Hightouch revolutionizes cloud infrastructure by enabling companies to activate customer data directly from their data warehouse

Hightouch, the Data Activation company, announces its inclusion in the first edition of the Redpoint InfraRed 100, a comprehensive list of the next 100 promising private companies in Cloud Infrastructure. This curated selection of companies represents the next generation of leaders in the industry, poised to make a significant impact in the cloud infrastructure market.

Redpoint Ventures is a leading venture capital firm with a diverse portfolio of successful companies including Twilio, Looker, Nextdoor, Ramp, Stripe, Nubank, HashiCorp, Snowflake, Netflix, Hims, and more. In celebration of this accolade, Hightouch Co-founders Kashish Gupta, Tejas Manohar, and Joshua Curl are joining Redpoint at Nasdaq alongside other InfraRed 100 company leaders to discuss the future of cloud infrastructure.

"It's an honor to be included in the first-ever InfraRed 100 alongside such an impressive cohort of cloud infrastructure companies. We built Hightouch because we believe in the power of the cloud data warehouse. Rather than simply treating the data warehouse as a final resting place for data, we enable companies to put the warehouse at the center of their business by syncing data from it to 200+ downstream tools. We give all team members the tools they need to activate data from the warehouse to power their business, marketing, sales, and operations use cases. We fundamentally believe in the limitless potential of the cloud infrastructure industry to drive innovation and provide a foundation for the future of the entire technology sector. Our thanks to Redpoint for highlighting these innovators, and congratulations to all companies on the list!" said Gupta.

CertiK, a leading provider of blockchain and smart contract security solutions, is proud to announce that it has become the first Web3 security auditing firm to achieve SOC II certification. This achievement reinforces CertiK's commitment to providing the highest level of security and trust for its clients and partners in the rapidly evolving blockchain industry.

SOC II compliance is a rigorous standard defined by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). It ensures that service organizations meet stringent requirements for security of customer data. By obtaining SOC II certification, CertiK demonstrates its commitment to these industry-leading standards of client data protection.

As the Web3 ecosystem continues to grow and evolve, security has become a paramount concern for individuals, businesses, and organizations operating in the decentralized space. CertiK's compliance with SOC II standards positions the company at the forefront of this rapidly expanding industry, offering clients an unparalleled level of confidence in the security of their blockchain applications and smart contracts.

CertiK's SOC II compliance was achieved through a comprehensive audit and evaluation process conducted by an independent third-party auditor. The SOC II audit covers a key number of aspects of CertiK's security controls, processes, and policies to ensure they met the stringent criteria set forth by SOC II standards.

The company remains dedicated to delivering cutting-edge security solutions that empower individuals, businesses, and enterprises to leverage the full potential of blockchain technology without compromising on security.

New Brand-Focused Division to be Led by Industry Veterans Michael Neuman and Dan Parise

Playfly Sports, the Fan Focused and Data Driven leader in sports media, marketing and technology, today announced the launch of Playfly Sports Consulting. Led by industry leaders Michael Neuman and Dan Parise, Playfly Sports Consulting will advise brands how best to deploy strategic investments through breakthrough activations across sports and entertainment.

"Playfly Sports Consulting will enable Playfly to deepen our value proposition to brands by delivering industry leading sponsorship and experiential marketing expertise that leverages our existing data-driven operating model," said Mike Schreiber, Founder & CEO of Playfly Sports. "We understand fandom better than anyone, so adding Michael and Dan will serve as an important conduit for brands to reach, engage, monetize and measure the connection with their targeted audience."

Among the new division's expansive capabilities, the team will provide brands with the ability to procure talent, secure strategic sponsorship solutions, manage intellectual property rights, and activate across a multitude of events and venues. Playfly Sports Consulting will work with clients to capture sports and entertainment opportunities that sit both within and beyond Playfly's portfolio.

"Our continued growth, including the development of Playfly Sports Consulting, is driven by our well-established internal enterprise catalyst groups," added Craig Sloan, COO of Playfly Sports. "With the help of our foundational teams' expertise in creative, insights, content production, and more, Michael and Dan will be able to hit the ground running quickly with full Playfly support."

