Connect with us

Technology

Flipp and MEDIA Central are joining forces to become the global leader in “drive-to-store” marketing

Published

2 years ago

on

Merger offers a unified platform that helps retailers and brands shape shopper demand.

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Canadian technology company and leader in digital merchandising, Flipp Operations Inc. (“Flipp”) and MEDIA Central Group (“MEDIA Central”), European leader in drive-to-store, have joined forces. This industry-defining transaction combines the leadership and expertise of these two institutions to serve thousands of blue-chip retailers and brands across 27 global markets, reaching over 400 million head of household shoppers.

The new ownership structure will be led by majority owner Truelink Capital, and include Insight Ventures, Bregal Unternehmerkapital, and Highland Europe.

Flipp helps major retailers and brands in the US and Canada enhance digital merchandising by creating and distributing local promotions to millions of engaged shoppers. MEDIA Central, with its classic and digital businesses – the digital one combining ShopFully, Offerista, and Yagora –  offers data-driven 360° solutions to major retailers and brands across Europe, Australia, and Latin America. Flipp and MEDIA Central will maintain their brands and continue serving customers in their respective markets.

“Flipp is trusted by retailers and brands to provide innovative merchandising solutions in the evolving digital landscape,” says Michael Silverman, CEO of Flipp. “Shoppers expect seamless personalized experiences across their shopper journey, spanning both in-store and online touchpoints. This merger marks an exciting new chapter, enabling us to harness the combined power of Flipp and MEDIA Central to deliver cutting-edge drive-to-store solutions. This will ensure that shoppers are empowered with critical shopping content, while retailers and brands can leverage their promotions to drive shopper engagement.”

Stefano Portu, CEO Digital MEDIA Central, comments: “Following the combination of MEDIA Central and ShopFully last year, this transaction presents a unique opportunity to form a global leader in Drive-to-Store Marketing. Leveraging our unique, AI-powered marketing tech platform and investing jointly into product and technology will allow us to offer even greater value to our customers worldwide.”

Ingo Wienand, CEO Classic MEDIA Central, adds: “Together with Flipp, we are combining our strengths and expertise even more consistently to support retailers as a strong partner in the increasingly complex field of offer communication and to provide maximum value added.”

This merger unites leadership and management of Flipp and MEDIA Central, creating unparalleled value for customers and shoppers. For over a decade, Flipp and MEDIA Central have led the analog-to-digital transition. Their combined platforms will create an advanced digital merchandising network and shopper dataset, helping retailers and brands connect with shoppers. By integrating their networks, the two companies will serve complementary audiences, extend their global reach, accelerate innovation, and enhance value for clients on a global scale.

Luke Myers, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Truelink Capital, reflected on the transaction and noted, “Through the combination of Flipp and MEDIA Central, we will form a highly attractive market leader, with complementary product offerings and global reach. The financial strength of the combined group will allow us to drive innovation and value for our high-quality customer base of international retailers and brands. We are enthusiastic about this partnership and believe there is a bright future ahead for the combined entity.”

Debt financing for the transaction will be provided by Royal Bank of Canada. Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, Baker McKenzie serving as legal advisor and Stifel is serving as financial advisor to Truelink Capital and Flipp. Paul Hastings LLP is serving as legal advisor and Houlihan Lokey is serving as financial advisor to Bregal and MEDIA Central.

The transaction is expected to close by Q4 2024, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

ABOUT FLIPP

Founded in 2007, Flipp is a technology platform that is reinventing the way people plan their weekly shopping trips. The largest retailers and brands in North America use the Flipp Platform to create, curate and distribute digital visual merchandising experiences and savings content to over 100 million high intent shoppers.  Households use Flipp as their primary weekly shopping tool to decide what to buy and where to buy. On average, Flipp helps shoppers save $45 on their weekly groceries, home improvement goods, electronics, pharmacy, apparel, pets supplies and more. For more information, visit corp.flipp.com.

