HONG KONG, Jan. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — WeLab, a leading pan-Asian fintech platform, announced the successful closing of its Series D strategic financing, securing US$220 million in funding. This marks the largest digital banking capital raise in Asia for 2025 and the largest funding round since WeLab’s inception, demonstrating strong investor confidence in WeLab’s vision and scalable growth trajectory.

The financing round, comprising both debt and equity, secured investment from a diverse array of new investors, alongside strong support from existing investors and strategic capital partners, including Prudential Hong Kong Ltd, Fubon Bank (Hong Kong), Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC) (announced earlier in April 2025), TOM Group (follow-on investment), Allianz X (follow-on investment), and HSBC.

The investment will fuel WeLab’s expansion in Southeast Asia, while deepening its leadership in Hong Kong through a richer, more diversified product ecosystem and accelerated customer acquisition. It will also power the creation of innovative business lines leveraging advanced technologies, drive continuous product and platform enhancements, and support strategic M&A opportunities. These initiatives reinforce WeLab’s ambition to establish Asia’s leading regional digital bank, reimagining the future of financial services.

This raise will also support the initiatives towards WeLab’s recently announced AI vision and its AI-first strategic partnership with Google, aimed at reimagining digital banking innovation across Asia. The investment will drive the development of advanced AI agents, hyper-personalization capabilities, and modernized marketing approaches, delivering more engaging customer experiences and efficient business outcomes.

Building on WeLab’s market leadership in Hong Kong, where WeLab Bank is the largest digital bank by revenue and recognized as one of the World’s Top 20 Digital Banks by Euromoney, WeLab Bank has earned multiple industry accolades throughout 2025, including “Best Digital Bank for Consumers – Hong Kong” by the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2025 and “Best Digital Bank – Hong Kong” and “Best Bank for Financial Inclusion – Hong Kong” by the FinanceAsia Awards 2025. AI delivery will be a key driver of scale, product breadth, and ongoing innovation. By integrating cutting-edge AI solutions, WeLab is poised to set new standards for digital banking, both in Hong Kong, Indonesia’s Bank Saqu and throughout the region.

Simon Loong, Founder and Group CEO of WeLab, said, “With operations across three markets and two digital banks in Hong Kong and Indonesia, WeLab has built both scale and depth of operational experience. This foundation, proven by our rapid customer growth and market leadership, gives us the strength to capture new opportunities, accelerate expansion, and innovate at pace. In today’s dynamic landscape, we stand at the best time, with the best scale, to lead the next chapter of digital banking in Asia.”

About WeLab

WeLab, a leading pan-Asian fintech platform, operates two digital banks as well as multiple online financial services with leading positions in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Indonesia, with over 70 million individual users and over 700 enterprise customers. WeLab uses game-changing technology to help customers access credit, save money, and enjoy their financial journey.

Powered by proprietary risk management technology, patented privacy computing techniques, and advanced AI capabilities, WeLab offers mobile-based consumer financing solutions and digital banking services to retail individuals and technology solutions to enterprise customers.

WeLab operates in three markets under several key brands, including WeLend, and WeLab Bank in Hong Kong, various business lines in Mainland China, and Bank Saqu in Indonesia.

WeLab is backed by the most renowned investors including Allianz X, China Construction Bank International, International Finance Corporation, Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad, TOM Group, and Sequoia Capital.

To learn more, please visit: www.welab.co, or follow WeLab on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Media enquiry: 
WeLab Group Communications Team
Email:  pr@welab.co

SYDNEY, Jan. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Manhattan Associates (NASDAQ: MANH), the global leader in supply chain commerce with unmatched AI capabilities, today announced the commercial availability of its AI Agents. This new generation of intelligent, enterprise-ready agents are directly embedded in all Manhattan Active® solutions. Unlike overlay solutions that sit on top of legacy data lakes, these agents live within the Manhattan Active® Platform, enabling them to take real-time action with full operational context, transforming supply chain commerce execution, optimisation, and user experiences.

