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TPG’s The Rise Fund Leads Strategic Investment in BillEase

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MANILA, Philippines, Sept. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — BillEase, the leading digital consumer finance platform in the Philippines, today announced TPG’s The Rise Fund has signed definitive documentation to lead a significant strategic investment in the company. With the investment, The Rise Fund, the multi-sector strategy of TPG’s global impact investing platform, is leading BillEase’s Series C Equity Round, with existing investor Burda Principal Investment also participating in the round.

“The partnership with TPG marks a pivotal moment for BillEase and is a testament to the strength of our vision and achievements,” said Georg Steiger, CEO of BillEase. “The Rise Fund has built a global track-record of helping socially impactful companies scale and their investment will empower us to not only sustain our strong growth but also expand our product offerings to better serve the underserved and underbanked, enabling more Filipinos to improve their living standards.

Nearly 90% of our customers reported an improved ability to manage their finances after using BillEase, and this investment will help us extend that impact to millions more and support our growth as we aim to empower Filipinos to achieve greater financial security. We remain committed to providing financing solutions to the emerging middle class in the Philippines, a country with over 110 million people and supporting its more than 10,000 merchant partners.”

“Our investment into BillEase aligns with The Rise Fund’s pursuit to work with companies that aim to deliver social impact alongside business performance and strong returns,” said Chalothorn (Boat) Vashirakovit, Managing Director at TPG. “With our global operations capabilities, deep sector expertise in financial services and thematic focus towards backing innovative businesses that drive greater financial inclusion, we look forward to helping accelerate BillEase’s growth and solidifying their position as the leading digital finance app in the market.”

“In the Philippines, there remains a need among businesses and individuals for greater access to affordable financial products. Only 18.8% of people in the Philippines are reportedly able to borrow money from a formal financial institution or money provider,” added Lito Camacho, Senior Advisor for TPG. “BillEase is offering a solution that solves that pain point for many, giving access to flexible payment options in a safe and sustainable way.” 

Burda Principal Investments, the Series B lead investor in BillEase, who is also participating in this round, reaffirmed its commitment to the company’s vision and growth trajectory. “BillEase’s impressive performance and consistent growth reaffirms our commitment to supporting their journey,” said Neil Fong, Managing Director & Head of BPI Asia. “We believe in their ability to execute and continue leading the digital finance sector in the Philippines, and we’re proud to back their ongoing success.”

China International Capital Corporation Limited (“CICC”) acted as the exclusive financial advisor to BillEase, providing strategic guidance and support throughout the Series C equity round. “The Philippines is one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia. The young demographic, increasing affluence, and digitally savvy population currently underserved by incumbent financial services provides exciting growth for innovative fintech companies. This investment by a renowned international fund like The Rise Fund is a result of BillEase’s mission-driven execution and groundwork built over the years”, said Jun Jie Chong, Executive Director of CICC Singapore.

About BillEase

BillEase is a leading consumer finance app in the Philippines. The company leverages machine learning and AI to build financial products while mixing traditional global best practices in credit underwriting to meet the needs of its customers. BillEase offers personal loans, e-wallet top-ups, prepaid load, gaming credits, bill payment, and a unique buy now, pay later (BNPL) that offers competitive interest rates and deals from over 10,000 merchants and over 600,000 QRPh-accepting merchants. For more information, visit https://billease.ph/.

About TPG Rise Fund

The Rise Funds are a core pillar of TPG Rise, TPG’s global impact investing platform. Founded in 2016, The Rise Funds invest behind impact entrepreneurs and growth-stage, high potential, mission-driven companies that are focused on achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The Rise Funds deliver capabilities and expertise across a wide variety of sectors and countries at scale, focusing on opportunities in climate and conservation, education, food and agriculture, financial inclusion, healthcare, and impact services.

With approximately $19 billion in assets across The Rise Funds, TPG Rise Climate, and the Evercare Health Fund, the TPG Rise platform is one of the world’s largest private markets impact investing platforms committed to achieving measurable, positive social and environmental outcomes alongside competitive financial returns.