ABOUT MEDIA CENTRAL

The MEDIA Central Group is a European market leader in drive-to-store marketing solutions. The Group unites the leading specialist for data-based 360° offer communication, MEDIA Central, Europe’s leading drive-to-store technology platform, ShopFully, together with the experts for digital offer communication, Offerista Group, and the data science experts for the moment of purchase decision, Yagora. It is represented by over 900 employees in 21 locations across Europe, Australia, and Latin America, and currently serves top retailers and brands in 24 countries from all industries.

ABOUT TRUELINK CAPITAL 

Truelink Capital is a middle-market private equity firm based in Los Angeles. Truelink pairs deep industry experience in the industrials and technology-enabled services sectors with a commitment to building partnerships that drive long-term value through an operationally focused strategy. Truelink partners with management, corporate sellers, and founders to accelerate growth through the execution of strategic initiatives and transformative add-on acquisitions.

ABOUT BREGAL UNTERNEHMERKAPITAL

Bregal Unternehmerkapital (“BU”) is a leading investment firm with offices in Zug, Munich, and Milan. With €7.0bn in capital raised to date, BU is the largest mid-cap investor headquartered in the DACH region. The funds advised by BU invest in mid-sized companies based in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria. With the mission to be the partner of choice for entrepreneurs and family-owned businesses, BU seeks to partner with market leaders and “hidden champions” with strong management teams and breakout potential. Since its founding in 2015, the funds advised by BU have invested over €3.5 billion in more than 100 companies with more than 28,000 employees. Thereby, more than 8,200 jobs have been created. BU supports entrepreneurs and families as a strategic partner to develop, internationalize, and digitize their businesses, while helping them generate sustainable value on a responsible basis with the next generation in mind.

For more information, please visit https://www.bregal.ch/en/.

Media Contacts
Gaby Hui (Flipp)
gaby@labcreo.com

Selin Castaldo (MEDIA Central Classic)
selin.castaldo@media-central.de

Laura Sassi (MEDIA Central Digital)
l.sassi@shopfully.com

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2439632/Truelink_Capital_Logo.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/flipp-and-media-central-are-joining-forces-to-become-the-global-leader-in-drive-to-store-marketing-302252478.html

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

JAMS Launches AI for Enterprise Job Scheduling: JAX and JAMS MCP, on the Model You Choose

Published

13 minutes ago

on

July 24, 2026

By

A new AI agent and an open-standard connector let IT teams query, diagnose, and manage automation in plain language, on the model they choose, with operational data staying inside their own network

LONDON, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — JAMS Software, an orchestration solution for scheduled and event-driven automation, today announced the general availability of two AI capabilities for enterprise job scheduling: JAX, an AI agent built into the JAMS Web Client, and JAMS MCP, a connector built on the open Model Context Protocol standard that brings JAMS into external AI coding tools. Both capabilities ship at no additional cost as part of JAMS Web.

Automation environments grow faster than the teams that run them. Jobs multiply across SQL Server, Azure Data Factory, Airflow, SAP, JDE, and Banner, and when one fails, finding the root cause often means searching several consoles at once, frequently outside business hours. At the same time, IT leaders carry pressure to adopt AI while staying accountable for where operational data goes. JAX and JAMS MCP close both gaps together.

Full details on how JAX and JAMS MCP work, including the control model behind every action, are available at jamsscheduler.com/product/ai.

JAX is an AI agent that runs inside the JAMS Web Client. It finds jobs, troubleshoots failures, and answers how-to questions in plain language, with each response grounded in the JAMS user guide and checked against a built-in glossary. JAX acts only when a user asks it to. Reads flow freely, and every write action pauses for the user’s explicit approval before it runs. JAX does not learn between sessions, and conversations are not retained on the server.

