Europe’s fastest growing alternative protein startup aims to set a new standard for the plant-based meat industry by radically changing the way meat is perceived, produced and consumed and inspiring a shift towards eating plant proteins instead of animals.
The company combines proprietary structuring and fermentation technologies to produce meat from plant proteins.
Plant-based meat brand – Planted – is set to enter the Middle East region with the UAE as the starting block and build a solid foundation for future regional expansion into Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and Jordan.
The Swiss-based company aims to set a new standard for the plant-based meat industry by radically changing the way meat is perceived, produced and consumed and inspiring a shift towards eating plant proteins instead of animals.
Planted’s product portfolio
In early 2024, Planted’s product portfolio will be introduced to a range of sectors within the UAE foodservice market including hotels, restaurants, cafes, QSRs, sub-distributors, wholesalers, entertainment, and many independent operators in the hospitality industry.
“We are pleased to enter the Middle East market with an exclusive distribution partnership that will guide the introduction of our meats to a new and enthusiastic customer base initially in the UAE. Collaborating with influential brands in the industry such as Wild & The Moon and Roots & Rolls at COP28 was also a rewarding experience in seeing regional customers try our products first-hand,” Pascal Bieri, Co-Founder; Executive Board Member of Planted, said.
Setting new standards
Founded in 2019, Planted has experienced exponential growth and is present in seven European countries: Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, the UK and Benelux, while already being available in over 6,100 restaurants and more than 8,700 retail outlets.
The company combines proprietary structuring and fermentation technologies to produce meat from plant proteins.
By committing to using only natural ingredients and no additives in all its products, Planted is also setting a completely new standard in the plant-based meat category, making it a healthy and sustainable choice for all.
“We are focused on revolutionizing the protein value chain by creating better meat than animals through clean label and only natural ingredients with no additives, generating the best taste and texture confirmed by top European chefs and utilizing specialized in-house production” Bieri said.
Funding was led by Sanabil Investments, a wholly-owned company by the Public Investment Fund and from Shorooq Partners, AB Ventures, and other investors.
Shariah-compliant debt crowdfunding marketplace plans an IPO within the next few years.
A Saudi Arabia-based shariah-compliant debt crowdfunding marketplace – Lendo – has secured 105 million Saudi riyals ($28 million) in Series B funding to spread wings into new markets and introduce more innovative financing products.
The funding was led by Sanabil Investments, a wholly-owned company by the Public Investment Fund and from Shorooq Partners, AB Ventures, and other investors.
Lendo, licensed by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), helps pre-finance outstanding invoices for businesses in Saudi Arabia.
“We are going to make financial services more accessible, affordable, and inclusive for everyone. I am excited to see what the future holds for our company,” Osama Alraee, CEO, and co-founder of Lendo, said.
He also disclosed its plans for an IPO within the next few years.
Lendo had raised a 27 million riyals ($7.2 million) Series A funding in 2021 led by Derayah Ventures with participation from Seedra Ventures and other investors, bringing the fintech’s total funding to SAR 132 million ($35.2 million).
“Lendo is transforming the financial services industry in their specialist area of Shariah-compliant digital lending for SMEs. The Lendo team has achieved a significant amount in a relatively short period of time, and we are eager to join their journey of increasing access to flexible financial solutions in Saudi Arabia and the region at large,”Sanabil Investments said.
Well-positioned to lead the charge
Mohamed Jawabri, COO and co-Founder of Lendo, said the growing demand for alternative, agile, and accessible lending solutions presents a significant opportunity.
“We are well-positioned to lead the charge in promoting financial inclusion not only in Saudi Arabia but also beyond. By fuelling SME growth, we aim to contribute to the realization of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 economic goals and to create a ripple effect of opportunity throughout the MENA region,” he said.
Total value of debt crowdfunding
Since the inception of Dec 2019, Saudi fintech Lendo has processed more than 2,500 financing transactions on its platform, providing over one billion riyals ($300 million) in financing to SMEs and generating SAR 140 million ($37 million) returns for investors.
Lendo’s debt crowdfunding platform aims to bridge the financing gap for SMEs, which aligns with the Saudi Vision 2030 to significantly expand SME lending from 4 per cent in 2018 to 20 per cent by 2030.
