MANILA, Philippines, Jan. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Brave Connective Holdings Inc. (BCHI) has entered into a strategic partnership with Plug and Play, one of the world’s largest global innovation platforms. This collaboration marks a milestone in Brave Connective’s roadmap to scale its digital ecosystem across advertising, data, communications, and loyalty through global startup and technology co-creation.

Under the partnership, Plug and Play will co-develop an Innovation Strategy Roadmap to accelerate Brave Connective’s multi-brand growth and regional expansion. The engagement will also allow Brave Connective and its portfolio companies to connect with Plug and Play’s global network of over 550 corporate partners, 100,000 startups, and 60 innovation hubs worldwide.

“Brave Connective hopes to integrate the strengths of its portfolio companies—m360 for omnichannel communications, AdSpark for data-driven marketing and advertising, Inquiro for analytics and privacy-first insights, and Rush for loyalty and customer engagement—to help Philippine enterprises scale in the digital economy,” said Nikko Acosta, President and Group CEO of Brave Connective Holdings Inc. “Our partnership with Plug and Play helps fulfill this mission by giving us access to global innovation practices and startup ecosystems, plus open up new opportunities for collaboration with multiple markets,” adds Acosta.

Through this engagement, Brave will gain access to Playbook, Plug and Play’s innovation platform, curated startup introductions, participate in the APAC Summit and other global industry expos. This will help Brave recognize and test promising technologies, and establish strategic relationships aimed at strengthening its capabilities in AI, MarTech, AdTech, and CPaaS.

“Plug and Play is delighted to welcome Brave Connective into our global innovation community,” said Jupe Tan, Managing Partner, Plug and Play APAC. “Brave’s ecosystem of digital companies is a strong example of how venture building can drive transformation. Together, we aim to co-create new pathways for the Philippines and Southeast Asian digital industries and markets to thrive in a bigger innovation landscape.”

This partnership forms part of Brave’s broader strategy to institutionalize innovative technologies across its growing portfolio of companies, and enhance its market position in the Philippines, and expand into regional opportunities. It also reflects the shared vision of Globe and 917Ventures to strengthen the country’s participation in the global innovation economy by linking enterprise challenges with world-class startup capabilities.

About Brave Connective Holdings Inc.
Brave Connective Holdings Inc. (BCHI) is an omnitech solutions provider and a wholly owned subsidiary of Globe Capital Ventures Holdings, Inc. Its portfolio integrates communications (m360), digital advertising (AdSpark), data technology (Inquiro), and customer engagement solutions (Rush) to power AI-enabled customer engagement, privacy-first personalization, and scalable business transformation. BCHI serves enterprise partners across Southeast Asia.

https://www.braveconnective.ph/

About Plug and Play

Plug and Play is the leading innovation platform, connecting startups, corporations, venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we’re present in 60+ locations across five continents. We offer corporate innovation programs and help our corporate partners in every stage of their innovation journey, from education to execution. We also organize startup acceleration programs and have built an in-house VC to drive innovation across multiple industries, where we’ve invested in hundreds of successful companies, including Dropbox, Guardant Health, Honey, Lending Club, N26, PayPal, and Rappi. 

Our Asia Pacific headquarters was launched in Singapore in 2010, and we are now present in five cities in Southeast Asia with additional locations in China, Japan, Korea and India. We work closely with both the public and private sectors with programs, innovation initiatives, and startup investments across the region. 

For more information, visit https://www.plugandplayapac.com 

Plug and Play Press Contact
Ming Yang Khong
press@pnptc.com 

T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc. and Braidwell LP participate as new investors

Stephen Williams, MD, Ph.D. joins as Chief Scientific Officer

Rebecca Chambers and Frank Witney, Ph.D. appointed to Board of Directors

FREMONT, Calif., Jan. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Alamar Biosciences, Inc. (“Alamar”), a leader in precision proteomics dedicated to advancing the early detection of disease, announced the close of an oversubscribed convertible notes financing, bringing in more than $50 million of new capital. Accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc. and Braidwell LP joined the financing as new investors. Existing investors, including Illumina Ventures and Sands Capital, also participated. The financing will support the continued commercial advancement of Alamar’s precision proteomics platform.

