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Klarna announces Rep Her initiative addressing gender-based disparities in women’s sports merchandise accessibility

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In partnership with Sports Innovation Lab, key findings from a groundbreaking, data-led report identify a $4 billion untapped U.S. women’s sports merchandise market for retailers, with 79% of women’s sports fans indicating they would buy more merchandise if more options were available to them; To further address the cause, Klarna and women-owned media and commerce company TOGETHXR have released limited edition merchandise with proceeds benefiting the Women’s Sports Foundation

NEW YORK, June 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Klarna, the AI-powered global payments network and shopping assistant, today announced, Rep Her, a multifaceted, research-backed initiative to raise awareness around gender-based gaps in women’s sports merchandise availability. In partnership with fan intelligence company Sports Innovation Lab, Klarna has released a first-of-its-kind report titled Rep Her: Revealing the Unmet Demand for Women’s Sports Merchandise. The Rep Her report values the rapidly growing women’s sports merchandise market at an estimated $4 billion annually, proving the sector’s drastically unmet consumer demand, and measures gender-based imbalances between men’s and women’s sports fan communities. To further address consumer appetite, Klarna has teamed up with female Olympian-founded, trailblazing media and commerce company TOGETHXR and 2x World Cup Champion, NWSL Champion, ESPN Analyst and TOGETHXR consultant Ali Krieger to launch limited edition merchandise and has also launched a new innovative shopping experience within its app and website.

Key findings from Klarna and Sports Innovation Lab’s report include that fans are:

Hungry for Options: 79% of surveyed respondents reported they would purchase more women’s sports merchandise if there were more options available to them, while 28% reported they could not find a style they likedDemanding Inventory: More than 60% of fans who searched for and intended to buy women’s sports merchandise did not make a purchase because it was not in stockSeeking Out Retailers: 32% of women’s sports fans cannot find a retailer that carries merchandise related to their favorite teams and athletesSearching for More Styles: Buyers of women’s sports merchandise are 60% more likely to have trouble finding a style than buyers of men’s sports merchandiseExpressing Fandom Through Merch: 67% of women’s sports fans have purchased sports merchandise despite only 49% having ever purchased a ticket to a live sporting eventLimited Compared to Men’s Sports: For every nine pieces of men’s sports merchandise available, women’s sports has one (The 30-team NBA has 9x more merchandise options than the 12-team WNBA, and the 29-team MLS has 6x more merchandise options than the 14-team NWSL)Vast Supporters: Most women’s sports fans identify as fans of multiple sports and leagues – top leagues include the WNBA (60%), NWSL (51%), NCAA Women’s Basketball (49%), NCAA Women’s Volleyball (39%) and the USWNT (37%)

“Consumer appetite for league, team, and athlete merchandise is vastly exceeding supply,” said Angela Ruggiero, Co-Founder of Sports Innovation Lab. “There is a golden opportunity for retailers to capitalize on a surging market that is telling us if you create something authentic to the community, they will buy it.” 

Klarna, TOGETHXR and Krieger have tapped designers Sophia Chang and Mellany Sanchez to create t-shirts and tote bags featuring the phrase “A movement, not a moment,” celebrating their passion for women’s sports and allowing fans to Rep Her with pride. This merchandise not only symbolizes the growing influence of women’s sports, but also empowers fans to showcase their dedication. Available for purchase on both Klarna.com and TOGETHXR.com, a percentage of all proceeds from the collection will go to Billie Jean King’s Women’s Sports Foundation, emphasizing that the interest in women’s sports is a formidable force that’s here to stay.

Additionally, to help women’s sports fans find merchandise to represent their favorite teams with ease, Klarna has curated an innovative women’s sports destination on Klarna.com and in its app, offering a seamless way to discover, shop and purchase women’s sports merchandise utilizing its interest-free pay in 4 payment option.

“As a brand that breaks the status quo and is a big supporter of women’s sports through our three-year partnership with Angel City Football Club, we saw there was a lack of merchandise available for women’s sports fans yet demand for it so we want to do our part to find a solve and contribute to fueling women’s sports fandom to continue to help propel the industry forward,” said Klarna’s Head of B2C Marketing in North America and the United Kingdom, Megan Gokey. “We are energized by the growing attention surrounding women’s sports and are proud to launch this initiative with Sports Innovation Lab and TOGETHXR to raise awareness around the merchandise gap, ultimately helping to make merchandise more accessible to millions of fans and create a space for women’s sports fans to shop smarter and ‘fan’ harder.”