JAMS MCP is a connector, built on the open Model Context Protocol standard, that brings JAMS into the AI tools engineering teams already use, including Cursor, VS Code with Copilot, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and Codex. Users query jobs, investigate failures, and manage runs in plain language without leaving their tool.

Both capabilities run inside the customer’s own network and act as the signed-in user, with that user’s exact JAMS permissions. There is no elevated AI account: whatever a user cannot do in the JAMS interface, JAX and JAMS MCP cannot do on that user’s behalf. Every JAX and MCP operation is recorded in its own dedicated log, and changes made through the JAMS API land in the JAMS audit trail like any other change. Customers choose their own AI model, whether a commercial provider such as OpenAI or Anthropic or a model running entirely on their own hardware, and JAMS never trains on customer data. In the current release, neither feature edits or deletes a job, folder, schedule, or agent definition. For teams that must keep operational data within a defined boundary, JAX runs on a local model entirely inside the customer’s own network, so nothing leaves at all.

“Adopting AI usually means giving something up, most often visibility into where your data goes,” said Pete Hegland, Chief Executive Officer of JAMS Software. “We built JAX and JAMS MCP so that trade does not have to happen. Every action runs as the signed-in user, every change waits for approval, and the model itself can run entirely inside your own network.”

“IT teams across the United Kingdom and EMEA tell us the same thing: they want the benefit of AI without losing sight of where their data goes,” said Greg McLaughlin, Account Executive for EMEA at JAMS Software. “JAX and JAMS MCP let them keep operational data inside their own network and still get answers in plain language. That combination is what makes this practical for the teams I work with.”

JAX and JAMS MCP are available now to all JAMS Web customers across the United Kingdom and EMEA, with no separate licence, SKU, or additional cost. AI-assisted creation of new jobs and workflows from a plain-language description is on the roadmap for a future release, gated by the same approvals and permissions as every other action.

Learn how JAX and JAMS MCP work at https://jamsscheduler.com/product/ai.

Fast facts

JAX is an AI agent built into the JAMS Web Client for job scheduling and workflow automation.JAMS MCP is a connector built on the open Model Context Protocol standard, for Cursor, VS Code with Copilot, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and Codex.Both act as the signed-in user, with that user’s exact JAMS permissions, and there is no elevated AI account.Customers choose the AI model, including a local model that runs entirely inside their own network.JAMS never trains on customer data.Both are available now at no additional cost as part of JAMS Web.

About JAMS Software

Founded in 1987, JAMS Software is an orchestration solution that helps IT teams centralize, automate, and manage scheduled and event-driven jobs across complex, hybrid environments. Over 850 customers rely on JAMS to run their automated workloads. JAMS Software, LLC is headquartered at 108 Patriot Drive, Suite A, Middletown, DE 19709.

Media Contact
Bobby Schmidt, Vice President of Marketing
press@jamssoftware.com
800.261.4267

 

 

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/3007577/JAMS_logo.jpg
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/3007578/jams_jax_ai_agent_job_scheduling_1.jpg
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/3007579/jams_jax_mcp_ai_control_model.jpg
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/3007580/jams_mcp_ai_connector_claude_cursor.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/jams-launches-ai-for-enterprise-job-scheduling-jax-and-jams-mcp-on-the-model-you-choose-302833908.html

Continue Reading

Technology

Video: CNPC offers green chemical answer

Published

13 minutes ago

on

July 24, 2026

By

BEIJING, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A news report from chinadaily.com.cn:

Located on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Tarim 1.2 MTA Phase II Ethylene Project and its supporting green and low-carbon demonstration facility of PetroChina Dushanzi Petrochemical Company, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, are offering a new example of China’s low-carbon industrial transformation.

