Business Wire India

In response to requests from a large number of participants, the UAE Water Aid Foundation (Suqia UAE) has extended the submission deadline for the fifth cycle of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award to 30 September 2026. The extension aims to enable the widest possible participation from applicants around the world.

 

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260505894901/en/

 

 

 

Launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and overseen by Suqia UAE under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, the award supports research and development efforts to develop sustainable solutions to address the global water crisis using renewable energy. It aims to tackle water scarcity challenges and improve access to safe water for less developed communities worldwide.

 

The fifth cycle of the award places greater emphasis on digital transformation, prioritising projects that utilise artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to enhance proactive monitoring and improve operational efficiency. This approach underscores the award’s commitment to addressing human needs while keeping pace with global technological advancements.

 

 

With a total prize value of USD 1 million, the award comprises four main categories: the Innovative Projects Award, the Innovative Research and Development Award, the Innovative Individual Award and the Innovative Crisis Solutions Award. The largest share, amounting to USD 540,000, is allocated to the Innovative Projects Award, comprising USD 300,000 for large projects and USD 240,000 for small projects. The Innovative Research and Development Award totals USD 400,000, divided equally between national and international institutions. Meanwhile, the Innovative Individual Award offers USD 40,000, split evenly between the Distinguished Researcher Award and the Youth Award, with USD 20,000 allocated to the Innovative Crisis Solutions Award.

 

 

Over the last four cycles, the award recognised 43 winners from 26 countries for their pioneering work in water production, desalination and purification. Millions of people have benefited from the fourth cycle’s winning projects, which have been implemented in many countries, including Tunisia, Egypt, Botswana, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Côte d’Ivoire, Lebanon, Syria, Colombia, Venezuela, Haiti, Turkey, Bangladesh, Myanmar, the Philippines, Fiji, Ukraine, Georgia and Indonesia.

 

 

Applications can be submitted via https://www.mbrwateraward.ae/en/awards and inquiries can be sent to award@suqia.ae.

 

 

*Source: AETOSWire

 

 

 

 

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May 07: Vayana – India’s Most Trusted Trade Credit Infrastructure, has been named the Innovator in RAM Lending – Mature Category at the PICUP Fintech 2026 Awards, jointly organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA). The recognition, adjudicated by a senior jury of banking leaders, regulators, and industry experts, is among the most credible institutional acknowledgments in Indian fintech.

 

The award honours Vayana Trade Receivables Securitisation (TRS) product – India’s first corporate-originated securitisation structured under SEBI’s Securitisation of Debt Instruments Regulations, 2008. This instrument allows corporates to convert accepted trade receivables into rated securities, placed directly with institutional investors through a Special Purpose Vehicle trust. This TRS structure is listed on the BSE and rated by ICRA. It establishes a New Asset Class in India that is at the intersection of Trade Finance and Global Capital Markets.

 

The jury’s recognition in this category, reserved for innovations with demonstrated, scalable deployment reflects the product’s live performance record. At the time of the award evaluation, multiple TRS deals had been completed with participation from institutional investors.

 

While the award recognises Vayana‘s impact in the Retail, Agriculture, MSME (RAM) segment, the TRS structure is built for scale well beyond it. Corporates across sectors that have a pool of accepted trade receivables, can originate a securitisation under this framework, unlocking institutional capital without bank intermediation.

 

In its current deployment, unrated and underbanked MSME buyers across Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets receive formal supply chain credit for the first time, without individual borrowing requirements, collateral, or credit checks. For Vayana, this is not just a product milestone, it is proof that India’s Trade Credit Infrastructure can be reimagined to reach those the formal credit system has long left behind.

 

Business Wire India

 

As manufacturers face mounting pressure to protect margins, justify trade spend, and respond faster to shifting consumer demand, NIQ (NYSE: NIQ), a global leader in consumer intelligence, today announced the commercial launch of Price & Promo Optimizer, a next‑generation, AI‑enabled Revenue Growth Management (RGM) platform built to fundamentally change how pricing and promotion decisions are made.

