Latest news with #Extend
Campaign ME
22-05-2025
- Business
- Campaign ME
Extend The Ad Network forms new board of directors to accelerate growth and strengthen governance
Extend The Ad Network, a Saudi group specialising in integrated marketing and strategic communications, has announced the formation of its new Board of Directors to lead the group into a new phase of expansion, innovation, and creative leadership. The move aims to enhance the company's competitiveness, boost its readiness for rapid market shifts, and drive innovation in line with the needs of local and regional markets. Get your tickets to the Campaign Breakfast Briefing: Marketing Strategies 2025 on May 29, where top industry leaders will gather to unpack game-changing practices within the world of marketing. The newly appointed board comprises of seasoned leaders with expertise spanning media, regulation, finance, technology, and organisational transformation. It is chaired by Mr. Bandar Mohammed Al-Asiri, with members including Mr. Ahmed Mohammed Al-Enezi, Mr. Adnan Abdullah Al-Khalaf, Mr. Hisham Hassan Atiyah, and Eng. Sami Fahad Al-Rasheed. The Board convened for its inaugural meeting at the company's headquarters in Riyadh, where it approved a set of key governance initiatives, including the launch of a Nomination & Remuneration Committee and an Audit Committee, foundational steps toward more agile and transparent decision-making. This institutional milestone strengthens Extend The Ad Network's strategic footprint in the marketing, communications, and advertising space across the Middle East and North Africa. The company continues to invest in data-driven marketing solutions that harness creative talent and advanced technology to build stronger brand engagement. The board of directors includes: Mr. Bandar Mohammed Asiri – Chairman of the Board Mr. Asiri is a leader in business, governance, and media. He served on the media team for Saudi Vision 2030, was a member of the Shura Council, and chaired the General Commission for Audiovisual Media, Arabsat, and the Media ٌRating Company. He also served on the Board of the General Entertainment Authority. Previously, he held leadership roles at AL-KHALEEJIAH Advertising & Public Relations Company and Almarai. Today, he is Co-Founder and General Manager of Suhail International, and Co-Founder of Mal Media Group and Najla Foods. His institutional and entrepreneurial experience will strategically steer 'Extend' in line with the Kingdom's national development goals. Ahmed Mohammed Alanazi – Board Member A pioneer in fintech and digital transformation, Mr. Alanazi has led initiatives, including the public launch of Barq wallet and the development of STCPay. As CEO of AlBuraq Financial Company and a board member of the Insurance Authority and eFinance Investment Group, he brings financial acumen and a digital-first mindset that will bolster Extend's innovation strategy and tech-enabled service offerings. Adnan Abdullah Al-Khalaf – Board Member With extensive experience across sectors such as retail, telecommunications, sports, and tourism, Mr. Al-Khalaf is a seasoned executive recognised for driving transformation in large organisations. He serves on the boards of the Riyadh Chamber, Al-Saif Agencies, L'azurde Jewelry, and Trophy Commercial, and leads the Quality of Life Office for Administrative Consulting. His strategic versatility and operational insight will help scale Extend's integrated solutions across industries. Hisham Hassan Attia – Board Member A financial strategist with deep roots in the media and human capital sectors, Mr. Attia is the CFO and board member of Al Holoul Al Mutakamela Holding Company. With a career spanning corporate finance roles at Saudi Research and Media Group, Arthur Andersen, and Ernst & Young, his expertise will strengthen Extend's financial governance and support sustainable growth initiatives. Eng. Sami Fahd Al-Rashid – Board Member As a co-founder of Extend and a visionary in marketing and strategic growth, Mr. Al-Rashid brings a legacy of leadership and brand building. His 10 years of experience as Extend's CEO and his involvement in national-level committees, such as the Riyadh Chamber's Advertising and Publicity Committee, underscore his deep industry knowledge. His return to the board signals continuity and creative evolution at Extend. Extend The Ad Network is a Saudi-based firm offering end-to-end marketing and communications services, combining digital capabilities with creative strategy. Its portfolio spans media planning, brand identity, influencer marketing, public relations, content production, and AI-powered solutions.
Techday NZ
12-05-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Extend unveils open-source AI toolkit for smarter finance
Extend has released an open-source AI toolkit aimed at enhancing how businesses manage and analyse financial data. The toolkit supports multiple frameworks, including Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP), OpenAI, native integration with LangChain, and compatibility with CrewAI to facilitate complex multi-agent workflows. The company states that this versatility allows businesses to incorporate Extend's API seamlessly into their existing AI-driven systems, enabling more advanced spend analysis and automated finance processes. The toolkit is designed to offer flexibility to businesses, allowing them to interact with Extend while continuing to use their preferred banks or credit cards. Its intention is to help organisations adopt AI solutions tailored to their needs, supporting functions such as intelligent financial queries, custom reporting, and workflow automation. Jonathan Bailey, Extend's Chief Technology Officer, commented on the motivation behind the toolkit: "When I started to explore the multitude of use cases for AI in our industry, I zeroed in on the power of 'agentic frameworks', and realised we could enable tools like Claude to interact directly with Extend via our APIs and immediately unlock extensive AI functionality for our customers." Through the integration of these frameworks, users are able to query financial data using natural language input, conduct advanced analytics, and generate custom reports. Automation powered by AI agents can manage tasks such as expense categorisation and budget tracking. Businesses will also be able to analyse spending patterns, identify cost-saving opportunities, and obtain greater insights into areas such as cash flow, team spending, and overall budget allocations. Andrew Jamison, Extend's Chief Executive Officer and co-founder explained the broader company strategy: "At Extend, we believe in empowering businesses to do more with what they already have - whether that's credit lines, banking relationships, or software investments. With this AI toolkit, we're taking that mission to the next level, giving our customers the tools they need to make smarter, faster, and more informed decisions." Extend indicated that development efforts will continue to focus on expanding AI automation features within its platform, in response to increasing demand from companies seeking more streamlined financial management solutions. Extend is a modern spend and expense management platform that helps businesses gain control over spending - without changing their existing bank or credit card programs. Thousands of companies use Extend to create and manage virtual cards, streamline payment workflows, and get real-time visibility into team and vendor spend. According to the company, Extend powers billions of dollars in transactions while partnering with the financial institutions businesses already trust.
