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Zywave Names Software Industry Veterans Martin Simoncic as CEO and Chris Kasper as CFO

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Simoncic and Kasper together bring over three decades of software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) experience to help fuel Zywave’s next stage of growth

MILWAUKEE, Sept. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Zywave, Inc. (“Zywave” or the “Company”), a leading provider of SaaS InsurTech solutions for sales management and client delivery enablement, today announced that Martin Simoncic has joined as Chief Executive Officer and Christian G. Kasper has joined as Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer. Zywave is backed by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (together with its affiliates, “Clearlake“) and Aurora Capital Partners (“Aurora”).

“We are fortunate to have experienced software executives such as Martin and Chris join Zywave as CEO and CFO, respectively, and we look forward to partnering with the Company’s broader management team to accelerate the growth of the business organically and continue to propel Zywave’s buy-and-build initiatives in the insurance technology industry,” said Prashant Mehrotra, Partner and Managing Director, and Erik Hansen, Vice President, at Clearlake. “We believe that Martin and Chris’ deep software industry and scale operating experience, combined with Clearlake’s O.P.S.® operational improvement approach, will further support the Company in executing our strategic plan and providing innovative software solutions to our customers.”

“Martin and Chris each have a track record of leading innovative SaaS companies, which is why we believe they are a natural fit to help Zywave achieve its potential,” said Josh Klinefelter, Partner at Aurora. “We look forward to supporting Martin, Chris, the rest of the management team, and Zywave’s many talented employees during the Company’s next phase of growth.”

Prior to joining Zywave, Simoncic served as the President of the B2B business of PROS Holdings, Inc. (“PROS”), a provider of AI-powered SaaS, configure, price, quote (“CPQ”), and revenue management solutions. During his time at PROS, he also held the roles of Chief Customer Officer and Vice President of Product Management. Previously, Simoncic was Vice President of Customer Success and Professional Services at Vertafore, a provider of insurance technology and distribution solutions.

“This is an exciting time to be at Zywave, and I’m honored to join the Company and lead the next chapter of its journey while building upon Zywave’s track record of industry leadership,” said Simoncic. “I am committed to furthering the Company’s mission to serve our customers while continuing to foster the core values that we believe make Zywave a great place to work.”

Kasper brings over three decades of financial and operational experience to Zywave, having previously served as CFO for six companies, including three cloud-based software companies. Kasper most recently was CFO of EnterpriseDB Corporation (“EnterpriseDB”), a software platform for managing database analytical and AI workloads. Prior to EnterpriseDB, he served as CFO of Reflexis Systems, Inc., a provider of real-time store operations solutions to enterprise customers in the banking, retail, and hospitality sectors.

“I am delighted to join the Zywave team and look forward to contributing to its next chapter of growth,” said Kasper. “Zywave’s position today in the InsurTech market, the culture and caliber of its team, and the depth of its customer relationships give me confidence that the Company will continue to execute towards its long-term growth strategy.”

About Zywave
Zywave powers the InsurTech industry and the modern insurance lifecycle while fostering connections between innovative agents and brokers, insurers, and MGAs. Zywave’s customizable, all-in-one SaaS platform accelerates digitalization, distribution, and profitability to help insurance organizations meet their growth goals. More than 15,000 insurers, MGAs, agencies, and brokerages worldwide—including all of the top 100 U.S. insurance brokerages—use Zywave solutions to increase efficiency, make better informed business decisions, and fuel organic growth. Additional information can be found at www.zywave.com.

About Clearlake
Clearlake is an investment firm founded in 2006 operating integrated businesses across private equity, credit, and other related strategies. With a sector-focused approach, the firm seeks to partner with experienced management teams by providing patient, long-term capital to dynamic businesses that can benefit from Clearlake’s operational improvement approach, O.P.S.®. The firm’s core target sectors are technology, industrials, and consumer. Clearlake currently has over $85 billion of assets under management and its senior investment principals have led or co-led over 400 investments. The firm is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, with affiliates in Dallas, TX, London, UK, Dublin, Ireland, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi, UAE. More information is available at www.clearlake.com.