 

Today, many pricing and promotion decisions are still made across disconnected tools, manual workflows, and siloed teams—slowing execution, increasing risk, and limiting the ability to validate strategies before they reach the market. Price & Promo Optimizer replaces this fragmented approach with a united platform that brings pricing, promotion, and trade strategy into a single workflow.

 

 

Powered by NIQ’s trusted store‑level measurement data and advanced analytical models, Price & Promo Optimizer enables category managers, RGM leaders, marketing, and commercial teams to simulate scenarios, quantify trade‑offs, and understand the impact of decisions on volume, revenue, margin, and category performance, before they enter retailer negotiations or go to market.

 

 

“Pricing and promotion decisions have become one of the most critical growth levers for manufacturers, yet too many teams are still forced to make those calls with fragmented data and outdated tools,” said Martin Hernandez, SVP NIQ. “With Price & Promo Optimizer, NIQ is helping brands move from reactive decision-making to proactive, scenario-based planning. By bringing price elasticity, promotional effectiveness, and trade spend optimization into one AI-enabled platform, we enable teams to move faster, protect margins, and approach retailer conversations with greater confidence.”

 

 

In a landscape where decisions must be made with increasing speed, accuracy, and precision, Price & Promo Optimizer enables a shift from backward-looking analysis to forward-looking decision-making. Teams can test assumptions, evaluate multiple scenarios, and identify the most effective strategies before committing resources in-market.

 

 

The launch of Price & Promo Optimizer reflects another key milestone in NIQ’s strategy to build AI-enabled decision systems that help clients move from insight to action faster. It also builds on NIQ’s broader work in understanding how AI is transforming commerce and decision making across the consumer landscape.

 

 

With more than 23,000 clients across 90+ countries, 22.2 million stores, 220M product categories, and collaboration programs across more than 50 retailers worldwide, NIQ continues to expand its ecosystem of data, analytics, and AI-powered solutions—helping manufacturers navigate complexity and unlock new growth opportunities.

 

 

Price & Promo Optimizer is now commercially available to manufacturers globally.

 

 

For more information, visit NIQ.com.

 

 

FAQs

 

 

Q: What is Price & Promo Optimizer?

 

 

A: Price & Promo Optimizer (PPO) is NIQ’s next-generation Revenue Growth Management (RGM) platform. It is a unified, AI-enabled solution that consolidates pricing and promotion workflows into a single, intuitive interface, powered by NIQ’s trusted store-level data and proven analytical models. PPO allows manufacturers to simulate pricing scenarios, optimize trade terms, run promotion analyses, and plan annual strategies — all within one consistent platform.

 

 

Q: What problem is it solving for manufacturers?

 

 

A: Manufacturers have long struggled with fragmented toolsets: pricing analytics in one system, promotion planning in another, and scenario simulation often done manually in spreadsheets. This fragmentation slows decision-making, increases execution risk, and limits the ability to validate strategies before they reach the market. PPO was built specifically to solve this problem — replacing disconnected tools with a unified, AI-enabled platform purpose-built for RGM and cross-functional teams.

 

 

Q: What does “AI-enabled” mean in the context of PPO?

 

 

A: PPO uses AI and machine learning in two ways. First, it automates time-consuming data preparation and analysis tasks that previously required significant manual effort. Second, it enables scenario simulation, allowing teams to model the impact of pricing and promotion changes before executing in-market. This includes elasticity modelling, threshold analysis, promo depth simulation, and portfolio optimization, all grounded in NIQ’s real, granular store-level purchasing data rather than aggregate estimates.

 

 

Q: Who is this solution designed for?

 

 

A: PPO is designed for manufacturer teams involved in pricing and promotion strategy, including RGM Account Managers, Brand and Marketing Managers, Sales Teams, and Senior Leaders. It is purpose-built for cross-functional use and does not require deep technical expertise. RGM teams use it for strategy and simulation; Sales teams use it to build retailer-ready plans; Brand and Marketing teams use it to understand the impact on equity and share; Finance teams use it to model cost effects and margin scenarios.

 

 

Q: What results can manufacturers expect?

