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VST ENTERPRISES SECURES £11.4MILLION FUNDING AND IS NOW VALUED AT £220MILLION

Cybersecurity firm VST Enterprises has announced that it will be closing its fourth round of funding, which opened in May 2016. This recent round saw the business secure £11.4million in funding. Subsequently, the valuation of shares has jumped from £225,000 to £2,000,000 per 1%, with a money business valuation of £220million.
Although venture capital investment has not been ruled out in future, the business made the decision not to seek venture capital funding at this time; instead the investment came from a collection of private investors. VSTE’s CEO Louis-James Davis remains the lead shareholder via LJ Holdings & Investments, this route of funding means the CEO maintains autonomy as he and the VSTE team continue forward with a vision that has seen great success to date.
VST Enterprises’ scannable code technology, VCode®, is currently used to verify entitlement to benefits in India, as a method of payment across the UK, and to securely deliver bespoke content with a wave of a mobile handsets. $2bn is set to be saved for the Indian government by implementing the secure fraud prevention system.
Louis-James Davis, CEO of VST Enterprises, says:
“We are extremely pleased with the investment we have received, and the interest in the company that has gone along with this. We received a lot of interest and had to choose investors wisely, ensuring they all had a lot to give the company in addition to the cost of the shares purchased.
VST Enterprises has come a long way in the last year, and the investment we have received will make the business prosper, enabling the founders to realise our vision, using VCode® Technology to solve growing and ever more complex cybersecurity issues such as ID theft and counterfeiting of digital assets across sectors, channels and geographies.
The company now lists 25 shareholders and investment came from various sources, ranging from technology specialists, industry experts and contacts outside of the tech and security industries. Notable investors include Chris Lightbody, the first to invest in VST Enterprises, Humberto de Armas, who made one of the larger investments and Fintech expert Guy Weaver, Director at KPMG.
The investment will be used for talent acquisition and to continue to fulfil some of the impressive global opportunities the business currently has, such as the roll out of VCode® technology to verify entitlement to benefits internationally. Talks to deploy VCode for benefit fraud prevention are under way with officials in India, Africa, Russia, Latin America and Central America. The funding will also continue to cultivate the ‘Virgin’ model approach that VST Enterprises has adopted with forthcoming projects such as the deployment of VApparel® which will be used to enable instant payments for fashion while eliminating counterfeit from the clothing supply chain. Further handpicked joint ventures in key sectors such as Logistics, Art, Broadcasting, Media, Ticketing and Travel are also set to finalise throughout April & May.
Chris Lightbody, a serial entrepreneur himself and the first investor to join this funding round, says:
“When I first met Louis-James, I was instantly impressed with him, his vision and his business. VST Enterprises prides itself on offering infinite possibilities through simple secure, ubiquitous technology. I was proud to offer capital to help the company realise this vision, and to assist them in reaching the right contacts and sectors which is now happening at pace.”
Guy Weaver, a Director at one of the world’s foremost professional services firms and also an investor in VST Enterprises, comments:
“Technology is rapidly evolving, which means global markets are pulsing with innovation, entrepreneurship and investment opportunities. What attracted me to VST Enterprises is the genuine long-term vision to solve a global security problem. VCode® is not a solution looking for a problem, it’s a real antidote with global capabilities across multiple sectors and channels. The possibilities are huge and this excites me, as an investor but also as an advocate.”
Humberto de Armas, a leading investor in VST Enterprises, added:
“Louis-James and the team are what I call “Ethically Brilliant.” They have developed a dynamic technology and have chosen to partner with top tier companies and bring in exceptional talent to take VSTE’s VCode® to market. Excited to be a participant.”
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Bitcoin, ether hit fresh highs