About Aurora
Aurora Capital Partners is a Los Angeles-based private equity firm with $6 billion in assets under management. Founded in 1991, the firm seeks to invest in middle-market companies with leading market positions, stable industry dynamics, attractive business model characteristics, and actionable opportunities for growth in partnership with management. For more information about Aurora Capital Partners, visit: www.auroracap.com.

Media Contacts

For Zywave:
Amanda Flynn
Senior Vice President, Marketing
amanda.flynn@zywave.com

For Clearlake:
Jennifer Hurson
Lambert
jhurson@lambert.com

For Aurora:
Taylor Ingraham
ASC Advisors
tingraham@ascadvisors.com

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SOURCE Zywave

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RYAN KAVANAUGH TO RECEIVE OUTSTANDING VIRTUAL PRODUCTION AWARD AT INFINITY FESTIVAL’S 2026 MONOLITH AWARDS FOR ACME STUDIOS WORK

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Two-Day Showcase Expands Lineup with ACME’s Ryan Kavanaugh alongside George R.R. Martin, Brad Bird, Seth Rogen, Mel Brooks, Pola Maneli and Leading Animation Studios

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Infinity Festival announced today that Ryan Kavanaugh’s studio, ACME Media, is being honored for pioneering the Grey Box™, an AI-driven production methodology that integrates live-action performance, virtual environments and generative visual effects. ACME AI is taking virtual production beyond the stage and into the whole of filmmaking. 

They were selected for this honor as the company to make the biggest paradigm shift utilizing technology in film and entertainment today. Specifically, they were able to create a totally photoreal movie, preserve all actor performance and pioneer the use of the Grey Box™ methodology for actor capture, while utilizing their tech to create over 213 locations in 21 total days. 

The Grey Box™ is a stage and actor performance capture system built around the filmmaker. A Grey Box™ production makes films the way films have always been made – it shoots with the same cameras, the same crew and the same process as any other film, just with extra technology and a precise design to allow for a more cohesive and cost effective process. Department heads are employed and on set, the actor’s performance is not touched, and the director still owns the frame. 

ACME’s own systems, engines and artists (150 across multiple locations) then build the world around that performance, delivering fully photoreal 16-bit 4K output for theatrical release. 

The Grey Box’s™ proprietary performance capture methodology leads to a 50-75 percent reduction in production time and cost. This gives each film and filmmaker more flexibility, tools and coverage than was financially feasible previously. 

” Virtual production has never been about technology alone. It’s about expanding what filmmakers can imagine and achieve. ACME AI & FX is challenging the boundaries of traditional production by rethinking how live-action performances, digital environments, and emerging technologies come together,” said Jeroen Hallaert, Executive Producer, Infinity Festival Hollywood.

“Their approach represents exactly the kind of bold experimentation and convergence we celebrate at Infinity Festival. We’re proud to recognize ACME AI & FX with the Monolith Award for Outstanding Virtual Production.

ACME has spent in excess of 70 million dollars building its tech, which has led to its own process and program which runs off of over 500 tools and 175 film attributes with thousands of its own lawyers on its its internal program now running across its own network. “This was a two-year, multimillion-dollar, all-hands effort and we couldn’t be more proud of the team for what it built,” said Garrett Grant, ACME co-founder and partner. ACME is the only production company and/or studio to deliver an A list feature film utilizing AI which holds up against films shot traditionally for much larger budgets. 

Yves Bergquist, who is one of the most relied upon voices by studios and entertainment companies around technology and AI in relation to entertainment (he is the head of the AI Media lab at USC’s Entertainment Technology Center and a member of the generative AI working group at the Academy of Motion Pictures), said: “I am in the fortunate position where I see what I believe is all the most recent advancements in AI filmmaking. That includes from the biggest tech companies to the studios to highly respected filmmakers. More or less anyone doing AI production, I have seen their work. To date, I haven’t seen anyone that is even at 10 percent of the quality or output of where ACME is. What they have done is not just extraordinary; it’s a shift to the industry no one else has even begun to figure out. Their product is bar none, on par with the biggest, best productions to come out of Hollywood. There is a reason they are making movies for many of the studios and have so many films in their pipeline and that ACME has become the go to for studios and production companies alike and the reason they have become the go to not just for AI production but more and more for production overall.” 