Watch the video to discover how CNPC is exploring a cleaner and more circular future for the industry.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/video-cnpc-offers-green-chemical-answer-302834036.html

SOURCE chinadaily.com.cn

Continue Reading

Technology

Shanghai Electric showcases embodied intelligence robot matrix and AI-native smart factory solutions at WAIC 2026

Published

13 minutes ago

on

July 24, 2026

By

Featuring humanoid robots with 41 degrees of freedom, pipe‑inspection robots with ±1mm positioning accuracy, and 51 industrial‑grade AI agents

SHANGHAI, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Operations in high-end equipment manufacturing often involve confined spaces, complex objects, and fine manipulation tasks that demand sustained and stable precision. At the recent 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance (WAIC 2026), Shanghai Electric (SEHK: 02727, SSE: 601727) showcased its comprehensive portfolio of embodied intelligence solutions tailored to a range of industrial scenarios.

Themed “AI for All: Smart Squad, Shining Without Limits,” Shanghai Electric highlighted its capabilities across embodied AI robots, robot core components, and AI-native smart factory solutions, demonstrating end-to-end capabilities spanning complete robot systems, critical parts, industrial software, and smart factory architecture.

“The true value of embodied intelligence lies in understanding real industrial tasks: combining the strength, precision, and stability of machines with human experience and judgment to drive a genuine paradigm of ‘machine-assisted, human-machine collaboration,'” said Wang Chunlei, deputy general manager of the Robotics Business Unit at Shanghai Electric Automation Group.

Shanghai Electric’s robotics portfolio covers five key industrial scenarios: connector insertion, electrical operations, flexible sorting, intelligent assembly, and pipe processing. Highlights include:

“SUYUAN” bipedal humanoid robot: With 41 degrees of freedom for enhanced mobility, it is equipped with a multimodal visual sensing system on the head and torso, along with a dual-battery hot-swap system. It is well-suited for inspection, material handling, and assembly tasks.”TUOYUAN” industrial wheeled humanoid robot: Powered by an embodied intelligence foundation model and force-position hybrid control, it is capable of multi-spec connector insertion, material sorting, and loading/unloading of automotive sheet metal parts.”Mermaid” bionic wheeled humanoid robot: Capable of autonomously identifying buttons, knobs, and air switches, it generates real-time operation paths.Autonomous pipe inner-wall chamfering robot: Designed for confined spaces, it can position and process thousands of hole edges with accuracy within 1 millimeter while transmitting data in real time.

Shanghai Electric also showcased its portfolio of core components ranging from power-output to end effectors. Among them, the planetary roller screw offers more than three times the load capacity of traditional ball screws, while the DexHand dexterous hand is designed to meet diverse gripping and manipulation requirements.

Shanghai Electric launched 51 AI models and agents under its “StarCloud Intelligent Manufacturing” series across three domains: R&D and design, production and manufacturing, and operations and maintenance—covering critical equipment processes such as process optimization and wind power facility maintenance.

These industrial agents are embedded in robotic decision-making systems and the operational logic of AI-native smart factories, transforming industrial expertise into digitized, reusable capabilities. They support production-line scheduling, quality inspection, and predictive maintenance, driving the evolution of manufacturing systems from experience-driven to data-driven operations.

Shanghai Electric also released the “AI-Native Smart Factory Technology White Paper,” proposing an active evolution architecture that enables real‑time, closed‑loop optimization of production data, giving the factory self‑perception, self‑decision, and self‑execution capabilities. Built on First Principles, the AI‑native smart factory vertically integrates process flows, industrial software, agents, and smart equipment to dismantle traditional hierarchies while horizontally bridging data silos. The architecture features three core layers: the AI factory brain as the “control center,” industrial agents and embodied robots as the “execution network,” and the physical twin as the “digital mirror.”

Leveraging its deep industrial expertise and comprehensive solution capabilities, Shanghai Electric will continue to drive the implementation of AI in industrial settings, tackle technical challenges facing embodied intelligence in complex scenarios, accelerate the large‑scale deployment of AI‑native smart factories, and deliver replicable solutions across diverse manufacturing environments.

SOURCE Shanghai Electric

Continue Reading

Trending