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Imagination Mining and Star City Games Announce Nationwide Competitive Tour for Bo Jackson Battle Arena and Wonders of The First

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COLUMBIA, S.C., April 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Imagination Mining Company, publisher of Bo Jackson Battle Arena (“BoBA”) and Wonders of The First (“Wonders”), is thrilled to announce a nationwide organized play travel tour, independently administered by Star City Games, one of the most respected names in trading card game event management. The tour will feature exclusive stops at SCG CON events across the United States, beginning with Orlando, Florida in August as the first official inclusion of IMC titles in the SCG CON schedule.

As part of this landmark partnership, Star City Games will also manage the Bo Jackson Battle Arena World Championships at the National Sports Collectors Convention (“The National”) this July, as well as the first-ever Wonders of The First World Championship at SCG CON Las Vegas this November.

“This partnership is an inflection point for us,” said Jeff French, President & CEO of Imagination Mining Company. “With SCG bringing our tournaments to life and helping define our national play structure, we’re unlocking new levels of access, legitimacy, and long-term sustainability for both our games and the communities behind them.” 

A Proven Platform for Competitive Play
SCG CON is one of the longest-running and most successful event platforms in the TCG world, with tens of thousands of players gathering each year to battle in high-stakes tournaments, meet publishers and creators, and celebrate collectible gaming culture. The tour regularly attracts 2,000 to 5,000 players per stop, with tens of thousands of competitive matches played annually.

The 2025 SCG CON lineup already includes confirmed stops in Orlando, Houston, Baltimore, and Las Vegas, with additional cities to be announced for 2026. Previous SCG CONs have visited countless cities across the country, building one of the most loyal and competitive player bases in the TCG ecosystem.

“We’ve built SCG CON to be more than just a tournament; it’s a community catalyst,” said Pete Hoefling, Founder and President of Star City Games. “Bringing BoBA and Wonders into that environment, and being entrusted to help grow their competitive footprint, is an opportunity we’re very excited about.”

Introducing the Bo Jackson Battle Arena Pro Tour and Wonders of The First Stoneseeker Cup Series
The partnership will launch two branded competitive programs:

The Bo Jackson Battle Arena Pro Tour is a high-energy series of sealed and constructed events centered around Bo Jackson and the Home Team Heroes. Players will battle using cards that feature superheroes inspired by real-world pro athletes, many of whom autograph game-legal cards in the various sets. With limited foil variants and fan-favorite chase inserts, BoBA has quickly become one of the most collectible and playable TCGs on the market.

“I’ve spent my life around competition,” said Bo Jackson, Co-Founder of Bo Jackson Battle Arena. “Helping build a game where young players can chase greatness, just like I did, is one of the most meaningful projects I’ve ever been part of.”

The Wonders of The First Stoneseeker Cup Series is a deeper, fantasy-inspired competitive circuit that brings the legendary design talent of Brian Tinsman (lead designer on multiple iconic Magic sets) to the forefront. Wonders features a unique seven-realm game engine that ensures every match plays to its full conclusion and encourages dynamic, calculating strategy. With Stonefoil 1/1s, and serialized color-matched OCM variations of every card, and a rapidly growing player base, Wonders is quickly carving out a space as the most innovative and collectible fantasy card game.

“This is the game I’ve always wanted to make,” said Brian Tinsman, Head of Game Design for Wonders. “The partnership with SCG gives us the perfect platform to let it thrive, and players will feel it the second they sit down and play.”

A Competitive Framework Built to Scale
The new travel tour, anchored by SCG CON, will serve as the foundation of IMC’s broader organized play ecosystem. Local game stores and league organizers will have the opportunity to earn invites or qualifier slots for future SCG CON events, helping build a healthy and scalable competitive structure that starts at the local level and leads to marquee national competitions.

IMC’s dual focus on collectibility and gameplay gives players compelling reasons to both chase cards and build decks, with every set designed to be playable, exciting, and visually stunning.

Looking Ahead
As IMC and SCG prepare for a breakout year of organized play, one thing is clear: this is just the beginning.

The tour begins for IMC titles in Orlando this August, and countdowns to BoBA Worlds at The National and Wonders’ World Championship in Las Vegas are already underway. With unforgettable experiences, eye-popping cards, and two wildly distinct TCG universes ready to be explored, players across the country now have a new reason to shuffle up, show up, and play big.

