Archives May 2026

Business Wire India

• This national-level initiative aims to recognise merit, widen opportunity, and make quality higher education more accessible through a structured scholarship framework
• “AONSAT” Unveils Scholarship Program to Celebrate Academic Excellence with Substantial Financial Support for UG and PG learners
• Unlock your potential with the Amity Online National Scholarship Aptitude Test and avail up to 100% scholarships

Amity University Online, one of India’s leading online universities, has announced the launch of the Amity Online National Scholarship Aptitude Test (AONSAT) 2026, a one-of-its-kind initiative in the higher education segment. The AONSAT is designed to identify academic potential nationwide and unlock wider access to higher education through a merit-led scholarship model.

The first AONSAT, scheduled for Sunday, 10 May 2026, marks a significant step towards creating a more accessible, aspirational, and opportunity-driven pathway for learners across undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Learners today are increasingly seeking greater flexibility, affordability, and value from their education choices. Therefore, AONSAT has been conceptualised as a large-scale scholarship initiative that goes beyond conventional admissions support. By creating a transparent, online-proctored, competitive aptitude-based platform, the initiative is aimed at recognising merit early and enabling deserving learners to access stronger financial support as they pursue their academic goals.

Speaking on the launch, Mr. Ajit Chauhan, Chairman, Amity University Online, said, “Higher education today must do more than open doors. It must actively create pathways for talent to be identified, supported, and nurtured. AONSAT reflects a larger shift in how institutions must think about access, merit, and opportunity. Across India, there are countless capable learners whose aspirations are often shaped by financial realities and limited visibility of opportunity. Through AONSAT, we want to build a credible and scalable platform that rewards potential and encourages learners to take the next step in their academic journey with greater confidence. For us, this is not just a scholarship initiative. It is part of a broader commitment to making quality higher education more inclusive, aspirational, and aligned with the ambitions of a new generation of learners.”

The scholarship structure under the Amity Online National Scholarship Aptitude Test (AONSAT) has been designed to reward top performers across both undergraduate and postgraduate categories. Rank 1 winners will receive a 100% scholarship on the full fee, with one winner each for UG and PG. Rank 2 winners will receive a 50% scholarship on the full fee, with two winners each for UG and PG, while Rank 3 winners will receive a 20% scholarship on the full fee, with three winners each for UG and PG. In addition, qualified candidates will also be eligible for up to 25% scholarship on the first semester fee, widening the reach of the initiative beyond only the top rankers. This test will be conducted through online proctored mode, and there are no registration charges to appear for the exam.

This unique initiative reflects a wider shift in higher education from passive access to active opportunity creation. By bringing together scale, transparency, and merit recognition within a single national initiative, Amity University Online is helping shape a model where scholarships are not merely financial support mechanisms, but strategic enablers of aspiration, academic progression, and social mobility.

For more information-

http://amityonline.com/aonsat

Business Wire India

Uniphore, the Business AI Company, and LTM, the Business Creativity partner to the world’s largest enterprises, today announced a strategic partnership focused on the joint development of industry- and domain-specific AI solutions that combine small language models (SLMs), AI agents, and deep domain expertise.

 

As AI adoption matures, enterprises are shifting to smaller, purpose‑built models and agents for greater precision and control. The partnership brings this approach to core business processes with governance, security, and compliance by design. Uniphore’s Business AI Cloud will power LTM’s BlueVerse™ ecosystem and global delivery, unifying enterprise data, models, and AI agents on a secure, sovereign platform. LTM will drive industry expertise, client implementation, and AI‑led transformation, while Uniphore provides the foundation for building and fine‑tuning domain‑specific SLMs.

 

The partnership will initially focus on banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), manufacturing, and media and entertainment, co-developing solutions to support workflows such as financial planning and analysis (FP&A), contract intelligence, outbound logistics, workforce transformation, and contact center operations.

 

LTM will also deploy Uniphore’s platform in its internal transformation, unlocking enterprise value in operations and enabling faster, more effective implementation timelines for clients.

 

“The world’s largest enterprises want AI that delivers real business impact in their core workflows,” said Umesh Sachdev, CEO and Co-founder of Uniphore. “LTM shares this vision with us. They had already started the journey with BlueVerse™. We are excited to accelerate it by combining Uniphore’s Business AI Cloud with LTM’s deep transformation expertise and global delivery scale. Together, we will turn enterprise data, knowledge, and intent into measurable business outcomes where it matters most.”

 

“The real value of AI lies in applying it to industry-specific and domain-led solutions that drive customer business results. This partnership strengthens our ability to move AI from intent to execution across critical business domains and workflows. It reflects our continued focus on scale, reliability and delivering outcomes that matter to our clients,” said Venu Lambu, CEO and Managing Director, LTM.