“As a female athlete myself, it’s incredibly important to see efforts like these that highlight and address gender disparities in sports, like the gap in women’s sports merchandise. This initiative is a pivotal step in recognizing the value of women’s sports and ensuring that fans have the merchandise they want,” shared TOGETHXR consultant Ali Krieger. “Klarna has pushed the boundaries when it comes to creating a smart way to shop and pay, and this initiative directly speaks to the brand’s impactful efforts to push the women’s sports movement forward.”

This report is the fourth annual installment in Sports Innovation Lab’s internationally acclaimed The Fan Project series, which has become the global sports industry’s north star guidance on the commercialization of women’s sports since launching in 2021.

To view the full Rep Her report, please visit HERE. Additionally, Sports Innovation Lab is hosting a live webinar on July 11 to provide a report read-through and data deep dive, which can be accessed by registering HERE.

About Klarna

Since 2005 Klarna has been on a mission to accelerate commerce with consumer needs at the heart of it. With over 150 million global active users and 2 million transactions per day, Klarna’s fair, sustainable and AI-powered payment and shopping solutions are revolutionizing the way people shop and pay online and in-store, empowering consumers to shop smarter with greater confidence and convenience. More than 500,000 global retailers integrate Klarna’s innovative technology and marketing solutions to drive growth and loyalty, including H&M, Saks, Sephora, Macy’s, Ikea, Expedia Group, Nike and Airbnb. For more information, visit Klarna.com.

About TOGETHXR

TOGETHXR is a media and commerce company founded by Jessica Robertson alongside four of the world’s top professional athletes, Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim, Simone Manuel, and Sue Bird. With a focus on rich storytelling rooted in lifestyle and youth culture, TOGETHXR is an unapologetic platform where representation and gender equality are both expected and required. TOGETHXR highlights a diverse and inclusive community of game-changers, culture shapers, thought-leaders, and barrier breakers – finding and telling the stories of women who are doing the same. As one of the most compelling platforms for women in sport and culture, TOGETHXR’s in-house production studio has created a slate of scripted and unscripted premium content, including Surf Girls: Kaikaina, More Than A Name, FENOM, Summer of Gold, and more, which are in discussions to be adapted for film, TV, and digital media. In 2023, TOGETHXR was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies and won Media Company of the Year in the DigiDay Media Awards.

About Sports Innovation Lab

Sports Innovation Lab is a data company that enables brands and sports properties to build more effective sponsorships, improve targeted advertising, and enhance fan experiences. Known for its pioneering research on fan behavior and the commercialization of the women’s sports market, Sports Innovation Lab’s flagship Sports Data Cloud offering built on proprietary observational, transactional, and deterministic fan data is evolving how organizations use data to understand their customers and acquire more of them – starting with sports & entertainment. Learn how global brands including the NFL, Nike, NHL, Ally Financial, WNBA, and NASCAR use Sports Innovation Lab’s data, audiences, and strategic advisory to drive revenue by visiting sportsilab.com or following on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

Media contacts:
Klarna – Kimberly Gibbs
kimberly.gibbs@klarna.com
(614) 967-5032

Sports Innovation Lab – Anthony Baldini
anthony@athletestrategies.com
(408) 506-5975

TOGETHXR – Togethxr@laruepr.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

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SOURCE Klarna Bank AB (publ)

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KBR Launches Inaugural Innovation Studio Powered by Applied Computing in Bengaluru

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BENGALURU, India, June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — KBR (NYSE: KBR) launched its inaugural Innovation Studio, powered by Applied Computing, in Bengaluru, India, establishing a base from which the two will deliver industrial AI from India.

Co-located with Applied Computing’s Bengaluru office, the studio serves as KBR’s operational hub for remote monitoring and advisory services delivered through INSITE 3.0, powered by Applied Computing’s Orbital Platform. The collaboration is built on combining Applied Computing’s foundation AI for energy with KBR’s process technology. The hub will deliver remote monitoring and advisory services to KBR’s existing global industrial customers, while also serving as the foundation for deploying the new INSITE 3.0 AI capability to the first wave of customers later this year.

In March, KBR launched INSITE 3.0, its digital delivery platform powered by Orbital, marking the first product to integrate the foundation model with KBR’s process technology expertise.

