Series A Funding Completed to Fuel Growth in Coding Education Cultivate Future Global Talents, Build Coding as Universal Language

TOKYO, JAPAN and LONDON, UK – Media OutReach – 17 September 2021 – Preface, the Hong Kong-based EdTech company, has announced the completion of its Series A funding from prominent investor Sunlink Holdings (H.K.) Limited. The company will use the latest round of funding to further develop its business in major cities including Hong Kong, Tokyo and London, with a determination to popularise coding knowledge and make it a universal language. Preface aims to equip the new generation with this key language for a better future.

Tommie Lo (front row, second left), Founder and CEO of Preface, and the Management Team

The global EdTech industry continues on a sharp growth path and is now worth more than US$100 billion. Despite the impact of the ongoing pandemic, Preface has seen a continued improvement in its performance, with year-on-year revenue growth of 500% over the past 12 months.

Tommie Lo, Founder and CEO of Preface, said: “Coding will become the universal language of the future. Trusted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and UNESCO in the provision of programming education, Preface offers award-winning programming curricula to global academia and leading multinational corporations. Through the high-mobility classroom model we are initiating, our goal is to equip future talents with this key language.”

“We are very excited to support Preface in its Series A round of funding. In the digital transformation era, education has become one of the fastest-changing landscapes and we see enormous potential for the business. We trust that a forward-looking company like Preface can revolutionise the education industry through their innovative approach,” said Angus Chan, COO and CFO of Sunlink Holdings (H.K.) Limited.

With the digitisation of society, cultivating global coding talents has become the responsibility of education

As the first Asian teaching platform to win an award at “EdTechXEurope”, the world’s largest education summits, Preface Coding by Preface is committed to nurturing talents and cooperating with universities around the world, such as MIT and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the United States. Preface has also designed official coding courses for top-ranked universities and co-organised seminars and workshops with multinational technology companies and non-profit organisations. Preface has now trained more than 10,000 students around the world.

Decentralised Classroom – solving issues raised by traditional education model and fuelling innovation technology

Preface’s innovative teaching concept, the “Decentralised Classroom” delivery model, emphasises that education should not be restricted by time and place. Students from Preface are able to choose how and where to attend their coding courses as they prefer, receiving teaching materials according to real–time analysis and being matched with teachers through AI technology.

About Preface

Founded with a vision that personalised education is for all, EdTech company Preface is committed to liberate knowledge and promote coding as the future’s universal language. As an award-winning coding education company, Preface reshapes both the teaching and learning experience by providing personalised classes. Our businesses are across Hong Kong, Tokyo and London, with a focus on the coding education platform Preface Coding and F&B and lifestyle concept space Preface Coffee & Wine. Stay up to date at www.preface.ai

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NGO Enterprise Asia picks Prince Group in Cambodia for Social Empowerment award; Organizer receives more than 500 entries

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA – Media OutReach – 17 September 2021 – Prince Holding Group (“Prince Group”), one of Cambodia’s largest and fastest growing conglomerates, has been recognized for responsible entrepreneurship at the 2021 Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards (AREA). Prince Group was commended for its high-impact work during the COVID-19 epidemic in Cambodia. Being the fifth award received by Prince Group this year, regional and international judging panels have highlighted the company as a leading Asian business championing sustainable development in Cambodia and across the ASEAN region.

Established in 2011, AREA seeks to identify examples of green leadership, investment in people, health promotion, social empowerment, corporate governance, circular economy leadership and responsible business leadership. It has worked to create a community of like-minded peers so that the best businesses in Asia learn from one another, with Prince Group now joining the list. It aims to promote corporate activity in line with UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Other AREA awardees include Foxconn Education Foundation, WPP India Foundation and King Power International Co., Ltd.  Prince Group was recognized under the Social Empowerment category for a multi-sector response that saw it carry out rapid and coordinated activity involving a partnership of business units, governmental departments and non-governmental organizations. Previously, Prince Group was also recognized for its COVID-19 corporate response in the Stevie Awards Asia Pacific while Neak Oknha Chen Zhi, Chairman of Prince Group, won Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2021 International Business Awards.