 

LTM and Uniphore will work together to commercialize these solutions and drive long-term customer adoption. The partnership will foster ongoing collaboration on development, delivery and continuous refinement as the companies scale the offering. Over time, they plan to expand the approach to additional industries and processes.

 

Business Wire India

With combined business spend on loyalty, employee recognition, and channel incentives projected to exceed $80 billion by the 2030s, the incentive industry is entering a period of rapid scale and strategic pressure.

 

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260422729016/en/

 

 

 

In response, the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) launched a new suite of resources designed to help incentive professionals navigate an environment that’s becoming more specialized, fragmented, and central to business performance.

 

“It’s not just more money coming in—it’s more complexity,” said Vince Chiofolo, President of the Incentive & Engagement Solution Providers (IESP). “Buyers are demanding programs that evolve fast, integrate deeply, and feel personal at scale. These new tools were built for that.”

 

 

IMA’s Suite of Tools Includes:

 

 

New Industry Report — Inside the Incentive Buyer’s Mind

 

 

Drawn from insights of 50+ program owners, the report from Inside the Incentive Buyer’s Mind breaks down the changing expectations of today’s buyers. This report will help:

 

 

• Leaders navigating incentive program investment
• Solution providers looking to sharpen their pitch
• Teams building for scale, precision, and performance

 

 

EngageIQ — The First AI Assistant Built for Incentive Education

 

Now live via ChatGPT integration, EngageIQ answers real-time questions about segmentation, program design, reward models, and strategy logic.

 

 

EngageIQ brings structure to the conversations around recognition, loyalty, and incentives, and puts credible, focused knowledge within reach.

 

 

Motivation Insiders Podcast Relaunch

 

 

A sharper, more frequent series focused on the voices moving the industry forward—from practitioners and platform leaders to marketers and incentive buyers. Each episode on the Motivation Insiders Podcast brings together experts to discuss different aspects of behavioral science and how you can use them to improve your incentive and recognition programs.

 

 

Global Insights on Incentive & Recognition

 

 

The IMA Global Incentives & Recognition Report consolidates insights from executives and companies for industry professionals seeking a better understanding of the global landscape of incentive and recognition.

 

 

The report offers a focused lens, providing structure, depth and actionable insights across regions and roles. This forms a structured and scalable knowledge base—designed to deliver both global comparability and local relevance.

 

 

Recognition Professionals Certification

 

 

Built on Recognition Professionals International’s (RPI) 7 Best Practice Standards® and supported by decades of research, the CRP designation establishes you as a leader in the art and science of employee recognition.

 

 

Access all the tools at www.incentivemarketing.org.

 

 

 

 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260422729016/en/

 

Business Wire India

Airship, the mobile-first customer experience company, today announced the winners of the 2026 Elevate Customer Experience Awards. Global brand leaders from The Economist, Southwest Airlines, and OneFootball were among those honored at the Elevate’26 Customer Experience Summit. The Elevate Awards spotlight global companies that have developed exceptional mobile-first customer experiences for their customers, created innovative campaigns, leveraged AI agents to reach new levels of productivity, and achieved real business results.

 

“Evolving mobile-first consumer behaviors and unprecedented advancements in AI are driving a seismic shift that is reshaping how brands interact with their customers,” said Brett Caine, CEO, Airship. “The 2026 Elevate Award winners aren’t just adapting, they’re leading transformative and meaningful customer experiences. These leading organizations are turning everyday interactions into seamless, cross-channel journeys that deliver meaningful business impact and lasting customer loyalty.”

 

 

The 2026 Elevate Award winners by category include:

 

 

• The Elevate Visionary Brand: Southwest Airlines – Awarded to the company with the most forward-thinking roadmap, Southwest Airlines is actively shaping the gold standard of customer experience with bold, mobile-first strategies that prioritize frictionless travel.
• Journey Orchestration Mastery: The Economist – This category recognizes the team that has mastered the art of connection by building a seamless, unified customer journey across app, web, email, and other channels. The Economist is honored for successfully retaining digital subscribers and driving thousands of new app downloads with campaigns that drove consistent messaging across channels.
• The Business Impact Award: CIMB Malaysia – Focusing on ROI and results, this award recognizes CIMB Malaysia for a digital strategy that has driven significant revenue growth and operational efficiency.
• Excellence in Personalization: OneFootball – Awarded to the brand that treats every user as an individual, OneFootball has built a sophisticated personalization architecture that uses data to deliver hyper-relevant, 1:1 experiences at scale.
• The Experimentation Award: Sally Beauty – Honoring a culture of optimization, this award recognizes Sally Beauty for continuously testing, learning and improving the customer lifecycle. The team consistently and thoughtfully explores new ideas and strategies with the shopper experience at the center.
• The ASO Leader Award: Accuweather – Recognizing excellence in App Store Optimization. Accuweather is honored for strategically optimizing its app presence to drive discoverability, conversion, and sustained growth.
• New Mobile App: Virgin Atlantic – Showcasing a brand new mobile app, Virgin Atlantic is recognized for taking steps to improve the entire customer experience with a mobile-first outlook.
• Innovation Partner: VML – This award recognizes a technology partner that delivers mobile-first experiences that scale globally. VML is unifying data, orchestrating journeys and accelerating time to value.