At the studio’s opening event last week, KBR leadership hosted members of the media as well as subject matter experts, experienced field engineers, operations and maintenance specialists. The launch event offered a first look at the facility and a live demonstration of INSITE 3.0 in action.

Hari Ravindran, SVP and Global Head of Technology Solutions, KBR, said: “The Innovation Studio reflects KBR’s commitment to building deep technology partnerships in India and investing in the future of industrial operations here. Co-locating the KBR Innovation Studio, staffed by our operational experts, alongside Applied Computing’s engineering team base, brings the best of both together: decades of process technology knowledge and a foundation model built specifically for energy. This is a long-term commitment to our customers in the region and to the engineers and specialists who will deliver for them.”

Dan Jeavons, President of Applied Computing, said: “India is where the future of industrial AI is being decided. The scale of operations, the pace of growth and the willingness to adopt advanced technologies are unmatched anywhere in the world. This studio launch is our chance to show, in a live control room, what foundation AI built for energy can actually do. Orbital is already delivering results at some of the largest refineries on the planet, and bringing the industry together in Bengaluru is the clearest signal yet of where we believe this technology is heading.”

Read more about how KBR and Applied Computing are working together to advance AI in the energy sector on kbr.com.
Learn more about Orbital at appliedcomputing.com.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/kbr-launches-inaugural-innovation-studio-powered-by-applied-computing-in-bengaluru-302801331.html

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Dun & Bradstreet Becomes the Trusted Partner for Global Agentic Workflows Through Integrations with Anthropic, OpenAI and Microsoft

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HONG KONG, June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Dun & Bradstreet recently announced a series of collaborations with OpenAI, Microsoft and Anthropic, bringing the D&B Commercial Graph™ into their respective platform ecosystems. Users can now access Dun & Bradstreet data across leading AI platforms including ChatGPT, Codex, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Claude.

The collaborations represent an important step in embedding trusted business data into agentic workflows. As enterprises increasingly adopt AI to support research, analysis, onboarding, compliance, finance and risk decisioning, access to verified, structured and continuously updated business information is becoming essential to improving confidence, consistency and governance in AI-powered outcomes.

D&B Commercial Graph Powers the Core Data Foundation for the AI Era

As artificial intelligence continues to advance into the agentic era, enterprises increasingly require high quality data that is structured, contextualized and machine readable. AI agents supporting complex workflows, including due diligence, compliance screening, financial analysis and business decision making, rely on trusted data to generate accurate, reliable and actionable insights.

Anchored by the D-U-N-S® Number business identifier, the D&B Commercial Graph™ provides a foundational context layer for understanding business identity, relationships and risk across the global economy. Only with verified business information can agents deliver true business value and ROI in finance and risk management scenarios.

The D&B Commercial Graph™ integrates public and proprietary commercial signals, as well as directly contributed business information, to create a continuously validated view of business identity, ownership, supplier relationships, financials, and risk indicators. The result is an authoritative view of how businesses connect and operate globally. With more than 100 billion verifications, tests, and checks each month, D&B’s Commercial Graph™ delivers coverage, accuracy, consistency, and governance across enterprise systems and AI applications.

Building on this foundation, Dun & Bradstreet is working with leading AI platforms to embed a trusted data layer directly into enterprise workflows.

Collaboration with OpenAI: Bringing Verified Business Context into Finance Workflows

Dun & Bradstreet has collaborated with OpenAI to enable users to access the D&B Commercial Graph™ in ChatGPT and Codex via Model Context Protocol, or MCP, servers. The integration allows financial professionals to bring verified business identity, ownership, relationship, credit and risk data directly into their workflows to accelerate due diligence, financial reporting, validation, guidance and credit origination.

Through D&B-hosted MCP servers, customers can securely connect Dun & Bradstreet data to ChatGPT and Codex, using natural language prompts and custom agents to streamline data-intensive workflows. Users can also access D&B Finance Analytics tools via MCP servers to support automated business credit decisions, powered by real-time insight into hundreds of millions of businesses and a rules-based engine. This enables finance teams to identify and manage risk across portfolios within a headless AI architecture.

“AI is quickly becoming a core part of how organizations make decisions across finance, risk, and growth, and its impact depends on the quality of the data behind it,” said Scott Spencer, General Manager, Finance & Credit at Dun & Bradstreet. “By bringing the D&B Commercial Graph into ChatGPT and Codex, we’re meeting customers where they are working. This helps teams of all sizes, including small and mid-sized businesses, to embrace the power of AI with confidence in their workflows.”