"As this landscape becomes increasingly complex, Dan and I will be agnostic in guiding brands to the teams, venues and events that will create the strongest engagement with their desired fanbase," said Michael Neuman, Co-Head of Playfly Sports Consulting. "In a very short period, Playfly has quickly built a dynamic business that spans nearly every area of sports. We are excited to partner with Playfly team members to better serve our clients while also adding our own expertise to elevate Playfly even further."

Neuman, who previously served as Founder & Managing Partner of Scout Sports and Entertainment, brings to Playfly more than 30 years of experience. He is recognized for driving business growth with a unique blend of creativity, strategic thinking and business acumen, along with leading and developing multi-faceted companies with diverse revenue streams.

Parise is a Sports Business Journal Forty Under 40 recipient and Adweek Media All-Star who previously served as Chief Marketing Officer at Rival. He comes to Playfly with more than 20 years of sports and entertainment experience across agencies, properties and brands, including nearly 10 years alongside Neuman growing Scout Sports and Entertainment.

• Redbrick participates the biggest Tech Olympics in Asia as the only metaverse services provider

• The Malaysian Minister of Science, Technology & Innovation showed interest in Redbrick's technologies in an opening ceremony

• Redbrick gives equal opportunities for technical education embracing indigenous peoples of Malaysia

Redbrick Inc., a metaverse creation platform (CEO YANG YEONGMO), announced on 18th July that Redbrick had been selected as an official metaverse services provider in 'Techlympic', the biggest Tech Olympics in Asia, hosted by the government of Malaysia.

Techlympic, a scientific and technical event hosted by the Malaysian Minister of Science, Technology & Innovation, which reached its second anniversary this year, is an arena for over 1 million participants from a total of 6 areas including 'science & innovation' and 'the aerospace industry' competing against one another with their technical skills. It is a nation-scale event including school preliminaries, local preliminaries and the final competition. The metaverse section has been newly introduced this year.

Redbrick, selected as the only official metaverse services provider of Techlympic, supported the grand opening ceremony for this competition on 16^th. Chang Lih Kang, the Minister of Science, Technology & Innovation, who joined the metaverse opening ceremony, showed great interest in metaverse technologies of Korea, enjoying metaverse contents for themselves.

Redbrick is supporting two sections, 'metaverse game development' and 'metaverse design', which were adopted as official events of Techlympic. Redbrick is going to offer opportunities for technical education to indigene children of Malaysia through its own metaverse world, making a step forward from city-centered technical education. Having cultivated over 200 thousand metaverse creators in Korea based on linkage with coding education, Redbrick is planning to cultivate various metaverse creators all over the world starting with Malaysia through participation in Techlympic this time.

Redbrick's CEO YANG YEONGMO said, "Techlympic project is the result from the harmony between Redbrick's metaverse technologies and the technical professional cultivation policy of Malaysia", and "as Redbrick has been recognized based on introduction of metaverse technologies to the biggest event in Malaysia, Redbrick is going to establish itself as a global metaverse company, stepping forward from the domestic market".

VTEX , the global enterprise digital commerce platform, today announced the appointment of Silvia Mazzucchelli, renowned executive of the US Retail & Consumer industry, to its board of directors. Silvia has vast experience in the American market as a former C-level executive of companies like GUESS, TOMS Shoes, American Apparel, ModCloth (a Walmart ecommerce portfolio company), and The Collected Group (a KKR portfolio company). She is a senior advisor to retail and consumer practice to The Boston Consulting Group and serves on corporate boards, including as Chair of the Board of Coyuchi Inc.; and director of Carbon38. Previously, she had also served as Chair of the Board of Sequential Brands Group (Nasdaq: SQBG), director of the PAS Group Ltd. (ASX: PGR), and two KKR portfolio companies.