 

 

For more information about the Elevate’26 Customer Experience Summit and the strategies these leading brands use to drive real results, visit www.airship.com.

 

About Airship

 

 

Airship is the only mobile-first customer experience platform delivering the first live, purpose-built AI Agent Fleet for CX. For over 15 years, Airship has pioneered mobile innovation—from inventing the first push notification, the first mobile boarding pass, the first live activity, and now the first intelligent agent fleet. Thousands of top global brands trust Airship to deliver unified cross-channel experiences and orchestrated journeys that drive measurable results at scale.

 

 

 

 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260504693796/en/

 

Business Wire India

 

• Powered by the Company’s breakthrough L4 and L4 Max Ouster Silicon
• Features the first patented native color lidar sensors with point for point 3D color vision
• Introduces flagship OS1 Max sensor with double the range and resolution of Rev7
• Auto-grade, cybersecure, and designed for functional-safety

 

Ouster, Inc. (Nasdaq: OUST) (“Ouster” or the “Company”), a leader in sensing and perception for Physical AI, announced today its new family of OS digital lidar sensors, Rev8, powered by its next-generation L4 Ouster Silicon. Ouster Rev8 features the world’s first patented native color lidar sensors, provides up to double the range and resolution of the previous generation, and is designed for functional safety, reliability, affordability, and scale.

 

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260504718668/en/

 

 

 

L4 Ouster Silicon:

 

Ouster’s breakthrough L4 architecture doubles the range and resolution of its lidar over the prior generation, adds native-color sensing, and is designed for functional safety. Based on patented Ouster Silicon with embedded Fujifilm color science, the L4 chip results in exquisite color data and hardware-enabled HDR. It boasts 42.9 GMACs of processing power, detection of up to 20 trillion photons per second and a 40 kHz measurement rate with picosecond timing precision, and is capable of processing up to 10.4 million points per second and 22.4 gigabits per second of data bandwidth off-chip. The L4 architecture features both the 128 channel L4 and 256 channel L4 Max.

 

 

Native Color:

 

 

Rev8 represents a paradigm shift in AI perception with the world’s first native color lidar sensors. To perceive the world in full context requires a combination of structure and color, and Rev8 is the first sensor to unify both. For the first time, a single lidar sensor can understand road signs, interpret brake lights, or simply capture the richness of planet earth in survey-grade, colorized maps.

 

 

With megapixel resolution and stunning image quality, Rev8 native color sensors fuse data through physics rather than software. Every point is “born” with color, ensuring ultra-low latency and perfect spatial-temporal alignment. This single-sensor solution eliminates the need for complex calibration, providing a seamless understanding of 3D environments with rich visual and depth information. Owing to its exceptional 48-bit color depth and 116 dB of dynamic range, Ouster’s native color data maintains performance in lighting extremes from 1 lux to 2 million lux.

 

 

REV8 Highlights

 

 

The Rev8 OS family features completely reimagined OS0, OS1, and OSDome sensors and adds the flagship 256 channel OS1 Max.

 

 

• The Flagship OS1 Max: Provides best-in-class performance by delivering double the range and double the resolution of Rev7 through a premier 256 channel architecture powered by the L4 Max. The OS1 Max sees up to 200 meters at 10% reflectivity with a maximum detection range of 500 meters, all with a 45° field-of-view. Purpose-built for high-speed autonomy, smart infrastructure, and heavy industrial use, the OS1 Max offers native color and industry-leading reliability to power long-range, high-performance applications.
• Engineered for Functional Safety and Reliability: Every sensor is auto-grade, cybersecure to ISO 21434, and designed for ASIL-B to ISO 26262, SIL-2 to IEC 61508, and PLd to ISO 13849 functional-safety certifications, ensuring continuous uptime and industry-leading reliability in the most demanding industrial and automotive applications.
• Built For Affordability and Scale: Designed for low-cost, high-volume production deployments to support mass market adoption. With a planned 10-year production life, Rev8 sensors provide the long-term program stability and scalability required for global commercial rollouts.

