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Elton John AIDS Foundation Launches “Speak Up Sing Out” Campaign to End LGBTQ+ Discrimination and Stigma with a Chance to Meet Elton John and David Furnish in New York City during Pride Month

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New campaign celebrates the achievement of reaching $100 million towards The Rocket Fund’s ambitious $125 million goal. “Speak Up Sing Out” was designed to drive support and engagement to create lasting change for the LGBTQ+ community as we unite to raise the final $25 million.

NEW YORK, May 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The Elton John AIDS Foundation unveils its latest initiative to coincide with Pride Month in June – “Speak Up Sing Out” – a social media movement and rallying cry against LGBTQ+ discrimination and stigma. In a climate marked by a concerning surge in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the United States, with 510 such laws introduced in 2023, and 75 enacted, the campaign emerges as a beacon of solidarity and action (Source: ACLU.)

“Speak Up Sing Out” was designed to drive support and engagement to create lasting change for the LGBTQ+ community.

Harnessing the influential voice of its founder, Elton John, the Foundation aims to unite communities through the power of social media. Encouraging individuals to participate by sharing a heartfelt rendition of the final verse of Elton’s timeless anthem, “Your Song,” along with naming an individual who has supported them on their journey towards self-acceptance, the campaign seeks to amplify messages of compassion and inclusivity. Notable friends of the Foundation such as Jewel, Robin Arzón, Kristin Chenoweth, Andrew Rannells, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez and Vanessa Williams have already lent their support, encouraging their followers to participate. As a special thank you for speaking up, one lucky participant and a guest will have the unforgettable opportunity to meet Elton and David Furnish in New York City during Pride Month.

“Living boldly and fearlessly is what I strive for every day, but I know firsthand the importance of having a support system that empowers you to do so—a privilege I’m immensely grateful for,” shared Elton John, Founder of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. “This Pride Month, I extend a heartfelt invitation to stand with me and the Foundation to honour the champion in your life. Add your unique touch to one of my songs and spread waves of love and support throughout the LGBTQ+ community. As a special thank you, one participant and their guest will have the chance to join me and David in New York City during Pride Month—an opportunity to celebrate love, acceptance, and all that makes us who we are!”

Created by lesbian-owned advertising agency Invisible Man, “Speak Up Sing Out” will support The Rocket Fund, a $125 million, multi-year initiative launched in 2023 to accelerate the Foundation’s life-saving work to tackle rising LGBTQ+ stigma and growing rates of HIV in vulnerable communities. With immense gratitude to The Rocket Fund Co-chairs, Donatella Versace, David Geffen, Tani Austin, and David Furnish and the Foundation’s dedicated supporters, $100 million of the $125 million target has already been achieved, leaving a crucial $25 million to be raised for our mission to help end the AIDS pandemic.

“It’s devastating to see that LGBTQ+ rights are threatened and being reversed in countries around the world” said Donatella Versace, Co-Chair of The Rocket Fund. “We must protect equal and fair treatment of the LGBTQ+ community and fight the harmful stigma that stands in the way of an equitable future. I am so proud to be a Co-Chair of The Rocket Fund, powered by the Elton John AIDS Foundation to end LGBTQ+ discrimination and am thrilled that we have raised $100 million out of our $125 million goal. This Pride Month, lets champion self-expression and equity and celebrate love and acceptance, always.”

“Speak Up Sing Out aims to shine a spotlight on the unsung heroes who inspire us to embrace our true selves,” said David Furnish, Chairman of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. “It’s about recognizing and honouring the courage and support of those who empower us to stand tall and be authentic in a world too often marked by discrimination and stigma. Elton and I can’t wait to meet you and your guest during the most vibrant time of the year in New York, Pride Month!”

To join the movement and enter for a chance to meet Elton John and David Furnish, follow these simple steps on Instagram:

Post a reel (vertical video) singing a lyric from “Your Song” and nominate the individual who has inspired you to embrace your true self.The lyrics are “I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mind, that I put down in words how wonderful life is while you’re in the world.”Tag a person in your caption who has always supported you to be your authentic self.Use the hashtag: #SpeakUpSingOutGiveaway.Follow the Elton John AIDS Foundation on Instagram: @ejaf.