With extensive experience in leading American brands and retailers’ digital transformations, she is an exceptional addition to VTEX board of directors. The group of industry leaders includes VTEX’s founders and co-CEOs, Geraldo Thomaz and Mariano Gomide de Faria, along with Alejandro Scannapieco (CEO at LaLiga Tech - a JV between Globant & La Liga Española), Arshad Matin (CEO of Avetta), Benoit Fouilland (CFO of Contentsquare and former CFO of Firmenich, Criteo and SAP EMEA), and Francisco Alvarez-Demalde (co-founder and co-managing partner of Riverwood Capital).

Silvia's appointment reflects VTEX's commitment to assembling a board of notable individuals with diverse backgrounds and deep retail and tech knowledge to guide VTEX's growth and strategic initiatives. She will also join the Audit Committee and head the Strategy Advisory Board.

Mariano Gomide de Faria, founder and co-CEO of VTEX, expressed his enthusiasm about Silvia joining the board, stating: "Silvia shares our vision of becoming the backbone for connected commerce. Her extensive experience in the consumer and retail sectors and her successful track record in brand and business changes during growth cycles and digital transformations will add great value to VTEX. We look forward to continuing unlocking VTEX's potential across the globe with Silvia onboard."

Together with the other board members, Silvia Mazzucchelli will play a vital role in guiding VTEX's growth and strategic initiatives, particularly in driving the company's international expansion efforts. Mazzucchelli's extensive experience in leading brand-building strategies, go-to-market expansions, and brands and retailers' digital transformations will be instrumental in accelerating VTEX's success.

"I am honored to be part of VTEX’s Board and excited about the opportunity to drive the evolution of commerce alongside such innovative and visionary leaders, as Mariano and Geraldo, along with the VTEX Board and team. I see tremendous opportunities to fuel and enable fast-paced digital transformations. VTEX is the best-rated digital commerce platform for unified retail, according to Gartner. It is best positioned to lead this fast-paced, ever-evolving sector. The unprecedented fast go-to-market of the VTEX platform combined with the flexibility of VTEX IO allows enterprises to modernize their stack to accelerate new channels adoption," stated Silvia Mazzucchelli, Board member at VTEX.

By embracing the appointment of an accomplished woman, such as Silvia Mazzucchelli, among its board members, VTEX is strengthening its focus on its global expansion and on becoming a leading global enterprise digital commerce platform. "The collective expertise and diverse perspectives of our board members will undoubtedly shape VTEX's strategic direction and contribute to its continued success," concludes Gomide de Faria.

Know more about VTEX’s board members

Silvia Mazzucchelli is an independent member of our Board of Directors and member of the Audit Committee, since July 2023. Ms. Mazzucchelli is currently a senior advisor, specialized in retail and consumer brands to The Boston Consulting Group, and serves as chair of the board of Coyuchi, a sustainable home textiles brand, and director of Carbon38, a Footlocker-backed activewear brand. She previously served as Chair of the board of Sequential Brands Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SQBG), a brand management company with a portfolio of lifestyle brands; as director of PAS Group Ltd. (ASX: PGR), a leading Australian fashion retailer, and two KKR portfolio companies.

Ms. Mazzucchelli’s contributions to strategy development, scaling consumer and retail brands, and digital transformations leverage 25+ years of track record as a consumer and retail business leader and advisor. Most recently, Ms. Mazzucchelli served as CEO of the Collected Group, a KKR company, owner of luxury brands Joie, Equipment, and Current Elliott, and chief executive officer for ModCloth, a Walmart ecommerce portfolio company, from 2019 to 2020. Prior to that, Ms Mazzucchelli held a variety of senior executive roles at American Apparel, Gildan Activewear, Toms Shoes, Guess? Inc.