 

“Rev8 is the most advanced family of lidar sensors ever released and sets a new standard in sensing,” said Ouster CEO Angus Pacala. “With the L4 Ouster Silicon, we are delivering on the promise of our digital architecture to deliver exponential improvements in performance, doubling our core specs and simultaneously introducing the world’s first native color lidar to give machines 3D human-like sight for the next era of Physical AI. Rev8 is the foundational technology that will allow customers to move from prototype to commercial production at scale, providing the reliability and affordability required to enable real-world autonomy across industries.”

 

Built for the Physical AI Era

 

 

The benefits of native color for object classification and sensor fusion, and the unparalleled performance of the OS1 Max, alongside the functionally-safe, ruggedized, scalable design of the entire OS family are a game-changer for customer development and capability. Rev8 native color sensors unlock the collection of the high-quality 3D color data necessary to train the next generation of Physical AI world models. With Rev8’s focus on affordability and scalability, customers can leverage the same sensor suite for both data collection and production deployments. With these advancements, Rev8 is defining a new standard in sensing for the next era of Physical AI.

 

 

Global Adoption

 

 

Dozens of technology leaders across the industrial, robotics, automotive, and smart infrastructure markets intend to adopt Rev8 OS sensors, including Google, Volvo Autonomous Solutions, Liebherr, Epiroc, Field AI, Flyability, Skydio, PlusAI, Constellis, Bedrock, Kässbohrer, Third Wave Automation, Burro, Seegrid, Gecko Robotics, Pratt Miller, AIM Intelligent Machines, Cyngn, Freefly Systems, ATI Robotics, and SwarmFarm, among others.

 

 

Ouster’s Rev8 OS sensors are available to order today and shipping this quarter.

 

 

For more information, visit Ouster’s website or reach out to an expert at lidar@ouster.io. For details on product specifications, refer to the Rev8 data sheets on the downloads page.

 

 

About Ouster

 

 

Ouster (Nasdaq: OUST) is a leader in sensing and perception for Physical AI across industrial, robotics, automotive, and smart infrastructure. With a unified platform of high-performance digital lidar, cameras, AI compute, sensor fusion and perception software, and AI models, Ouster delivers solutions that improve quality of life in the physical world. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Ouster has a global presence serving thousands of customers with offices in the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. For more information about our products, visit www.ouster.com, contact our sales team, or connect with us on X or LinkedIn.

 

 

Forward-Looking Statements

 

 

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such statements are based upon current plans, estimates and expectations of management that are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. The inclusion of forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation that such plans, estimates and expectations will be achieved. Words such as “anticipate,” “expect,” “project,” “intend,” “believe,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “continue,” “target,” “contemplate,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “guidance,” “predict,” “possible,” “potential,” “pursue,” “likely,” and the negative of these terms and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, though not all forward-looking statements use these words or expressions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including statements regarding our strategy, industry trends and our market positioning, the total addressable market for Ouster’s products and offerings; the development of and demand for our products, the scalability and planned production, anticipated performance, benefits to and expectations around customer adoption and application of our products, and the timing and shipment of our products, all constitute forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that we expected, including, but not limited to, risks related to the Company’s limited operating history and history of losses; competition in Ouster’s industry; the adoption of its products and the growth of the lidar market generally; product quality and liability risks; cancellation or postponement of contracts or unsuccessful implementations; Ouster’s ability to respond to evolving regulations and standards; the Company’s ability to manage inventory; the Company’s dependence on key third party suppliers, in particular, Benchmark Electronics, Inc., Fabrinet and other suppliers changes to trade policy, tariffs, and import/export regulations that may have a material adverse effect on Ouster’s business, financial condition and results of operations; and other important factors discussed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, and as may be further updated from time to time in the Company’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings with the SEC. Readers are urged to consider these factors carefully and in the totality of the circumstances when evaluating these forward-looking statements, and not to place undue reliance on any of them. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s reasonable estimates and beliefs as of the date of this press release. While Ouster may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, it disclaims any obligation to do so, other than as may be required by law, even if subsequent events cause its views to change.