Techday NZ
09-05-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Extend launches open-source AI toolkit for smarter financial data
Extend has introduced an open-source AI toolkit designed to enhance the way businesses interact with and analyse their financial data. The spend and expense management platform has released this toolkit with compatibility for Anthropic's Model Context Protocol (MCP), OpenAI, LangChain, and CrewAI, allowing businesses to seamlessly integrate Extend's API into their own AI-driven systems. This move aims to make spend analysis and workflow automation more accessible and customisable for companies with varying internal infrastructures and needs. By supporting several widely used frameworks, the toolkit is intended to provide businesses with significant autonomy in selecting the software and financial institutions suited to their operations. It enables integration and interaction with Extend's API for custom AI workflows, which include data queries, report generation, workflow automation, and expense management operations. Jonathan Bailey, Chief Technology Officer at Extend, said, "When I started to explore the multitude of use cases for AI in our industry, I zeroed in on the power of 'agentic frameworks', and realized we could enable tools like Claude to interact directly with Extend via our APIs and immediately unlock extensive AI functionality for our customers." This facility allows users to interact with their financial data using natural language, facilitating advanced analytics, tailored reporting, and the automation of processes such as expense categorisation and budget tracking. Companies leveraging the toolkit can deploy AI agents to review spending trends, spot opportunities to reduce costs, and obtain more nuanced insights into cash flow management, budget allocations, and payment behaviours across teams. The introduction of the open-source AI toolkit follows Extend's approach of supporting businesses in using their existing banking relationships and credit card programmes while providing enhanced financial technology solutions. As the company highlights, the added AI element aims to further customer empowerment by improving efficiency and offering more granular financial insights. Andrew Jamison, Extend's Chief Executive Officer and co-founder, commented, "At Extend, we believe in empowering businesses to do more with what they already have—whether that's credit lines, banking relationships, or software investments. With this AI toolkit, we're taking that mission to the next level, giving our customers the tools they need to make smarter, faster, and more informed decisions." Extend's AI toolkit is being positioned as a resource for businesses seeking to streamline financial processes without major changes to their existing infrastructure. The company states that the toolkit is part of its broader effort to combine AI with spend and expense management for enhanced control of business finances. Development plans are in place at Extend to further expand AI automation features in its platform, according to the company. These future enhancements are expected to continue the trajectory towards more automated and efficient financial management solutions for business clients.
Finextra
09-05-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Extend launches open source AI toolkit
Extend, the spend and expense management platform that works with business' existing credit cards, announces the launch of its open-source AI toolkit marking a significant step forward in finance automation solutions for businesses of all shapes and sizes. 0 This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. The toolkit supports several frameworks including seamless integration with Anthropic Model Context Protocol (MCP); OpenAI; native support for LangChain; and compatibility with CrewAI for complex multi-agent workflows. With this multi-framework support, the flexibility businesses love about Extend—access to modern solutions with the banks and credit cards of their choice—takes on a whole new level of versatility now that users can integrate and engage with the Extend API in their custom AI workflows. 'When I started to explore the multitude of use cases for AI in our industry, I zeroed in on the power of 'agentic frameworks',' said Jonathan Bailey, Extend's Chief Technology Officer, 'and realized we could enable tools like Claude to interact directly with Extend via our APIs and immediately unlock extensive AI functionality for our customers.' These integrations allow Extend's users to query their financial data using natural language, perform advanced analytics and generate custom reports, and automate workflows such as expense categorization and budget tracking. Businesses can now use AI agents to analyze spending patterns, identify cost-saving opportunities, and gain deeper insights into cash flow, budget allocations, team spending, and other payment trends. This open-source AI Toolkit underscores Extend's commitment to innovation and customer empowerment. By combining the power of AI with Extend's robust spend and expense management platform, businesses can now unlock new levels of efficiency, insight, and control over their finances. 'At Extend, we believe in empowering businesses to do more with what they already have—whether that's credit lines, banking relationships, or software investments,' said Andrew Jamison, Extend's CEO and co-founder. 'With this AI toolkit, we're taking that mission to the next level, giving our customers the tools they need to make smarter, faster, and more informed decisions.' Extend plans to continue expanding its AI capabilities, with product development focused on incorporating more AI automation features within the Extend platform.
