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OKX Ventures and Aptos Foundation Jointly Launch Ecosystem Growth Fund and Accelerator to Boost Aptos Ecosystem Growth

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The fund will create an accelerator program to foster the growth of key projects on Aptos related to infrastructure, DeFi protocols, real-world assets, GameFi and more. 

SINGAPORE, Aug. 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — OKX Ventures, the investment arm of leading crypto exchange and Web3 technology company OKX, and Aptos Foundation, a global blockchain leader, today jointly announced the launch of a new USD $10 million fund aimed at supporting the growth of the Aptos ecosystem and widespread adoption of Web3.

The fund will be used to develop an accelerator program, operated in partnership with Ankaa and intended to bolster the growth of quality projects and applications built on Aptos – a scalable Layer 1 Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain that uses the Move programming language to make on-chain transactions more reliable, easier-to-use, and secure. The accelerator will provide selected Aptos ecosystem projects with venture support, focused mentorship, go-to-market exposure, and access to the extensive network of experts from OKX, Ankaa and Aptos Foundation combined.

A panel of judges from the Aptos Foundation, OKX Ventures and Ankaa teams will kick off the program by choosing five promising projects to include in this September’s inaugural accelerator cohort. Ankaa will serve as the initial investor in accepted projects and run the accelerator’s daily operations. The accelerator’s key focus areas will initially include, but are not limited to, infrastructure, DeFi, RWA, gaming, social, AI, and other dApps critical to the growth and evolution of the Aptos ecosystem and Web3 in general.

Over the past two years, OKX Ventures has invested in over 300 projects across five continents with a fund size of approximately USD $1 billion, covering almost all investment tracks. Through the partnership with Aptos Foundation, OKX Ventures aims to double down its support and exploration of cutting-edge blockchain innovation and high-quality projects, committing to driving long-term value for the ecosystem.

Partner of OKX Ventures Jeff Ren said: “We see immense potential in Aptos, particularly due to its use of the Move programming language – a game-changer for creating secure and efficient smart contracts in the DeFi space. As we witness the next wave of adoption – spurred not only by the Ethereum and Bitcoin networks but beyond – we’re enthusiastic about the prospect of Aptos becoming a major player in the blockchain space. We’re fully committed to supporting Aptos ecosystem projects that enhance the fundamental infrastructure of the blockchain and Web3 space, and warmly welcome all interested developers to reach out to us.”

Head of Grants and Ecosystem at Aptos Foundation Bashar Lazaar said: “OKX Ventures’ vast network and robust expertise in supporting virtually all areas of the Web3 space is an invaluable resource for the Aptos ecosystem. The team’s commitment to fostering a conducive environment for innovation and growth aligns perfectly with our vision for Aptos. We’re excited to leverage their insights and resources to further foster the development of the Aptos ecosystem, and get some incredible projects off the ground.”

“With OKX and Aptos Foundation at the helm, this joint ecosystem growth fund and accelerator will prove critical to cementing Aptos as the Move-based L1 to prove out elusive use cases and onboard Web2 developers into Web3,” said Mo Shaikh, CEO of Aptos Labs, a member of the Aptos ecosystem that will be providing blockchain support and advisory efforts for the joint accelerator.

Applications for the Ankaa accelerator programare set to open this August. OKX Ventures, Aptos Foundation, and Ankaa welcome all interested developers and projects to connect with their teams via https://ankaalabs.typeform.com/accelerator

For further information, please contact:
Media@okx.com

About OKX Ventures

OKX Ventures is the investment arm of leading crypto exchange and Web3 technology company OKX, with an initial capital commitment of USD 100 million. It focuses on exploring the best blockchain projects on a global scale, supporting cutting-edge blockchain technology innovation, promoting the healthy development of the global blockchain industry, and investing in long-term structural value.

Through its commitment to supporting entrepreneurs who contribute to the development of the blockchain industry, OKX Ventures helps build innovative companies and brings global resources and historical experience to blockchain projects.

Find out more about OKX Ventures here.

About Aptos Foundation

Aptos Foundation is dedicated to supporting the development of the Aptos protocol, decentralized network and ecosystem and driving engagement with the Aptos ecosystem. By unlocking a blockchain with seamless usability, Aptos Foundation aims to bring the benefits of decentralization to the masses.

About Aptos Network

Aptos is a next-generation Layer 1 blockchain.  Aptos’ breakthrough technology and programming language, Move, are designed to evolve, improve performance and strengthen user safeguards. Please visit https://www.aptosfoundation.org for more information on the Aptos blockchain.

About Ankaa

Ankaa, the web3 accelerator co-launched by Aptos and OKX Ventures and ALCOVE, is committed to fostering innovation and helping founders to thrive in Web3. Founded by experienced entrepreneurs and tech leaders from top Web2 and Web3 companies, Ankaa supports early-stage Web3 startups with funding, mentorship, and resources. Ankaa’s mission is to help visionary founders create blockchain applications building real-world use cases for mass adoption. Ankaa turns innovative ideas into leading products, shaping the future of the decentralized economy.

