apajake – Official Media for Today's Most Updated International News

Startup funding is the money needed to get a new business off the ground. It is typically provided by investors who take a large risk on the startup in exchange for a share of the company. Startup funding may also be available through programs such as startup accelerators and incubators. Founders may also be able to secure startup funding by taking out a small-business loan or using their own personal savings.

Startups seeking investment funding should have a well-articulated business plan, a strong team of leaders, and an opportunity to build a sustainable advantage in the market. Investors often want startups to demonstrate consistent revenue growth, a clear path to liquidity through an acquisition or an IPO, and sound financials.

North America continues to lead the global venture funding market, with $90 billion invested in seed through growth-stage rounds for U.S. companies in H1 — up 43% year over year, according to Crunchbase data. AI once again dominated the quarter, with deals such as Meta’s $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI and a $900 million Series C for GenAI-based software company Anysphere leading the way.

Other significant startup funding activity included a $3 billion Series D round for cloud-based accounting platform ServiceNow, a $2 billion acquisition of accounts payable vendor Melio by Xero, and Modernizing Medicine’s majority stake sale to Clearlake Capital Group at a reported $7.6 billion valuation. Meanwhile, Europe’s late-stage rounds slipped on both a sequential and annual basis, pulling the continent’s share of global venture funding from 19% in Q2 to just 13% in the first six months of 2024.

A rare and coveted type of news article, an exclusive report is the kind that gets shared first with one media outlet or publication. While this tactic can be an effective way to build buzz around impactful announcements, PR pros must carefully consider what kinds of news or stories warrant an exclusive and ensure that they’re pitched to journalists who have a high level of interest in the topic or who have previously covered similar content.

To qualify as an exclusive, a story must contain information that other media outlets do not have access to or knowledge of, which can include data from interviews, public records or a new angle on an existing announcement. Exclusives also typically come with a set deadline, called an embargo, which prevents other outlets from publishing until the story runs at the chosen outlet.

Creating a compelling story that will generate attention for an exclusive takes time, research and planning. It’s important to identify the journalists and media outlets who are most likely to want an exclusive, and to target them in advance of the desired publication date. It’s also helpful to include high-resolution images and any other documentation that can expedite the reporting process.

Ultimately, PR pros must be selective about which exclusives they pursue. Using this strategy too frequently can detract from the value of your news and could tarnish your relationship with the journalist or publication. Ultimately, it’s all about the quality of the content and the value it provides to readers.

The unemployment rate, which measures the number of people jobless as a percentage of the working-age population, is one of the most closely watched indicators of the economy. It is often compared to other economic metrics, such as gross domestic product and inflation, to determine whether the economy is healthy or not.

The official unemployment rate is published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a part of the Department of Commerce. It includes only individuals who are jobless and actively looking for work, and excludes those who have dropped out of the workforce or have retired. There are other measures of labor underutilization that include discouraged workers and those who have given up their search for a job.

These alternative measurements offer a more comprehensive picture of the slack in the labor market. However, they don’t reflect the reality that many people who are unemployed are not really out of work; rather, they have had to accept employment below their skill and experience level – the mechanical engineer who drives a taxi, for example.

The unemployment rate fluctuates with the business cycle. During periods of growth, businesses create jobs, while during recessions they reduce payrolls. As a result, the number of jobless people rises. The rate is also affected by structural factors, such as the loss of a high-paying career or a lack of skills valued in the labor market. This kind of unemployment is sometimes called frictional unemployment.

Investor updates are the primary way that startup founders communicate with their investors to provide key insights into the company. They are typically sent out monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually and have a wide variety of templates available. We recommend using a template that fits your business model, stage of the company, and relationship with your investors.

One of the most important parts of an investor update is sharing performance metrics and results. This will help give your investors a glimpse into how the company is performing and allow them to track progress from month to month. Depending on the stage of the company, these can include things like revenue growth, net new MRR, customer retention, and logo retention.

Aside from sharing key performance metrics, it is also a good time to highlight accomplishments within the company. This could be anything from a record quarter to a big event to a successful product shipment. It is important to give individual kudos where needed and also make sure to mention any new hires so that they can feel recognized and welcomed into the team.

Finally, the most important part of an investor update is laying out any challenges that you or the company is currently facing. This may seem uncomfortable but it is vital that your investors know what is going on in the business so that they can help you. It is likely that the same investors who were involved in your round will have other connections that can help you solve problems, and laying out these challenges allows your investors to leverage their network where possible.

Interest rates are central to borrowing and saving, influencing everything from the affordability of mortgages and auto loans to the return on investments. They’re also crucial to the way you create a budget. Understanding how interest rates work can help you make more informed financial decisions that fit your lifestyle and goals.

A key part of the cost of debt for the borrower and the rate of return on savings for the lender, interest is calculated as a percentage of the principal sum borrowed or deposited. It is generally expressed as a decimal number or as a fraction of a year (sometimes called an annualized rate). Simple interest and compound interest are the two main methods for calculating interest, with most loans using simple interest while savings accounts and money market funds use compounding.

Lender policies and macroeconomic trends affect interest rates. For example, if lenders perceive that an economy is experiencing high levels of inflation, they may increase their credit card interest rates or raise deposit account interest rates to discourage excessive borrowing and slow economic growth. The Federal Reserve, the US central bank, sets interest rates and aims to keep them consistent with overall economic health.

For borrowers, understanding how to choose between fixed and variable rates can help you make savvy financial choices that fit your lifestyle and goals. For example, if you think you’ll be able to pay off your loan before interest rates rise significantly, a variable rate may work for you. But if you expect to take on a longer-term loan or need flexibility, a fixed rate may offer the peace of mind that comes with consistency.