Silvia began her career at The Boston Consulting Group where she spent over 12 years assisting Fortune 500 clients in Consumer and Retail across North America and Europe. She graduated with an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, and holds a BSBA degree from Bocconi University in Italy and an International Business Diploma from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Alejandro Scannapieco is an independent member of our Board of Directors and co-chairman of the Audit Committee, positions he has held since May 2021. Currently, he is the CEO of LaLiga Tech, a joint venture between Globant & La Liga Española, and Board Advisor for Lean Solutions Group, a digital outsourcer mainly focused in transport and logistics. Prior to that, he was the managing director of the Business Hack-ing Studio at Globant from 2019 to 2022, and previously, he led the US East Region for Globant and was the chief financial officer from 2008-2018. Alejandro had served as chief financial officer at Microsoft South Cone (2002-2008) and Patagon.com South America (1999-2002), an internet startup that was sold to Santander Bank. He also had served as Senior Finance Analyst at JP Morgan (1994-1999) and Senior Auditor at EY (1990-1994).

Mr. Scannapieco has been serving as a board member for RetailApp Inc., a performance management platform for retailers, since 2016. Mr. Scannapieco holds a postgraduate degree in Capital Markets, a degree in Public Accounting and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina. He has also completed a postgraduate degree in finance from Torcuato Di Tella University.

Arshad Matin is an independent member of our Board of Directors since May 2021. He is the president and chief executive officer of Avetta, LLC, a private company providing cloud-based supply chain risk management solutions, which he joined in October 2019. From November 2018 to September 2019, he was an entrepreneur-in-residence with Warburg Pincus LLC, a private equity firm. From 2013 to October 2018, he was the president, chief executive officer and board member of Paradigm Ltd., a leading developer of software solutions to the global oil and gas industry, when it was acquired by Emerson Electric Co. From January 2012 to April 2013, Mr. Matin was executive vice president of IHS Inc., a publicly-traded company, leading global source of information and analytics. Mr. Matin joined IHS through the acquisition of Seismic Micro-Technology, Inc. (SMT), a global leader in the geology and geophysics software market. He joined SMT in July 2007 and was its president, chief executive officer and a board member. Before that, Mr. Matin was general manager of the enterprise security business unit at Symantec Corporation, which he joined in January 2006 upon the company’s acquisition of BindView Corporation, a global provider of agentless IT security compliance software. Mr. Matin also served as a partner of McKinsey & Company from 1995 to 2004 in their Houston offices. Mr. Matin had served as chairman of the board of directors of NYSE-listed ASGN, a provider of information technology and professional services in the technology, digital, creative, engineering and life sciences fields across commercial and government sectors. Mr. Matin also had served as a member of the board of directors of RS Energy Group, a Canadian business supporting companies in the oil and gas industry with its data analytics and forensic research, from December 2018 to January 2020.

Mr. Matin serves as a board member or trustee on non-profit organizations, including the Houston Endowment, Texas Children’s Hospital and Asia Society Texas Center. He brings extensive experience managing and advising public and private high-tech companies. Mr. Matin holds an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania – The Wharton School, a master’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Texas, and a bachelor’s of degree in Electrical Engineering from Regional Engineering College in India.

Benoit Fouilland is an independent member of our Board of Directors and co-chairman of our Audit Committee, since May 2021. He is currently chief financial officer of Contentsquare, an AI-powered digital experience analytics platform. Prior to that, from September 2020 to May 2023, Mr. Fouilland served as chief financial officer of Firmenich, one of the world’s largest fragrance and taste companies. From March 2012 to July 2020, he served as chief financial officer of Criteo SA, a global advertising technology company (NASDAQ: CRTO). From September 2009 to March 2012, he served as senior vice president and chief financial officer for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region of SAP AG, a multinational software corporation. From April 2008 to September 2009, Mr. Fouilland was the chief financial officer of Business Objects S.A., an enterprise software company which was acquired by SAP AG in 2007.

Mr. Fouilland holds an MBA from INSEAD, a Diplôme d’Études Supérieures Spécialisées degree in Financial Audit from Université Paris Dauphine and a Business degree from the ESLSCA Graduate School of Business in Paris.