Special thank you to Kevin Xu, for giving $10 for each Speak Up Sing Out post, up to $25,000.  The Foundation would also like to thank our airline partner, American Airlines, and hotel partner, Smyth Tribeca, for their in-kind donation in support of the Speak Up Sing Out Giveaway.

“We are bursting with pride to have achieved $100 million of our $125 million Rocket Fund target,” said Anne Aslett, Chief Executive Officer of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. “This remarkable milestone underscores the unwavering dedication of our global community of supporters, united in our mission for health equity and justice. With this momentum, we were able to reach over 280,000 people across 42 countries with support in 2023. With an extra push, we aim to build on that impact, ultimately saving millions of lives worldwide.”

For more information about “Speak Up Sing Out” and to read the official rules for the #SpeakUpSingOutGiveaway, please visit: www.eltonjohnaidsfoundation.org/speak-up-sing-out.

About The Rocket Fund

The Rocket Fund is a targeted initiative that has super charged the Foundation’s work across the globe, targeting those most at risk of HIV/AIDS: young people, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and people who use drugs. The Rocket Fund focuses on addressing the health inequity, stigma, and discrimination that enable HIV/AIDS to continue to flourish. By supporting groundbreaking programs and partners working directly with communities and governments, the Fund enhances access to health resources like testing and medicine; fight discriminatory and dangerous laws; and empower those most at risk to take control of their health through prevention and information.

About the Elton John AIDS Foundation

The Elton John AIDS Foundation was established in 1992 and is one of the leading independent AIDS organizations in the world. The Foundation’s mission is simple: an end to the AIDS epidemic. The Elton John AIDS Foundation is committed to overcoming the stigma, discrimination and neglect that keep us from ending AIDS. With the mobilization of our network of generous supporters and partners, we fund local experts across four continents to challenge discrimination, prevent infections, and provide treatment as well as influencing governments to end AIDS. www.eltonjohnaidsfoundation.org

Press Contact:

Mary Pavlu: Mary.Pavlu@eltonjohnaidsfoundation.org 

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SOURCE Elton John AIDS Foundation

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Yubi Group Launches ‘TopScore’ at GFF 2026 to Widen Credit Health Awareness for Indian borrowers

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MUMBAI, India, Sept. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Yubi Group, the AI-powered operating system for financial services, today launched TopScore, a consumer credit-health app, unveiled at the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2026. The launch arrives at a pivotal moment for financial inclusion in India: even as over a billion Indians are now eligible for credit, recent studies suggest nearly one in two have never checked their credit score, and many first encounter it only as a loan rejection, without understanding what shaped it or what to do next. Credit access has scaled; credit understanding has not.

The app was unveiled by Mr. Ajay Kumar Choudhary, Non-Executive Chairman and Independent Director of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Independent Director on the Board of Yubi Group, and a former Executive Director of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Speaking at the launch, Mr. Choudhary said, “Financial health begins with early education, not late collections. When consumers understand their credit habits before taking on debt, we break the default cycle and curb NPAs across the entire system. Solutions like TopScore are an integral pillar of the effort to improve credit literacy and protect everyday citizens from debt stress.”

Gaurav Kumar, Founder & CEO, Yubi Group, shared the vision behind the launch saying, “For years, debt management in India was reactive, focused on collections, recovery, and managing NPAs after financial stress had already set in. That era is ending. By channeling deep credit infrastructure and predictive technology toward the consumer, we are shifting from reactive recovery to proactive credit health. TopScore is the natural culmination of that evolution. It moves the conversation beyond simply accessing credit to helping people borrow smarter, build lasting financial health, and prevent debt stress before it begins.”

TopScore is a comprehensive credit-health companion built around three simple steps: check, understand, and grow. Users start with a free credit score and full report, drawn from Experian, one of India’s leading credit bureaus with the user’s own consent, and translated from complex bureau data into plain language across 10 languages, including Hindi and English. An AI Score Coach turns that report into a personal, step-by-step plan, showing what is helping a user’s profile and what is holding it back, while a Human Coach, (a real credit expert who speaks the user’s language) is available for the moments where human intervention is required. A built-in score predictor lets users play out real-life scenarios and see their estimated effect before acting. And the app goes beyond numbers: TopScore assists users in raising disputes to correct reporting errors, and in pursuing a consent-first, borrower-initiated path to resolve past dues directly with their lender and rebuild.

