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Carro receives strategic investment from Woori, capping off a record FY2024 with 11x year-over-year EBITDA growth

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Strategic investment marks Woori Venture Partners’ first late-stage deal in Southeast Asia, to form a closer partnership as Carro ramps up expansion plans across Southeast Asia, including Indonesia Best-ever EBITDA of S$43 million (US$32 million), the fourth year of positive EBITDABest-ever Gross Profit of S$124 million (US$92 million), a 49% year-over-year growthGross Profit Margin (GPM) improved to 12% compared to 8% in FY2023, underpinned by nearly 60% of Gross Profit from ancillaries Total assets increased by 15% year-over-year to S$1.3 billion (US$0.9 billion)

SINGAPORE, Dec. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Carro, Asia Pacific’s largest and fastest-growing online used car platform, is ending the year strong, having achieved an EBITDA of S$43 million (US$32 million) and a 4% EBITDA margin, according to their audited FY2024 numbers.

FY2024’s GPM expanded to 12%, shored up by a combination of strong marketplace margin expansion, ecosystem-led ancillary income growth, and productivity optimisation.

Carro’s fintech business, Genie Financial Services, recorded prudent growth across the region and kept non-performing loans (NPL) at below 0.5%, which is much better than industry benchmarks. The overall loan book grew to S$496 million (US$370 million).

In the last 12 months, Carro expanded its geographic presence to seven markets, out of Southeast Asia to Hong Kong and Japan.

Aaron Tan, co-founder and Group CEO of Carro says, “These numbers underscore the unique differentiated benefits of our ecosystem-led business operating model, as we focus on driving marketplace margin expansion by cross-selling ancillaries to drive recurring income streams. Even as we grow our volumes at double digit percentage to a record, we have and will continue to be laser focused on improving profitability, customer lifetime value across our ecosystem, inventory turnaround speed and productivity. This means building and leveraging more data and technology, including AI and machine learning. We are better placed than ever to scale sustainably and profitably in our core markets and are very excited to grow our newest markets: Hong Kong and Japan. We are still small in an enormous but fragmented market, there is significant room for growth as we build our business for scalability and sustainability.”

Ernest Chew, Chief Financial Officer of Carro says “We are heartened and proud to have over-delivered on our initial target of a 10x EBITDA growth. Despite a challenging macro-environment, we achieved significantly improved margins across most profitability metrics last year. Our focus on quality of revenues and recurring earnings have resulted in a 92% reduction in reported operating loss and within a striking distance of positive operating profits. Even as our cash from operating activities swung to positive,  we continue to be extremely vigilant on liquidity and have built up a warchest of over S$400 million in cash and undrawn lines. We have also been disciplined around managing down costs, improving efficiencies and pushing digital transformations to drive strong earnings growth.”

In a year marked by partnerships, Carro received strategic investments from Jardines and launched “Carro Care Powered by Jardine & Cycle”, Carro’s in-house refurbishment and after-sales servicing capabilities. It received a strategic investment from DRB-Hicom to support its Malaysian fintech business, which has seen solid growth. Carro also strengthened its insuretech offerings by working with ZA Tech to distribute highly personalised self-serve insurance products online, leading to an explosive Gross Written Premium growth of over 60%.

Via its latest strategic investment from Woori Venture Partners,  Carro aims to grow further in its Southeast Asian markets, especially in Indonesia where Woori has a strong presence in. Indonesia used car market size is estimated at US$56.3 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach US$74.4 billion by 2029, according to a study by Mordor Intelligence.  Bolstered by a robust, growing economy, more and more Indonesians are primed to be car owners, yet a lack of affordable financing has deterred even upper class households from owning cars.   

Alan Ang, Director of Woori Venture Partners says, “Carro is the clear leader in a space that is prime for disruption, with significant room for expansive growth. Their ability to grow profitably at scale is testament to their performance and commitment. Woori Venture Partners continues to be a global venture capital leader by backing outstanding founders and sustainable businesses anywhere in the world with our investment in Carro. We are very pleased to be a strategic partner of Carro and help Carro reach its next stage of growth.”

Ernest Chew, Chief Financial Officer of Carro says, “It’s always been a priority for Carro to build powerful partnerships with banks and financial institutions. Receiving a strategic investment from Woori Venture Partners, a venture capital subsidiary of Woori Financial Holdings – a storied Korean financial institution – is a ringing endorsement of our ecosystem-led and complementary fintech business model. We look forward to working with Woori to plug the gaps in the market, serve the underserved better and drive financial inclusion.”

About Carro
Founded in 2015, Carro is Asia Pacific’s largest online used car marketplace. By offering a trustworthy and transparent experience, Carro transforms the traditional way of buying and selling cars through proprietary pricing algorithms, AI-enabled capabilities, and innovative technological solutions.