Over the past year, the Group has launched the Chen Zhi Scholarship program for 400 Cambodian university students alongside the Ministry of Education Youth and Sport (MoEYS), contributed US$1 million in aid to civil society organizations better placed to make an impact in rural areas, donated US$6 million to the Cambodian government’s anti-pandemic efforts including the purchase of 1 million COVID-19 vaccines, and organized several rounds of COVID-19 vaccinations to ensure 3,500+ employees were fully vaccinated. Focusing on Cambodia’s post-pandemic recovery, the Group began work on Ream City, an 834-hectare coastal development project with a masterplan by Singapore’s Surbana Jurong, aiming to transform Sihanoukville with a sustainable ecosystem of tourism, commercial and residential activity with the potential to house up to 130,000 residents. 

“Prince Group, leveraging the work of Prince Foundation, has consistently worked to ensure our commercial and philanthropic operations work in tandem to make a difference to our employees, residents in Cambodia and the environment,” said Neak Oknha Chen Zhi, Chairman of Prince Group. “We will continue to work hard to raise Cambodia’s profile internationally and learn from our peers across the region as we look to rebuild to deliver a sustainable and resilient future.”

Over the years, Prince Group has invested more than US$2 billion in local projects and the conglomerate will continue to affirm its long-term commitment to Cambodia in various ways on a continuous basis.

About Prince Holding Group:

Prince Holding Group is one of the largest conglomerates in Cambodia, with its various units focusing on three core areas: real estate development, financial services and consumer services.

Prince Holding Group’s key business units in Cambodia include Prince Real Estate Group, Prince Huan Yu Real Estate Group, Prince Bank, Cambodia Airways, Belt Road Capital Management, as well as Awesome Global Investment Group. Via its subsidiaries, Prince Holding Group has over 80 businesses in Cambodia operating in real estate development, banking, finance, aviation, tourism, logistics, technology, food and beverages, and lifestyle sectors etc.

Rising foreign direct investment, free trade agreements with leading countries and future participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership are expected to act as key drivers for the Cambodian economy, supported by pro-industry policy initiatives by the government.

Leveraging a network of industrial, business and financial professionals across Asia, Prince Holding Group has laid the foundation to be a vital conduit for local and international capital. The Group is firmly committed to the long-term development of Cambodia. For example, Prince Holding Group is developing Ream City, an upcoming tourism and residential project that will be one of Cambodia’s first sustainable real estate projects, aiming to secure $16 billion in total investment for the region. Located conveniently within a 10-minute drive from the Sihanoukville International Airport, the project aims to contribute to economic recovery in Sihanoukville.

About Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards (AREA)

The Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards programme recognises and honors Asian businesses for championing sustainable and responsible entrepreneurship in the categories of Green Leadership, Investment in People, Health Promotion, Social Empowerment, Corporate Governance, Circular Economy Leadership and Responsible Business Leadership. For more information, visit: https://enterpriseasia.org/area/.

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Clinical trial confirms Kirin Holdings’ Lactococcus lactis strain Plasma effective against the cureless and vaccineless virus

TOKYO, JAPAN – Media OutReach – 17 September 2021 – A joint clinical trial confirmed that continuous intake of Kirin Holdings Company, Limited’s (Kirin Holdings) Lactococcus lactis strain Plasma (LC-Plasma)*¹ for two months significantly reduced the cumulative number of days of fever, muscle pain, joint pain, and pain behind the eyes, which are known to be the main symptoms of dengue fever. LC-Plasma is the same functional ingredient in Kirin Holdings’ stable of IMMUSE material that help maintain the immune system. The study was conducted by The Kirin Central Research Institute in collaboration with Professor Dr. Sazaly Abu Bakar, Director of the Tropical Infectious Diseases Research & Education Centre (TIDREC) at the University of Malaya.

*1: Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis JCM 5805 is owned by the RIKEN BioResource Research Center.

• No Cure, No Vaccine… But Hope Against Symptoms Arises – In Food!

There is still no definitive cure or vaccine for dengue fever. However, the study results show there is hope for dealing with symptoms. The results of a clinical trial have confirmed the suppression of dengue fever-like symptoms through a food that is safe and does not rely on medical infrastructure, reflecting a groundbreaking achievement that has the potential to provide a solution to the global social issue of dengue fever. The results of this research were presented at the 25th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Travel and Health on August 22.

Since LC-Plasma activates the command center of antiviral immunity, it has been shown to contribute to the prevention of a wide range of viral infections other than the dengue fever virus*². Moving forward, Kirin Holdings and the University of Malaya will accelerate joint research aiming to verify the antiviral effects of LC-Plasma on tropical disease viruses other than the dengue virus.