The total value of debt crowdfunding in Saudi Arabia surged from 1.4 million SAR in 2019 to SAR 771 million in 2022, marking a remarkable 430 per cent growth, according to SAMA’s annual fintech report 2022.
Over 40 partners to unite the global digital community, develop collaborative solutions, and step up climate action across the industry.
The tech industry is estimated to be responsible for between 1.5% to 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) aims to bring the entire digital technology sector together to speed up collective efforts on the climate crisis through its Green Digital Action.
Members of the global tech sector have committed to increase action to help solve the climate crisis through Green Digital Action at COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The commitments from tech companies and governments – including mitigation and adaptation efforts – came at the first Green Digital Action series and signal the advance of digital technology in support of climate action.
“Digital technologies can be a key ally in tackling climate change,” said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, ITU Secretary-General.
“These Green Digital Action commitments show that the digital sector can lead the way in using tech for climate action while also reducing its impact on the environment.”
Clear commitments
Tomas Lamanauskas, ITU Deputy Secretary-General, said that the digital technology sector is giving us reason for hope with their clear commitments on climate action.
“We will work with our tech partners to ensure follow-through on these commitments with the aim of expanding and strengthening them in the future.”
Green Digital Action took place from December 2-9 at COP28 to announce tech sector commitments and toaccelerate action.
The outcomes are the result of a nearly year-long effort involving over 40 partners – including industry associations, UN agencies, governments and businesses – to unite the global digital community, develop collaborative solutions, and step up climate action across the industry.
Reducing carbon footprint
The tech industry is estimated to be responsible for between 1.5 to 4 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Growing data storage and processing needs, including for AI systems, are further increasing the sector’s carbon footprint and require a significant amount of energy.
Technology can also bolster climate action.
In areas such as climate monitoring and big data research, technology can identify climate trends and provide guidance on solutions. Technology can support adaptation through early warning systems, as well as mitigation efforts by boosting energy efficiency, building green networks and developing circular economies.
Earlier this year, the SDG Digital Acceleration Agenda – a global analysis released as part of SDG Digital – reported that more than two-thirds of the UN’s targets for sustainable development can benefit directly from digital technologies.
As Green Digital Action advances, it will work to secure more commitments and bring together more partners. ITU and its Green Digital Action partners are calling for a dedicated digital day at COP29 to position digital technologies and services as a key factor in the efforts against the climate crisis.
Outcomes of Green Digital Action:
Corporate agreements on reducing greenhouse gas emissions following science-based targets aligned with the goal of limiting climate warming to 1.5 degree centigrade, and creating transition plans as well as increasing transparency on emissions data across the tech industry.
Cross-country collaboration to develop e-waste regulation as a key vehicle to foster a circular tech industry.
Joint statement by the leading international standards developers – ITU, ISO and IEC – on the importance of sustainability being built into technical standards development by design, and standards helping the world reach net-zero emissions and achieve a resource-efficient circular and low-carbon economy.
Strengthening of industry and country collaboration on the implementation of environmental sustainability standards through an action plan.
Pledge from the mobile telecommunication and satellite industry to support the Early Warnings for All initiative through cell-broadcast and direct-to-device services to protect everyone through life-saving disaster alerts by 2027. A public sector pledge to implement cell-broadcast using a regulatory approach was also made.
Fraudsters have been quick to harness the potential of generative AI to perpetrate various fraudulent activities.
Businesses have no choice but to adopt AI tools, to give themselves a chance to forecast and anticipate the next moves of these fraudsters.
In today’s digital age, the landscape of fraud is evolving at an alarming pace. Victim profiles, which used to skew heavily toward the elderly and infirm, now include younger, fully functioning adults.
In 2022, 20-59-year-olds reported 63 per cent of all fraud in the United States. Industries being targeted by fraudsters are evolving as well, and now include those in crypto and gaming.
In the past, most adults were able to see through scams and avoid them. However, the introduction of generative AI has been a game changer, transforming ordinary schemes into highly sophisticated efforts.
Alex Zeltcer, CEO and Co-Founder at nSure.ai.
