Functional healthcare brand expands domestic distribution and strengthens brand competitiveness for overseas expansion following launch of new muscle and joint patch line

SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Functional healthcare brand PAINSTUDY Inc. is expanding its domestic online and offline distribution channels and strengthening its brand competitiveness for global market entry, marking the launch of a new line of muscle and joint patches. The company’s strategy is to grow beyond simple product sales into a comprehensive wellness brand that supports consumers’ everyday health management.

PAINSTUDY develops and supplies functional healthcare products for modern consumers who experience muscle and joint discomfort in daily life. By analyzing contemporary lifestyles, the company has developed premium muscle and joint patches in-house with an emphasis on safety and ease of use, building its business around patch products that can be conveniently used in everyday settings.

A key focus of this latest expansion is the diversification of consumer touchpoints. PAINSTUDY has built its base of online consumers primarily through major e-commerce platforms such as Coupang and Naver Smart Store. Drawing on the customer feedback and operational experience accumulated in the online market, the company is launching its new line of functional patches while also planning to expand its distribution network into a variety of offline channels going forward.

Another element of PAINSTUDY’s product strategy has been its ability to quickly identify consumer usage experiences and needs through its online channels and feed that insight back into product development. The company treats customer feedback not merely as product evaluation but as a resource for developing new and follow-up products. The new patch line was likewise planned based on customer feedback accumulated over time, combined with the company’s own development know-how.

The products are focused on consumer demand for a more convenient way to manage everyday muscle and joint fatigue. They apply quality-controlled ingredients and ergonomic design to enhance safety and adhesion, positioning the company to respond to consumer demand for self-medication — managing one’s own health condition as part of daily life.

PAINSTUDY sees this distribution diversification as the next stage of its brand growth. The plan is to strengthen its existing e-commerce-centered business foundation while also expanding opportunities for consumers to encounter its products offline, thereby raising brand awareness. By building consumer touchpoints that span both online and offline channels, the company aims to create a business structure that is not confined to any single sales channel.

The company is also broadening its product scope in stages. Leveraging the consumer feedback and product development experience it has gained through its muscle and joint patches, PAINSTUDY plans to develop a range of follow-up healthcare products. By continuously identifying and incorporating consumers’ lifestyles and health management needs into its products, the company aims to grow, over the long term, from a muscle and joint care brand into a wellness brand that supports health management across everyday life more broadly.

In particular, the company plans to expand into overseas markets while simultaneously strengthening its product and distribution competitiveness at home. Building on the brand operation experience and consumer-centered product development approach it has developed in the domestic e-commerce market, PAINSTUDY is seeking opportunities to introduce its brand and products in overseas markets.

In its global business as well, the company plans to focus on building product competitiveness and brand foundations step by step, rather than pursuing rapid market expansion. PAINSTUDY intends to continuously broaden its product portfolio to respond to the needs of different national markets and consumers, while conveying the value of everyday health management and self-care that the brand pursues to consumers abroad as well.

“With the launch of this new product line, we plan to strengthen our brand presence in the domestic e-commerce market and expand our consumer touchpoints across a variety of offline distribution channels,” a PAINSTUDY Inc. representative said. “We will continue to develop follow-up healthcare products that reflect real customer feedback, growing into a comprehensive wellness brand while actively pursuing new business opportunities in global markets as well.”

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SOURCE PAINSTUDY Inc.

Thoughtworks’ survey of 3,200 CIOs finds no dominant model for enterprise AI leadership, while Singapore CIOs report a more distributed approach to AI decision-making

SINGAPORE and CHICAGO, Oct. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — New global research from Thoughtworks, a global technology consultancy that integrates design, engineering and AI to drive digital innovation, finds that 89% of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) globally agree they are now more responsible for redesigning workforce workflows and labor models than for managing core IT infrastructure. In Singapore, 84% of CIOs agree their role has similarly expanded beyond core IT into workforce workflows and labour models.

