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Lenovo Showcases Real World AI Innovation to Accelerate Adoption in Hong Kong

At Tech World ’26 Hong Kong, Lenovo demonstrates practical AI deployments across industries
such as sports, entertainment, robotics and intelligent mobility

HONG KONG, March 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Lenovo today highlighted its continued commitment to Hong Kong at Tech World ’26 Hong Kong, demonstrating how its global AI capabilities can support the city’s AI development priorities, including industrialization, talent enablement and ecosystem collaboration.

As Hong Kong advances its vision to strengthen innovation and technology as a pillar of economic growth, organizations are moving beyond AI experimentation toward operational, agentic systems capable of reasoning, planning and acting in real-world environments. At the event, Lenovo showcased how its Hybrid AI approach can help enterprises deploy, govern and scale AI responsibly across industries and infrastructure.

Mr. Paul Chan, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, who joined industry leaders at Tech World ’26 Hong Kong to discuss AI’s role in supporting sustainable economic development and reinforcing Hong Kong’s position as a global innovation hub, said, “Every major economy now recognises the strategic importance of AI. Hong Kong is developing AI as a strategic industry in its own right, and is also harnessing AI as a powerful enabler across the economy. We call this ‘AI+’.” He also said, “Innovation thrives only in an ecosystem where government, academia and industry work closely together. Lenovo’s deep strengths in AI, and its experience in deploying AI solutions across industries, can provide valuable support to Hong Kong’s efforts.”

“AI is entering a new phase of execution and measurable impact,” said Ken Wong, Executive Vice President and President, Solutions & Services Group, Lenovo. “As Hong Kong accelerates AI adoption across sectors, success will depend on trusted infrastructure, strong governance and ecosystem collaboration. Lenovo’s Hybrid AI approach helps organizations scale AI securely, efficiently and responsibly.”

Enabling Scalable AI Adoption

Lenovo’s showcase builds on AI advancements unveiled at Tech World at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, reflecting a broader industry transition from pilots to scaled deployment.

According to Lenovo’s CIO Playbook 2026, developed with IDC, while AI investment continues to rise globally and in Hong Kong, many organizations face readiness and governance gaps. In Hong Kong, 50% of surveyed organizations expect it will take more than 12 months to achieve AI readiness. Across Asia Pacific, 47% are still developing AI policies that have yet to be implemented — indicating that the challenge lies in execution, governance and integration rather than access to technology.

Lenovo addresses these challenges through its Hybrid AI framework, which integrates:

  • Personal AI to enhance workforce productivity
  • Enterprise AI to orchestrate and govern multi-agent systems
  • Public AI to enable ecosystem- and city-level collaboration

At Tech World ’26 Hong Kong, Lenovo demonstrated practical applications of this framework across sports, entertainment, robotics and intelligent mobility. Examples included collaborations with FIFA, the 15th National Games (Hong Kong Region) and DreamWorks, as well as partnerships with robotics company Yunji Technology and autonomous driving company WeRide, highlighting AI operating in complex, real-time environments.

By applying global experience in partnership with local stakeholders, Lenovo aims to help Hong Kong organizations accelerate deployment, strengthen governance frameworks and realize sustainable value from AI at scale.

About Lenovo
Lenovo is a US$69 billion revenue global technology powerhouse, ranked #196 in the Fortune Global 500, and serving millions of customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to deliver Smarter Technology for All, Lenovo has built on its success as the world’s largest PC company with a full-stack portfolio of AI-enabled, AI-ready, and AI-optimized devices (PCs, workstations, smartphones, tablets), infrastructure (server, storage, edge, high performance computing and software defined infrastructure), software, solutions, and services. Lenovo’s continued investment in world-changing innovation is building a more equitable, trustworthy, and smarter future for everyone, everywhere. Lenovo is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange under Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY). To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com, and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.

 

DFRobot Showcases Industrial Sensors, Edge AI, and Modular x86 Computing at Embedded World 2026

SHANGHAI, March 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — At Embedded World 2026, DFRobot, a global leading open-source hardware supplier, is presenting its latest industrial sensing, edge computing, and AIoT solutions at Hall 5, Stand 5-224. The showcase highlights how engineers can accelerate the journey from concept to reliable product using modular, production-ready hardware building blocks designed for real-world deployment.

DFRobot Showcases Industrial Sensors, Edge AI, and Modular x86 Computing at Embedded World 2026
DFRobot Showcases Industrial Sensors, Edge AI, and Modular x86 Computing at Embedded World 2026

Accelerating Prototype to Production

“Many projects stall on repetitive integration work—drivers, wiring, and validation,” said Ricky Ye, CEO of DFRobot. “We handle these complex hardware layers in advance, allowing engineers to focus on system design and move from concept to a stable prototype faster, accelerating time to production.”