Generative AI, a subset of artificial intelligence (AI), is making waves in the world of cybercrime. It is a technology that can generate content that is virtually indistinguishable from human-created content.
Whether it’s producing convincing text, images, or audio, generative AI leverages deep learning and neural networks to create highly realistic and persuasive output at scale.
Shady third-world country call centres have been replaced by autonomous AI tools. This capability has become a powerful tool in the hands of fraudsters.
Fraudsters have been quick to harness the potential of generative AI to perpetrate various fraudulent activities. They are scaling their efforts through automation, as they conduct conversational fraud using AI-powered bots, mimicking human interactions in channels like email, text messages, and even platforms like WhatsApp.
These bots engage unsuspecting individuals, leading them to divulge sensitive information or engage in financial transactions that benefit the criminals.
Furthermore, generative AI technology is used to produce deep fake voice recordings, making fraudulent phone calls even more convincing.
One area that is particularly concerning is the way generative AI is used to steal credit card information. By using AI-generated phishing websites, emails, and text messages, criminals can deceive individuals into revealing their credit card details.
They can even use voice calls with Deep Fake technology to trick unsuspecting victims. The realism of these scams has made it increasingly challenging for users to differentiate between genuine and fraudulent communications.
Businesses’ responsibility to prevent fraud
As the battle against AI-generated fraud intensifies, businesses find themselves on the front lines of defence.
They are, after all, the ones approving transactions that use stolen payment devices. They are also the party that will be hit with chargebacks and potential penalties, giving them a strong financial incentive to prevent fraud.
Even when customers are to blame for their credit cards being stolen, they still will blame businesses for accepting payment.
A recent survey found that 24 per cent of customers believe that the business where the fraudulent transaction took place is responsible.
Those customers are much less likely to do business in the future with a company that they believe mishandled their information. Businesses that are unable to detect fraud will see their customers make their purchases at the competitor down the road.
The consequences of not detecting fraud are severe. The combination of customer churn paired with chargebacks and penalties makes for an ugly hit to the bottom line.
Businesses could opt for a risk-averse payment denial approach.
Historically, however, that approach means declining up to 20 per cent or more of legitimate transactions. Once again, this approach will have a significant impact on profitability.
Combatting AI-generated fraud
To combat the rising tide of AI-generated fraud, businesses and financial institutions are increasingly turning to AI themselves.
These AI-powered fraud prevention solutions can process vast amounts of data in real time, identifying patterns and behavioural anomalies that may indicate fraudulent activities. Machine learning algorithms can continuously adapt to evolving threats, proving invaluable in the ongoing battle against fraud.
AI technology is crucial for swiftly and accurately identifying fraudulent transactions and preventing financial losses.
By more precisely distinguishing between legitimate and fraudulent activities, these tools also help reduce false positives, ensuring that legitimate customer transactions are not mistakenly flagged as fraudulent.
Those unwilling to adopt AI to prevent fraud will find it difficult to remain competitive in their field.
An urgent need that demands attention now
The urgency of addressing the growing challenge of generative AI fraud cannot be overstated. Generative AI is in its infancy.
Every single day, it continues to evolve, learn, and transform itself. Fraudsters themselves are learning daily how to better utilise generative AI effectively and scaling up their activities even more.
As time goes on, the technological advances and improvements in fraudster skill sets will pose a potent challenge that must be overcome.
Businesses must recognise their responsibility to protect their customers and themselves from the evolving threat landscape. They have no choice but to adopt AI tools, to give themselves a chance to forecast and anticipate the next moves of these fraudsters.
Failing to do so can have dire consequences for digital goods sellers and their customers alike. Businesses must take immediate action to combat fraud and safeguard the trust of their customers.
Alex Zeltcer, CEO and Co-Founder at nSure.ai, an Israel-based company combating online chargebacks and securing high-risk transactions from fraudulent activities.
Global PC market set for 8% growth to 257m units in 2024, a return to 2019 shipment levels.
OEMs, processor manufacturers, and operating system providers to focus on delivering new AI-capable models in 2024.
Canalys believes the first deployments of AI-capable PCs to businesses will be limited to specific organisation types and employee roles.