Headquartered in Singapore, the unicorn startup has raised over S$700 million from Softbank Vision Fund and several sovereign funds. It recorded its best ever full-year positive EBITDA of S$43 million in FY2024. Together with its subsidiaries and business lines, Carro is supported by more than 5,000 employees across Asia-Pacific:

Carro, Southeast Asia’s largest online used marketplace with a strong key presence Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, and a recent expansion into Japan, Taiwan, and Hong KongCarro Care Powered by Jardine & Cycle, Carro’s in-house refurbishment and after-sales servicing capabilitiesGenie Financial Services, a next-generation fintech automotive financing provider in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and ThailandMPM Rent, leading mobility solutions company in Indonesia specialising in leasing / fleet financing transportation servicesInnorithm, a next-generation fleet management solutions company leveraging state-of-the art IoT and machine learningKaidee, Thailand’s largest online shopping and classifieds platform

For more information, please visit: www.carro.co.

About Woori Venture Partners
Woori Venture Partners is South Korea’s leading venture capital firm with a distinguished track record spanning over 40 years. Established in 1981, Woori Venture Partners has expanded its global presence with investment hubs in Silicon Valley, Shanghai and Singapore. With investments in over 2,000 companies, over 300 of which have successfully gone public, Woori Venture Partners is dedicated to driving innovation and fostering growth opportunities worldwide.

Woori Venture Partners officially opened its Singapore office in 2023, and its presence in Southeast Asia reflects the growing investment opportunities in the region. Woori Venture Partners has:

Cultivated a portfolio of close to 15 investments from Southeast Asia and India across diverse sectors including consumer, B2B, deep-tech and Web3Partnered Arkana Ventures, an Indonesia-based VC firm with a successful track record of investing in South East Asia, to focus on building disruptive early-stage startups across Southeast AsiaCollaborated with Saison Capital, the corporate venture capital arm of Credit Saison, to explore synergies on Web3 opportunities globally, with a particular focus on real-world assets and the intersection of financial services and blockchain

 

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SOURCE Carro

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Global AI Leader and Enterprise Transformation Visionary Zeya Ottomone Appointed Chief Executive Officer of Integrow

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Author of Empowered to Execute in the Agentic Era to Lead Next Generation of AI-Powered Enterprise Innovation

ATLANTA, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Integrow announced the appointment of Zeya Ottomone as Chief Executive Officer, marking a significant milestone in the company’s evolution as it accelerates its vision to become a global leader in Agentic AI-powered enterprise software and business transformation.

Integrow announced the appointment of Zeya Ottomone as Chief Executive Officer, marking a significant milestone in the company’s evolution as it accelerates its vision to become a global leader in Agentic AI-powered enterprise software and business transformation.

With more than three decades of executive leadership spanning Fortune 500 enterprises, global technology organizations, and enterprise software innovation, Ottomone joins Integrow at a defining moment in the evolution of artificial intelligence.

Widely recognized for helping organizations modernize operations, simplify complex business ecosystems, and deliver measurable transformation outcomes, Ottomone has led some of the industry’s largest enterprise modernization initiatives across ERP, CRM, workforce management, cloud computing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and intelligent automation. His appointment signals Integrow’s commitment to redefining how enterprises execute strategy in the era of autonomous AI.

“Artificial Intelligence is no longer about automation alone, it’s about empowering organizations to execute faster, make smarter decisions, and fundamentally rethink how work gets done,” said Zeya Ottomone, Chief Executive Officer of Integrow. “We’re entering the Agentic Era, where intelligent AI agents become trusted digital teammates capable of planning, reasoning, collaborating and executing alongside people. At Integrow, we’re building the enterprise platform that makes that future practical, secure and measurable for every organization.”

Ottomone is internationally recognized as a leader in enterprise technology, SaaS transformation, digital modernization and AI-enabled business strategy. Throughout his career he has held executive leadership and C-level positions with ABB, Honeywell, AmerisourceBergen, Cable & Wireless, Chicago Tribune and Rimini Street, leading global organizations through large-scale transformation initiatives across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. His expertise spans enterprise applications, Salesforce ecosystems, ServiceNow, ERP modernization, customer experience, intelligent operations, data strategy, and the emerging field of Agentic AI.

Before joining Integrow, Ottomone led global SaaS Centers of Excellence focused on enterprise transformation, helping organizations modernize critical business operations while reducing technology complexity and accelerating innovation. A certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and recognized executive advisor, Ottomone has consistently delivered operational excellence by combining strategic leadership with emerging technologies to create sustainable business value.

His appointment also coincides with the upcoming publication of his new book, Empowered to Execute in the Agentic Era, which explores how organizations can bridge the gap between strategy and execution by leveraging AI, empowering people, and building intelligent enterprises capable of continuous innovation. The book reflects many of the same principles that will guide Integrow’s next phase of growth: human-centered AI, intelligent automation, operational excellence, and measurable business outcomes.