Building a Complete AIoT Sensor Ecosystem

DFRobot is showcasing nearly 100 sensor products on-site, forming a comprehensive AIoT sensing ecosystem that spans prototyping, smart environments, and industrial deployments. Highlights include:

mmWave Radar Sensors (C1001/C4001/C4002): Designed for precise human presence detection, these radars can identify even stationary individuals, enabling accurate occupancy sensing for smart buildings, robotics, and healthcare environments.

Industrial Environmental and Gas Sensors: Factory-calibrated modules for air quality, water quality, and gas detection—including oxygen (O₂) and carbon monoxide (CO)—simplify system integration and significantly reduce calibration effort.

Ultrasonic Sensors for Harsh Environments: Many models feature IP68 protection, ensuring reliable operation in dusty or wet industrial environments. Selected sensors incorporate hardware-level acoustic compensation, maintaining measurement accuracy in challenging scenarios such as underwater robotics.

Integration-Ready Industrial Interfaces: Native support for Modbus, I2C, and UART allows sensors to connect directly with industrial controllers without additional protocol conversion.

These sensors can be unified through DFRobot’s Edge 101 industrial controller and LoRaWAN connectivity, enabling scalable sensing networks across buildings, factories, and smart infrastructure. Together, they demonstrate DFRobot’s vision of enabling engineers to move from idea to functional prototype in minutes.

Modular x86 Computing at the Edge

DFRobot also highlights its LattePanda modular computing platforms, designed to bring full x86 performance to embedded and edge applications:

LattePanda Mu: A compact x86 compute module designed for OEM integration. High-risk design elements such as PCIe routing and memory topology are consolidated into a validated module, reducing engineering complexity.

LattePanda IOTA: A hybrid architecture combining an Intel processor with an onboard MCU. This allows developers to run Linux or Windows workloads while assigning deterministic real-time tasks to the microcontroller—ideal for robotics and industrial automation.

LattePanda Sigma: A high-performance edge computing platform featuring Core-class processing and dual Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, supporting GPU acceleration, sensor fusion, and data-intensive workloads.

Live Demonstration: Edge AI and Vision Solutions

Visitors can experience several live demonstrations showing how embedded AI transforms industrial applications. Using the K230 AI camera (HuskyLens 2), DFRobot demonstrates real-time component identification, digital display OCR recognition, and AI-driven sensing applications. Another highlight was the AI-powered gas sensing “electronic nose” demonstration, which drew significant attention from attendees. The system combines LattePanda Mu with high-precision gas sensors and runs TinyML models locally on the device to recognize scent profiles in real time. LattePanda Mu then generates corresponding tasting information on the spot, completing the entire process on-device without any internet connection.

Accelerating Prototype to Production

By combining modular sensors, integrated computing platforms, and edge AI reference architectures, DFRobot helps engineers reduce development complexity and accelerate deployment of AIoT systems. Visitors can explore these technologies at Hall 5, Stand 5-224 during Embedded World 2026, running March 10–12 in Nuremberg, Germany.

 

Innodisk Unveils Scalable, Integrated Edge AI Portfolio at Embedded World 2026

NUREMBERG, Germany, March 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Innodisk, a leading global AI solution provider, presents a comprehensive portfolio designed to accelerate real-world edge AI deployment at Embedded World 2026. With a strong focus on enterprise and industry AI, Innodisk bridges advanced computing performance with practical system integration to enable scalable, secure, and high-efficiency edge AI implementation.

Innodisk unveils scalable, integrated Edge AI portfolio at Embedded World 2026
Innodisk unveils scalable, integrated Edge AI portfolio at Embedded World 2026

Bridging Enterprise AI and Edge Inference

At the core of this year’s showcase are Innodisk’s on-prem enterprise AI solutions. AccelBrain provides secure, air-gapped AI inference, keeping data private and enabling fast, local AI processing on the Innodisk APEX-X200 edge AI system powered by the latest NVIDIA® Blackwell GeForce RTX™ 5080 GPU. AccelTune allows enterprises to fine-tune models without coding, using the Innodisk APEX-S100 edge AI system with Intel® Xeon® 6700-series processors and support for dual NVIDIA® H200, RTX PROᵀᴹ 6000 Blackwell Server Edition, or L40S GPUs, making model training and optimization simpler and more scalable. These solutions help enterprises keep sensitive data secure and process AI in real time on-site.

