Industry veteran will be tasked with accelerating the company's global market growth

ColorTokens Inc., a leading Unified Zero Trust Platform provider, today announced the appointment of Jagdish Mahapatra as the company's Senior Vice President of Sales. In his new role, Mahapatra will lead ColorTokens sales team and provide strategic direction to business development, go-to-market, and alliance functions across the globe.

Mahapatra brings extensive knowledge to ColorTokens with more than 25 years of experience scaling businesses for companies such as Cisco, McAfee, and CrowdStrike. Most recently, he served as Vice President for CrowdStrike's Asia region. While in this role, he was instrumental in creating strategic partnerships globally and successfully drove exponential growth of over 100X Annual Recurring Revenue in just five years. Mahapatra also built a culture of high performance and engagement with the Singapore office being recognized as a Top 5 workplace by Great Place to Work.

"I am honored and excited to join the team at ColorTokens," said Mahapatra. "There are many vendors who market Zero Trust solutions, but none have dedicated themselves to ensuring that the solutions are pragmatic for large-scale deployments and complexities. This was one of the primary reasons I decided to join their mission of securing global enterprises and governments by realizing the true potential of zero trust security. I was also amazed at the talent within the organization – from product leaders to security SMEs. That, coupled with a welcoming culture, made my decision easy."

Prior to CrowdStrike, Mahapatra served as McAfee's Chief of Channels & Alliances for Asia Pacific. In this role, he was responsible for managing more than 500 partners within channels, strategic alliances, ecosystems, and Managed Services across the Asia Pacific and Japan region. He spent more than a decade with Cisco Systems India where he held multiple roles in Channels, Commercial and Enterprise leadership positions in the journey of extraordinary growth of 200X in the India market.

"Jagdish is an industry leader with an impressive background in scaling organizations and managing teams at some of the largest technology firms in the world," said Rajesh Khazanchi, CEO and Co-Founder at ColorTokens. "We are honored to have him join our leadership team. We will immensely benefit from his deep domain knowledge, customer and channel relationships, and industry acumen."

Mahapatra is a well-known public speaker who has delivered multiple cybersecurity TED Talks reaching audiences across the globe. As a leader, he takes great pride in fostering a culture of a highly engaged team and believes that prioritizing employee growth is essential to the success of any organization. Business World has recognized him as one of the Top 40 Executives in India Inc. under the age of 40.

JourneyTrack has pioneered a customer-first, enterprise-grade SaaS experience management platform that prioritizes the customer experience.

JourneyTrack Founder and CEO Ania Rodriguez is a self-made Latina woman entrepreneur who turns heads and makes the seemingly impossible happen. With decades of experience, Ania and the JourneyTrack team are leading the way in journey management solutions. "Our mission is to humanize the customer experience," says Ania Rodriguez.

"Elevate Capital is proud to be the lead investor with a $1M investment in JourneyTrack," says Nitin Rai, Elevate Capital Founder and Managing Partner. "As a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion fund, Elevate Capital, based in Portland, Oregon, invests in US-based early-stage startups of diverse and underrepresented entrepreneurs–95% of our portfolio companies are led by diverse founders, including 75% in women. Being a former UX engineer, I understood the problem Ania and JourneyTrack were solving when I met her earlier this year. The business makes sense, but she was challenged to find a lead investor. This is where we shine as a fund. We stepped in to lead. Our investment in JourneyTrack will be our first investment in Miami, Florida. We expect to invest more in diverse founders in this growing entrepreneurial ecosystem in the future."

As a UX/CX strategist and researcher, Rodriguez always aims for quality and impact in her work. She founded Key Lime Interactive, a user experience research and strategy consultancy that has achieved remarkable growth and recognition in the US market over the last 14 years. Through her experience serving Fortune 1000 clients, she realized the importance of having a tool that could support her vision of effectively managing customer journeys for enterprises. JourneyTrack is the platform that fulfills that need.

"VC funding for Latina-founded startups has historically been incredibly low, so I am deeply honored to have found investors like Elevate Capital who not only believe in the merits of JourneyTrack but are also truly committed to changing the challenging reality faced by minority female founders. As we look to the journey ahead, I am excited about the possibilities this newfound support will bring, particularly in accelerating our product roadmap and scaling the business," says Rodriguez.

In addition to the investment from Elevate Capital, JourneyTrack also received a $500,000 investment through DeepWork Capital, an Orlando, Florida-based early-stage fund and investment manager that also invests in diverse founders through the Florida Opportunity Fund.