Other features that they have built and incorporated include another 246 unique virtual production features 

A director’s dashboard that allows a director to seamlessly work between the real grey stage shooting with their traditional camera setups and team and the virtual portion with easeLens and Lighting Library: virtually every lens and lighting package filmmakers rely on, built and mapped so the finished world matches what the camera photographed, including anamorphic.Being able to adjust the camera, lighting, camera movement, lenses in postBeing able to adjust any part of a scene that isn’t the actor’s performance in post Full DI and finishing system Theatrical Finishing: photoreal 16-bit 4K output, mastered through to DCP and EXR delivery.Protected IP: a portfolio of 22 patent applications covering the core systems.

Kavanaugh said, “The ability to respect the integrity of the acting while being so tech-forward was a big part of our consideration. Obviously the tech itself and the artistic process that is required to make the tech work is another. They are literally bringing back the mid-budget film genre by making those stories financially feasible to make. The art of filmmaking is at the heart of everything we do. We built the Grey Box™ and our own engines so that every tool a director could want is available, even on a small-budget movie. Original films that sat for years because of cost are now getting made, at the same scale and with the same vision. We are grateful to Infinity Festival for recognizing that,” said Ryan Kavanaugh, founder of ACME and consider this a tremendous honor.”

The Monolith Awards honor Story Advanced by Technology. This award honors ACME for pioneering an AI-driven production methodology that integrates live-action performance, virtual environments and generative visual effects. With Bitcoin, ACME has taken virtual production beyond the stage and into the whole of filmmaking, bringing some 200 story locations to life around real performances captured over 20 days. We are delighted to celebrate it alongside this year’s honorees, including Brad Bird and George R.R. Martin, both receiving Lifetime Achievement.

Additional featured talent includes Sony Pictures Animation director Tyree Dillihay and President Kristine Belson; Netflix’s Steps directors Alyce Tzue and John Ripa; Disney/Pixar Hoppers director Daniel Chong; Toy Story 5 co-director/writer Kenna Harris; Hexed directors Fawn Veerasunthorn and Jason Hand; DreamWorks Forgotten Island filmmakers Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado; LAIKA’s Wildwood writer Chris Butler and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel; Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender director Lauren Montgomery; The Simpsons director David Silverman; Cartoon Saloon director Louise Bagnall; Tangles director Leah Nelson, Cat in the Hat directors Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni, X-Men ’97, The Violinist directors Raul Garcia and Ervin Han and The Proud Family creator Bruce W. Smith and more.

 ABOUT ACME

ACME Media is a film and television studio and the parent company of ACME AI, the most prolific studio working in AI today. ACME’s principals have produced, financed or distributed more than 250 films with more than $17 billion in global box office. They created slate co-financing, built the structure that allowed Marvel to make its own films, co-created the subscription streaming window with Netflix and built the largest mini-major studio of its era. Their films have received over 60 Academy Award® nominations, Based in Los Angeles and London with AI artists worldwide, ACME pioneered the Grey Box studio and completed the first performance capture AI film BITCOIN, currently in post-production. The film is directed by Doug Liman and stars Casey Affleck, Gal Gadot, Pete Davidson and Isla Fisher. ACME has more than twelve films in various stages of production.

