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bne Tech
May 10, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 26
Yaskawa opens €25mn robot factory in Slovenia
Japanese technology group Yaskawa opened its new robot factory and European robotics development centre in the Slovenian town of Kocevje on May 6.
The €25mn factory was opened due to growing demand for industrial robots in Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Africa. The Central and Eastern European market, while smaller than the markets of Western Europe, North America or Asia, is experiencing fast growth as companies look to automation and robotisation in response to growing labour shortages.
“Our goal is to shorten supply chains and delivery times, to enable us to react faster to regional
market requirements and our customers’ wishes – not only with the new plant, but also with a major European robotics development centre,” said Masahiro Ogawa, executive officer of Yaskawa Electric Corp. in his address at the opening ceremony.
The company noted that in relocating its technological know-how and production competence from Asia to Europe, it is “consciously acting against the international trend”, as it pursues an ambitious expansion strategy in Europe.
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Armenia’s censor-defeating secure messaging app Pinngle announces $12mn of funding
Armenia-based private messaging app enterprise Pinngle has secured an investment of $12mn to fund a company launch and international expansion.
Pinngle is notable in that it can function in places where similar calling apps are blocked, such as in countries with heavy internet censorship, accord- ing to the entrepreneurs behind it. It has over 3mn users and supports free messaging, voice calls, and video chat.
Pinngle will use the funding to improve its user experience, strengthen service stability, as well as introduce new features and service integra-
tions, according to a Reuters report carried by HitechWiki.
CEO Gegham Azatyan reportedly said: “With current trends in investment, it’s a considerably large amount of funding for a VoIP app. But it serves to tell that our features and values do give us competitive potential.”
Pinngle is designed to overcome call blocking, a type of internet censorship that is frequently used to block messaging apps in regions such as the Middle East and Latin America. Pinngle is also one of the few messengers that can maintain