 

 

A: PPO is designed to reduce the time and effort required to make pricing and promotion decisions, enabling teams to act faster and with greater confidence. Common expected benefits include: reduced time on data preparation and manual analysis; more consistent decision-making across RGM, Marketing, Sales, and Finance; faster preparation for retailer negotiations; and the ability to validate strategies through simulation before committing to in-market execution.

 

 

Q: How does PPO connect to NIQ’s broader data platform?

 

 

A: PPO is integrated with NIQ’s Discover platform, drawing on the same store-level data that clients already rely on. NIQ’s global data footprint — covering approximately 82% of the world’s population and more than $7.4 trillion in consumer spend — provides the analytical foundation underpinning PPO’s models, ensuring every recommendation is grounded in comprehensive, real-world purchasing data.

 

 

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.

 

 

Forward Looking Statement

 

 

This press release regarding the commercial launch of NIQ Price and Promo Optimizer may contain forward-looking statements regarding anticipated consumer behaviors, market trends, and industry developments. These statements reflect current expectations and projections based on available data, historical patterns, and various assumptions. Words such as ” will”, “expects,” “anticipates,” “projects,” “believes,” “forecasts,” “plan,” “look ahead,” “indicates”, and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future outcomes and are subject to inherent uncertainties, including changes in consumer preferences, economic conditions, technological advancements, and competitive dynamics. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. While we strive to base our insights on reliable data and sound methodologies, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances, except to the extent required by applicable law.

 

 

NIQ-GENERAL

 

 

© 2026 Nielsen Consumer LLC. All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

 

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Business Wire India

 

• New Funding to Accelerate Nyobolt’s Mission to Deliver Instant Power for the World’s Most Demanding Robotics & Automation Applications and AI Data Centers.
• Revenue Grows 5x Year-on-Year as Demand for Instant Power Surges Across Physical AI Applications and AI Data Center Markets

 

Nyobolt, a pioneer in ultra-fast, high-power, energy technology, today announced it has raised $60 million in funding to accelerate its development pipeline and bring its power performance solutions to the autonomous machines that need them most. The round was led by Symbotic (NASDAQ: SYM), a leader in AI-enabled robotics technology for the supply chain, with participation from IQ Capital, Latitude (Phoenix Court), Scania Invest and CBMM. The raise follows a period of rapid commercial momentum, with Nyobolt revenues growing five times year-on-year, reflecting accelerating demand surge across physical AI applications and AI data center infrastructure.

 

The investment arrives at a critical inflection point: as autonomous machines move from factory floors to warehouses, hospitals, and city streets, their energy demands are outpacing conventional battery technology. The same pressure is building inside the data center, where GPU racks running large-scale AI workloads generate intense transient power demands that legacy UPS infrastructure was never designed to handle. Nyobolt’s ultra-fast charging technology is built for these environments, where downtime is not an option and performance cannot be compromised.

 

 

“Nyobolt is enabling the always-on, always-moving infrastructure that physical AI demands,” said Sai Shivareddy, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. “The enterprises deploying autonomous systems at scale can’t afford downtime, swap time, or power flickers. Our technology delivers a powerful trifecta: improved performance, exceptional durability, and a more sustainable operation, enabling a new generation of machines to run harder and smarter.”

 

 

Proven at Scale: Powering Autonomous Warehouse Robots

 

 

Nyobolt’s commercial traction spans some of the most advanced autonomous robotics deployments in the world. For Symbotic’s SymBot™ autonomous mobile robots, Nyobolt’s performance battery delivers six times more energy capacity than the ultracapacitors previously used, is 40% lighter, and achieves at least ten times the cycle life of traditional Lithium-Ion technology, enabling continuous, high-intensity 24/7 operations across Symbotic’s warehouse deployments.

 

 

“We’re proud to partner with Nyobolt and invest in the next phase of their growth,” said Symbotic Chief Strategy Officer Bill Boyd. “Nyobolt’s proven technology is a key enabler of enhanced uptime and efficiency for our customers, and we’re excited about the overall market potential of a new instant power infrastructure across multiple applications.”

 

 

In addition, Nyobolt is expanding its commercial traction beyond Symbotic to other robotics companies and applications, including with a leading humanoids developer to increase work-to-charge ratios for their humanoid robots.