Multi-Platform Solutions: Qualcomm and Intel Collaborations

Leveraging its expertise in system integration, Innodisk collaborates with leading industry partners to deliver multi-platform solutions for diverse edge AI needs. In partnership with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Innodisk highlights its AI on ARM computing series, including the COM-HPC Mini Module and Starter Kit powered by Qualcomm Dragonwing™ processors. Delivering up to 100 TOPS (Dense) of scalable AI performance, these systems are built on a robust Dragonwing architecture designed to support increasingly complex edge AI workloads while maintaining energy efficiency and flexible system integration for industrial environments.

Powered by the Dragonwing platform, live demonstrations showcase Vision Language Model (VLM) applications for real-time scene understanding, including smoke and fire detection, PPE compliance, and worker fall detection, alongside AI-powered NVR systems that enable natural-language video search across surveillance streams.

Expanding its collaboration with Intel, Innodisk presents edge AI solutions powered by the latest Intel® Core™ Ultra Series 3 processors, delivering up to 180 TOPS of AI computing performance for industrial applications. In addition, Innodisk showcases another live demonstration built on Intel® Core™ Ultra 200S Series processors. It features Ultra-Fast Stream OCR, showcasing zero-latency text capture and intelligent structural extraction optimized for high-speed, edge-native deployment in complex industrial environments.

Ruggedized Camera Solutions for Edge AI

Beyond computing platforms, Innodisk also demonstrates its ruggedized camera solutions designed for edge AI applications in mobility, robotics, and automation. Its intelligent mobility system integrates up to eight GMSL2 camera modules to enable real-time surround-view stitching, object detection, blind-spot detection, and driver-monitoring systems for heavy machinery and vehicles.

Future-Ready AI Infrastructure

Complementing its AI platforms, Innodisk introduces advanced AI infrastructure, including DDR5 12800 MRDIMM, CXL Add-in-Card, and LPCAMM2 solutions. High-speed LAN modules and PCIe Gen 5 data center SSDs further ensure the performance, scalability, and data bandwidth needed for demanding AI workloads.

Visit Innodisk at Hall 1, Stand 1-370 to experience the future of edge AI. For more information, please visit www.innodisk.com.

XGSynBot Debuts Z1 Wheeled Robot, Targeting the “Last Mile” of Industrial Embodied AI

BEIJING and SAN FRANCISCO, March 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — March 5, 2026, XGSynBot a pioneer in embodied AI, hosted its 2026 product dual-city launch event themed “More Than One Answer” in both Silicon Valley and Beijing. The company officially debuted the Z1 wheeled humanoid robot with the world’s first Modular-End-Effector Quick Change System and self-developed XG- High-Performance Joint Modules.

Beyond the product, XGSynBot announced the ” STARFIRE”, a global ecosystem cooperation strategy designed to accelerate the transition of Embodied AI to the real unpredictable, heavy-duty industrial production environment.

The event successfully captured the attention of numerous strategic partners and investment institutions, generating potential interests and orders worth tens millions.

The Automation Paradox in Manufacturing

The global manufacturing sector currently faces a “double-bind”: high-cost automation that remains frustratingly rigid. While the industry has seen a surge in agile humanoid prototypes, few can withstand the 24/7 rigors, oil-splattered environments, and micron-level precision required in actual factories.

“We’ve built the world’s most flexible robots over the past three years, yet they remain trapped in the world’s most rigid processes,” said the CEO of XGSynBot “The Z1 isn’t a ‘mascot’ build for the lab; it’s a ‘blue-collar worker’ designed for the real world from the first day.”

A Robot Build for the Factory Production

At the core of Z1 is a set of hardware and software system architecture decisions intended to prioritize reliability and adaptability in production environments.

Modular Quick-Change System:

Breaking the limitation of single-purpose robotics, Z1 can switch between different end-effectors—such as grippers, welders, or suction cups in just under 6 seconds, enabling one robot to cover multiple specialized workstations.

XG- High-Performance Joint Modules:

By integrating motors, reducers, and sensors into a single unit, it significantly improving joint precision, stability, and structural rigidity while eliminating signal interference and latency common in distributed architectures.

In practical terms, this means the system is more stable, faster, and built to withstand demanding industrial use.

The “Dual-System” Central Brain:

Inspired by human cognition, the Z1 features a “Slow System” for high-level task planning and natural language understanding (Reasoning), and a “Fast System” operating at 100Hz for real-time motor control and tactile feedback (Reflex). This allows the robot to understand complex human commands while maintaining millisecond-level stability on the assembly line.