 

 

 

 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260504718668/en/

 

Business Wire India

 

NIQ’s latest global report—The Commerce Revolution: Where East Meets West—examines how commerce intelligence is helping brands, retailers, and platforms navigate a rapidly converging global landscape

 

AI is rapidly becoming the buyer, not just the tool—reshaping how products are discovered, chosen, and purchased

The next wave of retail growth isn’t coming from traditional e‑commerce, but from live, social, quick, and AI‑driven commerce models scaling from East to West

 

NielsenIQ (NYSE: NIQ) has announced the release of its new global report, The Commerce Revolution: Where East Meets West, which examines how Eastern-led commerce innovation and Western retail media monetization are colliding to reshape global consumer commerce.

 

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260428841965/en/

 

 

The report finds live, social, and quick commerce—long scaled across Asia—now drive most incremental digital growth worldwide, while Western markets accelerate adoption as these formats localize. At the same time, retail media networks (RMNs) have become one of the fastest‑growing advertising channels globally, with US retail media ad spend projected to reach $107.6 billion (USD) in 2026.

 

 

Beyond this, the report finds that previously siloed operational functions of sellers are beginning to blur boundaries. Payment platforms and rapid fulfillment models from the East are converging with the monetization models born in the West, setting the stage for a singular global commerce model that unifies digital channels, consumer markets and operational functions.

 

 

Key findings from the report include:

 

 

• Emerging channels are scaling fast. Live, social, and quick commerce now drive most incremental digital growth globally. In the US, social commerce (+62.9%) and quick commerce (+62.2%) are outpacing traditional e‑commerce growth.
• Discovery‑led commerce is going mainstream. In APAC, nearly 60% of consumers shop via social and quick commerce. In Western markets, discovery is accelerating, with nearly one‑third of consumers purchasing after discovering products on social platforms.
• Quick commerce is resetting fulfillment expectations. In India, quick commerce now represents about 80% of FMCG sales, while China’s network of roughly 10,000 dark stores enables 30-minutes-or-less delivery at a national scale.
• Retail media is scaling globally. Retail media reached $184 billion in global spend in 2025, with more than 270 networks worldwide.
• Super‑apps point to what’s next. APAC accounts for nearly 55% of global e‑commerce, driven by integrated platforms that unify content, commerce, payments, logistics, and AI—models increasingly influencing Western markets.
• Agentic commerce is collapsing the traditional funnel. AI agents are beginning to autonomously discover, evaluate, and purchase products on consumers’ behalf, accelerating the shift toward AI‑driven decisioning and fundamentally changing how brands compete for visibility, relevance, and growth.

 

“The convergence of Eastern formats with Western monetization models isn’t a future scenario—it’s already reshaping the marketplace in real time,” said Marta Cyhan-Bowles, Chief Communications Officer & Head of Global Marketing COE at NIQ. “Global commerce is accelerating faster than at any point in retail history. The future won’t belong to a single region, channel, or model, but to the brands and retailers who can best understand and act on consumer demand across platforms. In this new era, commerce intelligence, connecting brands, consumers and platforms through a unified, data-rich view of the ecosystem, will define the next phase of growth for our clients.”

 

Underscoring how essential it is to understand how commerce is evolving, NIQ recently announced the launch of its Commerce Lab, a new initiative focused on solving the data and measurement challenges shaping the next generation of commerce. This builds on NIQ’s broader strategy to redefine how commerce is measured, validated, and scaled in an increasingly automated world.

 

 

This shift underpins The Commerce Revolution, emphasizing that this new landscape requires brands and retailers to operate more like technology, media and data companies. Brands must unify their data, content, and measurement capabilities across channels to capture value in a highly interconnected, omnichannel world.

 

 

As global commerce shifts from fragmented channels to connected systems, understanding where growth is coming from—and how value is being created—has become essential. To learn more, visit niq.com/commerce-revolution.

 

 

About NIQ
NielsenIQ (NYSE: NIQ) is a leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete and trusted understanding of consumer buying behavior and revealing new pathways to growth. By combining an unmatched global data footprint and granular consumer and retail measurement with decades of AI modeling expertise, NIQ builds decision systems that help companies turn complex data into confident action.

 

 

With operations in more than 90 countries, NIQ covers approximately 82% of the world’s population and more than $7.4 trillion in global consumer spend. Through cloud-based platforms, advanced analytics and AI-driven insights, NIQ delivers The Full View™—helping brands and retailers understand what consumers buy, why they buy it, and what to do next.

 

 

For more information, please visit www.niq.com.

 

 

#NIQ-General

 

 

© 2026 Nielsen Consumer LLC. All Rights Reserved.

 

 

FAQs

 

 

What is The Commerce Revolution: Where East Meets West?
The Commerce Revolution: Where East Meets West is NIQ’s latest global report examining how Eastern‑led commerce innovations—such as live, social, and quick commerce—are converging with Western retail media, data, and monetization models to create a more connected, AI‑driven global commerce system.