TopScore will be available on Google Play Store and the Apple App Store soon.

While TopScore is a bold step into the consumer space, it stands on the foundation of the Yubi Group. For years, Yubi has been the engine powering the systems behind India’s credit landscape. By channeling that institutional understanding into a consumer product, Yubi Group is uniquely positioned to serve the entire credit lifecycle, from awareness to access to rebuilding.

About Yubi Group:

Yubi Group is the world’s only AI-powered operating system (OS) for financial services, founded in 2020 by CEO Gaurav Kumar. At its core is YuVerse, an applied AI suite powering four specialized companies – Yubi, Accumn, Spocto X, and YuCollect – that together deliver end-to-end solutions in lending, underwriting, and collections. Backed by leading investors including Peak XV, Insight Partners, Lightspeed, B Capital Group, Dragoneer, and TVS Capital, Yubi has facilitated over ₹3.2 lakh crore in credit and 3.5 crore transactions, serving 17,000+ enterprises and 6,200+ investors & lenders while reducing collections costs by 57%. The company is redefining transparency, compliance, and performance across India’s financial services sector. 

Visit www.go-yubi.com to learn more.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/3008967/Yubi_TopScore_Launch.jpg

 

 

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Owl Autonomous Imaging Selected for Pentagon-Led DUTCH Award to Advance Uncooled Thermal Imaging

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Fabless semiconductor company brings advanced LWIR technology and scalable North American manufacturing to next-generation defense systems

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Owl Autonomous Imaging, Inc. (Owl AI), a U.S.-based fabless semiconductor company developing advanced long-wave infrared (LWIR) technology, today announced that it has been selected for an award supporting the Delivering Unmatched Thermal Capability–Hastened (DUTCH) initiative, led by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War for Critical Technologies and the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) C5ISR Center.

Under the award, Owl AI will apply its expertise in uncooled LWIR semiconductor and imaging technology to the development and demonstration of next-generation thermal capabilities. As a fabless semiconductor company, Owl develops technology across the thermal imaging chain, from focal plane arrays and digital readout technology through camera cores and complete thermal camera systems.

Owl AI’s KnightOwl HD™ platform is designed to deliver high-quality uncooled LWIR imaging with the low-power architecture, compact form factor and scalable manufacturing approach required by emerging autonomous and defense systems.

“We are excited to support the DUTCH initiative and the effort to accelerate the next generation of uncooled thermal technology,” said Chuck Gershman, CEO and co-founder of Owl Autonomous Imaging. “We developed KnightOwl HD around the needs of a new generation of systems that require higher-quality thermal imaging, lower power, smaller form factors and a path to much broader deployment. We believe scalable thermal imaging can become an important enabling technology for drones, robotics and critical defense programs like Drone Dominance.”

Owl AI’s fabless model uses semiconductor and MEMS manufacturing partners in the United States and Canada, supporting Department of War priorities for secure, resilient and scalable supply chains for mission-critical technologies.

The DUTCH award expands Owl AI’s work with the U.S. defense community and supports the company’s broader objective of moving advanced LWIR thermal perception from a specialized sensing technology to a highly scalable platform for the next generation of autonomous systems.

About Owl Autonomous Imaging

Owl Autonomous Imaging, Inc. (Owl AI) is a U.S.-based fabless semiconductor company developing advanced long-wave infrared imaging and thermal perception technology for the emerging world of Physical AI.

Owl AI develops technology across the thermal imaging stack, including proprietary focal plane arrays, digital readout technology, compact camera cores and complete thermal camera systems. In addition to thermal imaging, Owl develops proprietary AI algorithms and multimodal fusion capabilities that combine thermal data with other sensing modalities to enable perception capabilities including detection, classification and environmental understanding.