Kochava AI Prompt powered by Generative AI takes data-driven insight discovery into marketers’ own hands through natural and native language processing

Kochava, the leading real-time data solutions company for omni-channel attribution and measurement, today announced a powerful addition to its robust AI toolset. Kochava AI Prompt unleashes the power of AI to understand multiple languages through the use of natural language processing for global marketers to access and analyze their data.

Kochava AI Prompt is powered by a secure connection to leading AI models to return a SQL script to run against the data within Kochava. None of our customers' first-party data leaves Kochava, nor is it used to train large language models (LLMs) or Kochava models. Marketers can engage with their data via AI knowing that their (and their users’) privacy and intellectual property are 100% secure.

“The intersection of AI and advertising technologies to create a truly powerful experience across international audiences and cultures is at a tipping point,” said Jason Hicks, GM, Marketers Operating System (m/OS) at Kochava. “For any company looking to reach customers on a global scale, understanding and implementing AI that can handle the nuances of native languages is key while also leveling the playing field through natural language processing so you no longer need to be a data scientist or understand SQL to utilize your data.”

What Kochava AI Prompt Can Do for Marketers:

• Have simple, secure conversations with their universe of first-party data in Kochava
• Rapidly check key performance indicators and success metrics across campaigns
• Get answers to complex data queries in just seconds without SQL
• More easily curate customer segmentation lists for retargeting or suppression
• And much more…

“The roll-out of Kochava AI Prompt represents an industry necessity for all marketers, making data-driven insights more approachable than ever and opening up new possibilities for digital marketing,” continued Hicks.

Kochava has been using machine learning and AI tooling across its diverse solutions suite, including its advanced attribution and fraud prevention products, for years. The company has also been adopting new technologies, such as leveraging LLMs to build new tools.

For example, Search Ads Maven powered by Kochava, a central data and intelligence hub to scale and optimize Apple Search Ads campaigns, features AI suggestions within its Keyword Analysis dashboard, enabling marketers to leverage Generative AI to find new keywords. AI can help marketers think outside the box to find those gems that standard sources aren’t turning up.

This is a first in cookieless audience curation and unification of data linkages between business insights and customer profiles at the household identity level.

In an age where the lines between personal and professional data is increasingly blurred, DrivenIQ emerges as the catalyst for brands to understand this intricate juxtaposition. Today, the company announced a major upgrade to its VisitIQ™ Audience Management Data Platform (AMP), which now provides valuable Business to Business (B2B) identifiers and professional insights, including firmographic data about where individuals work, their professional roles, company contact details, LinkedIn profiles, and more.

This marks a monumental departure from conventional account-based marketing outreach platforms. While ABM primarily serves as a tool for businesses to prospect high-value accounts, DrivenIQ's innovation lies in its ability to peel back identity layers to reveal high-value individuals within these accounts who are actively engaging with a business online. It's a transformation from one-dimensional cold marketing outreach to a multi-dimensional and deeper level awareness of individuals and intenders who are reaching out directly to businesses, instead.

This transformative shift goes beyond existing B2B2C technologies built on third party data. DrivenIQ's platform leverages a cookieless, deterministic first party data identity infrastructure to provide a deeper, more accurate understanding of individuals while ensuring all data meets the latest privacy requirements.

With these enhancements, not only will VisitIQ™users be able to see the wide variety of consumer attributes associated with their website visitors, create real-time first party lookalike audiences, and enrich external customer files and disparate data sources, but they will also be able to marry these data points with B2B firmographic details for even deeper insights of their audiences.

This is a first in cookieless audience curation and unification of data linkages between business insights and customer profiles at the household identity level.

"In today's post-COVID digital age, the lines between our personal and professional lives are converging and more fungible than ever," said Albert Thompson, Founder and CEO of DrivenIQ. "Remote and hybrid work forces have become the new paradigm in identity management, making firmographic B2B data equally important as part of a household profile. Understanding this intertwined relationship isn't just innovative; it's table stakes. With our B2B2C data integration, we're diving deep into this fusion, providing a richer, more comprehensive perspective of individuals as they navigate their multifaceted lives. This depth enables brands to connect and engage in revolutionary ways, erasing the traditional boundaries and resonating on a deeper, more meaningful level."