Under Ottomone’s leadership, Integrow will accelerate investment across:

Agentic AIEnterprise AI PlatformsIntelligent ERPAI-powered CRMHuman Capital ManagementIT Service ManagementPredictive AnalyticsAutonomous WorkflowsEnterprise CopilotsIndustry-specific AI Solutions

The company’s vision is to deliver a unified enterprise platform where AI is embedded into every business process, enabling organizations to eliminate operational silos, automate decision-making, increase productivity, and create competitive advantage through intelligent execution. “Zeya represents exactly the type of visionary leader required for the next generation of enterprise software,” said Harvey Nicholson, Chair of Corporate Governance and Member of Integrow’s Board of Directors. “His global experience, deep understanding of enterprise technology, and forward-looking vision for Agentic AI position Integrow to become one of the industry’s most innovative AI-powered enterprise software companies.”

Wayne Gadson, Chair of Growth Strategy, added: “The future belongs to organizations that can execute strategy with intelligence, speed and confidence. Zeya has spent his career helping enterprises achieve exactly that. His appointment marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Integrow, our customers and our partners worldwide.” As enterprises face mounting pressure to modernize operations, reduce costs, improve workforce productivity and harness the power of artificial intelligence, Integrow is uniquely positioned to help organizations transform through a single AI-powered enterprise platform that unifies finance, operations, customer engagement, workforce management, projects and service delivery.

“Our mission is simple,” Ottomone concluded. “We don’t believe AI should replace people. We believe AI should elevate people. The organizations that will define the next decade won’t simply adopt AI—they’ll empower every employee to execute better decisions every day. That’s the future Integrow is building.”

About Integrow

Integrow is a global enterprise software company delivering next-generation AI-powered business applications built on Salesforce. The platform unifies ERP, CRM, Human Capital Management, IT Service Management, Project Management, Field Service, Finance and Operations into a single intelligent ecosystem enhanced by Agentic AI.

By embedding artificial intelligence into every workflow, Integrow enables organizations to modernize operations, accelerate innovation, improve decision-making and execute strategy with confidence.

For more information, visit www.integrow.com.

Media Contact

Media Team, Integrow, Inc., 1 855-333-4769, info@integrow.com, www.integrow.com 

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SOURCE Integrow, Inc.

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Lufax Announces Board and Management Changes

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SHANGHAI, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Lufax Holding Ltd (“Lufax” or the “Company”) (NYSE: LU and HKEX: 6623), a leading financial services enabler for small business owners in China, today announced changes to its board of directors and senior management, effective July 25, 2026.

Ms. Fangfang Cai (“Ms. Cai”), Mr. Shibang Guo (“Mr. Guo”) and Mr. Peifeng Li (“Mr. Li”) have resigned as non-executive directors of the Company and from their respective positions on the Board’s committees. Mr. Tongzhuan Xi (“Mr. Xi”) has resigned as an executive director, the chief financial officer and the authorised representative of the Company (“Authorised Representative”) under Rule 3.05 of the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (“Hong Kong Listing Rules”), with effect from July 25, 2026. Each of the four directors cited personal work arrangements as the reason for their resignation and confirmed there is no disagreement with the Board and no matter relating to their departure that needs to be brought to shareholders’ attention.

The Company has begun a search for a new chief financial officer. During the transition, the CFO’s duties will be temporarily assumed by the Company’s internal team to ensure continuity of the Company’s financial functions. Mr. Xiang Ji, an executive director and the Company’s chief executive officer, has been appointed as the Authorised Representative, the Company’s designated liaison with the Stock Exchange under the Hong Kong Listing Rules, in place of Mr. Xi, with effect from July 25, 2026.

The Board has appointed Mr. Wai Kin Chim (“Mr. Chim”) as an independent non-executive director for an initial three-year term commencing July 25, 2026.

Mr. Chim, aged 65, has over 40 years of experience in international banking and extensive board experience in Asia Pacific, having worked in Hong Kong, Singapore and Beijing. He specializes in risk management and internal control, with a strong emphasis on corporate governance, credit risk, market risk and capital management.

Mr. Chim served as a loan officer at Standard Chartered Bank, Hong Kong Branch, from October 1985 to August 1988. He was then employed by Bankers Trust Company, Hong Kong Branch, as a vice president of the Asia Credit Department from September 1988 to October 1996. He subsequently served as the managing director and the chief credit officer for Deutsche Bank AG, a company listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under ticker symbol DBK, for Asia Pacific (non-Japan Asia), from October 1996 to November 2006. He joined Bank of China Limited, a company listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange under stock code 3988, as the chief credit officer from March 2007 to March 2015.