“We deeply appreciate the continued support from our existing investors and are excited to welcome our new partners,” said Dr. Yuling Luo, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Alamar. “Their confidence in our vision and strategy underscores the transformative potential of our work. This investment will enable us to accelerate innovation and continue to expand the reach of our platform, unlocking the full value of precision medicine and early disease detection.”

Leadership and Board Expansion
Alamar also announced key additions to its executive leadership team and board of directors to support the company’s continued growth and commitment to operational excellence.

Stephen Williams, MD, PhD

Rebecca Chambers

Frank Witney, PhD

To further strengthen its scientific leadership, Alamar welcomes Dr. Stephen Williams as Chief Scientific Officer. Steve brings more than three decades of experience in precision medicine and biomarker innovation. He most recently served as Chief Medical Officer at Standard BioTools and SomaLogic, and previously spent 18 years at Pfizer in senior leadership roles. A recognized leader in the scientific community, he has served on the NIH National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, helped launch the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, and co-founded the FDA-FNIH-PhRMA Biomarker Consortium.

Alamar has also appointed Rebecca Chambers and Dr. Frank Witney as directors to its board. Rebecca, Chief Financial Officer at Veracyte, brings deep financial and healthcare leadership experience from her current role as well as previous positions at Outset Medical, Illumina, Myriad Genetics and Life Technologies. Frank, an operating partner at Ampersand Capital Partners, adds over three decades of life sciences leadership experience, including serving as President and CEO of Affymetrix and Dionex Corporation, and currently sits on the boards of Revvity, Cerus Corporation, Standard BioTools, and several private companies.

“I am thrilled to welcome Steve to our leadership team, and Rebecca and Frank to our board of directors,” said Dr. Yuling Luo. “Their deep expertise and diverse perspectives will be invaluable as we accelerate our mission to unleash the power of our Precision Proteomics platform, to enable broad impacts across health and disease. This is an exciting moment for Alamar, and we look forward to the impact their leadership will have on driving innovation and growth.”

About Alamar Biosciences, Inc. 
Alamar Biosciences is a privately held life sciences company dedicated to powering precision proteomics to enable the earliest detection of disease. Leveraging its proprietary NULISA™ technology and the ARGO™ HT System, Alamar’s platform is designed to deliver ultra-high sensitivity and addresses key limitations of existing technologies to deliver precision proteomics. For more information, please visit alamarbio.com. 

Exclusive Global Full-Chain Operations Secured—Turning Influence into a Capital-Grade Asset
With 360 Million Followers, Annual Live-Commerce Sales Could Reach $4 Billion

HONG KONG, Jan. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Khaby Lame, widely regarded as the world’s defining TikTok creator, built his name on a universal language: silence. No captions needed, no cultural footnotes required—just clarity, humor, and that unmistakable gesture that says this is the simple way.

Now, that global influence is being elevated into something more permanent. Rich Sparkle Holdings (ANPA.US), a U.S.-listed company, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Step Distinctive Limited, a core company associated with Khaby Lame. The move signals a shift from one-off brand deals to a structured, exclusive, full-chain, platform-style commercialization system—designed not merely to monetize attention, but to industrialize it.

A Once-in-a-Generation Traffic Gateway
360 million followers, one borderless content engine

Khaby Lame’s rise is unusual not because it’s fast, but because it travels. His content—minimal, wordless, instantly readable—does what most internet fame cannot: scale across languages and cultures without translation.

Today, his global following totals 360 million across platforms, making him one of the rare creators who can drive attention in multiple major regions at once. Industry observers describe him as a “global-tier traffic entrance”—a scarce asset in the age of content commerce.

Not Just a Partner—A Controlling Shareholder
When traffic aligns with ownership, the incentives lock in

What’s drawing heightened market attention isn’t only the acquisition—it’s Khaby Lame’s positioning inside the company structure. According to disclosed information, Khaby Lame will become a controlling shareholder, upgrading his value from “influence” to a core equity-level asset.

Analysts see this as a powerful alignment mechanism: short-term monetization and long-term brand building begin to move on the same curve—reducing volatility, increasing commitment, and expanding strategic imagination.

From “Viral Moments” to “System Conversion”
Why the $4B annual sales outlook is a model, not a slogan

The cooperation’s headline expectation is bold: Khaby Lame’s fan-based commercialization could generate more than $4 billion in annual sales.