 ACME AI pioneered the Grey Box, a stage and actor performance capture system that delivers photoreal 16-bit 4K theatrical output while cutting below-the-line costs and has over a dozen feature films in various stages of production, as well as endeavors in music videos, and advertising.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ryan-kavanaugh-to-receive-outstanding-virtual-production-award-at-infinity-festivals-2026-monolith-awards-for-acme-studios-work-302939407.html

SOURCE Infinity Festival

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The NYSE Welcomes vVARDIS as a Publicly Listed Company

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NEW YORK, Nov. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — vVARDIS (NYSE: VVVV) co-founders Dr. Haley Abivardi and Dr. Goly Abivardi aim to reshape the future of dental care with a drill-free treatment for the world’s #1 non-communicable disease: cavities.

vVARDIS Solves a Problem that Millions FaceTooth decay affects billions of people worldwide, and dental anxiety keeps millions from getting the care they need.vVARDIS is a Swiss dental technology company focused on changing the way early tooth decay is treated.vVARDIS has introduced a new approach that aims to treat decay earlier and more comfortably for patients.Its flagship product, Curodont® Repair Fluoride Plus, uses proprietary peptide technology to help repair early-stage tooth decay by supporting the natural remineralization of enamel — simply put No drill, No needle, or No filling.Tooth Decay is One of the Most Common Health Issues in the World2.5 billion people globally live with untreated tooth decay.Nearly 90% of U.S. adults have experienced tooth decay.Nearly 73% of U.S. adults report dental fear.21% avoid the dentist because of anxiety.The Story that Helped Shape vVARDISFor decades, treating early tooth decay often meant waiting until it worsened or getting a filling. The founders spent 25 years developing Curodont® Repair Fluoride Plus, a treatment that helps repair early tooth decay before it becomes a cavity.Curodont® gives dentists a way to treat early decay while making the experience easier and less intimidating for patients.The technology has already treated more than 2.5 million teethAvailable in more than 20% of U.S. dental practices

Click Here to Learn More about vVARDIS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1p9hUR5Glk

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Yiren Digital Receives NYSE Notification Regarding Stock Price Requirement

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BEIJING, Nov. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Yiren Digital Ltd. (NYSE: YRD) (“Yiren Digital” or the “Company”), a leading company specializing in financial technology and artificial intelligence innovation across multiple industries in China and global markets, today announced that it received a letter dated October 20, 2026, from the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) notifying the Company that it was not in compliance with the NYSE’s continued listing standard under Section 802.01C of the NYSE Listed Company Manual (the “Price Criteria”) for the average closing price of the Company’s American depositary shares (the “ADSs”) was below US$1.00 per ADS over a consecutive 30-trading-day period.

The Company has six months following receipt of the notification (the “Cure Period”) to regain compliance with the Price Criteria. The Company can regain compliance during the Cure Period if, on the last trading day of any calendar month during that period, its ADSs have both a closing price of at least US$1.00 per ADS and an average closing price of at least US$1.00 per ADS over the 30-trading-day period ending on that day. In the event that at the expiration of the Cure Period, both a $1.00 closing price and a $1.00 average closing price over the preceding 30 trading days are not attained, the NYSE will commence suspension and delisting procedures.

The notification does not immediately affect the Company’s business operations. The Company’s ADSs will continue to be listed and traded on the NYSE subject to compliance with other applicable continued listing standards. The Company will continue to monitor the trading price of its ADSs and consider available measures to regain compliance.

About Yiren Digital

Yiren Digital Ltd. is a leading company specializing in financial technology and artificial intelligence innovation across multiple industries in China and global markets. The Company leverages advanced artificial intelligence and emerging technologies to enhance customer experience, optimize capital efficiency, and expand financial inclusion. Following the regulatory filing of its in-house developed Large Language Model Zhiyu and the significant enhancement of its MagiCube Agent platform, Yiren Digital is establishing a new growth engine to accelerate its evolution into an AI-native, multi-industry operating platform extending beyond traditional financial services. For more information, please visit https://ir.yiren.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. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “aim,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “hope,” “going forward,” “intend,” “ought to,” “plan,” “project,” “potential,” “seek,” “may,” “might,” “can,” “could,” “will,” “would,” “shall,” “should,” “is likely to” and the negative form of these words and other similar expressions. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “target,” “confident,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations, assumptions, and assessments of current market and operating conditions. These statements involve inherent risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are outside the control of the Company, and which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors and other risks described in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company undertakes no, and expressly disclaims any, obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required under applicable law.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/yiren-digital-receives-nyse-notification-regarding-stock-price-requirement-302938620.html

SOURCE Yiren Digital Ltd.

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