STARFIRE: Building an Embodied AI Cooperation Ecosystem

Alongside the launch of Z1, XGSynBot announced Project STARFIRE, an initiative aimed at building an open cooperation ecosystem around embodied AI.

The program will focus on three areas:

Scenario Co-Innovation:

Deploying large-scale solutions across 3C electronics, automotive, and renewable energy sectors with global industry partners.

Product Synergy:

Opening hardware interfaces to third-party tool and component manufacturers to create a “Plug-and-Play” industrial ecosystem.

Open-Sourcing:

Incrementally open-sourcing proprietary datasets, scenario models, and SDKs in a phased manner, collaborating with academic and industry developers to optimize Embodied AI together.

The Bigger Picture for Embodied AI

The launch comes at a moment when embodied AI is attracting significant global attention and investment, with startups and large tech companies alike racing to bring intelligent robots into physical workplaces.

Yet despite rapid progress in AI models, commercial deployment remains the industry’s biggest hurdle.

By focusing on durability, modularity, and ecosystem development, XGSynBot is betting that the next wave of robotics innovation will be defined less by flashy prototypes—and more by machines that can quietly survive the realities of manufacturing production.

About XGSynBot

XGSynBot is an innovative technology company with cutting-edge AI and robotics.

Guided by the core philosophy “Evolve from Unified Architecture. Grow beyond All Limits”, it hopes to empower industries worldwide, redefine human-robot collaboration, and pioneer a new era of productivity.

By developing embodied AI robots, XGSynBot is actively advancing robots from single-task to cross-scenario applications.

 

Faybl launches in US, offering RIAs chance to shape the future of AI-powered advice

  • Faybl delivers proven efficiency gains of up to 70 percent in support of US advice industry that is struggling for capacity
  • Faybl has grown Australian user base by 50 percent; already testing V2 in home market
  • Anthony Lipp announced as new Adviser
  • Faybl’s leadership team will be at the Future Proof in Miami this week – Booth 600

MIAMI, March 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Faybl, the AI General Agent for financial advisers and wealth managers, today announced its expansion into the United States, having delivered efficiency gains amongst its Australian client base of up to 70 percent.

The company is inviting US RIAs to join an early adopter program to test, refine and scale Faybl’s platform for the US market. These firms will gain early access to Version 2 (V2) of Faybl’s agentic platform ahead of General Availability in Q2 2026. V2 is already being tested by a select number of Faybl’s Australian client base, which has grown by 50 percent in just three months.

Faybl has also announced the appointment of Anthony Lipp, former Global Head of Strategy, Banking & Financial Markets at IBM, as an adviser to support the company’s US growth and go‑to‑market strategy.

Unlocking US adviser capacity through Faybl’s AI General Agent

The US advice industry is juggling surging demand with finite human capacity. Across the country, more than 16,000 SEC‑registered investment advisers now oversee over US$120 trillion in regulatory assets under management, yet still, just one third of Americans work with a financial adviser.[1]

These advisers are constrained by time‑intensive, compliance‑heavy workflows. In Faybl’s Australian pilot with EY Australia, advisers and their teams typically spent 12–17 weeks moving a new client from initial contact through to implementation, with the biggest time burden in compliance, risk management and SOA preparation.

Pilot testing of Faybl V1 found that advisers using Faybl reclaimed an average 28 percent of their time across the client journey – around 1.4 days per week, rising to 72 percent (3.6 days per week) for the most engaged firms.

Rather than acting as a point solution or meeting note‑taker, Faybl is a vertical, agentic AI general agent that works end‑to‑end across the advice journey. It:

  • Ingests and understands client fact finds, documents, meeting transcripts, licensee business rules and compliance checklists.
  • Automates and orchestrates workflows from meeting prep and capture, through data collection and modelling, to SOA/ROA drafting and implementation steps.
  • Embeds traceability and compliance into every assertion, so advisers can see exactly which data, document or system each recommendation is based on.
  • Connects with existing CRMs, email and advice platforms, fitting into the tech stack RIAs already use rather than asking them to redesign their businesses around a new tool.

“The US is at a tipping point. RIAs are under pressure to deliver more personalised advice, faster, while navigating growing complexity in regulation, products and client expectations,” said Steven Goh, Co‑Founder of Faybl. “What we’ve seen in Australia is that a true General AI Agent – one that works across the entire advice journey, not just as a file note or point solution – can fundamentally change the economics of advice and give advisers back days each week to do what they love most: building strategies and helping clients.”

Future Proof 2026: Limited early access to V2

Faybl was founded by George Lucas and Steven Goh, pioneers of digital financial advice in Australia. George Lucas founded Raiz Invest, which now has over 330,000 active retail investors and AUD$1.8 billion in FUM. Steven Goh founded Sanford Securities, one of Australia’s first online stockbroking businesses.