Market participants note that this forecast is not simply a function of follower count. It rests on a closed-loop conversion architecture:

• Top-tier global exposure that creates massive conversion potential
• Exclusive full-chain execution, spanning content planning, paid growth, storefront operations, product selection and pricing, cross-border supply chain, fulfillment, and after-sales
• AI Digital Twin integration, enabling content output to scale beyond human scheduling and time zones

In other words, the $4 billion figure is framed as the output of a four-part engine—traffic + operations + fulfillment + technology—rather than a single breakout campaign.

Exclusive Full-Chain Control
Platform-style operations, not traditional MCN collaboration

Under the agreement, Khaby Lame’s global commercialization will be executed through a single operating system. During the 36-month cooperation period, Anhui Xiaoheiyang Network Technology Co., Ltd. (a China-based livestream and content-commerce operator) will hold exclusive global full-chain operating rights.

The scope spans:

• Livestream and short-video commerce planning and programming cadence
• End-to-end TikTok Shop operations and conversion optimization
• Cross-border supply chain coordination, QC, fulfillment delivery, and after-sales
• Brand endorsements, ad productions, and visual content coordination
• Commercial development of an AI Digital Twin (Digital Twin)

Industry sources suggest this structure resembles a platform battle plan more than an influencer network arrangement—built for standardization, replication, and scale across overseas markets.

AI Digital Twin Authorized
Commerce content becomes a replicable production force

The agreement discloses that Khaby Lame has authorized the use of his Face ID, Voice ID, and behavioral models for AI Digital Twin development. Within a compliant framework, this enables multilingual, multi-version content production and opens the door to cross-time-zone, long-duration virtual livestream commerce.

Investors are watching two incremental upsides:

1. Higher content capacity ceiling, reducing dependence on human schedules
2. Standardized, replicable content assets, enabling matrix-style scaling and expansion

Three Core Markets, One Coordinated Push
U.S., Middle East, and Southeast Asia

The cooperation will prioritize three strategic regions: the United States, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The plan includes a region-specific pricing structure and independent profit accounting, intended to match different consumer purchasing power, logistics costs, and compliance requirements—while improving efficiency and transparency in cross-border execution.

The Ceiling Isn’t Just GMV
A path toward premium brands and co-branded IP

Beyond transaction-based commerce, the strategy points toward higher-margin, longer-cycle brand business. International brand advertising shoots and visual collaborations are expected to be centrally coordinated, alongside plans for co-branded IP product lines spanning beauty, fragrance, and apparel.

Analysts interpret this as a clear upgrade in ambition: not simply to expand GMV, but to convert Khaby Lame’s global influence into priced, accumulated brand equity.

Industry Watch: Compliance and Delivery Define the Real Limit

As the model scales globally, industry experts emphasize that the final ceiling will be determined by local compliance (data authorization, ad disclosure, consumer protection), cross-border fulfillment and after-sales experience, and AI content risk controls and brand safety.

With region-level independent accounting gradually going live, future operating metrics and financial guidance disclosed by Rich Sparkle Holdings are expected to become key reference points for assessing whether this “system” can truly be replicated at scale.

• Innovative technologies enable retailers to implement intelligent stores at scale to deliver smarter, more responsive shopping experiences
• Industry partners to display production-ready AI solutions for loss prevention, digital twins, AI agents, customer analytics, and more

SAN JOSE, Calif. and NEW YORK, Jan. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Retail’s Big Show — Super Micro Computer, Inc. (SMCI), a Total IT Solution Provider for AI/ML, HPC, Cloud, Storage, and 5G/Edge, today announced collaboration with technology partners for AI-powered intelligent in-store retail solutions designed to meet increasing customer expectations with scalability, improved productivity and increased profitability.

Edge AI Infrastructure Solutions for Intelligent Retail Stores

“AI is reshaping shopping experiences, enabling real-time analysis of video and other data to give retailers actionable insights to optimizing staff efficiency, reducing shrinkage, increasing profits, and avoiding stock-outs,” said Charles Liang, president and CEO of Supermicro. “By combining Supermicro’s complete and scalable AI platforms with NVIDIA RTX PRO accelerated computing solutions, we’re enabling retailers to build intelligent stores that maximize the benefits of AI-driven applications.”