 

 

Solving Physical AI’s Biggest Bottleneck: Energy

 

 

The rise of physical AI, robots, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), industrial automation platforms, and AI-enabled machinery, is creating an urgent energy challenge. Unlike data center workloads, physical AI systems operate in dynamic, unpredictable environments, placing extreme and variable demands on their power sources. Traditional battery technology simply was not designed for this type of environment.

 

 

Nyobolt’s proprietary tech stack addresses the core limitations holding back today’s autonomous systems, enabling the always-on performance that the next generation of physical AI applications require.

 

 

Nyobolt is also expanding its footprint into India, signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the state of Rajasthan to bring more than 100MW of off-grid AI data centers and power management infrastructure to one of the world’s fastest-growing digital economies. The Rajasthan partnership marks the first of what Nyobolt expects to be a broader presence across multiple Indian states, with a particular focus on renewable energy integration and grid-independent energy storage.

 

 

ABOUT NYOBOLT

 

 

Nyobolt is a pioneer in high-power, fast-charging energy technology that delivers mission-critical uptime for the world’s most power-demanding industries. Founded in 2019, the company is leading the Instant Power revolution, combining proprietary anode materials, advanced battery cell design, and integrated power electronics to unlock ultrafast charging, exceptional power density, and extended lifecycle performance.

 

 

With a robust patent portfolio and a growing global footprint, Nyobolt is powering the next generation of autonomous robotics, warehouse automation, mobility, and AI-enabled industrial systems. Its solutions reduce total cost of ownership while meeting the uncompromising performance and reliability demands of an always-on world.

 

 

For further information, please visit www.nyobolt.com

 

 

 

 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260506592809/en/

 

Business Wire India

 

Novatus Global Limited (“Novatus” “Novatus Global” or “the Company”), an award-winning provider of regulatory technology solutions and consulting services to global financial institutions, has been honoured with a King’s Award for Enterprise.

 

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Novatus is one of only 185 organisations nationally to be recognised with a prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise in 2026. Announced today (Wednesday 6 May), the Award acknowledges the company’s outstanding achievement in Innovation.

 

 

Novatus Global, founded in 2019, employs over 100 people across London, the U.S., Australia, and India and has rapidly established itself as a trusted partner to many of the world’s leading banks, asset managers, and financial institutions. Its flagship product, Novatus En:ACT, is a market-leading SaaS platform delivering complete, real-time assurance across global transaction reporting regimes. The company has cemented its position as an innovation leader, underpinned by strong client adoption and revenues that have more than doubled over the past twelve months.

 

 

“We are incredibly proud to receive the King’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation, one of the UK’s highest recognitions for business excellence,” said Matthew Ranson, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Novatus. “This award is a testament to the extraordinary work of our team in building En:ACT – a platform that is redefining how global financial institutions approach regulatory reporting and of our consulting teams who help transform organisations. It reflects not only the strength of British innovation, but the trust our clients place in us to deliver greater accuracy, transparency, and confidence across the financial system.”

 

 

“Winning this award marks a significant milestone in our journey from a two-person start-up to a global technology and consulting business, and we are deeply grateful to His Majesty The King for this recognition,” continued Andrew Hedley, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Novatus. “It recognises the impact our innovation is having – helping firms move away from costly cycles of failure towards real-time, data-driven assurance that benefits regulators, institutions, and wider society. Most importantly, it is a celebration of our people, whose expertise and ambition continue to drive our growth and deliver meaningful value to our customers.”

 

 

The King’s Awards for Enterprise -previously known as The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise -were renamed in 2023 to reflect His Majesty The King’s commitment to continuing the legacy of HM Queen Elizabeth II in celebrating exceptional UK businesses.

 

 

Now in its 60th year, the King’s Awards for Enterprise remain the UK’s most prestigious business accolades. Successful organisations may use the esteemed King’s Awards Emblem for the next five years, signalling excellence to customers, partners, and global markets. Applications for the 2027 round will open on 6 May 2026.