Purpose-built for modern retail and supply chain operations, Manhattan’s AI Agents unlock faster decision-making, higher productivity, and continuous improvement from the get-go. Our Interactive Agents are digital assistants, designed for key user roles across Manhattan Active solutions, helping associates work faster and more accurately by simplifying tasks, guiding decisions, and boosting daily productivity. Our Autonomous Agents function intelligently in the background, continuously monitor operations, automate repetitive work, identify operational issues and automatically remedy them – dramatically reducing manual effort while improving service levels.

For example, within our omnichannel solutions, our Store Associate Agent provides real-time sales performance assessments and insights. Likewise, our Contact Centre Agent provides contextually relevant key customer insights enhancing the speed and effectiveness of associates. On the supply chain front, our Labour Agent provides powerful guidance on workforce deployment across departments, based on remaining work to be completed. Meanwhile, our Shipment Tracking agent identifies potential issues and recommends compensatory actions.

As part of Manhattan Active Agents, customers also gain access to Manhattan Agent Foundry™. This is a groundbreaking platform that enables customers to easily build new agents using simple natural language or quickly customise an existing agent from Manhattan using our wide array of API and other platform capabilities that fit their unique needs. They can also work with Manhattan or third-party partners to develop these specialised agents. All agents built in Manhattan Agent Foundry are compatible with A2A and MCP Agentic communication standards, ensuring seamless interoperability – with each other and with enterprise agents that customers build themselves.

Eaton, an intelligent power management company, is an early access customer using several of our Active Agents within Warehouse Management. Through the use of the base Wave Coordinator and Labor Agents, Eaton is more nimbly deploying their associates to the right zone to complete fulfilment activities. Additionally, Eaton and Manhattan have collaborated to use Active Foundry to create a Dock Agent to monitor workflow and expedite select tasks.

“At Eaton we’re driving new levels of speed and automation enabling our teams to be more customer focused. Active Agents are delivering real-time insights and actionable recommendations that are improving operational efficiency,” said Steve Sprecher, IT Director at Eaton. “The Wave Coordinator Agent and the live labour planning recommendations are helping us increase efficiency and allocate resources more effectively – key steps in supporting Eaton’s strategy to deliver superior service and remain a trusted choice for customers and partners.”

“Our AI Agents represent a fundamental shift in how efficiently retail and supply chain solutions function,” said Sanjeev Siotia, EVP & CTO, Manhattan. “We’ve combined deep domain intelligence with agentic automation to move beyond the hype of chatbots. With their operational readiness, these agents diagnose root causes and orchestrate workflows to fix them efficiently. They don’t just assist – they act. In this competitive and fast-paced ecosystem, our agents’ workforce gives our customers a simpler, faster, and more efficient way to function and succeed.”

Receive up-to-date product, customer and partner news directly from Manhattan on LinkedIn.

ENDS

ABOUT MANHATTAN ASSOCIATES:

Manhattan Associates is a global technology leader, providing supply chain and omnichannel commerce solutions with unmatched AI capabilities. We design, build and offer best-in-class, AI-powered, cloud-based solutions that drive resilience and efficiency for businesses. We enable enterprises to uniquely unify front-end sales with back-end supply chain execution.

Our commitment to innovation, cloud-native platform and API-first architecture create simpler experiences and faster paths to value for our customers. We empower them to preempt and react to emerging trends and global disruptions with technical expertise and operational confidence, transforming challenges into competitive advantage. For more information, please visit www.manh.com.

SHENZHEN, China, Jan. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — During December 16-18, 2025, the “Healthplex Expo, Natural & Nutraceutical Products Shenzhen” (HNC Shenzhen), co-organized by CCCMHPIE and Sinoexpo Informa Markets, was held successfully at the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center. With Shenzhen as its anchor city, the exhibition fully leveraged the Greater Bay Area’s industrial concentration to create a professional platform integrating brand showcase, trend launches, technical exchange and business matchmaking. It drew strong participation from companies across the global health and nutrition supply chain, with high visitor traffic and active on-site negotiations, underscoring the sector’s robust momentum and market potential.

Co-located with Hi & Fi Shenzhen, the HNC Shenzhen formed the “Shenzhen International Nutrition and Health Industry Fair”, strengthening synergies across the value chain from ingredients to finished products and distribution.