The study, based on a survey of 3,200 CIOs across 10 countries, shows how far the CIO remit now extends beyond traditional technology management. As AI becomes embedded across the enterprise, technology leaders are being drawn more deeply into questions about how work is designed, where decisions sit and how responsibility is shared across the business.

That broader responsibility comes as organizations are still working through how enterprise AI should be governed. Almost nine in 10 CIOs (88%) report that AI adoption within their organization is happening faster than governance structures can adapt. More than a third of CIOs (35%) also say they feel personally accountable for workforce disruption caused by AI adoption, despite not being able to fully influence the outcome. In Singapore, 80% say AI adoption is happening faster than governance structures can adapt. While 36% describe their organisation as very prepared to govern AI consistently across business functions, a further 58% say they are somewhat prepared. Singapore also reports lower visibility into AI tools or workflows adopted independently by business units: 78% report full or high visibility, compared with 89% globally, while a further 21% report moderate visibility.

“AI governance is also a workforce design issue,” said Rachel Laycock, Chief Technology Officer at Thoughtworks. “As AI changes how work gets done, organizations need to rethink roles, workflows and decision rights so people know where human judgment is still essential and where AI can take on more of the work. Training matters, but it’s only one part of building an organization that can use AI effectively at scale.”

Complicating matters, the survey also found that influence over AI decisions is distributed across the business. Globally, 23% identify the CEO as having the greatest influence, followed by central IT or technology leadership (21%), the executive leadership team (11%) and dedicated AI roles (10%).

AI budget ownership is similarly distributed, with no single model dominant. Some 22% report that budgets are managed centrally by IT, 22% that responsibility is shared between IT and the business, 20% that budgets are controlled independently by business units, 19% that they are managed at executive or board level and 17% that the model is still evolving.

“AI governance can’t sit apart from data governance or from the economics of AI use,” said Shayan Mohanty, Chief Data and AI Officer at Thoughtworks. “The person accountable for the data may not own the AI systems using it, while the people choosing those systems increasingly sit across the business. As adoption scales, organizations need the visibility and governance to understand where AI is creating value and where cost and risk are accumulating.”

That distribution of decision-making can also create accountability tensions. Nine in 10 CIOs (90%) believe central IT would still ultimately be held responsible for security breaches or compliance failures caused by AI tools purchased independently by business units. In Singapore, 80% agree central IT would still ultimately be held responsible for failures caused by independently purchased AI tools. CIOs also report feeling personally accountable for outcomes they cannot fully influence, including security incidents involving AI systems (37%), data privacy breaches (35%) and brand or reputational damage from AI misuse (34%).

The lack of a single operating model extends to enterprise AI leadership. Seventy percent of organizations surveyed have already hired a Chief AI Officer, with a further 26% looking to do so. But there is no clear consensus on how the role should work alongside the CIO: 36% say the CAIO acts as an extension of the CIO’s centralized strategy, while 35% say the role operates independently with equal or greater enterprise influence. Some 29% describe the CIO/CAIO relationship as a source of organizational friction or unclear boundaries. In Singapore, 77% report that their organisation has already hired a CAIO, while 23% describe the CIO/CAIO relationship as a source of friction or unclear boundaries.

“At Thoughtworks, our experience has been that AI transformation is a team sport, from defining enterprise AI strategy and architecture to embedding AI into internal platforms and day-to-day operations,” said Xia Jie Jessie, CIO of Thoughtworks. “The question isn’t who owns AI, but how leadership collaborates to create business value responsibly and at scale.”

Taken together, the findings point to a CIO role that now extends well beyond technology infrastructure. Workforce design, distributed AI decision-making and enterprise governance now intersect, while organizations are taking different approaches to how leadership responsibility should be divided. Singapore’s findings reinforce this picture: CIOs report lower levels of strong preparedness than many other markets, while capability-building remains a prominent part of the response, with 30% selecting upskilling technology staff and 20% upskilling the wider workforce among actions taken or planned.