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Bitcoin hit a fresh high in Asian trading on Saturday, extending a two-month rally that saw its market capitalisation cross $1 trillion a day earlier.
The world’s most popular cryptocurrency rose to an record $56,620, taking its weekly gain to 18%. It has surged more than 92% this year.
Bitcoin’s gains have been fuelled by evidence it is gaining acceptance among mainstream investors and companies, such as Tesla Inc, Mastercard Inc and BNY Mellon.
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and daily volume, hit a record $2,040.62, for a weekly gain of about 12%.
Ether is the digital currency or token that facilitates transactions on the ethereum blockchain. In the crypto world, the terms ether and ethereum have become interchangeable.
Ether futures contracts launched on derivatives exchange CME earlier this month.
(Reporting by Vidya Ranganathan; Editing by William Mallard)
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World Bank pushing for standard vaccine contracts, more disclosure from makers

By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The World Bank is working to standardize COVID-19 vaccine contracts that countries are signing with drug makers, and is pushing manufacturers to be more open about where doses are headed, as it races to get more vaccines to poor countries, the bank’s president said on Friday.
World Bank President David Malpass told Reuters he expected the bank’s board to have approved $1.6 billion in vaccine funding for 12 countries, including the Philippines, Bangladesh, Tunisia and Ethiopia, by the end of March, with 30 more to follow shortly thereafter.
The bank is working with local governments to identify and fill gaps in distribution capacity, after they purchase vaccines under a $12 billion World Bank program, and also to standardize the contracts they are signing with manufacturers, he said.
The bank’s International Finance Corp, its private financing arm, has $4 billion to invest in expanding existing production plants or building new ones, including in developed countries, but needs more data on where current production is headed, he said.
“We are eager to be investing in new capacity, but it’s hard to do because you don’t know how much of the existing capacity is already committed to the various off-takers,” Malpass said in an interview with Reuters. New or expanded plants could be used to produce other types of vaccinations in the future, he said.
The bank’s funds could be used to expand plants in advanced economies, if the production was earmarked for developing nations, he said.
Malpass welcomed Friday’s pledge by the Group of Seven rich countries to intensify cooperation on the pandemic, saying it could help jump-start deliveries of vaccines to poorer countries, which are lagging far behind rich countries in getting shots in arms.
Data compiled by Our World In Data, a scientific online publication, showed Israel was leading the world in COVID-19 vaccinations, with nearly 82 of 100 people vaccinated, while India and Bangladesh reported less than one person per 100, Many African countries have not started at all.
Malpass said he was heartened by news about new vaccines coming down the road, and about Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE seeking permission to store their vaccine at higher temperatures, which would ease another obstacle to deliveries in lower-income countries.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Heather Timmons and Leslie Adler)
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Google to evaluate executive performance on diversity, inclusion

By Paresh Dave
(Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google will evaluate the performance of its vice presidents and above on team diversity and inclusion starting this year, the company said on Friday in one of several responses to concerns about its treatment of a Black scientist.
Timnit Gebru, co-leader of Google’s ethical artificial intelligence research team, said in December that Google abruptly fired her after she criticized its diversity efforts and threatened to resign.
Alphabet and Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai ordered a review of the situation. While Google declined to share specific findings, the company announced on Friday it will engage human resources specialists during sensitive employee departures.
Pichai in June said that by 2025, Google aims to have 30% more of its leaders come from underrepresented groups, with a focus on Black, Latinx and Native American leaders in the United States and female technical leaders globally. About 96% of Google’s U.S. leaders at the time were white or Asian, and 73% globally were men.
As a result of the investigation, the company also expanded a commitment announced in June to devote more resources to retaining and promoting existing employees, including by expanding a team addressing disputes among workers and their managers.
The diversity component of executive performance reviews was not previously announced, and the company did not immediately share details about what would be measured and how pay would be affected.
Alphabet for years had rejected proposals from shareholders and employees to set diversity goals and tie executive pay to them.
Irene Knapp, a former Google employee who advocated for one such proposal at a 2018 shareholder meeting, said on Friday, “I am pleased that they met our demand from 2018, which was a bare minimum that should have been easy to do immediately.”
Evaluating managers on diversity goals is becoming more commonplace. McDonald’s Corp on Thursday tied executive bonuses to diversity.
(Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)