As part of the Connexion Shenzhen 2025, spanning health, processing and packaging, catering, coffee and tea, hospitality, furniture, cleaning and lifestyle, the exhibition constituted 200,000 square metres across 12 halls and brought together more than 2,500 exhibitors from around the world. A total of 115,045 trade visits were recorded, representing a broad mix of distributors and agents, import and export traders, retailers and manufacturers. Visitor numbers for the health and nutrition segment rose by 57% year on year, reaching a new high. International buyer attendance also increased strongly, up 28% year on year, underscoring the exhibition’s global reach and resource integration capability. The exhibitions attracted sustained coverage from mainstream and trade media, supported by coordinated dissemination across social media, owned channels and online platforms, enabling industry-wide resource connectivity and business opportunity sharing, with strong penetration across South China and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Leading Exhibitors Showcased Innovation and Set New Directions

The HNC Shenzhen maintained a strong on-site buzz, with lively professional exchanges throughout. Responding to the continued upgrading of health consumption in China and overseas markets, the exhibition presented a comprehensive ecosystem of products and services across all life stages. Exhibits spanned nutritional and health foods, dietary supplements, diet therapy and TCM, beauty and skin care, weight management, light meals, natural organic products, healthy water and premium oils, smart fitness equipment, and household health devices. Supply chain services such as OEM and ODM were also available, enabling efficient one-stop sourcing and faster business matching.

A wide range of leading domestic and international companies, including SIRIO, ERA, BIOHIGH, BOSIONCREATE, NUTRYFARM, MEGADAIRY, MEGADAIRY, NUSPOWER GREATSUN, YICHAO, DALDREM, YUNNANBAIYAO, ZUONING, WRIGHT LIFE, DR. BOB MILLER, HUONS N, HONGSHOU, WEIMING TAIYAN, AOJIAN, GENLAI, HANDIAN, VITA, TIANXINGJIAN, PRINOVA, SUNRISE, DUNKANG, ZHI SHEN TANG, XIANZHILING, INATURAL, HARWORLD, DR KANG, MEITAI, RENHE, JIAN LIN, MAGTEIN, SEODONG, BENON, PRO SAFE, KEEPPURE, KEPLER, JIABEI KANG, ZHONGSHUN, LEAWELL, YUNKANG, RUNAN, AMERICAN TANLAER, TIANXI, etc., launched new products and presented advanced technical solutions. With close engagement between exhibitors and buyers and a strong trade atmosphere on the floor, the HNC Shenzhen further strengthened its role as a key platform for showcasing capability, reading market trends, and expanding partnerships.

Targeted Featured Zones Delivered a Themed Visiting Experience

The HNC Shenzhen 2025 introduced a set of dedicated show zones, including the International Brand Zone, the Tonic Food Zone, the Light Meal Zone, the Natural and Organic Product Zone, and the Regional Special Products showcase. The curated layout was designed to support precise and efficient connection across the industry, helping professionals identify new ideas and capture emerging growth opportunities.

The Tonic Food Zone highlighted medicine and food homology products, therapeutic nourishment solutions, and authentic medicinal materials, bringing together innovative companies, research resources, and distribution channels from around the world to serve South China and the broader health industry with solutions that combined traditional wisdom with modern science and technology. The Light Meal Zone featured low-GI staple foods, light snacks such as protein bars, healthier herbal tea beverages, and plant-based products aligned with low fat, low sugar, low sodium, high fibre, and high protein trends. The Natural and Organic Product Zone showcased functional drinking water, premium plant oils, and organic ingredients, reflecting growing demand for a higher-quality healthy lifestyle.

What’s more, the Regional Special Products Exhibition Group made a prominent appearance, presenting special dietary foods, new-formulation local medicines, and health foods developed from plateau resources such as highland barley and yak. Branded as a showcase of premium plateau products, the display highlighted the vitality and innovation of regional health industry and received positive feedback from visitors.

Forums Addressed Key Issues and Signposted Future Directions

Alongside the exhibition showcase, more than 30 high-quality forums and themed activities were held concurrently, spanning industry conferences, thematic sessions and new product presentations. Industry experts, corporate leaders, media and institutional representatives engaged in lively exchanges with visitors, offering forward-looking insights into the future development of the industry.