OEMs and the channel will see strong revenue opportunities both from selling higher-ASP AI-capable PCs and from the proliferation of new services centered on AI optimisation.
2024 will also bring a proliferation of Arm-based PCs, largely driven by Qualcomm’s X Elite chip.
Middle East and Africa (MEA) is expected to become the second biggest yearly growth market for PC shipments, after Latin America, next year.
According to the latest Canalys forecasts, the MEA market is expected to witness a year-on-year growth of 11.6 per cent in 2024 to 14.4 million units, compared to 12.9 million units this year.
In 2022, the shipments stood at 13 million units.
Globally, the market is on the verge of recovery following seven consecutive quarters of decline and is expected to return to growth of five per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023, boosted by a strong holiday season and an improving macroeconomic environment.
Looking ahead, full-year 2024 shipments are forecast to hit 267 million units, witnessing an eight per cent higher than in 2023, helped by tailwinds including the Windows refresh cycle and emergence of AI-capable and Arm-based devices.
Fresh demand
Ben Yeh, Canalys Analyst, said that the global PC market is on a recovery path and set to return to 2019 shipment levels by next year.
“The impact of AI on the PC industry will be profound, with leading players across OEMs, processor manufacturers, and operating system providers focused on delivering new AI-capable models in 2024. These initiatives will bolster refresh demand, particularly in the commercial sector.”
A new generation of AI-enabled PCs is a hybrid of cloud and on-device computing to enable people to supercharge their productivity and unleash their creativity.
Driving a paradigm shift toward the era of the “AI PC”, which will greatly improve performance, security and personalisation, even though it is still in its infancy.
Faster processing power
Canalys believes the first deployments of AI-capable PCs to businesses will be limited to specific organisation types and employee roles.
Examples include research and development, developers, engineers, data analysts and artists.
These early adopters will take advantage of AI-enabled PCs’ faster processing power when working on specific tasks. Game developers will be able to generate entire levels based on a small manually created section that the AI trains itself with.
Designers can give the AI rough sketches to build and iterate on. Scientists will be able to run complex models faster, as the processing doesn’t have to do a round trip to the cloud.
Developers and data analysts can use their PCs’ AI capabilities to quickly identify trends in their data, all while having total confidence in their security as the data never leaves the devices.
Strong revenue opportunities
Yeh said the total shipment share of AI-capable PCs is expected to be about 19 per cent in 2024, accounting for all M-series Mac products alongside the nascent offerings expected in the Windows ecosystem.
However, as more compelling use cases emerge and AI functionality becomes an expected feature, he said that Canalys anticipates a fast ramp-up in the development and adoption of AI-capable PCs.
OEMs and the channel will see strong revenue opportunities both from selling higher-ASP AI-capable PCs and from the proliferation of new services centred on AI optimisation.
Canalys believes that over the next five years, the market will see a proliferation of AI-capable PCs, the emergence of a marketplace of fine-tuned LLMs and AI tools, and revamped operating systems defined by strong AI integration.
All eyes onSMBs
Channel partners will play an important role in evangelizing the benefits of AI-capable PCs and tools as their intimate knowledge of customers’ business needs will be vital to help navigate a new area of complexity.
Ishan Dutt, Canalys Principal Analyst, said the commercial segment is poised for a demand bump in 2024, following a prolonged period of delayed purchasing.
“Channel sentiment around PC business performance next year is positive, with 47 per cent of partners polled in November anticipating their Windows PC shipments to grow 10 per cent or more next year. SMBs have been highlighted as a strong opportunity, with the recent macroeconomic difficulties having had a proportionally larger impact on their ability to budget for PC procurement over the last several quarters.”
Moreover, he said that 2024 will also bring a proliferation of Arm-based PCs, largely driven by Qualcomm’s X Elite chip.
While uptake is initially likely to be restrained, particularly in commercial settings, he added the ability to deliver improvements in power efficiency and battery life “will be a boon to offerings partners can bring to customers.”
Sharing between the two different smartphone families will support clearer pictures and videos, read receipts, typing information, and users will be able to share locations and some files in a better way.