For more updates, visit www.imaginationmining.com and www.starcitygames.com.

Press Contact: 
Kelly Bingham 
Imagination Mining Company
press@imaginationmining.com

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SOURCE Imagination Mining Company

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Crab2B Makes AsiaWorld-Expo Debut, Connecting Hong Kong’s Mobile Wholesalers with Global Buyers

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HONG KONG, Oct. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Crab2B, a pioneering B2B trading platform dedicated to mobile devices and digital products, will make its debut at the HKICEC Global Mobile Exchange Pavilion during the Global Sources Hong Kong Shows, opening at AsiaWorld-Expo on October 18, 2026.

Hong Kong has long been a major hub for electronics wholesale trade, but buyers still often rely on fragmented channels to identify suppliers. Crab2B was created to bridge this gap, bringing Hong Kong-based mobile and digital product wholesalers together on one dedicated B2B platform. Headquartered in Hong Kong, Crab2B combines the manufacturing strength of mainland China and the Greater Bay Area’s extensive supply chain capabilities with Hong Kong’s established global trading network. Together, these strengths enable Crab2B to simplify cross-border sourcing, connect buyers directly with suppliers and make international trade more accessible and efficient.

For its first appearance at a major industry trade show, Crab2B is bringing together more than 200 merchants already registered on the platform, marking a significant milestone in its development. The Crab2B booth is expected to attract electronics traders from Southeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East and beyond. Visitors will be able to discover the app’s capabilities through live demonstrations, register on the platform and connect directly with participating merchants to explore business opportunities.

A buyer who experienced the Crab2B app shared: “With Crab2B, we no longer have to search far and wide for reliable suppliers. The platform brings Hong Kong’s mobile phone wholesalers together in one place, giving us greater visibility into available products and sourcing opportunities. Whether I’m at my desk or on the move, I can find products and connect with suppliers whenever I need to. For businesses like ours that source across borders, that kind of access makes a real difference. It saves time, reduces transaction costs and helps us do business more efficiently.”

Crab2B CEO Luo Yaohong said, “We want to be pioneers in cross-border B2B trading for digital products, creating new opportunities for Hong Kong’s wholesale industry. As Hong Kong places greater emphasis on developing digital trade, we’re addressing a longstanding gap in the market with a dedicated digital platform that connects Hong Kong’s electronics suppliers directly with buyers around the world. Our ambition is to make cross-border trading easier, faster and more accessible, while helping Hong Kong businesses reach new markets.”

The platform’s trade show debut is also attracting attention from international merchants, with exhibitors expressing interest in joining Crab2B to expand their reach into overseas markets. Meanwhile, merchants already registered on the platform are looking forward to the launch of its planned online marketplace, which will create further opportunities for sustained collaboration and business growth.

Building on this debut, Crab2B will remain firmly rooted in Hong Kong while expanding its connections with businesses around the world. The company will continue to enhance its platform with smarter sourcing tools, more comprehensive trading capabilities and an increasingly connected network of suppliers and buyers. By making it easier to discover products, establish business relationships and conduct cross-border transactions, Crab2B aims to open new opportunities for merchants of all sizes and help shape the next chapter of Hong Kong’s digital trade industry.

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SOURCE Crab2B

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Canton Fair Buyers Alliance Launched as the 140th Edition Opens

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GUANGZHOU, China, Oct. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On October 15, the Canton Fair Buyers Alliance was officially launched at the Canton Fair Complex, marking a significant milestone as the fair celebrates the 70th anniversary of its founding.

More than 140 overseas buyers attended the launch ceremony, highlighting the fair’s enduring role as a bridge connecting global commerce with China’s export sector.

Speaking at the ceremony, Luís Vilariça, CEO of Joinco, Import & Export, Ltd., discussed his company’s long-standing relationship with the Canton Fair. Drawing on years of participation, he reflected on the growth opportunities created through cooperation with Chinese suppliers and highlighted the fair’s role in supporting international business development and global trade exchanges.

The ceremony also featured a joint declaration by alliance members. Representatives from five member companies read the statement in their respective native languages, underscoring the international character of the new organization. Additional members sent video congratulatory messages, joining the celebration and witnessing the official launch of the alliance.