“Authority over AI is distributed, but accountability hasn’t always moved with it,” said Mike Sutcliff, CEO of Thoughtworks. “The answer isn’t to pull every decision back into central IT or put one executive in charge and assume the problem is solved. Organizations need clearer decision rights, and people need the skills and information to make good decisions as AI becomes part of how the business runs.”

The full report, Thoughtworks Global CIO Survey 2026: Who governs enterprise AI?, explores how organizations are approaching enterprise AI governance, leadership, workforce capability and the changing role of the CIO.

About Thoughtworks

Thoughtworks is a global technology consultancy that integrates design, engineering and AI to drive digital innovation. For over 30 years, Thoughtworks has helped organisations solve complex business problems with technology as the differentiator.

Methodology

The research featured in this report was conducted by Censuswide, in partnership with Thoughtworks, among a sample of 3,200 CIOs across the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Singapore.

The data was collected between July 1 and July 10 2026. Censuswide is a member of the Market Research Society (MRS) and the British Polling Council (BPC) and a signatory of the Global Data Quality Pledge. They adhere to the MRS Code of Conduct and ESOMAR principles.

Media contact:

Michelle Surendran

Head of Public Relations for APAC and India

Email: michels@thoughtworks.com

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SOURCE Thoughtworks

New capabilities help RedotPay’s more than nine million users send and spend stablecoins with greater ease

SINGAPORE, Oct. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Nium, the infrastructure platform for global money movement, today announced a partnership with RedotPay, a global stablecoin-based payment fintech company, which brings global off-ramp infrastructure to RedotPay’s over nine million users.

Announced at the TOKEN2049 conference in Singapore, the partnership gives RedotPay access to Nium’s payment network which spans across 100 currencies and 190 countries. RedotPay will use these capabilities to extend its off-ramp coverage into new markets as it continues scaling rapidly.

RedotPay is accelerating financial access globally through responsible, compliant adoption of stablecoin-based payments. The partnership expands RedotPay’s stablecoin-powered rails, powered by Nium’s cross-border payments network that moved over US$84 billion across the globe in the past year.

“Stablecoins are becoming a daily payment method, not just a trading asset,” said Prajit Nanu, CEO and co-founder of Nium. “RedotPay’s users move between digital and traditional money constantly. Our battle-tested infrastructure is built for exactly that kind of value movement, across every corridor and currency they need.”

“We are building an inclusive platform that makes finance easier and more accessible for users around the world,” said Michael Gao, CEO and co-founder of RedotPay. “Nium’s off-ramp infrastructure will help our users worldwide put their digital assets to work for the everyday things that make life meaningful.”

Nium connects to stablecoin rails through partnerships with regulated blockchain infrastructure providers, while payouts move across Nium’s own licensed payment network.

About Nium
Nium is building the infrastructure to move money as freely as information. Its global, compliance-first platform gives banks, fintechs, and enterprises the rails to collect, convert, send, and spend funds across 100+ currencies, borders, and blockchains through one unified platform. Nium holds regulatory licenses in 40+ countries and operates its cross-border payout network across 190+ markets, with more than 100 settling in real time and with funds disbursed to bank accounts, wallets, and cards. As a principal member of schemes including Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and UATP, Nium issues over 41 million card credentials annually. The company is co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore. For more information, visit www.nium.com.

About RedotPay
RedotPay is a global stablecoin-based payment fintech that integrates blockchain solutions with traditional banking and finance infrastructures. Our intuitive platform empowers millions around the world to spend and send digital assets, ensuring faster, more accessible and inclusive financial services. RedotPay advances financial inclusion for the unbanked and supports crypto enthusiasts, driving global adoption of secure and flexible stablecoin-powered financial solutions to bring crypto to real life. For more information, visit www.redotpay.com.

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SOURCE Nium