Collaboration with Microsoft: Bringing Verified Business Data into Microsoft 365 Copilot

Through its collaboration with Microsoft, Dun & Bradstreet has made its Graph Connector available in Microsoft 365 Copilot, giving developers and enterprises no-cost access to a curated sample of data from the D&B Commercial Graph™. This allows users to explore how verified business data can support use cases such as research, business identification and workflow enhancement within Copilot.”

The D&B Graph Connector provides access to foundational information on tens of thousands of global public and private companies, including company summaries, locations, contact information, and key data such as employee and revenue ranges.

“Knowing who you’re doing business with is an essential part of knowledge workflows,” said Chantrelle Nielsen, Principal Product Management for Microsoft 365 Copilot at Microsoft. “Integrating this sample of Dun & Bradstreet data into Microsoft 365 Copilot provides that crucial first step of business identification and opens the door for users to explore new ways to use D&B’s continuously updated business data in Copilot.”

Collaboration with Anthropic: Accelerating Onboarding, Risk and Compliance Workflows in Claude

In collaboration with Anthropic, Dun & Bradstreet is bringing verified business, risk and compliance data capabilities into Claude to help enterprises accelerate onboarding and compliance workflows.

By integrating the D&B Commercial Graph™ into Claude, users can access verified business information, corporate linkage data and risk intelligence within a unified workflow framework, enabling more efficient entity verification, relationship analysis and process execution.

This approach represents the future of knowledge work for enterprises: AI systems that do not simply summarize information, but operate with verified enterprise context, risk logic, and governance.

Dun & Bradstreet China: Empowering Local Agentic Workflows with Trusted Business Data

From OpenAI to Microsoft to Anthropic, a clear trend is emerging: trusted business data is rapidly integrating into agentic workflows, becoming a critical foundation for large language models to connect with real-world business scenarios, support task execution and enable decision-making. Dun & Bradstreet China continues to drive the deep integration of trusted business data with both local and global AI platforms.

Currently, Dun & Bradstreet’s global data along with China Data by Topics via MCP servers support integration with leading international platforms and developer tools such as Microsoft Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code and OpenClaw, while also being compatible with local AI ecosystems including Trae, WorkBuddy, QoderWork, Coze and CherryStudio.

Leveraging the D&B Commercial Graph™, the D-U-N-S® Number and business data covering nearly 900 million companies worldwide, Dun & Bradstreet China embeds global business data capabilities into enterprise large language models, AI agents and business workflows. This helps customers access global company information more efficiently, identify corporate linkage networks and gain insights into potential risks.

In the AI era, Dun & Bradstreet is becoming a trusted partner within agentic workflows, helping customers make smarter, faster and more confident decisions across key scenarios including customer acquisition, risk management, supply chain management, trade compliance and global expansion.

About Dun & Bradstreet

Dun & Bradstreet provides the verified commercial identity foundation for enterprises to deploy AI at scale. The company originated the D‑U‑N‑S® Number in 1963, now the global standard for identifying commercial entities. Anchored by this identifier, the D&B Commercial Graph structures and connects business identity consistently across systems, enabling AI to operate on accurate, validated data. Since 1841, businesses of every size have relied on Dun & Bradstreet to navigate change and accelerate growth. For more information, visit: www.dnb.com.hk

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SOURCE Dun & Bradstreet

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Wuhan extends sincere invitation to young people across the globe

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BEIJING, June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — A report from China Daily

Wuhan in Central China’s Hubei province is shining in its golden era. The city is hosting the ongoing 2026 World Youth Development Forum from June 15 to 17, capturing global attention across central China. A frontrunner in the optical and chip industries, Wuhan resonates with young people worldwide and extends a sincere invitation to them.

The five letters spelling “WUHAN” act as five open windows to the world, forming the city’s unique identity and a heartfelt invitation to global youth.

Represented by the letter W for Water, Wuhan is a city nurtured by the Yangtze River. Sitting on the convergence of the Yangtze River and the Hanjiang River, it enjoys convenient access to the whole world. The city encompasses 165 rivers and 166 lakes, with water areas accounting for one-fourth of its total territory.

As an international wetland city with a population of over 10 million, Wuhan features romantic seasonal scenery all year round, featuring cherry blossoms in spring, lotuses in summer, sweet osmanthus in autumn and plum blossoms in winter. It is home to 1,050 parks of various styles and 2,500 kilometers of picturesque greenways and serves as a habitat for the Yangtze finless porpoise, known as the “giant panda of the water.” Endowed with abundant vitality, it stands as a magnificent city of picturesque mountains and rivers.