The news feature is an opportunity for a journalist to step back from hard news reporting and tell a more human side to stories. It gives you the space to look at a story in some depth and relate it to other events, or give a perspective not normally available. It can also highlight positive developments that happen slowly, or that are not newsworthy in the strict sense – but which might make good news features, such as terracing a hillside farmland to protect it from erosion (see Chapter 2).

A news feature should be told well. You will probably know that it has worked when the audience responds, through their feedback or survey results – though that might be some time after broadcast. It’s important that you have a plan for the piece, or a treatment as it is sometimes called. This will help you with planning the various elements of the feature and guiding you in gathering the information and talent needed for it.

If you are doing a news feature on an event, the number of news angles and issues you cover may grow and change as you investigate the story. During the coronavirus pandemic, journalists were constantly choosing different aspects of the story to include, such as statistics on deaths and cases, advice or opinions from experts, and human interest stories of sufferers or their families.

You should also think about your budget for the feature, and how long it will take to complete. A feature might require travel to a remote place or to speak to service personnel at military bases, for example. It might also need you to obtain permission from authorities to enter areas that are normally off-limits to the media or pay royalties and copyright fees.

Digital transformation involves the use of technologies and methods to fundamentally change a business’s processes and operations. It encompasses a broad range of technology solutions, including automation systems, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT). It also encompasses processes like business process reengineering.

Successful digital transformation initiatives reshape how an organization operates, from the back office to the production line. They help streamline and optimize internal services, speed up product development and deployment, and provide teams with easy-to-use collaboration tools. They also position the business to anticipate and deliver the next innovations customers will want.

Regardless of industry or size, businesses today face pressure to accelerate their digital transformation efforts. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it even more critical for companies to quickly meet customer needs, improve operational efficiency, and adapt their business model.

To do so, they need a clear roadmap for digital transformation. To begin, prioritize the most pressing areas for improvement and determine what technologies will support them.

Once the roadmap is in place, work collaboratively to develop a strategy for implementing these projects. Obtain input from all stakeholders and organizational leaders, including senior executives. This will ensure that the company is on track to reach its digital transformation goals.

Once the digital transformation roadmap is in place, enlist the help of experts. Partners and technology providers who have experience guiding others through digital transformation can offer fresh perspectives and save a company time and money by avoiding the rookie mistakes that many companies make on their own.

World news is the term for the specialized branch of journalism dealing with foreign subjects. The subject matter can include either news sent directly from abroad (for example, the press releases of foreign governments or international organizations) or – since the advent of modern distance communication technologies – the news that is gathered or sourced through such means as telephone, satellite TV and the Internet. Sometimes there is a confusion between this field and “national news,” but the distinction should be made clear, because national news deals with matters of concern to a particular nation.

When a reporter is stationed permanently in another country, he or she is considered to be a foreign correspondent. Correspondents usually report stories to their news editor, gathering material from local officials and citizens as well as the local media. They also may be able to gather information from events they witness personally. When reporters work overseas but do not have permanent contracts with any of the major news sources, they are known as stringers. They may write for several different companies at once, producing material on a freelance basis.

A news alert is an announcement of a present or upcoming event that’s specifically intended for journalists. Also called media advisories, they’re meant to convince reporters that your event is a genuine news story worthy of coverage. Media alerts can be a one-page announcement for local reporters or press releases distributed to wider audiences via wire services. Check out this sample media alert about a local Lights On Afterschool event for some inspiration.

Breaking news alerts are a vital part of journalistic practice and build trust with audiences during urgent events. However, it’s critical that they be used carefully to avoid sensationalism and ensure that the facts are accurate. This often requires thorough fact-checking processes and prioritizing verified information over speed.

When planning your media alerts, be sure to include the five W’s: who, what, when, where, and why. This will give reporters the basic info they need to cover your event, as well as any photo opportunities that may exist. Use acronyms sparingly and avoid unique words that text-to-speech software might mispronounce or confuse with other common words. Also, if your message is being sent over a telecommunications system (such as a push notification or SMS), be sure to use the device options to prioritize the text that’ll reach the most people.

Setting up alerts for your brand, competitors, industry keywords and more gives you a snapshot of your online presence, allowing you to track positive and negative mentions in the media. You can then take action based on what you find.

Economic growth is a great thing—whether it’s the increase in your retirement savings or the growth of your portfolio. But measuring growth at an entire economy’s level is much more difficult than simply knowing if you have more money in your checking account today than yesterday.

The broadest measure of the economy’s size is gross domestic product (GDP), which includes all consumption, investment, and government spending within a country in a given period of time. But GDP doesn’t capture everything that adds value to the economy, and it’s not a particularly accurate measure of the overall wealth of a nation.

There are two main methods of increasing economic output: growing the size of the labor force and improving productivity. Increasing the number of workers can increase economic output but only strong productivity gains can raise per capita income and GDP. There are a number of ways to improve productivity, including skills training, specialization, and increased access to raw materials and capital goods.

But a more fundamental element is changing the incentives that govern how the labor force is utilized. For example, families that stay home to care for children or aging relatives may not contribute to GDP but their sacrifices can enable more productive workers in the paid labor force. And governments that lower taxes, reduce bureaucracy and regulations, or eliminate discrimination can create the conditions for more productive labor. These changes can also lead to higher levels of prosperity while reducing inequality and environmental concerns, as evidenced by China’s remarkable GDP growth over the past 25 years.