Now joined by Anthony Lipp, Faybl’s team will be at Future Proof in Miami this week (booth 600) where they will be offering live demonstrations of the platform and meeting with RIAs interested in participating in the US pilot program. US RIAs will be able to:

  • Pilot Faybl’s V2 agentic platform in real-world advisory workflows
  • Co‑design US‑specific features, including integrations, regulatory workflows and compliance artefacts
  • Help validate how a General AI Agent can support end‑to‑end advice journeys in the US market

About Faybl

Faybl is an AI General Agent purpose‑built for financial advisers and wealth managers. It works across the end‑to‑end advice journey – from meeting preparation and capture, fact‑finding and data collection, to strategy modelling, SOA/ROA drafting and embedded compliance – to help practices deliver more personalised advice, faster.

By connecting with existing CRMs, email and legacy advice platforms, Faybl automates repetitive financial planning tasks, freeing advisers to focus on high‑value client conversations. Its AI‑enhanced workflows streamline processes, improve data quality and provide real‑time compliance support, while proactive insights help firms scale trusted client relationships and make every client feel like their best client.

This enables advice practices of all sizes to boost efficiency, unlock growth capacity and elevate the client experience across the entire wealth management lifecycle.

Australia‑founded but US‑based, Faybl has a growing presence in both countries, as well as other key markets such as the UK.

[1] Sources: SEC, Northwestern Mutual

Contacts

For media: Iain Waterman, Vice President, Sefiani
iwaterman@sefiani.com.au 

Manulife Selects Akka to Operationalize Agentic AI within its Enterprise AI Platform

Akka to provide a secure and scalable software foundation to build trusted AI-powered business applications

TORONTO and SAN FRANCISCO, March 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Manulife announced today that Akka has been selected as its latest partner supporting the development of its enterprise agentic AI platform. By bringing Akka’s durable and highly available runtime into the ecosystem, Manulife will strengthen the platform’s security, reliability, and performance as it embeds AI into critical workflows and expands adoption across the organization.

“Our insurance and investment businesses are built on trust, and that same principle guides our approach to AI,” said Jodie Wallis, Global Chief AI Officer for Manulife. “As we explore technologies that can help us scale reliable, compliant and resilient AI systems, solutions like Akka illustrate how enterprises can build and operate agentic systems with the speed, predictability, and governance required in highly regulated environments. Their focus on orchestration, safety, operational SLAs, and system reliability reflects exactly the kind of rigor that supports responsible AI and consistent customer value.”

Manulife’s enterprise AI platform, now in beta testing, provides a secure, integrated foundation for building and deploying AI agents – intelligent systems that understand tasks, help make decisions, and take action to support customers and colleagues. The platform streamlines development, reduces operational costs, and enables high volume, business critical AI solutions, all while embedding strong governance, safeguards, and Responsible AI practices.

“Partnering with a leader like Manulife is an honour for us, and it’s a testament to our 15 years of enterprise scale and regulated industry experience,” said Tyler Jewell, CEO of Akka. “The Manulife team demonstrates the rare understanding of what it really takes to deliver agentic AI on a global scale. Without consistent engineering practices that address a complex and continually changing set of environment factors, AI systems, which are inherently random, will not be trusted to deliver business outcomes.”

Manulife’s partnership with Akka reinforces its commitment to Responsible AI and sustainability as outlined in its publicly available Responsible AI Principles. By leveraging Akka’s solution for its AI platform, Manulife will:

  • Prioritize customer, colleague, and organizational safety through sound delivery and governance processes.
  • Design energy-efficient AI solutions that require less infrastructure to run and maintain.
  • Build AI solutions that are explainable and reliable, while maintaining the appropriate human accountability for decision making.

“Manulife is embedding AI across nearly every part of our business while equipping our colleagues with the capabilities to design, operate, and scale solutions,” said Shamus Weiland, Global Chief Information Officer at Manulife. “Akka provides a secure, scalable software foundation to support high volumes of business applications to accelerate meaningful value creation across our franchise. This partnership is rooted in our Responsible AI Principles, with a strong focus on governance, human oversight, and safety, as we advance toward becoming an AI-powered organization.”

In December 2025, Manulife announced that Adaptive ML would provide the reinforcement-learning-powered engine for finetuning and optimizing models within its enterprise AI platform.