The letter U stands for University. Wuhan is China’s third-largest hub of intellectual resources, home to 95 higher education institutions, including Wuhan University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. It ranks fourth nationwide in terms of the number of academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Fourteen of its disciplines, including remote sensing technology and earth sciences, rank among the world’s top ten. In the Nature Index Science Cities rankings, Wuhan takes the fifth place in China and eighth across the globe.

The city has rolled out over 50 world-class innovation achievements, including the world’s first Beidou high-precision chip and the world’s fastest maglev technology. One in ten Wuhan residents is a college student. Every year, 300,000 fresh college graduates choose to stay in Wuhan to start businesses or seek employment. It is truly a “land of talents where brilliance thrives.”

The letter H represents High-tech. Wuhan boasts nationally influential strength in scientific and technological innovation. The world-renowned Optics Valley of China is located right in Wuhan. The city hosts the world’s largest manufacturing hub for optical fibers and cables, as well as China’s leading production hub for optoelectronic devices and small-to-medium-sized display panels.

Pillar industries such as optoelectronic information, automobiles and biomedicine are accelerating toward the trillion-yuan level. Meanwhile, emerging and future industries covering the digital economy, quantum technology, commercial aerospace, 6G and hydrogen energy are maintaining steady growth. Wuhan has evolved into a dynamic, fast-evolving city of innovation.

The letter A symbolizes Art. With a 3,500-year history of urban construction, Wuhan acts as a vital carrier of Yangtze River civilization and Jingchu culture. The city features diverse charms, ranging from the poetic heritage of the Yellow Crane Tower and the futuristic vibe of the suspended monorail, to breathtaking scenery of vast rivers and lakes and a vibrant street-food culture.

More than 40,000 concerts, e-sports festivals and sports events are held in Wuhan annually. Consistently listed among China’s top ten most popular tourist destinations, it is an inclusive cultural city where ancient heritage and modern glamour complement and shine for each other.

Last but not least, the letter N stands for Network. Wuhan is a world-class comprehensive transportation hub. A 4-hour high-speed rail trip or a 2-hour flight can cover 80 percent of China’s major cities and reach a population of 1 billion.

The Yangtze golden waterway, China Railway Express (Wuhan) and multiple passenger and cargo hubs connect the Maritime, Land, and Air Silk Roads. Huahu Airport ranks fourth in the world and first in Asia among professional cargo airports. Equipped with a national-level internet backbone interconnection hub, Wuhan realizes seamless network connectivity nationwide, consolidating its status as a globally connected intelligent hub city.

During the ongoing forum, Wuhan is presenting a host of well-designed characteristic activities tailored for young people based on its superior resources. These events vividly showcase an authentic, multi-dimensional and vibrant urban panorama to participating global youth.

The forum is currently presenting Wuhan’s development experience as a thriving “City of Youth” to the world. It introduces China’s practices in building youth-development-oriented cities, displaying Wuhan’s all-round support for youth innovation, entrepreneurship and personal growth via startup incubators, talent apartments, targeted policies and comprehensive service platforms. At this moment, a sincere “Invitation from Wuhan” is being delivered to young people across the globe.

Delegates from all participating countries will explore Wuhan’s sci-tech innovation frontier in person. They will visit core innovation platforms including Hubei laboratories, Dongfeng Motor Group, the Hubei Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, and Xiaomi Smart Home Appliances Factory to experience the tremendous momentum of Wuhan’s “One City, Three Corridors, and Multiple Belts” innovation pattern and witness the diverse manifestations of Chinese modernization with their own eyes.

Participants will also immerse themselves in unique Jingchu cultural customs. They will pay a visit to the Yellow Crane Tower, Hubei Provincial Museum and the Changjiang Civilization Museum, admire the stunning night scenery along the two rivers, and explore the time-honored heritage of Zhiyin Culture and the profound essence of Yangtze River civilization. Furthermore, delegates will take part in the Youth Market and Dragon Boat Festival Intangible Cultural Heritage Experience activities.

They will communicate with young inheritors of Han embroidery, carved paper-cutting and traditional Chinese medicine sachets, and gain an in-depth understanding of the profound heritage of traditional Chinese culture as well as the innovative vitality of contemporary young craftsmen.

 

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SOURCE China Daily

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