 

 

What is driving this shift in global commerce?
Global commerce is moving from standalone channels toward interconnected systems. In the East, discovery‑led formats, super apps, and fast fulfillment have scaled rapidly. In the West, retail media networks, first‑party data, and measurement infrastructure have matured. AI is now acting as the connective tissue between these models, accelerating convergence worldwide.

 

 

What is commerce intelligence?
Commerce intelligence is the ability to connect what brands and retailers need to know, what consumers need to discover and decide, and how platforms operate—through a unified, data‑rich view of the commerce ecosystem. It enables more accurate decision‑making, closed‑loop measurement, and confident growth across increasingly complex commerce environments.

 

 

What is agentic commerce?
Agentic commerce refers to AI‑driven systems in which AI agents autonomously discover, evaluate, and increasingly purchase products on behalf of consumers, using real‑time data such as pricing, availability, and preferences. As this model scales, AI agents are beginning to reshape how products are discovered and chosen across platforms.

 

 

How is AI changing product discovery and purchasing behavior?
AI is shifting commerce from search‑based journeys to discovery‑led and agent‑driven decisioning. Instead of consumers actively browsing and comparing products, AI systems increasingly surface, rank, and recommend options—collapsing the traditional funnel and changing how brands compete for visibility and conversion.

 

 

What is live commerce?
Live commerce is a shopping format where products are promoted and sold through real‑time video streams—often hosted by creators or brands—combining entertainment, interaction, and immediate purchasing within a single experience.

 

 

What is social commerce?
Social commerce integrates product discovery and purchasing directly into social media platforms, where content, creators, and community influence drive awareness, consideration, and conversion.

 

 

What is quick commerce (q‑commerce)?
Quick commerce is a retail model focused on ultra‑fast delivery—often within 30 to 60 minutes—enabled by localized inventory and designed to meet immediate or top‑up consumer needs, particularly in FMCG categories.

 

 

What are retail media networks (RMNs)?
Retail media networks are advertising platforms operated by retailers that allow brands to reach shoppers using first‑party data across digital and physical touchpoints, typically near the point of purchase, with an increasing focus on measurable, closed‑loop outcomes.

 

 

Who is this report for?
This report is designed for brand manufacturers, retailers, platforms, and media leaders seeking to understand how global commerce models are converging—and how AI, data, and measurement will determine the next phase of growth.

 

 

How can NIQ help brands and retailers navigate this new commerce landscape?
NIQ is uniquely positioned to measure and understand the convergence of commerce formats, platforms, and AI‑driven decisioning. By connecting consumer behavior from discovery to purchase and enabling closed‑loop measurement across channels, NIQ helps companies quantify incrementality, optimize investments, and turn complex data into confident action as global commerce systems evolve.

 

 

 

 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260428841965/en/

 

Business Wire India

Global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) today announced it has acquired a majority stake in Knack RCM (“Knack”) and EqualizeRCM (“Equalize”), two leading U.S. healthcare revenue cycle management (“RCM”) providers, to create an AI-native, global, multi-specialty RCM platform. Equity for the investment will come from investment funds affiliated with Carlyle Asia Partners VI (CAP VI) and Carlyle Asia Partners Growth II (CAPG II). The terms of the transaction are not disclosed. Rajiv Sharma, Founder of Knack RCM, and Nagi Rao, Founder of EqualizeRCM, will remain invested in the platform through a reinvestment of a portion of their proceeds.

 

Knack and Equalize are complementary healthcare RCM providers serving physician groups, durable medical equipment (“DME”) providers, rural hospitals, and other specialty provider segments. Together, they bring deep, specialty-specific expertise across DME, anaesthesia, eyecare, behavioural health, rural hospitals, urgent care, and multi-specialty physician groups.

 

The combined platform is expected to enhance operational scale and diversification, broaden the delivery footprint, strengthen leadership depth and help accelerate AI capabilities to enhance outcomes for clients. Knack contributes scaled, global delivery across the U.S., India, and the Philippines, anchored by an intelligent, end-to-end revenue engine powered by its orchestration platform, Workmate. EqualizeRCM complements this with its established delivery scale in the U.S. and India, alongside a proprietary payer enrollment platform and advanced AI-driven tools—such as Bill Smart for denial prediction and avoidance— that are purpose-built for hospitals, urgent care, and targeted specialty segments. Equalize’s AI-native platform, built on large language models and agentic AI, has demonstrated proven commercial traction, including the displacement of established, large-scale vendor contracts at leading DME manufacturers.