Francisco Alvarez-Demalde is a member of our Board of Directors, a position he has held since 2019. He also acted as a board member and investor in VTEX from 2014 to 2019. Mr. Alvarez-Demalde is a co-founder and co-managing partner of Riverwood Capital, a leading growth-capital private equity firm focused on the global technology industry, and one of the largest early investors in VTEX. He has built the Riverwood Capital franchise and been involved in the scalability journey of several of Riverwood’s portfolio companies since its inception in 2008. Before starting Riverwood Capital, Mr. Alvarez-Demalde was an investment executive at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., where he focused on leveraged buyouts in the technology industry and other sectors, and was also with Eton Park Capital Management and Goldman Sachs & Co.

During his career, Francisco Alvarez-Demalde has led investments in or been actively involved in the development, operations, and growth of several successful businesses across North America, Latin America, and other geographies. He is a former and current director of and/or advisor to several technology companies, including Alog Data Centers do Brasil, Billtrust (Nasdaq: BTRS), Dock, Globant (NYSE: GLOB), Greenhouse, Industrious, Shiphero, among others.

Mr. Alvarez-Demalde holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Universidad de San Andrés, Argentina, which included an exchange program at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a Global Ambassador with Endeavor, and is interested in non-profit initiatives related to education. Mr. Alvarez-Demalde is qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his considerable business experience in the technology industry and his background serving as a director of other companies.

Geraldo Thomaz is our founder and co-chief executive officer, a position he has held since VTEX’s inception. Mr. Thomaz is also our co-chairman of our board of directors, a position he has held since 2019. Geraldo developed the VTEX platform under the SaaS model, providing systems, servers, security, and infrastructure for enterprise-level companies. Since 2021, he has also served as a board member for Instituto Reditus, a non-profit organization in Brazil. Currently, he also leads the Research & Development teams.

Mr. Thomaz graduated in Mechanical Engineering at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). He is qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his considerable business experience in the technology industry and his background serving as a director of other companies.

Mariano Gomide de Faria is our founder and co-chief executive officer, a position he has held since VTEX’s inception. Mr. Gomide de Faria is also co-chairman of VTEX’s Board of Directors, since 2019. Mariano currently leads VTEX’s Growth team, responsible for Marketing, Sales and Customer Experience.

He graduated in Mechanical Engineering at UFRJ. Mariano is a teacher at EICOM Institute and lecturer for events like ecommerce Day, Internet Retailer, eShow, and UNCTAD ecommerce Week. Mr. Gomide de Faria is qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his considerable digital commerce experience.

Cox joins IAS as a proven industry leader in maximizing technology growth

Integral Ad Science, a leading global media measurement and optimization platform, today announced the appointment of Sam Cox as Senior Vice President of Product Management, effective immediately. Based in New York City, Cox will oversee global product strategy and execution for the Programmatic & Optimization Solutions product portfolio which includes industry-leading products such as Context Control, Quality Sync and Total Visibility.

Sam joins Integral Ad Science at a time when we are rapidly expanding our programmatic and optimization products, and we are excited to have him lead the acceleration of our programmatic roadmap and global growth strategy," said Lisa Utzschneider, CEO, IAS. "His deep experience in scaling technology platforms will drive impact for our advertiser and agency customers globally."

A results-driven technology executive, Cox has nearly two decades of experience in advertising technology and exchange-based trading. He was most recently Director of Technical Product Management at Amazon where he oversaw Amazon DSP. In this role, he was globally responsible for Amazon's Demand Side Platform as well as the development of Signals Based Marketing, its alternative to identity based targeting. Prior to Amazon, Sam led product for Google's Ad Exchange (AdX), where he was Group Product Manager responsible for Authorized Buyers, Exchange Bidding, Open Bidding and global Policy.

"I could not be more excited to join a global technology leader in media measurement and optimization," said Cox. "IAS has a rich history within the digital advertising ecosystem and optimizes 280 billion bids a day for brand safety, viewability, fraud, and context. I'm looking forward to playing a pivotal role in the continued growth of our programmatic, optimization, and reporting products."

Cox's addition continues to build upon the momentum IAS has in attracting industry-leading talent as the company grows its optimization product teams. Cox has a Master of Business Administration in strategy from Bayes Business School in London, England and a Bachelor of Arts with honors in art history, economics and Chinese language from Queen's University in Ontario, Canada.