Mr. Chim was an independent non-executive director of Standard Chartered Bank (China) Limited from October 2015 to October 2017. He served as an independent non-executive director of HDR Global Trading Limited, owner and operator of the BitMEX digital asset trading platform, from February 2021 to February 2022. Mr. Chim served as a non-executive director of China Chengtong Hong Kong Company Limited from July 2022 to June 2025. Mr. Chim is currently an independent non-executive director of OCBC Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, since November 2017; an independent non-executive director of Banco OCBC (Macau), S.A., since August 2023; an independent non-executive director of China Intellogis Technology Co., Ltd., since June 2024; and a director of Hong Kong Dance Company Limited since June 2026.

Mr. Chim obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1983 and an MBA degree from Indiana State University, USA, in 1985. He also graduated from the Senior Executive Program at Columbia University in 2000.

In connection with these changes, with effect from July 25, 2026, Ms. Cai will step down from the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, and Mr. Koon Wing Ernest Ip has been appointed as a member to that committee. The Company’s Special Committee will comprise Mr. Dicky Peter Yip, Mr. Koon Wing Ernest Ip and Mr. Siu Hong Cheng, continuing under the chairmanship of Mr. Dicky Peter Yip, with effect from July 25, 2026.

The Board would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Cai, Mr. Guo, Mr. Li and Mr. Xi for their service during the tenure of their office and warmly welcome Mr. Chim to the Board.

About Lufax

Lufax is a leading financial services enabler for small business owners in China. The Company offers financing products designed principally to address the needs of small business owners. In doing so, the Company has established relationships with 85 financial institutions in China as funding partners, many of which have worked with the Company for over three years.

Investor Relations Contact

Lufax Holding Ltd
Email: Investor_Relations@lu.com

ICR, LLC
Robin Yang
Tel: +1 (646) 308-0546
Email: lufax.ir@icrinc.com

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lufax-announces-board-and-management-changes-302834065.html

SOURCE Lufax Holding Ltd

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UMD Smith School Researchers Warn AI Security Lapses Highlight Urgent Need for Independent Oversight

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COLLEGE PARK, Md., July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A series of recent AI security lapses—including the OpenAI–Hugging Face breach—raises a fundamental question, say a pair of researchers at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business: Can tech companies safely govern the powerful AI systems they build, or is stronger outside oversight now essential?

In its incident report, OpenAI confirmed that one of its experimental AI agents exploited a weakness in its testing environment while working on a routine benchmark task. The system wasn’t instructed to behave maliciously; instead, its persistence turned a small design flaw into a real escape. Earlier tests showed similar behavior, including agents that learned to bypass security checks by manipulating authentication tokens.

This pattern echoes findings from Dean’s Professor of Information Systems Siva Viswanathan at the Smith School, who studies how large technology platforms enforce rules. His research on mobile app privacy—published in Management Science—examined Google’s rollout of Android 6.0, which gave users more control over what data apps could collect. Developers were granted a flexible window to update their apps. Many used that flexibility to delay compliance for months, continuing to gather user data until Google imposed consequences such as lower search rankings and reduced visibility in its app store.

Viswanathan’s takeaway: when companies rely on voluntary compliance, self‑interested actors often exploit the slack. Real accountability requires pairing flexibility with firm, enforceable penalties.

That lesson now reverberates across the AI sector. As companies race to build increasingly capable systems, Viswanathan says oversight must treat these AI systems as strategic actors and must include strong safeguards that can pause or reverse a system before harm occurs.

He notes that a separate study from Anthropic underscores the stakes. In controlled tests, even an AI system designed to monitor another AI inherited the same flaws it was supposed to catch. In some cases, the “judge” model failed to flag clear sabotage because it agreed with the agent’s goals, allowing dangerous behavior to pass without human review.

Balaji Padmanabhan, Dean’s Professor of Decisions, Operations and Information Technologies and director of the Smith School’s Center for Artificial Intelligence in Business, extends Viswanathan’s governance argument into the realm of autonomous AI agents, warning that the same structural weaknesses now carry far higher stakes.

“The fact that this breach occurred organically without the AI agent being asked to be malicious is itself notable. Imagine what someone who actually intends to do harm can do. It’s also not terribly reassuring that the same firms we depend on for AI infrastructure, who are facing these issues, are the ones assuring enterprises that their systems with guardrails are perfectly safe,” says Padmanabhan. “We have to wake up to the fact that we’ve created capabilities that let software become as powerful as we want it to be—and then some. It’s time we seriously ask what’s needed to create an infrastructure to play defense well.”

Across the independent studies, the pattern is consistent, says Viswanathan: Voluntary compliance fails when the governed actor is more capable than the regulator. And AI systems cannot be governed by trust or good intentions alone. Oversight must be preventive, independent and capable of stopping harmful behavior before it spreads.

About the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master’s, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

Contact: Greg Muraski, gmuraski@umd.edu

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SOURCE University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business

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