In June 2025, Manulife was named the #1 life insurance company for AI maturity in the inaugural Evident AI Index for Insurance, reinforcing the company’s commitment to innovation and customer-centric solutions. Manulife has been actively investing in and scaling AI capabilities since 2016. In the past three years, the firm has significantly increased the value enabled through advanced analytics and AI by expanding its AI solutions portfolio and increasing efficiency through data and AI platform investments1, all driven by the company’s responsible AI framework. Manulife expects AI to generate $1 billion+ of enterprise value by 2027, with roughly one-fifth expected to come from improved efficiency.

To learn more about Manulife’s AI progress, visit AI @ Manulife.

__________________________

1 The benefits from our global digital, customer leadership initiatives include expense saves, growth absorption, revenue benefits (margin businesses) and new business CSM growth (insurance).

Caution regarding forward-looking statements
This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbour” provisions of Canadian provincial securities laws and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to Manulife’s use of its digital capabilities and the expected benefits it expects to realize from AI. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Certain material factors or assumptions are applied in making forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include but are not limited to general business and economic conditions; changes in laws and regulations with respect to the use of AI-enabled tools; our ability to execute our digital plans and to deploy future digital use cases; our ability to adapt products and services to the changing market; our ability to attract and retain key employees and our ability to protect our intellectual property and exposure to claims of infringement from others. Additional information about material risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations may be found in our most recent annual and interim reports and elsewhere in our filings with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators.

The forward-looking statements in this document are, unless otherwise indicated, stated as of the date hereof. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

About Manulife
Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Anchored in our ambition to be the number one choice for customers, we operate as Manulife across Canada and Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, providing financial advice, insurance and health solutions for individuals, groups and businesses. Through Manulife Wealth & Asset Management, we offer global investment solutions, financial advice, and retirement plan services to individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2025, we had more than 37,000 employees, over 106,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 37 million customers with operations across 25 markets globally. We trade as ‘MFC’ on the Toronto, New York, and Philippine stock exchanges, and under ‘945’ on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

About Akka
Akka is the platform to create agentic AI systems that continuously build trust and never fail. Used by industry giants and digital native enterprises alike, Akka provides the safe, scalable, and sovereign backbone for AI-native systems. Learn more at akka.io.

Media contact

Manulife:
Gina Simonis
gsimonis@manulife.com
617-840-4794

Akka:
Nichols Communications for Akka
Ray George
+1 650 922 3825
ray@nicholscomm.com

YY Group Holding Limited Issues Shareholder Letter

SINGAPORE, March 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — YY Group Holding Limited (NASDAQ: YYGH) (“YY Group” or the “Company”), a global leader in on-demand workforce solutions and integrated facilities management (IFM), today released the following letter to its shareholders from Mike Fu, the Company’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer.

Dear Fellow Shareholders,

Over the past year, YY Group has continued to expand its business, strengthen its platform, and broaden its reach across key markets in Asia. As Founder and CEO, I am proud of the progress our team has made in executing on our strategy while continuing to position the Company for long-term growth. We are building YY Group with a focus on disciplined expansion, operational execution, and innovation across workforce solutions, integrated facility management, and technology-enabled services.

Today’s press release reflects that momentum. Based on our preliminary fiscal year 2025 results, YY Group expects revenue in the range of US$57 million to US$58 million, representing approximately 38.7% to 41.1% year-over-year growth, with estimated gross profit of US$7.5 million to US$8.0 million, up approximately 42.6% to 52.1% from the prior year. We also expect gross margin to improve to 13.2% to 13.8%, compared with 12.8% in full year 2024. These results are important not only because they demonstrate growth, but because they show that our strategy is translating into stronger operating performance and improving unit economics. We believe these results demonstrate that our investments in market expansion, service diversification, and operating capabilities are beginning to scale in a meaningful way.

During the year, we worked to expand both our geographic footprint and our service mix. In Hong Kong, we completed the acquisition of YY Circle Hong Kong in April 2025, entering what the company described as a US$16 billion market. That move gave us a stronger foundation in one of Asia’s most important commercial hubs and positioned us to scale rapidly in hospitality and workforce services.

That early investment in Hong Kong is already paying off. In January 2026, YY Group announced 12 new hotel partnerships in the region, and by March 2026 we had secured a total of 20 strategic partnerships there following eight additional multi-year service agreements. As a result, the company now projects its Hong Kong business could reach HKD 100 million in revenue in 2026, representing more than 1,000% growth over the partial-year 2025 revenue base in that market. This is a strong early example of how our expansion model can create meaningful operating leverage as local scale begins to take hold.