Google had taken a primary role in the introduction of a de-facto set of standards and its latest innovation by Google is not supported in the GSMA standard.
The industry still has to sharpen the RCS channel for business messaging – there is plenty of work to be done.
Apple will implement Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging in iPhones in 2024, as a software update later in the year.
This was reported by 9to5 Mac as a direct statement from an Apple insider. The direct quote seems to have provided a way to release the announcement without making it too prominent or officially sanctioned.
Apple had resisted integrating the standard until now: its CEO, Tim Cook, said it did not see customer demand for RCS in 2022.
The announcement is a politically balanced approach: it introduces the new technology without celebrating it. After all, Apple is not moving away from its successful Apple to Apple messaging platform, iMessage.
Apple is holding closely to iMessage, and it is here to stay. Nor is Apple stopping its foray into business messaging, the paid services offered to companies that want to run customer services or promotional campaigns via phone messages.
Dario Betti, CEO of Mobile Ecosystem Forum.
It is an RCS announcement, and not an “RBM” (RCS Business Messaging), but the news is big – even if expected to an extent.
Apple Business Messaging is here to stay. What the news brings is much-needed interoperability of multimedia messages across Android and iOS.
A user trying to reach a different OS smartphone would have to be dropped to SMS or MMS when attempting to include a picture. RCS will bring better person-to-person messages across the standard messaging services that a user found from their phone.
It’s GSMA RCS, not Google’s RCS
The carefully crafted announcement is careful to avoid any message to Google, which launched a very public campaign about “green vs. blue” bubbles – referring to the colours in the iMessage for SMS. Instead, Apple is making a direct reference to the currently published standard by the GSMA.
In recent years, Google has taken a primary role in the introduction of a de facto set of standards.
What will be the impact on users?
With the new upgrade, Apple users will still be sending iMessages to other iPhones but will be able to send better messages to non-iOS devices.
Sharing between the two different smartphone families will support clearer pictures and videos, read receipts, typing information, and users will be able to share locations and some files in a better way.
In addition, users won’t be charged per message for SMS and MMS, but they will only be charged for the data.
This is often part of a bundle for a smartphone, or can even be done using WiFi.
Things do get a bit blurry though as the latest innovation by Google is not supported in the GSMA standard. Google messages might be encrypted end to end, for instance.
The impact on OTT apps
As mentioned, Apple had resisted integrating the standard until now: with its CEO pointing to weak customer demand for RCS in 2022. The question of demand is an interesting one. People on the street are not asking for RCS, but they are downloading apps such as WhatsApp, Viber or Signal.
They voted for advanced multimedia messaging with their thumbs and downloaded billions of OTT apps. In effect, the big winners of the fragmentation between the default messaging apps for iPhones and Android were the alternative over-the-top apps that provided a more consistent approach thanks to a global base and cross-device service consistency.
The announcement is now too late to provide a real worry for a player such as WhatsApp: it is already well-established in Latin America, Europe and parts of Asia.
The change will not affect its usage base immediately. If Google and Apple were to back the service for deeper device integration in future, that might represent a challenge for Meta and other messaging companies.
What does it mean for business messaging?
There is plenty to be happy about; the RCS inbox was likely to become a SPAM box without some real personal messages.
SMS personal traffic was dwindling and left the universal messaging platform to be the inbox of one-time passwords, reminders and advertising.
A strong person-to-person service is a necessary complement to the business services that are now the main source of revenue.
Without personal messages opening rates will plummet and so will the return on investment of campaigns. This is good news; however, this is not the answer to all the problems of RCS.
The industry still has to sharpen the RCS channel for business messaging – there is plenty of work to be done.
RCS is local; and bureaucratic in some places, with patchy support from operators, and pricing is complex in comparison to simpler OTT offers.
The RBM industry cannot blame external factors now. It has a great opportunity, but it has some catching up to do, fast.
Dario Betti is the CEO of MEF (Mobile Ecosystem Forum), a global trade body established in 2000 and headquartered in the UK, with members across the world. As the voice of the mobile ecosystem, it focuses on cross-industry best practices, anti-fraud and monetisation. The Forum provides its members with global and cross-sector platforms for networking, collaboration and advancing industry solutions.