The Canton Fair Buyers Alliance represents one of the fair’s key service innovations. Designed primarily for Fortune Global 500 companies, buyers from the world’s top 250 retailers and leading sourcing enterprises across a diverse range of markets, the alliance aims to offer members a platform for information sharing and resource coordination. The first cohort of alliance members includes 58 companies from 32 countries and regions across 5 continents. Through the alliance, members will gain access to a range of priority benefits spanning four major areas: services, events, resources and information.

 For more convenient attendance, please click here for pre-registration:

https://buyer.cantonfair.org.cn/register/buyer/email?source_type=16

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SOURCE Canton Fair

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Bioethanol from human hair – Indian start-up’s solution to rising prices of grains and sugar

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GUJARAT, India, Oct. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — In what could be called the beginning of the 5G (fifth-generation) of bioethanol or non-cellulosic bioethanol or non-sugar-based biofuels, an Indian start-up, Techofest Global, based out of Gujarat, has developed its own, indigenous, and patented technology for the production of bioethanol from waste human hair. Such processes would significantly reduce the employment of sugars, grains, and agricultural residues, which form the classical first- and second-generation bioethanol feedstocks. As a result, the rising fuel-vs.-food/fodder debate is anticipated to reduce, and instead, ethanol produced from municipal/industrial waste, after trials, can supplement the current supply being used as blends with presently retailed fossil fuels (E20, E27, etc.). 

As stated by Dr. Ravi, the founder-CEO of Techofest Global, the strategic priority and the USP of the start-up is industrial symbiosis, which, typically, involves an ecosystem of up-cycling/valorising the effluents of an industry, thereby creating a value-chain for residues often lacking an end-of-life. With more than three decades of experience in designing customized nuclear fusion reactors for international programmes, such as ITER, JET/UKAEA and SST-1, Dr. Ravi, a seasoned mechanical engineer, spearheads the start-up’s patented technologies’ scale-up and commercialization.

Two biochemical engineers, Dr. Navnit – the former CTO, and Dr. Kabilan – the former CEO of Biomakerz, Chennai, are the brains behind the current technology/process portfolio of the joint-venture between Techofest Global and Biomakerz. They have been working on biorefineries’ process intensification for more than a decade. “Having foreseen the fuel-vs-fodder/food competition as early as the year 2015, we began developing techno-economically feasible and viable in-vitro metabolically-engineered bioprocesses for scaling-up ethanol production from municipal waste streams between 2019–2021”, says Navnit. After developing operational technologies for international biofuel organizations, serving process engineer roles with certain biorefineries-related OMC R&D’s of India, Dr. Navnit, presently works for a premier academic institution.

An on-going fermentation trial at the Techofest Global-Biomakerz JV’s R&D facility

Techofest Global has developed and tested, in its R&D JV’s pilot-facility of ~100-L, 3 innovative and cost-effective technologies, such as 5G ethanol production using human hair, used cooking oil (UCO), and enriched bio-methane production from disposed sanitary napkins.

“With massive CapEx and OpEx, 2G ethanol technology is facing a major commercialization bottleneck, owing to competition with food/livestock fodder, requirement of a cost-intensive pre-treatment procedure, and the requirement of cellulolytic cocktails, which have a poor recycle efficiency. The proprietary 5G SAFE process developed for the start-up circumvents the mentioned constraints, and instead, utilizes a single-stage saccharification followed by fermentation, and records over 85–90% biocatalyst recovery. Likewise, the proprietary SIM process for bio-methane production, exclusively developed for the start-up, is 2x faster with improved intermittent feeding cycles and continuous gas harvest”, says Navnit.

“With on-going pre-commercialization trials, the proprietary ethanol and bio-methane processes of ours are soon being commercialized”, says Ms. Bhumika, the co-founder and the corporate advisor of the start-up. Furthermore, Mr. Ronak pilots the organization’s global market entry and commercialization frontier.

Techofest Global’s veteran Principal Technology Advisors include: Dr VS Tripathi, former Joint Director, DRDE Gwalior, Dr B S Munjal, former Director, Structures and Thermal group, SAC/ISRO, Academician and Advisor CIKS-Dharohar, GTU, and Dr AV Santhanababu, former Scientist at Satish Dhawan Space Centre. With on-going R&D activities, Dr. Munjal says, “the start-up is striving to provide a unique solution along the lines of the Atmanirbhar and Viksit Bharat Vision 2047”.

Media Contact: www.techofestglobal.com; e-mail: info@techofestglobal.com; contact person: The PR team of Techofest Global.

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