About Burda Principal Investments

Burda Principal Investments (BPI) provides long term growth equity for fast growing and scalable technology companies. BPI is a division of Hubert Burda Media which is one of Europe’s largest media and technology conglomerates with a strong investment track record in internet-centric businesses since 1998. In the past, Hubert Burda Media has invested in Internet platforms such as Etsy, Zooplus, and HolidayCheck. At BPI, we have been partners of visionary entrepreneurs, leveraging Burda’s capital, brands and sector expertise, particularly in the areas of business expansion, internationalization, and localization. BPI is invested in a portfolio of highly successful and fast-growing companies in Europe, the US, and Asia including Nord Security, Vinted, Aleph Alpha, Bloom & Wild, Moneybox, Skillshare, Expel, Carsome, BillEase, and many more.

 

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SOURCE BillEase

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Laifen Expands U.S. Retail Footprint with Costco Launch of Best-Selling SE Hair Dryer

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Starting July 18, Costco Members Can Shop Laifen’s Award-Winning Hair Dryer in Select Warehouse Locations Across the U.S.

NEW YORK, July 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Laifen, ranked the world’s No.1 high-speed hair dryer brand, today announced the launch of its best-selling SE High-Speed Hair Dryer at select Costco warehouse locations, marking the brand’s largest U.S. retail expansion to date and bringing its award-winning haircare technology to Costco members across select U.S. markets.

The launch brings Laifen’s award-winning haircare technology to Costco, making it easier for consumers to experience the brand through one of the nation’s leading membership retailers. Laifen joins Costco’s growing portfolio of premium beauty and personal care brands. The initial rollout includes select Costco warehouse locations across the United States, with a strong presence across the Western U.S., including California, the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest.

Costco’s reputation for quality and its highly selective merchandising approach make this partnership especially meaningful. The Costco launch reflects Laifen’s continued expansion beyond direct-to-consumer channels as the brand accelerates its U.S. omnichannel retail strategy. “Costco represents an important milestone in our U.S. retail strategy,” said Romeo, General Manager of International Business of Laifen. “As more consumers seek salon-quality performance at an accessible price, we’re excited to make Laifen available through one of America’s most trusted retailers.”

Engineered to deliver professional-level performance in a sleek, lightweight design, the Laifen SE is powered by the brand’s proprietary high-speed brushless motor, delivering fast drying, reduced heat damage and smoother styling. An intelligent temperature control system continuously monitors airflow to help minimize frizz while protecting hair from excessive heat.

The Costco launch represents the next phase of Laifen’s U.S. retail expansion as the brand continues to grow beyond its direct-to-consumer and online channels. By expanding into one of the nation’s most trusted retailers, Laifen aims to broaden access to its category-disrupting haircare solutions while advancing its mission to bring more thoughtful design and everyday excellence into more homes.

The Laifen SE High-Speed Hair Dryer in White will be available at select Costco locations, while Costco.com shoppers will have access to additional color options including Purple and Pink, alongside the White model.

For more information on Laifen, please visit LaifenTech.com.

About Laifen: 

Founded in 2019, Laifen is a global personal care technology brand combining high-performance engineering with modern design across hair care, oral care, and grooming categories. Ranked the world’s No. 1 high-speed hair dryer brand by Euromonitor International, Laifen first gained recognition for its self-developed 110,000 RPM high-speed brushless motor, the proprietary technology behind its award-winning hair dryers.

Building on this innovation, Laifen has expanded its portfolio to include electric toothbrushes and shavers, delivering premium technology and elevated everyday experiences to consumers worldwide. Today, Laifen products and accessories are used by over 22 million households across more than 60 countries, supported by more than 600 patents and recognized with over 50 international design and innovation awards. Driven by continuous technological breakthroughs, Laifen is committed to making cutting-edge personal care technology more accessible to consumers around the world.

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SOURCE Laifen

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Pillsbury Notice of Data Breach

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NEW YORK, July 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP (“Pillsbury”) was among many law firms targeted by sophisticated social engineering attempts in an incident last year. While the firm quickly detected and blocked the activity, an unauthorized actor was able to access some of the firm’s documents during a short window of time. Pillsbury notified any impacted clients last year and undertook a detailed process to review the accessed documents for personal information. Pillsbury then began notifying individuals whose personal information was affected. That process is now complete, and today, Pillsbury is publishing substitute notice as a final step.

For more information, please visit the substitute notice on our website at https://www.pillsburylaw.com/en/breach-notice.html

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SOURCE Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

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From Remote Racing to Embodied AI: Fibocom and Intedigo Bring 5G Bidirectional Data Transmission into Real-World Applications

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SHANGHAI, July 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — From July 17 to 20, Fibocom and Intedigo will jointly present a cross-regional, beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) teleoperation demonstration at Booth H3-C408 during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) 2026. Visitors will be able to enter a remote driving cockpit and control a real race car located at HURA PARK in Jiading, Shanghai, steering, accelerating, and braking in real time while experiencing how 5G connectivity enables remote operation.