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SOURCE OKX Ventures

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UNISORB Welcomes BILZ-USA to Expand Engineering and Product Solutions

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UNISORB Named Sole North American Distributor for BILZ

MICHIGAN CENTER, Mich., Sept. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — UNISORB Installation Solutions, a global provider of machine mounting, vibration isolation, and precision leveling solutions headquartered in Michigan Center, Mich., today announced it has acquired BILZ-USA, effective August 30, 2026, making UNISORB the exclusive distributor of BILZ products across North America. The transition expands UNISORB’s engineering support and on-site project management capabilities for industrial customers seeking precision vibration isolation and leveling solutions. Full product and service details are available at www.UNISORB.com.

UNISORB is now the exclusive North American distributor of BILZ products.

“BILZ’s leveling and isolation technology closes a gap in our product line at the high-precision end of the market,” said John Hornberger, Chief Executive Officer of UNISORB. “Combining our installation and project management teams with BILZ’s engineering staff means customers get one point of contact for a project that used to require two vendors.”

What This Means for Customers

Decades of combined expertise. BILZ’s engineering staff join UNISORB’s engineering and project management teams, giving customers a single technical team backed by decades of hands-on experience in vibration isolation, leveling, and precision installation.A broader, unified product line. UNISORB’s lineup now spans BILZ’s full catalog, from basic leveling mounts to active isolation systems, alongside UNISORB’s existing machine mounting and installation solutions, giving customers access to a significantly wider range of solutions from a single source.More capability for BILZ customers. Longtime BILZ customers now gain direct access to UNISORB’s full engineering, manufacturing, and on-site project management resources; capabilities not previously available through BILZ alone.A unified approach to installation. Customers receive continuous support from initial site survey through final leveling and installation, managed by one team rather than coordinated separately across two vendors.Centralized North American distribution. Distribution from Michigan Center will consolidate logistics for customers ordering across North America as the transition is completed.One point of contact. BILZ orders will transition to being placed directly through UNISORB in the coming weeks, moving away from what was previously a two-vendor process for combined leveling and isolation projects.

About UNISORB

UNISORB Installation Solutions, headquartered in Michigan Center, Michigan, is a global provider of machine mounting, vibration isolation, and precision equipment leveling solutions for manufacturers across a range of industrial sectors. More information is available at www.UNISORB.com.

Media Contact

John Hornberger

Chief Executive Officer, UNISORB

jhornberger@unisorb.com

Tim Spahr 
Vice President – Sales & Marketing
tspahr@unisorb.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/unisorb-welcomes-bilz-usa-to-expand-engineering-and-product-solutions-302868227.html

SOURCE UNISORB Installation Solutions

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Eliminate costly enclosures: ABB debuts IP66/Type 4X Drives for Australia’s harshest industrial environments

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New ACS580, ACH580 and ACQ580 IP66/Type 4X drives support food and beverage, HVACR, manufacturing, and water and wastewater applications exposed to harsh environmental conditions.

MELBOURNE, Australia, Sept. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ABB has introduced ACS580, ACH580 and ACQ580 drives with IP66/Type 4X protection, extending the range of motor control solutions available for applications operating in demanding environmental conditions. The new drives are designed for installations where motor control equipment may be exposed to dust, water, humidity, outdoor weather and other harsh conditions, providing greater flexibility when considering drive selection, installation design and equipment location.

Tailored for different industry requirements

The three drive families are designed to address the specific requirements of different industries and applications:

ACS580 IP66/Type 4X drives are designed for demanding food and beverage environments, supporting motor-driven applications including pumps, fans, compressors, mixers and conveyors operating across wet, washdown, indoor and outdoor production environments.ACH580 IP66/Type 4X drives are designed specifically for HVACR applications, supporting equipment operating in exposed and outdoor locations, including rooftop air handling units, cooling towers, exterior exhaust fans, outdoor pump skids and outdoor chiller units.ACQ580 IP66/Type 4X drives are designed for water and wastewater environments, supporting a broad range of applications including clarifiers, surface aerators, screens, flocculators, dosing systems, activated sludge pumps, lift stations and booster stations.

Many Australian facilities operate in environments that present challenging conditions for installed electrical equipment. The IP66/Type 4X design provides greater flexibility to locate drives closer to the application, where appropriate for the installation.

By reducing the need for additional protective enclosures or dedicated electrical rooms and enabling shorter motor cable runs, this approach can reduce site installation costs and complexity. It can also support faster installation and commissioning and a smaller overall system footprint.

The drives incorporate a range of built-in features designed to support installation, operation and integration, including coated circuit boards, integrated EMC C2 filtering, a built-in DC choke for harmonic mitigation, and Safe Torque Off (STO). The design also provides option slots for additional I/O and fieldbus communications, enabling the drives to be configured for different application requirements.

Optional Bluetooth-enabled control panels further support commissioning and interaction with the drives. When used with ABB’s Drivetune mobile application, Bluetooth connectivity provides a convenient way to access and work with drive settings. ABB’s drive software and connectivity tools can also support commissioning and diagnostic activities.