 

Kapil Modi, Partner at Carlyle India Advisors, said: “The U.S. healthcare revenue cycle market is growing rapidly, driven by margin compression, workforce shortages, and the shift to value-based care. Carlyle has significant experience in scaling RCM platforms to achieve market leadership and we believe Knack and Equalize stand out as leaders with their AI-native, specialty‑focused, and outcomes‑driven approach, which aligns well with the growing needs and demand in healthcare RCM.”

 

Rajiv Sharma, Founder, Knack RCM, said: “Carlyle has been a trusted partner to Knack, bringing not only capital but also valuable expertise in healthcare and RCM. The addition of Equalize is a progression of this partnership and strengthens the value we provide to our clients.”

 

Nagi Rao, Founder, EqualizeRCM, said: “Our clients, particularly rural hospitals and behavioural health providers, face immense pressure in sustaining margins and ensuring access to care. Partnering with Knack enables us to integrate our advisory expertise with their advanced analytics and global operations, to deliver more robust and tailored solutions. We are excited to work with Knack and Carlyle to drive wider adoption of our AI-native platform to support healthcare providers.”

 

Gautam Barai, CEO, Knack RCM, said: “Healthcare providers measure success by their ability to meet payroll, preserve services, and support their communities—not by the amount of automation deployed. Coming together with Equalize allows us to combine our strengths to tackle the most complex parts of the revenue cycle, including rural cost reports, DME intake, and challenging anaesthesia cases. For us, success is not about automating simple workflows but about addressing the most critical financial risks faced by our clients, which ultimately translates into improved financial health and better patient care.”

 

Amit Jain, Partner and Head of Carlyle India Advisors, concluded: “One of the core tenets of this investment is to build a scaled, strategically attractive physician and rural hospital RCM platform in a fragmented industry. Carlyle has a track record of executing similar strategies in sectors such as auto components and pharmaceuticals. This investment extends our India for the World thesis and builds on our experience investing in technology and tech-enabled services. We have invested in healthcare technology platforms including Indegene, Visionary RCM, and CorroHealth, and we will bring this expertise and execution capability to scale the combined Knack and Equalize platform.”

 

Carlyle intends to build on this platform strategy by pursuing additional opportunities in the RCM industry and will continue to seek to add synergistic assets with complementary offerings to the RCM platform.

Business Wire India

Philip Morris International (PMI) (NYSE: PM) has been included once more in Forbes’ 2026 Net Zero Leaders¹ list, recognizing its leadership and continued progress in advancing climate action across its global operations.

 

The Forbes Net Zero Leaders list highlights U.S. publicly listed companies best positioned to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, based on measurable performance rather than commitments alone. Despite most companies aligning to a 2050 net zero horizon, PMI remains committed to reaching net zero by 2040, as set out in its Climate Transition Plan published in 2025. This aspiration reflects PMI’s confidence in collective progress, trust that ambition drives innovation, that policy will evolve to enable change, and collaboration will accelerate system‑wide transformation. Above all, it signals hope: that by acting early and holding firm, PMI can help build the critical momentum needed to shift markets, technologies, and mindsets, and inspire similar action across its value chain.

 

 

“Transforming a global business has taught us that the companies best prepared for what’s ahead are those that treat long-term value creation as a source of strategic advantage, not a parallel agenda. Climate action sits at the heart of how we generate sustainable value – for our shareholders, our suppliers and partners, as well as the societies we operate in,” said Jennifer Motles, Chief Sustainability Officer. “Being recognized once again by Forbes as a climate leader confirms that the choices we make today about strategy, capital, and governance shape the sustainability of the business we become tomorrow.”

 

 

Philip Morris International placed number 1 in the fast‑moving consumer goods category, the only FMCG to make it to the top 10, and 4th overall, reflecting its excellent risk management, operational strength, governance and organizational preparedness. Forbes evaluated companies using data from Sustainalytics and Morningstar, assessing governance, risk management, strategy, decarbonization metrics across Scopes 1, 2, and 3, and financial resilience.

 

 

“Our approach combines mitigation with adaptation, building resilience across manufacturing footprint and agricultural supply chains,” said Scott Coutts, Chief Global Operations Officer. “It is about protecting the business we operate today while preparing it for the climate‑related risks, impacts, and opportunities ahead. For PMI, climate action is fundamental to operational excellence, continuity, and long-term competitiveness.”

