MANAGEMENT
Simply Business | March 03, 2023
LuckyTruck, the industry-leading insurance and financial services platform provider for small and medium-sized transportation businesses, announced entering into a partnership with Simply Business LLC, a digital insurance company based in Boston that caters to small businesses. Through this partnership, LuckyTruck will offer a full suite of insurance solutions for transportation customers through Simply Business.
Vice President of Strategy & Head of Partnerships at LuckyTruck, Aaron Ealy, stated, "Simply Business is the ideal partner for us," He added, "Both of our organizations are centered around bringing simplicity, transparency, and speed to the commercial insurance space through technology. We were able to co-create a digitally-enabled customer journey together."
(Source – Cision PR Newswire)
"We recognize that the trucking industry has unique risk management and insurance needs, often requiring a dedicated solution, " mentioned David Summers, Group CEO at Simply Business. He further stated, "Partnering with an expert like LuckyTruck enables us to match small business transportation customers with a full suite of products, online and efficiently."
(Source – Cision PR Newswire)
Transportation customers inside the Simply Business ecosystem will have access to all of LuckyTruck's offerings, including the following:
• A complete suite of insurance products from a panel of more than ten markets with an emphasis on transportation
• Premium financing and integrated digital payment alternatives
• Round the clock access to their information, with the option to request endorsements
• Instantaneous and self-service access to Certificates of Insurance • Access to other financial products and services
About Simply Business
Founded in 2000, Simply Business is a leading online business insurance brokerage company that specializes in protecting the small businesses its customers are working hard to build. With more than 900,000 customers around the globe, the company has become a leader in the industry through its commitment to a customer-first model and emphasis on simplicity, choice and value.
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BUSINESS STRATEGY
SmartBiz | January 20, 2023
On January 19, 2023, Sunflower Bank, N.A., announced the start of a new small business lending platform in collaboration with SmartBiz, the renowned artificial intelligence-powered small business financing platform. Through this new end-to-end online portal, small businesses within Sunflower Bank, N.A.'s branch network, will now have access to a smoother process to apply for conventional small business loans ranging from $25,000 to $350,000. Express Line loan products and small Business Administration (SBA) 7(a) will be accessible beginning in the second quarter of 2023.
Sunflower Bank provides financial solutions to the individual communities it serves. It offers a comprehensive array of banking services, including personal, small business, commercial, wealth management, credit cards, and mortgages. By utilizing SmartBiz's cutting-edge technology and seasoned small company loan specialists, Sunflower Bank, N.A. has increased efficiency and personalized assistance throughout the loan application and approval process.
Managing Director of Business Banking and SBA at Sunflower Bank, N.A., Matt Fitch stated, “SmartBiz aligns with our relationship banking approach, as well as our ambitious growth plans through its combination of technology and live support,” He further added “We are very excited to be able to meet the needs of more small business customers together and look forward to a long and productive partnership.”
(Source – Business Wire)
“Our mission at SmartBiz is to equip every entrepreneur with reliable access to the capital they need. We are thrilled to partner with Sunflower Bank, N.A. to ensure their clients can grow and strengthen their businesses with the right capital at the right time,” commented SmartBiz CEO Evan Singer.
(Source – Business Wire)
About SmartBiz
Headquartered in San Francisco and Austin, SmartBiz is a leading AI-powered small business financing platform, providing entrepreneurs access to the appropriate capital at the right time. It has connected borrowers with more than $9 billion in SBA 7(a), PPP, and bank term loans to date, all while enhancing efficiency for its network of banks and reliable lending partners. More than 230,000 entrepreneurs have used its platform to get the financing they need to develop, with 60% of the loans given to minority, women, or veteran-owned businesses. It is backed by Investor including Growth Capital, Venrock, Baseline Ventures, First Round Capital and Uncork Capital. In addition, it has been crowned American Banker's Best Fintech to work for on multiple occasions.
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BUSINESS STRATEGY
Pensa Systems | December 29, 2022
On December 22, 2022, Pensa Systems, a frontrunner in the field of automated retail shelf intelligence, announced the debut of its facings optimization solution, which will assist consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands in increasing their revenue through enhanced retail shelf facings optimization.
The term "shelf facings" refers to the number of a product's units that are visible from the front of a retail shelf. In grocery retail, the rivalry among CPG brands for facings is severe due to their direct correlation to revenue expansion.
In the past, facings allocation was established based on rough approximations of relative sales volume and velocity generated from point-of-sale (POS) data that looked backward. Brands often combine POS data with simulated shelf scenarios to estimate how well their products will do on the shelf.
However, POS data is notoriously "noisy." For instance, slow product sales represented in POS data could be an indication that a particular product is not selling or that the product is frequently out of stock and unavailable for purchase.
Pensa bridges this gap for CPG brands and retailers by offering a continuous view of real products on retail shelves across a wide variety of shops and shelf formats. Pensa applies the concept of pricing elasticity to facings by correlating actual on-shelf product availability with the number of facings per product to determine the ideal number of facings by product and by category to boost revenue without allocating space to one product at the expense of others.
Pensa's Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the world's first fully automated shelf intelligence system. The company's AI solution learns to visually recognize and differentiate between products on the shelf, much like a human does. This is better than comparing a single product image against a product image database or scanning the barcode on the bottom of a package.
About Pensa
Pensa is the market leader in automated retail shelf intelligence, powered by patented powerful AI and computer vision. Pensa provides the source of truth regarding what is happening on the retail shelf in order to prevent stockouts, boost shelf share, optimize product planning, and enhance the customer experience in an omnichannel world. Pensa partners with top CPG brands and retailers internationally, including General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and Circle K, to address a trillion-dollar industry "blind spot" at a crucial time.
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