Whether it's a CEO researching new technologies, revenue teams looking into market trends, or marketing executives analyzing consumer behavior patterns, each action or attribute paints a holistic, 360-degree picture of an individual that can be translated into powerful insights. These insights can be used to drive business decisions or build a custom lookalike audience using the additional capabilities available inside the VisitIQ™ Audience Management Platform.

VisitIQ™ is an Audience Data SaaS Platform built on the company's cookieless first party identity resolution data technology. DrivenIQ's technology can identify website visitors and sequentially resolve customer data identifiers, which are stitched together with over 500+ attributes. The end result is one of the most powerful 360-degree customer views at the individual level within the household.

DrivenIQ also provides detailed information about each customer's journey down to URL, attribution source, medium, and granular level audience segmentation, empowering marketers to build unparalleled data customer cohorts and niche micro-segments.

With a clientele that spans across brands, publishers, and agencies, DrivenIQ continues to pave the way for meaningful personalized marketing.

Next Net Media, the powerhouse behind 200,000 website success stories, is excited to announce its acquisition of LinkBuilder.io, a prominent player in the SEO and link-building industry.

This strategic move is poised to enhance Next Net Media's suite of digital marketing brands. Next Net Media currently owns premier SEO companies Authority Builders, The HOTH, and SEOJet, as well as freelance marketplaces FreeUp and iWriter, and the advanced GAI platform, Copymatic.ai. The LinkBuilder.io acquisition further solidifies Next Net Media as a market leader in the digital marketing space.

The acquisition of LinkBuilder.io represents a significant milestone for Next Net Media, aligning perfectly with the company's commitment to providing comprehensive digital marketing solutions to clients around the world. This acquisition underscores the company's dedication to delivering quality deliverables and expanding its capabilities in SEO, a crucial component of digital marketing success.

LinkBuilder.io, known for its exceptional track record in link-building for well known consumer and business brands, brings a wealth of expertise, a talented team, and a robust portfolio of clients to the Next Net Media family. The integration of LinkBuilder.io's resources and knowledge into Next Net Media's existing services will enable the company to provide even more effective digital marketing strategies, including enhanced link-building solutions, to its clients.

"This acquisition is a significant step forward for Next Net Media, and we are thrilled to welcome LinkBuilder.io into our family,” said Marc Pickren, President of Next Net Media. “Their strong reputation in the industry, combined with their experienced team and proven results, will further empower us to meet the evolving needs of our clients.".

Marc Hardgrove, CEO of Next Net Media said, "Acquiring LinkBuilder.io signifies a monumental step in our quest to offer the very best in link-building solutions. This strategic move not only bolsters our presence in the digital arena but also propels us to provide unparalleled quality and innovation in the link-building industry. Together, we're poised to set new standards and lead the way in delivering the ultimate link-building experience."

Link-building is a critical aspect of search engine optimization (SEO), helping websites improve their search engine rankings and increase online visibility. By joining forces with LinkBuilder.io, Next Net Media will have a broader and more diversified toolbox to enhance the online presence of its clients. This strategic partnership will facilitate the creation of more robust SEO strategies, tailor-made for businesses across various industries.

"We are excited to become a part of Next Net Media, a company that shares our commitment to delivering world class digital marketing services," said Stewart Dunlop, Founder and CEO of LinkBuilder.io. "Together, we can leverage our strengths to create innovative and impactful campaigns that will benefit our clients and drive success in the digital landscape."

The acquisition of LinkBuilder.io is also expected to bring synergies and efficiencies that will result in more cost-effective solutions for Next Net Media's clients. The combined resources of both companies will enhance research capabilities, enabling a deeper understanding of the rapidly changing digital marketing landscape.

Next Net Media and LinkBuilder.io will be working closely in the coming months to ensure a seamless transition and integration of services. Clients of both companies can expect uninterrupted support and continued excellence in digital marketing.

Sinequa accelerates the use case applications of Google Cloud’s commercial generative AI tools via integration with Vertex AI

Enterprise Search leader Sinequa today announced it has expanded its partnership with Google Cloud by adding its generative AI capabilities to Sinequa’s growing list of integrations, so users can now converse with their content. By combining the conversational abilities of Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform with the deep factual knowledge provided by Sinequa's intelligent search platform, businesses can now harness the power of generative AI on their content to drive innovation, enhance customer experiences, and gain valuable insights from their enterprise content.

Sinequa's approach to generative AI is built on its agnostic approach, ensuring compatibility with all major generative AI APIs. Sinequa is proud to extend its support to Google Cloud's Vertex AI platform and its expanding library of large language models (LLMs) such as PaLM-2. This expansion enables Sinequa users to leverage the capabilities of Google Cloud's cutting-edge generative AI technologies seamlessly within their existing Sinequa ecosystem in a technique known as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).