 

 

Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/kings-awards-for-enterprise

 

 

About Novatus Global Limited

 

 

Novatus Global, established in 2019 and headquartered in London, is a leading global provider of software and strategic consulting services, enabling the world’s largest financial institutions to navigate their most complex regulatory and strategic challenges. Our expertise spans transaction reporting, data & AI, risk, compliance, ESG and strategy & operations,, delivering solutions that drive operational excellence and demonstrable regulatory compliance. Our award-winning SaaS platform, Novatus En:ACT, enables firms to ensure accurate, complete, and timely transaction reporting across all global reporting regimes. Novatus Global pairs cutting-edge technology with unparalleled industry knowledge, ensuring clients meet evolving regulatory demands and mitigate risk effectively. We are trusted by global institutions to meet their mission critical obligations, transform their transaction reporting, streamline operations, and achieve sustainable growth in an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.

 

 

 

 

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Business Wire India

Aircall, the AI-powered customer communications platform trusted by more than 22,000 businesses worldwide, today announced the acquisition of Vogent, an AI voice agent company. The acquisition adds a new layer of specialized voice AI technology to Aircall’s platform – strengthening the technology behind Aircall’s AI Voice Agent and moving it from already great to best-in-class.

 

While AI agents’ chat or email based communication channels have exploded in popularity, voice is its own discipline – with unique demands around timing, interruption handling, call flows, and production reliability. Voice channel also comes with the highest expectations from customers, further putting scrutiny around the readiness of the technology. For many businesses deploying AI voice agents, the experience has not lived up to the hype.

 

 

With Vogent, Aircall enhances its AI Voice Agents with a deeper set of specialized AI technologies, including advanced speech models, more reliable turn-taking, and higher precision over how AI models behave in those live phone calls. Integrated with Aircall’s easy-to-use platform, growing businesses around the world can deploy voice agents without any specialized technical expertise while still having access to best-in-class voice agents that drive reliable outcomes – more reliable automation on repetitive calls, better customer qualification on inbound opportunities, stronger containment before escalation, and when necessary, seamless hand-off experience to their teams.

 

 

Vogent’s San Francisco-based team joins a company accelerating its presence across the US in major tech hubs of San Francisco, Seattle, and New York. Along with its deep European roots, Aircall AI is committed to providing best-in-class AI customer communication services to businesses globally.

 

 

“Aircall has always focused on helping teams have better conversations with customers. Our AI Voice Agent helps businesses automate high-volume interactions on the communications platform they trust for voice. With Vogent, we are taking the next step: deepening the AI stack behind that experience with more technology and expertise across voice activity detection, conversational flow routing, custom voice models, and continuous refinement. That is where voice AI becomes truly valuable – not when it is added as a feature by a generalist CX platform, but when it is built by a company that understands voice at its core.” — Scott Chancellor, CEO, Aircall

 

 

“At Vogent, we’ve had one focus: building the most advanced voice AI pipeline on the market. That means custom models throughout the stack, from the voices themselves to turn detection, interruption handling, and latency management, because those are the things that separate a demo from something you can trust on a real customer call. That focus has powered millions of dials for businesses across industries.” — Vignesh Varadarajan, CTO, Vogent

 

 

“When we started talking to Aircall, the fit was clear. They had already built a strong AI Voice Agent on top of a platform trusted by 22,000 businesses, and bringing our technology and customers to that platform means the pipeline we’ve spent years refining can now reach businesses at a scale we couldn’t have built toward alone.” — Jagath Vytheeswaran, CEO, Vogent

 

 

About Aircall

 

 

Aircall is an AI-powered customer communications platform for sales and support teams. The platform helps more than 22,000 businesses collaboratively manage voice, SMS, and WhatsApp conversations, handle high-volume inbound interactions autonomously through AI Voice Agent, automate post-call workflows, and connect every interaction to the tools they already use across 250+ native integrations. Founded in Paris, Aircall serves customer-facing teams globally.

 

 

About Vogent

 

 

Vogent is an AI voice agent company focused on the core layers that make automated phone conversations work in production. Its platform is designed to help businesses build, test, deploy, maintain, and refine voice AI agents with more natural conversation flow, deeper customization, and stronger operational performance.

 

 

 

 

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