 

 

Over the past year, Philip Morris International has continued to strengthen the foundations of its climate strategy and integrate it more deeply into how the business creates long-term value. Key milestones include:

 

 

• Launching its comprehensive Value Plan 2030+, defining the next phase of PMI’s long‑term value creation;
• Publishing an updated Climate Transition Plan, setting out the actions, governance, timelines, and targets to achieve net zero GHG emissions across the value chain by 2040; and
• Continued progress towards its science‑based decarbonization targets, validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

 

 

To learn more about sustainability at PMI, including the 2025 Value Report and Climate Transition Plan, visit www.pmi.com/sustainability.

 

Philip Morris International: A Global Smoke-Free Champion

 

 

Philip Morris International is a leading international consumer goods company, actively delivering a smoke-free future and evolving its portfolio for the long term to include products outside of the tobacco and nicotine sector. The company’s current product portfolio primarily consists of cigarettes and smoke-free products, including heat-not-burn, nicotine pouch and e-vapor products. Our smoke-free products are available for sale in over 105 markets, and as of December 31, 2025, PMI estimates they were used by over 43 million legal-age consumers around the world, many of whom have moved away from cigarettes or significantly reduced their consumption. The smoke-free business accounted for 43% of PMI’s first-quarter 2026 total net revenues. Since 2008, PMI has invested over $16 billion to develop, scientifically substantiate and commercialize innovative smoke-free products for adults who would otherwise continue to smoke, with the goal of completely ending the sale of cigarettes. This includes the building of world-class scientific assessment capabilities, notably in the areas of pre-clinical systems toxicology, clinical and behavioral research, as well as post-market studies. Following a robust science-based review, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized the marketing of Swedish Match’s General snus and ZYN nicotine pouches and versions of PMI’s IQOS devices and consumables – the first-ever such authorizations in their respective categories. Versions of IQOS devices and consumablesand General snus also obtained the first-ever Modified Risk Tobacco Product authorizations from the FDA. With a strong foundation and significant expertise in life sciences, PMI has a long-term ambition to expand into wellness areas. References to “PMI”, “we”, “our” and “us” mean Philip Morris International Inc., and its subsidiaries. For more information, please visit www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com.

 

 

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

 

 

This press release contains projections of future results and goals and other forward-looking statements, including statements regarding business and operational plans and strategies. Achievement of future results is subject to risks, uncertainties, and inaccurate assumptions. In the event that risks or uncertainties materialize, or underlying assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results could vary materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements. Pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, PMI is identifying important factors that, individually or in the aggregate, could cause actual results and outcomes to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements made by PMI.

 

 

PMI’s business risks include: marketing and regulatory restrictions that could reduce our competitiveness, disrupt our SFP commercialization efforts, eliminate our ability to communicate with adult consumers, or ban certain of our products in certain markets or countries; excise tax increases and discriminatory tax structures; health concerns relating to the use of tobacco and other nicotine-containing products; litigation related to tobacco and/or nicotine products and intellectual property rights; intense competition; inability to anticipate changes in adult consumer preferences; use and reliance on third-parties; the adverse effects of global and individual country economic, regulatory and political developments, natural disasters and conflicts; geopolitical instability affecting international trade; the impact and consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; changes in adult smoker behavior; continued decline of tax-paid cigarettes; lost revenues as a result of counterfeiting, contraband and cross-border purchases; governmental investigations; unfavorable currency exchange rates and currency devaluations, sustained periods of elevated inflation, and limitations on the ability to repatriate funds; adverse changes in applicable corporate tax laws; disruptions in the credit markets or changes to its credit ratings; recent and potential future tariffs imposed by the U.S. and other countries; adverse changes in the cost, availability, and quality of tobacco and other agricultural products and raw materials, as well as product components for our electronic devices; and the integrity of its information systems and effectiveness of its data privacy policies. PMI’s future profitability may also be adversely affected should it be unsuccessful, in key markets or systemically, in its efforts to introduce, commercialize, and grow smoke-free products or if regulation or taxation do not differentiate between such products and cigarettes; if it is unable to successfully introduce new products, promote brand equity; if there are prolonged disruptions of facilities used to produce its products; if it is unable to enter new markets or improve its margins through increased prices and productivity gains; if other market participants are more successful in their SFP commercialization efforts; if it is unable to attract and retain the best global talent; or if it is unable to successfully integrate and realize the expected benefits from recent transactions and acquisitions. Future results are also subject to the lower predictability of our smoke-free products performance.

 

 

PMI is further subject to other risks detailed from time to time in its publicly filed documents, including PMI’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2025 and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026. PMI cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not a complete discussion of all potential risks and uncertainties. PMI does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that it may make from time to time, except in the normal course of its public disclosure obligations.

 

 

¹ From Forbes © 2026 Forbes Media LLC. All rights reserved. Used under license.

 

 

 

 

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