Malaysia also continued to deliver strong momentum. In March 2025, YY Circle Malaysia secured six new strategic deals that were projected to expand its 2025 revenue pipeline to approximately US$13 million. More recently, in March 2026, our Malaysian subsidiary announced plans to grow its retail promoter workforce from roughly 120 personnel to nearly 600, with an expected contribution of approximately US$14 million in 2026 revenue. That kind of growth shows the flexibility of our platform and our ability to move beyond hospitality into adjacent verticals such as retail.

We also advanced our regional footprint in Thailand. YY Group announced plans to expand into Thailand in May 2025, targeting what it described as a US$5 billion casual labor market, and in June 2025 we completed the share transfer of YY Circle Thailand. This gives us another strategic launch point in Southeast Asia and expands our addressable market in a region where demand for reliable, flexible labor solutions remains strong.

At the same time, we broadened our integrated facility management capabilities through acquisitions. In June 2025, YY Group acquired Uniforce Security, a business with US$6.4 million in revenue, entering Singapore’s security market. Later that month, the company also acquired a 53% stake in Transocean Oil Pte. Ltd.’s property investment division, which focuses on premium commercial office units in Singapore. These transactions reflect our strategy of adding adjacent capabilities and assets that can deepen client relationships, support recurring revenue, and diversify the company’s business model.

Technology remained another major theme this year. In July 2025, YY Group launched a robotics integration initiative across key service lines, including hospitality, sanitation, security, and façade cleaning. In August 2025, the company expanded further into AI-enabled operations through the launch of AI-powered customer service and an AI recruitment platform. These initiatives matter because we believe the future of workforce solutions and integrated facility management will combine labor, software, automation, and data-driven tools. We also believe robotics will become an increasingly important part of YY Group’s long-term service platform. Over time, we expect the deployment of robotics across hotels, security, and other service environments to become a more meaningful contributor to our operating model and a key element of how we deliver scalable, technology-enabled solutions to customers around the world. Our goal is not simply to add services, but to build a more scalable and defensible operating model.

We also continued building digital and financial infrastructure around the platform. In September 2025, YY Group announced plans to bring stablecoin payment capabilities to its gig worker platform, and in October 2025, it partnered with Obita to strengthen cross-border payment infrastructure. These efforts are designed to make our platform more efficient, improve payment flexibility, and strengthen support for our international worker and client ecosystem.

On the partnership front, YY Group signed a strategic MOU with Keenon Robotics in August 2025 and entered into a preferred distribution partnership with Graymatics in December 2025 for AI-powered video analytics solutions in Singapore. These partnerships reinforce our view that innovation will be central to how we differentiate YY Group in the years ahead.

We also took steps to strengthen leadership visibility and our corporate profile. In February 2026, our Director of Southeast Asia, Ken Teng, received the HAPA Hospitality Service Entrepreneur Award, reflecting the quality of the team we are building and the market recognition our execution is beginning to earn.

From a balance sheet and capital markets standpoint, we worked to expand our flexibility. In February 2026, YY Group announced unaudited total assets of approximately US$44.0 million, or US$1.11 per share, and net assets of approximately US$24.9 million, or US$0.63 per share, as of June 30, 2025. Later that month, the company announced a US$20 million at-the-market offering facility, giving YY Group another tool to support growth and capital planning. More recently, we also adopted a long-term Bitcoin treasury strategy, with the intention of allocating a portion of excess cash reserves to Bitcoin under a structured and risk-managed framework.

Taken together, these developments point to a company that is expanding in multiple directions at once: geographically, operationally, and strategically. As we continue to grow, we remain focused on disciplined execution, careful integration of new markets, and prudent capital allocation. We believe that sustainable long-term value creation depends not only on growth, but on how that growth is managed.

As Founder and CEO, I remain confident in the long-term opportunity ahead of YY Group. We have expanded our market presence, strengthened our capabilities, and continued to build a more diversified and scalable platform. We also believe robotics will play an increasingly important role in the future of our business as we work to deploy more technology-driven solutions across hotels, security, and other service environments globally. While there is still important work ahead, I believe the Company is better positioned today than it was a year ago, and we remain focused on executing our strategy responsibly and creating long-term value for our shareholders. On behalf of our management team and board of directors, thank you for your continued support and confidence in YY Group.

Sincerely,
Mike Fu
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
YY Group Holding Limited

About YY Group Holding Limited

YY Group Holding Limited (Nasdaq: YYGH) is a Singapore-headquartered, technology-enabled platform providing flexible, scalable workforce solutions and integrated facility management (IFM) services across Asia and beyond. The Group operates through two core verticals: on-demand staffing and IFM, delivering agile, reliable support to industries such as hospitality, logistics, retail, and healthcare.