Forums focused on current priorities including the latest policies and regulations, cross-border compliance, applications of tonic foods, synthetic biology for anti-aging, brand building and trust-based marketing, digital adoption, and product and technology R&D. With strong participation and vigorous debates, the events explored emerging directions for the health and nutrition industry.

Targeted Matchmaking Delivered Outcomes and Boosted Engagement

To enhance exhibiting effectiveness, the organizers set up a dedicated business matchmaking area and ran multiple targeted matchmaking activities. The “Overseas Buyers Business Matchmaking (Health & Nutrition)” took place on the first day, with professional buyers from Thailand, Canada, Italy, India, Egypt, Pakistan, Morocco, etc. holding intensive discussions with exhibitors. By connecting global trading opportunities, the exhibition aims to provide a first-rate business exchange platform for professionals across the health and nutrition sector worldwide.

The “New Health Engine – 1V1 Product Matchmaking with E-Commerce Channels” responded to the rising demand for upgraded health consumption. Leading platforms including Taobao Live, Xiaohongshu and Kuaishou were invited, alongside a roster of MCN agencies and e-commerce live streamers, including Be Friends, Sibu Group, Weiyu Shidai, Sunchain Media, Yoozy Cultur, Dandelion Digital, TOPSKY, IPLINK, Superstar Culture Media, Yangyang Haowu, Naiba Lege, Zeng Zong Couple, Zhang Shuting, etc. They conducted in-depth business discussions with more than 80 exhibitors to explore new e-commerce collaboration opportunities.

In addition, the HNC Shenzhen launched O2O Discovery Tours with two routes themed on tonic food and beauty & anti-aging. Combining exhibitor roadshows with precise navigation for buyers, the activities enabled efficient matching and helped buyers capture the latest company and product information during one visit.

Next Stop Shanghai in June, Continuing the Health and Nutrition Journey

Although the three-day exhibition has concluded, the industry momentum and business opportunities it generated continue to extend. The “Healthplex Expo, Natural & Nutraceutical Products Shenzhen 2026” will be held during Oct. 13-15, 2026 at the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center. We look forward to welcoming you back in Shenzhen to seize new market directions and discover more highlights.

Before then, we warmly invite you to the next edition in Shanghai during June 15-17, 2026 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), for the “Healthplex Expo 2026, Natural & Nutraceutical Products China 2026” (HNC 2026). Bringing together benchmark companies and innovative forces from across the global health and nutrition sector, the exhibition will serve as a strategic platform to identify emerging trends, expand business networks and shape future growth. We look forward to meeting you in Shanghai to advance high-quality development across the industry and unlock new opportunities together.

CONTACT US
SINOEXPO INFORMA MARKETS
Email: carol.liu@imsinoexpo.com 
www.hncexpo.com/en/
www.hncexpo.com/en/sz/ 

SINGAPORE, Jan. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — iFAST Financial Singapore (“iFAST”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of iFAST Corporation Ltd, announced an expansion to its Discretionary Portfolio Management Solutions (DPMS) lineup with the launch of new portfolios advised by BlackRock and J.P. Morgan Asset Management (“JPMorgan”) respectively.

This collaboration underscores iFAST’s commitment to its Business-to-Business (B2B) partners by empowering wealth advisers and their clients with professionally managed investment solutions that enhance time efficiency, portfolio quality, and choice. Aligned with iFAST’s vision of broadening access to high-quality, professionally managed portfolios through financial advisers, both BlackRock and JPMorgan bring distinct strengths that further enrich the range of discretionary solutions available on the B2B platform.

“By partnering with two of the world’s largest fund managers, our objective is to make discretionary investment solutions accessible to advisers and the wider public. This empowers advisers to redirect time saved toward what truly matters: building deeper, more meaningful client relationships. Through DPMS, clients also gain the advantage of continuous portfolio monitoring, timely rebalancing, and access to institutional-level expertise that strengthens their long-term financial journey,” said Vincent Tong, CEO of iFAST Financial Singapore.