ABB is also highlighting the importance of distinguishing ingress protection ratings from other environmental performance characteristics when selecting equipment for demanding applications.

In Australia, an IP66 rating relates specifically to the enclosure’s protection against the ingress of dust and water, in accordance with AS/NZS 60529 and IEC 60529. The first digit, 6, denotes a dust-tight enclosure, while the second 6 denotes protection against powerful water jets.

Environmental characteristics such as UV, corrosion and chemical resistance should therefore be considered separately from the IP66 classification and assessed against the specifications and testing applicable to the individual product. This distinction is particularly relevant for equipment installed in outdoor, coastal, washdown or chemically exposed environments. ABB, for example, separately identifies corrosion, UV and chemical-resistance characteristics for its ACS580 IP66/Type 4X drive rather than treating these as properties conferred by the IP66 rating itself.

The ACS580, ACH580 and ACQ580 IP66/Type 4X drive range is available in power ratings from 5.5 kW to 22 kW, providing a solution for applications where protection against dust ingress and water exposure is an important consideration in the selection, installation and operation of variable speed drives.

Learn more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nCWb7g-MGI

About ABB
ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by about 110,000 talented employees in over 100 countries.

ABB Drives is a global technology leader serving industries, infrastructure and machine builders with world-class variable speed drives, drive systems and packages. We help our customers, partners and equipment manufacturers to improve energy efficiency, asset reliability, productivity, safety and performance.

Media Contact:
Natalie Landrito
Marketing and Communications Manager
contact.centre@au.abb.com

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SOURCE ABB

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7 Wolves Consulting Announces Release of Founder Danielle D. Pollard’s Debut Book, Act Like a Lady, Speak Like a Wolf

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7 Wolves Consulting founder and creator of the W.O.L.F. framework brings nearly three decades of engineering-backed insight to a new book on executive communication for professional women in male-dominated industries.

OAK PARK, Ill., Sept. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Danielle D. Pollard, Managing Partner of 7 Wolves Consulting and a corporate communication strategist with nearly 30 years of experience, announced the release of her debut book, Act Like a Lady, Speak Like a Wolf: From Surviving the Room to Owning It, now available on Amazon.

The book distills the philosophy Pollard has built across a career spanning industrial engineering, Agile software delivery, and Scrum coaching: that communication is not a soft skill, but a measurable performance system. Drawing on her engineering background and years spent inside complex corporate teams, Pollard argues that the biggest barrier to high performance is rarely strategy or talent; it is language. “Problems don’t live in circumstances,” she has said of her approach. “They live in language.”

That philosophy has already been proven in the field. At Allstate, Pollard was brought in to diagnose why a 60-person team spread across four offices and three time zones had not shipped a working feature in nine months. Rather than prescribing a fix, she used targeted questioning to surface the communication breakdowns the team could not see on its own. The result: a working demo in three weeks, roughly $3 million in recovered productivity, and a project completed three months ahead of schedule.

Act Like a Lady, Speak Like a Wolf takes that same engineering lens and applies it to a challenge Pollard has lived personally: navigating high-stakes, male-dominated corporate rooms as a Black woman in leadership. The book introduces her signature W.O.L.F. framework, a method for helping professional women watch their language, take ownership of outcomes, construct more constructive conversations, and measure the results, turning executive presence into a repeatable skill rather than an innate trait.

The book moves between personal narrative and professional framework, with chapters such as “The Kitchen Table” and “The Unsaid” tracing the moments that shaped Pollard’s thinking long before she named it the W.O.L.F. method.

“For almost 30 years, I watched brilliant leaders lose rooms, deals, and opportunities, not because they lacked the answers, but because they didn’t have the language to own the moment,” said Pollard. “This book is the guide I wish someone had handed me decades ago. It’s for every woman who has ever had to be the only one like her in the room and still found a way to win.”

Act Like a Lady, Speak Like a Wolf: From Surviving the Room to Owning It is available now on Amazon at a.co/d/02GJbajH. For more information about Danielle D. Pollard and 7 Wolves Consulting, visit www.DanielleDPollard.com.

Pollard will follow the release with a national speaking and book tour, bringing the W.O.L.F. framework directly to corporate teams, conferences, and live audiences. Tour details are being announced on a rolling basis at danielledpollard.com/booktour.

About Danielle D. Pollard & 7 Wolves Consulting

Danielle D. Pollard is the Managing Partner of 7 Wolves Consulting and a communication strategist known as “The Engineer of Executive Communication.” With nearly three decades in industrial engineering, Agile delivery, and Scrum coaching, she has helped teams inside organizations such as Allstate, UPS, Apartments.com, and Blue Cross Blue Shield move from stagnation to measurable performance. Through her W.O.L.F. framework, keynote speaking, and executive coaching, she helps professional women, particularly those in male-dominated industries, move from surviving the room to owning it.

Media Contact
Name: Danielle D. Pollard
Website: https://www.danielledpollard.com/
Email: danielle@7wolvesconsulting.com

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