In combination with generative AI, Sinequa’s Neural Search uses the most relevant information across all your content to ground generative AI in the truth of your enterprise’s knowledge. With search and generative AI together, you can engage in dialogue with your information just as you would talk with a knowledgeable colleague, and without any of the concerns present with generative AI alone, such as hallucinations or security. This means you can converse with your content: conduct research, ask questions, explore nuances, all with the confidence of the most accurate, relevant results.

With this integration, Sinequa becomes one of the first commercially available enterprise search solutions to offer such comprehensive generative AI capabilities. Powered by Sinequa's Neural Search, which is underpinned by Google’s LLMs, businesses can now enhance their enterprise search experiences with intelligent and conversational interactions powered by generative AI.

"Sinequa is excited to embrace the possibilities of generative AI and extend our integration capabilities to include Google Cloud's Vertex AI platform," said Alexandre Bilger, Co-CEO of Sinequa. "We believe this powerful combination of generative AI and intelligent search will revolutionize the way businesses uncover insights from their enterprise content, enabling them to stay ahead of the competition and deliver exceptional customer experiences."

Flagship Solution Emerges as First 'Conversational AI Data Analyst' that Instantly Finds Answers Hidden Across Large Corporate Data Sets Using Multi-Step Reasoning

DataGPT, the leading provider of conversational AI data analytics software, today announced the launch of the DataGPT AI Analyst, uniting the creative, comprehension-rich side of a large language model (LLM) (the "right brain") with the logic and reasoning of advanced analytics techniques (the "left brain"). This combination makes sophisticated analysis accessible to more people without compromising accuracy and impact.

Companies everywhere are struggling to conduct analysis as quickly as business questions evolve. Current business intelligence (BI) solutions fall short, lacking iterative querying needed to dig deeper into data. Similarly, consumer-facing generative AI tools are unable to integrate with large databases. Despite investing billions in complex tooling, 85% of business users forgo them, wasting time and money as data teams manually parse through rigid dashboards, further burdened by ad hoc and follow-up requests. Conversational AI data analysis offers the best of both worlds.

"Our vision at DataGPT is crystal clear: we are committed to empowering anyone, in any company, to chat directly to their data," said Arina Curtis, CEO and co-founder, DataGPT. "Our DataGPT software, rooted in conversational AI data analysis, not only delivers instant, analyst-grade results, but provides a seamless, user-friendly experience that bridges the gap between rigid reports and informed decision making."

DataGPT can proactively uncover insights for anyone, in any company. Non-technical business users and department managers can type questions into a familiar chat window interface using the same natural language they would when chatting with a colleague. They can ask questions like "why is my revenue down this week?" and easily dig deeper into the data using follow-on prompts that uncover additional levels of detail, like "tell me more about the drop from influencer partnerships." DataGPT can process billions of rows of data in real time and provides both insights and visualizations, a key differentiator from other available offerings.

Key benefits of DataGPT include:

• Lightning Cache - DataGPT's proprietary database is 90 times faster than traditional databases, enabling 15 times cheaper analysis and running queries 600 times faster than standard business intelligence tools.
• Data Analytics Engine - General purpose LLMs struggle with computationally complex questions. Ask DataGPT a question, and it will execute millions of queries and calculations to determine the most relevant and impactful insights.
• Data Analyst Agent - Smart enough to handle the ambiguities of human speech and accurately interpret which data elements are of interest to the user, our self-hosted LLM manages contextual interpretations and avoids the inaccuracies ("hallucinations") of generic foundation models.

By empowering anyone to ask any question of their data, DataGPT is putting skilled analysis capabilities into the hands of the everyday user, boosting efficiency, and helping companies build a modern, advanced data culture. These newly attainable insights can unlock previously undiscovered revenue streams and free up nearly 500 hours each quarter for busy data teams, allowing them to focus on higher-yield projects. DataGPT plans to open source its database in the near future.

"DataGPT has transformed our business, taking the investments we've made in our data and making those insights more broadly available to any team across our company," said Michelle Bellettiere, Head of Data Analytics, Plex. "Instead of relying on data analysts' time, I can get an instant read on our daily performance, allowing me to understand in minutes information that could take hours to track down in other tools. With DataGPT, I'm closer to our data than ever before without sacrificing other priorities."