According to the latest NVIDIA State of AI in Retail & CPG report, 89% of respondents reported that AI is helping to increase annual revenue, while 95% said it is helping decrease annual costs, highlighting the measurable business impact retailers are already achieving because of AI¹.

For more information, please visit https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/edge/servers

Supermicro Complete and Scalable Edge AI Infrastructure

Retail-centric AI applications require sub-second responsiveness which is only possible, at scale, if data is processed directly at the edge. Supermicro’s Edge AI infrastructure enables the deployment of solutions in distributed environments, such as intelligent retail stores and supply chains, to provide a complete solution.

Deploying at the edge presents a myriad of unique challenges in comparison to the data center. Supermicro’s broad Edge AI portfolio of products helps customers and partners overcome these challenges while striking the right balance between performance and ROI.

For deployments in harsh environments where conditioned space is not available, the fanless E103 series of products bring AI processing power where it couldn’t go before. Supermicro also offers a fanned small form factor E300 series systems with AI capabilities.

When there is a demanding AI workload at the edge, customers and partners can turn to numerous systems capable of holding the latest discrete GPUs for AI acceleration. Ranging from 1U short-depth to larger 4U form factors, solutions can be right-sized to meet the customer’s needs by enabling the latest generation of NVIDIA RTX PRO Blackwell series.

Supermicro Intelligent Store Partners

Supermicro is collaborating with ecosystem partners including Everseen, Kinetic Vision, ALLSIDES, LiveX, WobotAI, and Aible, to create intelligent stores that positively impact day-to-day retail operations as well as longer term supply chain management.

• Everseen’s Evercheck solution uses Vision AI to help reduce shrink and improve staff productivity and customer experiences. Built on the Everseen Vision AI platform, Evercheck detects, and deters recovery of unwanted behaviors at checkout, helping retailers recover losses and streamline front-of-store operations.

“Everseen has spent years working alongside some of the world’s largest retailers, understanding the realities of the store floor and solving loss challenges where they actually happen,” said Joe White, CEO of Everseen. “By partnering with Supermicro and leveraging NVIDIA-accelerated computing, Evercheck delivers real-time computer vision at the edge – transforming store activity into intelligence retailers can act on immediately.”

• Wobot AI, focused on building Video AI Agents for the physical world, will be demonstrating how the cameras retailers already own can be turned into systems that continuously observe, learn, and produce usable insight. By converting ordinary CCTV infrastructure into autonomous agents that recognize patterns, identify friction, and surface decisions, Wobot’s AI Agents enable retailers to improve day-to-day operations with practical and measurable outcomes.

“By working with Supermicro and NVIDIA at the edge, we’re able to deploy Video AI Agents in a way that’s scalable, reliable, and focused on real-time operational insight—not experimentation,” said Will Kelso, President, Revenue & Growth at Wobot AI.

• LiveX AI – “Retail is entering an era where AI agents become the default interaction layer between brands and customers,” said Jerry Li, Co-Founder and CEO of LiveX AI. “With NVIDIA’s accelerated AI and Supermicro’s edge infrastructure, we can deploy a helpful, human-like AI agent directly in physical spaces—such as kiosks or holograms—bringing the speed, intelligence, and continuity of digital experiences into brick-and-mortar environments. This collaboration makes AI agents usable, in real time, where customers actually are.”

• • Kinetic Vision and ALLSIDES are bundling their expertise for a True Digital Twin solution designed to develop, test, and optimize supply chain processes, checkout stations, and other complex systems.

“The combination of Supermicro’s high reliability optimized infrastructure and NVIDIA’s accelerated computing stack gives Kinetic Vision the foundation to innovate at speed. Together, we are helping retailers move from experimentation to production-ready AI solutions that drive measurable operational and customer experience gains,” says Jeremy Jarratt, Kinetic Vision CEO.

Franz Tschimben, CEO at ALLSIDES, adds: “Building on the combined strengths of NVIDIA and Supermicro, we deliver a high-fidelity 3D digital twin data layer for AI training that enables retailers to power applications across the entire retail value chain — from training robots with physical AI, to production and production planning, virtual store layouts and consumer feedback systems, and e-commerce integrations — helping drive higher conversion rates, faster decision-making, and greater operational efficiency.”

