The less bumpy way to ride e-commerce = Rakuten (Seite 105)

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Additional to my last posting about Cabify

Madrid-based Cabify grew 32% globally in 2022, aims to have a fully decarbonized fleet by 2025 in Spain

By Stefano De Marzo August 2, 2023

Cabify, an international multi-mobility company, ended 2022 with results 32% higher than in 2021 globally, reaching €626 million in terms of gross revenue. Despite the last throes of the pandemic during the year, the company ended 2022 with a gross profit of €72 million (+32% vs. previous year) and reached breakeven levels, proving its ability to make its business profitable globally.

Juan de Antonio, CEO and founder of Cabify, explained these numbers: “To continue improving our cities, we are committed to sustainable growth. We are able to generate our own resources that we invest in new services and products with high-added value for our users, corporate mobility clients, and collaborating drivers. And we have also attracted additional investment to accelerate our goals. If we want millions of people to decide not to use their private cars in the city, we must offer them safe, sustainable, and accessible alternatives that meet their different needs. We have a clear growth path ahead of us and expect our turnover to increase threefold in the next three years. On this path, we will continue to take steps to drive technological, business, and social change towards the multi-mobility of the future”.

https://www.eu-startups.com/2023/08/madrid-based-cabify-grew…

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Rakuten owning about 47% of Cabify

Cabify Sees Uptick In Revenue As Rides Volume Returns

Jonathan Keane

Aug 1, 2023,05:00am EDT

The Madrid-headquartered company, which is active throughout Latin America, said it booked $688 million in gross revenue with gross profits of $79 million in 2022.

Revenue for the year marks a 32% increase on 2021 when much of the company’s operations were still dogged by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cabify said that in 2022, it saw 91 million rides on the platform, up 28% year-on-year, indicating a return to normality among consumers.

The company did not publish net income figures but stated that it maintains a "path of profitability."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathankeane/2023/08/01/cabify…

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Rakuten Mobile Highly Evaluated in Opensignal’s Japan Mobile Operator Network Report

Rakuten Mobile Highly Evaluated in Opensignal’s Japan Mobile Operator Network Experience Report

Tokyo, August 1, 2023 – Rakuten Mobile, Inc. was evaluated highly in a report published by Opensignal Limited, a global analytics company, comparing the experience of Rakuten Mobile’s network with three other mobile carriers in Japan*¹. The report, titled Network Quality Comparison Between Rakuten Mobile and Three Mobile Carriers, states that “Rakuten’s improving experience is increasing competitive pressure in Japan.” This conclusion was based on data from the Japan Mobile Network User Experience Report, published in April 2023*² and additional Opensignal analysis conducted between April 1 and June 29, 2023.

https://corp.mobile.rakuten.co.jp/english/news/press/2023/08…

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Japanese Company Rakuten Group Signs MoU with OpenAI

Aug 2 2023 · 14:03 UTC by Mayowa Adebajo

https://www.coinspeaker.com/rakuten-mou-openai/

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Expanding Embedded Insurance in E-Commerce

August 08, 2023

Embedding insurance in the purchasing journey of customers is becoming more common in e-commerce and the Commerce & Marketing Company and Insurance Business are working together to integrate this into Rakuten’s businesses. Watch to learn more and see use cases from Rakuten Ichiba, Rakuten Travel, and Rakuten GORA.


August 08, 2023

Embedding insurance in the purchasing journey of customers is becoming more common in e-commerce and the Commerce & Marketing Company and Insurance Business are working together to integrate this into Rakuten’s businesses. Watch to learn more and see use cases from Rakuten Ichiba, Rakuten Travel, and Rakuten GORA.

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Rakuten and VEON to Cooperate in Open RAN and Digital Services

Rakuten and VEON to Cooperate in Open RAN and Digital Services to Rebuild Ukraine’s Infrastructure

Tokyo, August 2, 2023 - Rakuten Symphony, a subsidiary of the leading technology conglomerate, Rakuten Group, today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON, Euronext Amsterdam: VEON), a global digital operator that provides converged connectivity and online services. The two companies will start exploring cooperation in Ukraine, with the goal of accelerating the reconstruction of the country’s infrastructure, through collaboration on open radio access networks (Open RAN) and digital services.

Under the terms of the MoU, the two companies commit to creating “a robust and future-proof telecommunications infrastructure” that can seamlessly deliver high-speed connectivity enhanced with 5G, enabling the next generation of digital services in Ukraine. With this collaboration, VEON and Rakuten demonstrate their support for the ‘We Build Ukraine’ initiative of the Ukrainian State Agency for Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure. The two companies will also explore partnerships in other VEON markets.

VEON, operating in six markets with a total population of 510 million, is the parent company of Ukraine’s leading operator Kyivstar and has recently committed to investing USD 600 million to rebuild Ukraine’s infrastructure. Announcing its investment commitment, the company referred to the future 5G roll-out in Ukraine, for which Open RAN technologies are a compelling choice. Rakuten Symphony is a leading provider of Open RAN solutions, and has vast experience derived from successfully building the world’s first*1 end-to-end fully virtualized, cloud-native mobile network with its parent company Rakuten Mobile.

The two companies also share a focus on digital ecosystems: VEON’s Kyivstar owns and operates Ukraine’s leading digital services in health, entertainment, information and education, while Rakuten has deep international experience in messaging and financial services. Rakuten’s instant messaging app Rakuten Viber is a leading digital communication app in Ukraine, with near-ubiquitous mobile penetration rates in the country as well as very high adoption and engagement rates among Ukrainian nationals abroad. It also provides services to Ukrainian businesses including via an existing partnership with Kyivstar.