More than an immersive driving experience, the demonstration provides a live validation of 5G bidirectional data transmission for embodied AI teleoperation. The vehicle continuously sends live track video, vehicle status, and operating data to the remote cockpit, while control commands are transmitted back to the vehicle, creating a closed-loop teleoperation system. Stable, low-latency, and highly reliable connectivity is essential for high-dynamic maneuvers such as high-speed cornering, precision braking, and continuous lane changes.

Developed by Intedigo, the remote driving system connects a real race car with an immersive remote driving cockpit. It supports 1080p@60Hz video transmission, glass-to-glass (G2G) video latency of less than 80 ms, and control latency of less than 10 ms. The demanding racing environment magnifies differences in video continuity and control responsiveness, making communications performance directly perceptible, measurable, and verifiable.

At the joint demonstration, Fibocom’s FM160 5G module provides cellular connectivity for the system. Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon™ X62 5G Modem-RF System, the FM160 supports SA and NSA network architectures as well as 3GPP Release 16. On the downlink, it supports NR Carrier Aggregation (NR CA) with bandwidth of up to 120 MHz, delivering peak speeds of up to 3.5 Gbps in NSA mode and 2.5 Gbps in SA mode. On the uplink, it supports UL MIMO and delivers peak speeds of up to 900 Mbps in SA mode. These capabilities support the continuous transmission of HD video and vehicle status data, along with reliable delivery of control commands.

As embodied AI moves into factories, data centers, logistics operations, and industrial parks, robots are becoming increasingly capable of performing tasks autonomously. Yet complex environments, unexpected events, and edge cases still require Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) remote intervention to help ensure safe and reliable operation.

Daniel Liu, CEO of Intedigo, said:

“5G represents the pinnacle of human communications and the starting point of machine communications. In the past, communications connected people to people; in the future, they will connect people to robots and robots to robots. Remote racing is simply the easiest entry point for people to understand this concept. What we are truly validating is a communications system capable of supporting remote collaboration for embodied AI. HURA makes low-latency remote driving a tangible experience, while RoBOX extends this capability to robots and a broader range of intelligent terminals. Together with Fibocom, we hope to enable more machines to receive remote assistance whenever needed while remaining continuously connected and operating reliably.”

Simon Tao, VP of Wireless Solutions Business Group and General Manager of MBB BU at Fibocom, said:

“As embodied AI enters real-world industrial environments, reliable connectivity will become the foundation for telemetry feedback, remote control and operational management. Fibocom’s 5G solutions, represented by FM160, provide the cellular connectivity required for continuous on-site data transmission and reliable control command delivery. Fibocom will continue collaborating with ecosystem partners such as Intedigo to bring cellular connectivity to more robots, autonomous machines and mobile intelligent terminals, enabling embodied AI systems to stay continuously connected and respond reliably in real-world applications.”

From remote race cars to robots, unmanned equipment, and mobile intelligent terminals, 5G is evolving from connecting people to connecting machines. This joint demonstration makes the capabilities of 5G bidirectional data transmission directly perceptible, experiential, and verifiable, helping pave the way for embodied AI to scale across real-world applications.
 

About Fibocom

Fibocom, founded in 1999, is China’s first wireless communication module company listed on both the A-share and H-share markets (300638.SZ, 0638.HK). As a global leading provider of wireless communication modules and AI solutions, Fibocom leverages wireless communication and artificial intelligence as its core technologies to provide integrated hardware and software solutions that empower industry applications. These solutions accelerate the transformation from “Connect Everything” to “Intelligent Connectivity” across diverse industries.

Fibocom’s one-stop solutions encompass cellular communication, AI, automotive, and GNSS modules, as well as AI toolchains, supporting industry-side and mainstream large model integration, and providing AI Agent, global connectivity, and cloud services, driving the digital intelligence upgrades in industries such as robotics, consumer electronics, low-altitude economy, intelligent transportation, smart retail, and smart energy.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/from-remote-racing-to-embodied-ai-fibocom-and-intedigo-bring-5g-bidirectional-data-transmission-into-real-world-applications-302828996.html

SOURCE Fibocom Wireless Inc.

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