Leveraging proprietary digital platforms and IoT-driven systems, YY Group enables clients to meet fluctuating labor demands and maintain high-performance environments. In addition to its core operations in Singapore and Malaysia, the Group maintains a growing presence in Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania and the Middle East.

Listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, YY Group is committed to service excellence, operational innovation, and long-term value creation for clients and shareholders.

For more information on the Company, please visit https://yygroupholding.com/.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the YY Group Holding Limited’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. These factors include, but are not limited to, (i) growth of the hospitality market in Hong Kong, (ii) capital and credit market volatility, (iii) local and global economic conditions, (iv) our anticipated growth strategies, (v) governmental approvals and regulations, and (vi) our future business development, results of operations and financial condition. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “target,” “aim,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “potential,” “continue,” “is/are likely to” or other similar expressions. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and YY Group Holding Limited undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

Investor Contact
Jason Phua Zhi Yong, Chief Financial Officer
YY Group
enquiries@yygroupholding.com

SalesNow Launches Japan Company Database for Overseas Companies Entering the Japanese Market

— Supporting market entry and outbound sales in Japan with data on over 14 million Japanese companies —

TOKYO, March 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — SalesNow launches a B2B data service for overseas companies planning sales activities and market entry into Japan. The service provides access to a comprehensive Japan company database covering more than 14 million Japanese companies and organizations nationwide.

Depending on sales and prospecting use cases, SalesNow offers the following three delivery options:

  • A list of Japanese companies, deliverable within one business day
  • A cloud-based application for searching and analyzing Japanese company data
  • API access for integration with Salesforce, CRM platforms, and internal systems

The service is designed primarily for overseas SaaS companies, IT vendors, consulting firms, and manufacturers looking to build prospect lists, support outbound sales, and execute B2B go-to-market strategies in Japan.

Pricing for the service starts at $5,000 per year. Final pricing and data specifications vary depending on selected data fields, update frequency, and intended use cases.

— Background —

While Japan is one of the largest and most attractive markets in the world, it is also highly fragmented, with a complex industry structure and a vast number of companies.

For many overseas businesses, accessing reliable and up-to-date B2B data on Japanese companies has long been a major challenge, especially during the early stages of market research and outbound sales planning.

Leveraging its experience operating one of the largest Japan company databases for domestic users, SalesNow is expanding its data platform to support overseas companies with sales intelligence and B2B data infrastructure for entering and scaling in the Japanese market.

Use Cases and Data Overview

The Japan company data provided by SalesNow includes essential B2B information required for sales, prospecting, and CRM data enrichment, such as company names, locations, industries, employee size, contact information, and official websites.

This data can also be used to analyze market characteristics unique to Japan, including company structures and geographic distribution across industries and regions.

SalesNow’s B2B data supports a wide range of go-to-market and sales intelligence use cases in the Japanese market, including:

  • Market analysis by industry and region
  • CRM and sales system data enrichment via API or data integration
  • Foundational data for AI agents and AI-driven sales workflows
  • Building target account lists for market entry into Japan
  • Executing outbound sales to Japanese companies (BDR/SDR)
  • Data partnerships with global B2B database providers seeking Japan coverage

Among SalesNow’s customers are:

  • GMO Payment Gateway
  • LY Corporation

One of the Largest Company Databases in Japan Supporting B2B Sales Globally

SalesNow is an AI-powered company database platform that covers more than 14 million companies and organizations across Japan. The platform provides accurate and up-to-date B2B data that supports sales teams across all stages of the sales process, helping organizations improve productivity and decision-making in their go-to-market activities.

Based on a comparative study conducted by an independent third-party research organization in Japan, SalesNow ranked No. 1 in both:

  • Total number of companies covered in a corporate database
  • Overall company coverage across Japan

This reinforces SalesNow’s position as Japan’s leading company database platform.

By leveraging AI-driven data utilization, the platform enables sales teams to increase operational efficiency, improve targeting accuracy, and drive scalable B2B sales performance in the Japanese market.

Official website: https://top.salesnow.jp/

About SalesNow

SalesNow is an AI-powered B2B company data platform with the mission of empowering every sales team to succeed.

The company provides a comprehensive Japan company database that helps sales organizations improve productivity through accurate, scalable, and actionable data.

  • Service Name: SalesNow
  • Service Type: AI-powered B2B company data platform
  • Number of Companies Covered: Over 14 million companies and organizations
  • Official Website: https://top.salesnow.jp/

For more details on data coverage, delivery options, and use cases, please visit the page below.
View Service Details

For details on data availability, use cases, and implementation, download our materials below:
Download the materials here