“Rakuten is honored to support the ‘We Build Ukraine’ initiative through potential collaboration with VEON to boost Ukraine’s critical national telecommunications infrastructure,” commented Mickey Mikitani, Chairman and CEO, Rakuten Group, and Chairman of Rakuten Symphony. “We look forward to bringing our technological expertise from Open RAN telecom solutions and a broad range of digital services including Rakuten Viber to support Ukraine in transforming its digital landscape, as well as exploring further joint opportunities in other VEON markets.”

“VEON and Rakuten share a similar vision: we are both highly customer-focused, digital experience-oriented companies which redefine communications in our respective markets,” states Kaan Terzioğlu, Group CEO, VEON. “We are very excited to partner with Rakuten to explore the opportunities in VEON’s markets, with a combined population of 510 million. I am also delighted that we will start this work in Ukraine, where the country’s reconstruction is also a shared priority, as recently demonstrated by our USD 600 million investment commitment."

About VEON
VEON is a global digital operator that currently provides converged connectivity and online services to nearly 160 million customers in six dynamic markets. We are transforming people’s lives, empowering individuals, creating opportunities for greater digital inclusion and driving economic growth across countries that are home to more than 7% of the world’s population. Headquartered in Amsterdam, VEON is listed on NASDAQ and Euronext Amsterdam.

About Rakuten
Rakuten Group, Inc. is a global leader in internet services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society. Founded in Tokyo in 1997 as an online marketplace, Rakuten has expanded to offer services in e-commerce, fintech, digital content and communications to approximately 1.7 billion members around the world. The Rakuten Group has nearly 32,000 employees, and operations in 30 countries and regions.

About Rakuten Symphony
Rakuten Symphony is reimagining telecom, changing supply chain norms and disrupting outmoded thinking that threatens the industry’s pursuit of rapid innovation and growth. Based on proven modern infrastructure practices, its open interface platforms make it possible to launch and operate advanced mobile services in a fraction of the time and cost of conventional approaches, with no compromise to network quality or security. Rakuten Symphony has operations in Japan, the United States, Singapore, India, Europe and the Middle East Africa region.

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2023/0802_02.html

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Collaborate with OpenAI to Develop State-of-the-Art AI Experiences

Rakuten to Collaborate with OpenAI to Develop State-of-the-Art AI Experiences for Consumers and Businesses

- The two companies aim to revolutionize the way consumers shop and engage with businesses online

Tokyo, August 2, 2023 - Rakuten Group, Inc. today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with OpenAI to deliver state-of-the-art conversational artificial intelligence (AI) experiences to consumers and businesses in Japan and worldwide. The two companies will actively explore use cases together in an effort to revolutionize the way consumers shop and engage with businesses while concurrently enhancing productivity for merchants and business partners in Japan and on the global stage.

A global innovation company with more than 70 services and 1.7 billion members worldwide, Rakuten operates Japan’s largest online shopping mall and offers a diverse portfolio of services spanning e-commerce, fintech, digital content and telecommunications. OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company whose mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.

Leveraging its high-quality data and extensive domain knowledge, Rakuten will integrate AI services into their products and services. OpenAI will provide Rakuten with priority access and support to its APIs and explore mutually beneficial commercial opportunities.

Additionally, the Rakuten Group will bring Rakuten AI experiences into ChatGPT products by leveraging the OpenAI plugin architecture, enabling businesses to use natural language for interacting with AI agents that conduct research, analyze data, optimize inventory, pricing, automate business processes and more.

With Rakuten’s diverse ecosystem of services and 100 million members in Japan, this collaboration presents an opportunity for elevating the online services landscape and delivering new breakthroughs for business customers in combination with OpenAI’s pioneering AI capabilities. By leveraging Rakuten’s unique data, channels and operations with the cutting-edge technology, the two companies hope to bring value to millions of people in Japan and even more worldwide.

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2023/0802_01.html

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Rakuten TV launches PlayStation 5 app

AUGUST 1, 2023 12.13 EUROPE/LONDON BY JULIAN CLOVER

With the addition of the Rakuten TV app for PS5, users can access a wide range of content directly from their gaming console. This includes options such as AVOD (Ad-Supported Video on Demand), TVOD (Transactional Video on Demand), and Live Channels. Viewers can buy or rent the latest Hollywood titles straight from the cinema, watch top Hollywood movies for free with ads, or explore various genres such as News, Movies, Kids, Sports, and entertainment through free TV channels.

The Rakuten TV app is now available in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Poland, and Romania.

https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2023/08/01/rakuten-tv-launch…

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Potential to pave the way for future advancements in AI technology and its integration

This collaboration has the potential to pave the way for future advancements in AI technology and its integration into commercial operations.

Rakuten Group, a prominent Japanese company, aims to leverage OpenAI’s cutting-edge technologies to enhance their own services and products. By integrating OpenAI applications, Rakuten hopes to offer its customers innovative and advanced solutions.

This collaboration between Rakuten Group and OpenAI highlights the growing importance of artificial intelligence in various industries. Both companies recognize the potential of AI technologies and are actively exploring ways to harness them for business growth.

As more details about this partnership emerge, it will be interesting to see how Rakuten Group incorporates OpenAI’s applications into their existing ecosystem, and how it benefits their customers. This collaboration has the potential to pave the way for future advancements in AI technology and its integration into commercial operations.

https://fagenwasanni.com/news/rakuten-group-and-openai-colla…

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Rakuten signs MoU with OpenAI to develop services

TOKYO, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Japan's Rakuten Group has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with OpenAI to explore commercial opportunities together.

Rakuten said on Wednesday the companies will collaborate on the use of OpenAI apps in Rakuten's products and services.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/rakuten-group-developing-…