*2: Lactococcus lactis strain Plasma Research Report https://health.kirin.co.jp/ps/index.html

Kirin Holdings has reported that LC-Plasma has shown immunostimulatory effects in the body’s defense against viral infections through activation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells*³ in non-clinical and clinical trials, and that LC-Plasma can reduce the incidence of influenza*⁴ in clinical trials. In collaboration with TIDREC, a WHO Collaborating Centre for Arbovirus Reference and Research, our collaboration will continue to verify the effects of LC-Plasma on other tropical infectious diseases, which are expected to expand further due to global warming. In tandem, Kirin Holdings will make LC-Plasma more accessible to more people in Southeast Asia through alliances and business expansion, providing a solution to a major social issue.

*3: Jounai et al., PLoS One (2012) / Sugimura et al., Clin. Immunol (2013)

*4: Sakata et al., Health (2017)

[Attachments]

1. Dengue Fever Joint Research Results Summary (1 page)

ATTACHMENT

DENGUE FEVER JOINT RESEARCH RESULTS SUMMARY

Clinical trial

According to the previous research outcomes performed by Kirin Holdings Company Limited^*5, the Kirin Central Research Institute at Kirin Holdings Company Limited and the Tropical Infectious Diseases Research and Education Center (TIDREC) at the University of Malaya collaborated on a joint research project on Lactococcus lactis strain Plasma (LC-Plasma) against dengue fever from December 2019 to February 2020. During this time, approximately 100 healthy adults of Malaysian nationality living in dengue infection cluster areas near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, were asked to take a tablet containing LC-Plasma (approximately 100 billion cells) or a placebo for 8 weeks, and symptoms were measured. The results showed that LC-Plasma significantly reduced the cumulative number of days with dengue fever-like symptoms such as headache, joint pain, and pain behind the eyes (Figures 1-3). These results suggest that LC-Plasma, a food product, can help alleviate the symptoms and prevent the severity of the disease, while the only other option currently available for dengue fever is coping therapy.

Figs. 1-3 Comparison of the cumulative number of days of occurrence of symptoms specific to tropical diseases such as dengue fever（Representative symptoms）

*5: Tsuji et al., Antiviral Res (2018) / Suzuki et al., Int J Mol Med. (2019)

Outline of Collaborative Research

• Location: Laboratory for Immuno-Regulation Studies, Tropical Infectious Disease Research and Education Centre (TIDREC), University of Malaya
• Visiting Fellow: One Research Fellow appointed as visiting professor from Kirin Holdings Company, Limited.
• Research Period: From the end of 2021 to December 2023 (thereafter, the period will be extended as the project and research progress)
• Research Topics: Conduct immunological research on tropical infectious diseases in order to , to contribute to public health in the region and accelerate the overseas business development of Kirin Holdings’ health science business by:

–  Confirmation of the efficacy of LC-Plasma against tropical disease viruses (non-clinical research). Confirmation of the efficacy of LC-Plasma against tropical disease virus infection  (clinical trials).

–  Confirmation of the efficacy of LC-Plasma against tropical disease virus infection  (clinical trials).

–  Research support for LC-Plasma business development in Southeast Asia region.

About Kirin Holdings

Kirin Holdings Company, Limited is an international company that operates in the Food & Beverages domain (Food & Beverages businesses), Pharmaceuticals domain (Pharmaceuticals businesses), and Health Science domain (Health Science business), both in Japan and across the globe.

Kirin Holdings can trace its roots to Japan Brewery which was established in 1885. Japan Brewery became Kirin Brewery in 1907. Since then, the company expanded its business with fermentation and biotechnology as its core technologies, and entered the pharmaceutical business in the 1980s, all of which continue to be global growth centers. In 2007, Kirin Holdings was established as a pure holding company and is currently focusing on boosting its Health Science domain.

Under the Kirin Group Vision 2027 (KV 2027), a long-term management plan launched in 2019, the Kirin Group aims to become “A global leader in CSV*, creating value across our world of Food & Beverages to Pharmaceuticals.” Going forward, the Kirin Group will continue to leverage its strengths to create both social and economic value through its businesses, with the aim of achieving sustainable growth in corporate value.

* Creating Shared Value: combined added value for consumers as well as for society at large.

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