that trust and security are necessary. We take seriously the content generated AI and build strong security to prevent improper use, protect the user’s identity and ensure that avatars are used responsibly.”

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Yuan has long been in favor of using avatars at meetings and previously said that the corporate goals to create Digital user twins. He just isn’t alone on this vision; The CEO of transcript -powered AI, apparently, trains its own avatar Share the load.

Meanwhile, Zoom said he was doing it Avatar non -standard function available To all users this week.

(Tagstranslat) meetings AI

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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