• Supermicro will also feature Superb AI’s retail-focused VSS solution, combining Superb AI’s proprietary VLM with NVIDIA AI Blueprint components to enable subjective reasoning capabilities, natural-language search, automated incident summarization, and customer behavior insights across store camera networks.
• Aible will highlight its automated agent solution, which analyzes vast amounts of data across millions of patterns to explain changes in retail KPIs, such as the average purchase amount or number of purchases. Aible will also demonstrate how the latest NVIDIA Retail blueprints can be incorporated into agentic solutions that automatically customize customer experiences and optimize retail operations at scale.

Arijit Sengupta, CEO of Aible, adds, “Today’s market and labor conditions are constantly changing. Only autonomous agents can understand and adjust to these ever-changing patterns of customer behavior, inventory costs and supply, and labor access at scale. Working with NVIDIA and Supermicro, Aible brings autonomous agents subject to business user review to the retail edge.”

These intelligent retail solutions will be demonstrated by Supermicro and its partners at NRF: Retail’s Big Show in New York City from January 11-13. To learn more about AI-powered retail applications or Supermicro’s AI Infrastructure solutions, visit Supermicro booth #5281 and attend its speaking session featuring PepsiCo and Kinetic Vision. For more details, please visit www.supermicro.com/NRF

¹Source: “NVIDIA State of AI in Retail and CPG” 2026

About Super Micro Computer, Inc.

Supermicro (NASDAQ: SMCI) is a global leader in Application-Optimized Total IT Solutions. Founded and operating in San Jose, California, Supermicro is committed to delivering first to market innovation for Enterprise, Cloud, AI, and 5G Telco/Edge IT Infrastructure. We are a Total IT Solutions provider with server, AI, storage, IoT, switch systems, software, and support services. Supermicro’s motherboard, power, and chassis design expertise further enables our development and production, enabling next generation innovation from cloud to edge for our global customers. Our products are designed and manufactured in-house (in the US, Asia, and the Netherlands), leveraging global operations for scale and efficiency and optimized to improve TCO and reduce environmental impact (Green Computing). The award-winning portfolio of Server Building Block Solutions® allows customers to optimize for their exact workload and application by selecting from a broad family of systems built from our flexible and reusable building blocks that support a comprehensive set of form factors, processors, memory, GPUs, storage, networking, power, and cooling solutions (air-conditioned, free air cooling or liquid cooling).

Supermicro, Server Building Block Solutions, and We Keep IT Green are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Super Micro Computer, Inc.

All other brands, names, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

BEIJING, Jan. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On December 29, the “Forging the Path to National Strength: China’s Manufacturing Achievements Under the 14th Five-Year Plan,” jointly organized by the National Museum of China and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, officially opened at the National Museum of China, showcasing more than 300 top national achievements. GAC’s “National Outstanding Engineer Team” successfully developed both the Magazine Battery and the Solid-State Battery, which were selected for the exhibition.

The GAC Magazine Battery is the first battery system to pass both the nail penetration no-flame and non-ignition safety tests. By utilizing ultra-high intrinsic safety cells, an all-weather “vehicle-end + cloud-based” active safety monitoring system, and a multi-dimensional safety protection system, the Magazine Battery achieves three layers of protection: core, active, and passive. Its safety performance far exceeds the electric vehicles traction battery safety requirements (GB38031-2025), which will take effect on July 1, 2026. Currently, the Magazine Battery has a cumulative deployment of 1.3 million vehicles with zero spontaneous combustion and over 50 billion kilometers of safe travel, providing users with robust safety assurance for every journey.

GAC’s self-developed large-capacity solid-state battery has achieved an energy density exceeding 400 Wh/kg and easily passes rigorous safety tests such as 200°C thermal chamber and nail penetration tests, effectively addressing users’ range anxiety and safety concerns. Innovations in materials and processes have placed the solid-state battery at the forefront of the industry in key indicators such as safety, energy density, and cycle life, providing a superior power solution for the future development of NEVs. Currently, a pilot production line for GAC’s solid-state battery has been established, capable of mass-producing vehicle-grade solid-state batteries over 60 Ah, marking a critical step toward the goal of full vehicle integration by 2026.

Over the years, GAC has been steadily enhancing its competitiveness through innovations across intelligent connectivity, NEV powertrains technologies, and forward-looking technologies. Looking ahead, GAC will continue to deepen its efforts in the intelligent connected NEV field, leveraging more leading technological achievements to drive industry progress.