Partner Perspectives

JPMorgan‘s discretionary portfolio leverages its growing range of active ETFs, giving investors access to active management at a lower cost.

“We are excited to bring J.P. Morgan’s model portfolios to the iFAST platform. We observe a growing appetite for actively managed ETFs as investors seek cost efficiency without compromising on active insights and proven alpha. As a leading global asset manager and a long-term advocate for active investing, our goal is to deliver the strength of our active ETF platform and asset allocation investment capabilities to investors in Singapore. Through this partnership, iFAST clients can have access to a range of core portfolios designed to provide diversification and consistent investment outcomes over the long-term,” said Yuejue Jin, Co-Head of Multi-Asset Solutions Asia, J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

The DPMS portfolios powered by BlackRock offer a blended approach that integrates the strengths of active funds and passive ETFs, and incorporate liquid alternatives to help diversify portfolios during periods of heightened market volatility.

“We are excited to collaborate with iFAST to bring together BlackRock’s global investment platform and expertise, the insights of our dedicated teams, and Aladdin’s risk management capabilities to support advisers and investors in Singapore. BlackRock has the privilege of managing over USD 256 billion^[1] in model portfolios for clients around the world. Leveraging our experience managing model portfolios worldwide, we design holistic solutions aimed at diversification and long-term resilience. Active strategies and ETFs both have a role to play – each offers distinct merits. Active strategies can potentially contribute additional alpha, while ETFs provide a cost-efficient option to gain market exposure. We also see growing demand for liquid alternatives as a diversifier. Through a thoughtful blend of asset classes, we seek to help investors navigate market volatility and pursue their long-term goals,” said Dennis Quah, Managing Director, Head of Singapore Wealth, BlackRock.

Empowering Advisers, Enhancing Client Experience

The addition of DPMS portfolios designed in collaboration with BlackRock and JPMorgan gives wealth advisers greater choice and flexibility to align client portfolios with specific goals and risk profiles, while clients enjoy a seamless and professionally managed investing experience. One key pain point the DPMS portfolios removes is the heavy administrative workload that often consumes valuable time for both wealth advisers and their clients. With DPMS portfolios in place, conversations shift away from paperwork and focus on what truly matters: thoughtful portfolio construction and holistic financial planning.

Beyond portfolio management, both partners provide investment insights and adviser training, enhancing iFAST’s adviser enablement ecosystem with exclusive content, courses, and events.

Since 2016, iFAST has made discretionary solutions accessible to investors through financial advisers. With nearly ten years of experience and its own suite of solutions, the platform now partners with six portfolio managers to offer exclusive discretionary portfolios. iFAST remains committed to helping advisers bring institutional expertise closer to their clients, empowering them to invest confidently and achieve their long-term goals.

About iFAST Singapore & iFAST Corp

iFAST Financial Pte Ltd (iFAST Singapore) is the Singapore subsidiary of iFAST Corporation Ltd. (iFAST Corp), which is also present in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mainland China and UK. iFAST Singapore holds the Capital Markets Services licence and the Financial Advisers licence, issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. iFAST Singapore is a Central Provident Fund-registered Investment Administrator, an SGX-ST Trading Member, a CDP Clearing Member and a CDP Depository Agent. iFAST Singapore’s Business-to-Business (B2B) division includes iFAST Central and iFAST Global Prestige, which cater to over 100 financial advisory (FA) firms, financial institutions, banks and multinational companies.

iFAST Corp is a global digital banking and wealth management platform, with assets under administration (AUA) of S$30.62 billion as at 30 September 2025. Incorporated in the year 2000 in Singapore and listed on the SGX-Mainboard in December 2014, iFAST Corp holds the requisite licences in the various jurisdictions it operates in to provide a wide range of products and services. The main business divisions of the Group include the Wealth Management division, the Digital Bank division, and the ePension division.

The Group’s mission statement is, “To help investors around the world invest globally and profitably”. For more information, please visit www.ifastfinancial.com and www.ifastcorp.com

Contacts:

Wilson Lee
(65) 6439 3832
ir@ifastfinancial.com