By combining semiconductor innovation, LWIR imaging and AI-enabled thermal perception, Owl AI enables intelligent systems to perceive and operate in darkness, degraded visual environments and other conditions where conventional vision systems are limited. Owl AI develops technology for drones, robotics, defense, automotive autonomy and industrial applications. For more information visit https://owlai.us 

Media Contact
Wade Appelman, Chief Business Officer
Owl Autonomous Imaging
wadea@owlai.us
781-439-7480

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SOURCE Owl Autonomous Imaging

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Loop8 Kills the Master Password

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Nothing to remember. And the password manager is only one part: Loop8 is a privacy controller covering notes, private messaging and two-factor codes, all behind your biometrics.

GLENDALE, Calif., Sept. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Loop8 today made its privacy app generally available. The app is free to download and use, and there is no master password anywhere in it. Users open it with the biometrics already built into their phone. Passwords are only part of what it holds: Note8 protected notes, True8 Connect private messaging, two-factor codes and dark web monitoring all sit behind the same biometrics, and Loop8 never saves any of it on its own servers.

Most password managers and secure note apps encrypt what users give them and then keep it on company servers, which puts millions of vaults in one place for a single breach to expose. Loop8 has no such place. Everything a user stores is encrypted on the phone, and the backup copy goes automatically to the user’s own iCloud account on iOS or Google account on Android. The encryption key never leaves the device, so even that backup cannot be opened without the phone.

Data does travel through Loop8’s servers to reach another device, encrypted end to end with keys that stay on user devices, so the company cannot read what it carries and keeps no copy after delivery.

Registration takes two pieces of information, an email address and a phone number. Loop8 does not ask for a name, a home address, an age or a gender.

A master password is also the thing people end up writing down, and the thing an attacker can talk them out of. Phishing works because a secret can be repeated to a stranger over the phone. No one can be talked into handing over a fingerprint. Loop8 has no password to write down, and none to hand over.

If the phone is lost

The encrypted backup in the user’s own cloud is still there, but it cannot be opened without the key from the lost device. That is where trusted contacts come in. Loop8 asks users to name people they trust, and those people are what restores access. There is no reset link to click, and Loop8 cannot restore an account itself, because it never held the content or the key.

What’s in the privacy controller

Free with the app

Note8. A one-page notes app behind the user’s biometrics, built for people who have a hard time with password managers, including older users. It can also copy a protected note into a family member’s Loop8 app, so a spouse or an adult child can take over if something happens.
True8 Connect. Private messaging between two people, not stored on Loop8’s servers. Messages delete themselves after eight days, with no recovery and no archive.
Authenticator. Two-factor codes, generated and kept on the device.
PrivacyMate. Scans the dark web for compromised data and provides real-time notifications to users while they browse on a desktop.

In the paid version

The password manager. Credentials kept on the phone and opened with biometrics. No master password, and no copy on Loop8’s servers.
MySafe. A desktop tool that keeps its contents on the computer and does not copy them to the cloud on its own. Users who want a backup send it to storage they already own, such as their own Google Drive.
Seven extra licenses. Every paid license comes with seven more at no cost, so a user can cover family and community instead of buying one seat at a time.

“Most people aren’t security experts, and they shouldn’t have to be,” said Zarik Megerdichian, founder and CEO of Loop8. “We built Loop8 for everyone else. It’s simple, and there’s nothing for you to manage. Hackers go after big companies because that’s where millions of accounts sit in one pile. We don’t keep that pile. The master password had a good run. As of today, people have another option.”

Availability

Loop8 is free on the Apple App Store for iOS and on Google Play for Android. The free version includes Note8, True8 Connect, the authenticator and PrivacyMate. The paid version adds the password manager and MySafe for $8, and every paid license comes with seven more at no cost.

On the desktop, Loop8 runs on both Mac and Windows and syncs through the Loop8 browser extension, which is available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge.

About Loop8

Loop8 makes a privacy controller, a single app that keeps a person’s passwords, notes, private messages and two-factor codes behind their own biometrics. User content stays on the user’s own devices and in their own cloud accounts. Loop8 never stores it on its own servers. The app is free, and registration asks only for an email address and a phone number. Loop8 is based in Glendale, California. For more information, visit loop8.ai.

Media Contact

Zarik Megerdichian CEO, Loop8 pr@l8p8.com | (818) 208-0238 www.loop8.ai

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SOURCE L8P8 Inc.

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