Latest news with #Lightpath
Otago Daily Times
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Matariki extravaganza a no go
Matariki will be a lot quieter in Kaiapoi this year, with a popular festival and colourful interactive Light Path cancelled due to funding shortfalls. Karl Howarth, the co-owner of BlueSky Events, which organised the event, says it is sad news. This year Matariki falls on Friday, June 20. ''The cost to run these events is over $60,000, and as Matariki is a free community event the funding comes from grants, sponsorship, vendor fees, and by running a ticketed Lightpath event.'' He said he was trying to pull something out of the fire right up until the last minute, but nothing would work logistically. ''Everybody tried their hardest. We were talking to sponsors and they were all keen to come on board again, but we would have had to find extra sponsors which I already know is very tricky. ''The key thing for us this year was the grant funding bodies. ''We applied to a number of them, but we were only approved by a couple so we have a shortfall of around $10,000 in terms of where I would be comfortable in running the event.'' He says that is still way short of actually covering any of the costs of the event as the sponsorships and grants only cover about a third of the costs. ''The rest of it is made up with market vendor fees, and running last year's Lightpath attraction. ''The Lightpath was how we managed to get the revenue to fund the costs of the Matariki festival, but it's a commercial ticketed event and we don't know how many tickets we will sell until the week of the event. ''It's nearly a $30,000 risk hoping we will sell enough tickets from that event to cover the costs of the Matariki community festival, which we don't charge people for.'' Howarth said this year his risk levels are a little bit lower because he has to cover this himself, because BlueSky Events is not a council funded entity. ''My cafe is my only backup along with the contract work we undertake. ''It's just too great this year.'' If he had been successful with a couple more grant applications, he says he probably would have taken the risk. ''We took a big risk with it last year and we know what we could have expected from the Lightpath, but with a couple of funding bodies not approving our requests we just can't take the risk.'' He says a number of community events have struggled this year because of a lack of funding and this is no different. ''We knew that last year and this year things are a lot tighter.'' The funding bodies all say the same thing - they have more applications than they have money for. ''We have a wonderful relationship with the Waimakariri District Council, they offered us funding and we have several grants from them, but we needed more and a couple of grants didn't come through this year, which in previous years have funded Matariki.'' ''This year it put more onus on the Lightpath to fund that and I wasn't prepared to take the risk.'' Howarth says he is already planning for next year's event. ''We know the event works well, we know people love it, and we know the rural community is bouncing back a little this year and that will hopefully flow through to the general economy and then our normal sponsors will come back on board and the grant bodies won't be so overwhelmed with applications.''
Business Insider
07-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Verily CEO tells staff the sale of its insurance business is a 'strategic win' as the deal closes
Elevance Health's acquisition of Verily's insurance business has closed. Verily's CEO told staff in a memo that the sale will strengthen the company's financial position. Verily has been on a mission to shed projects and pivot to AI as it eyes life beyond Google's walls. In an April 30 memo to staff, which was seen by Business Insider, Verily CEO Stephen Gillett said Elevance's acquisition of its stop-loss insurance subsidiary, Granular, had officially closed. "This acquisition represents a strategic win for Elevance Health, Granular, and Verily," Gillett wrote in a note to staff. "On our end, this sale strengthens Verily's financial position and allows us to reinvest the proceeds towards Verily's strategic priorities," he later added. BI first reported in February that Verily had entered an agreement to sell Granular to insurance provider Elevance Health. A Verily spokesperson referred BI to a previous statement confirming the company's agreement to sell Granular. Companies sometimes take out top-loss insurance to pay their employees' medical bills and limit their financial exposure, potentially protecting them from sharp increases in spending. Granular launched in 2020 and used "proprietary technology" for its services, the company said. With its insurance business sold, Verily has shed another project as it aims to further streamline itself and refocus its strategy around AI. Verily sits among the "other bets" owned by Alphabet but live outside Google. It started out in Google's moonshot lab in 2015 and focused on an array of projects, including wearables and surgical robots. It has been criticized for entertaining too many bets and lacking a clear focus. The unit completely pivoted to COVID-19 screening and testing during the pandemic. Last year, Verily announced a new AI-powered chronic care product named Lightpath, designed to help patients living with conditions such as diabetes and obesity. Verily is also eyeing a future beyond Alphabet's walls. In January, the life sciences group separated some of its internal systems from Google's, such as certain employee benefit systems. Last year, Verily issued employees new laptops, office badges, and email addresses that are no longer aliases of the Google email domain, multiple people familiar with the matter told BI.
Business Insider
07-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Verily CEO tells staff the sale of its insurance business is a 'strategic win' as the deal closes
Alphabet life sciences unit Verily has officially sold its insurance business to Elevance Health, its CEO told employees last week, as the company continues to shed projects and focus on AI. In an April 30 memo to staff, which was seen by Business Insider, Verily CEO Stephen Gillett said Elevance's acquisition of its stop-loss insurance subsidiary, Granular, had officially closed. "This acquisition represents a strategic win for Elevance Health, Granular, and Verily," Gillett wrote in a note to staff. "On our end, this sale strengthens Verily's financial position and allows us to reinvest the proceeds towards Verily's strategic priorities," he later added. BI first reported in February that Verily had entered an agreement to sell Granular to insurance provider Elevance Health. A Verily spokesperson referred BI to a previous statement confirming the company's agreement to sell Granular. Companies sometimes take out top-loss insurance to pay their employees' medical bills and limit their financial exposure, potentially protecting them from sharp increases in spending. Granular launched in 2020 and used "proprietary technology" for its services, the company said. With its insurance business sold, Verily has shed another project as it aims to further streamline itself and refocus its strategy around AI. Verily sits among the "other bets" owned by Alphabet but live outside Google. It started out in Google's moonshot lab in 2015 and focused on an array of projects, including wearables and surgical robots. It has been criticized for entertaining too many bets and lacking a clear focus. The unit completely pivoted to COVID-19 screening and testing during the pandemic. Last year, Verily announced a new AI-powered chronic care product named Lightpath, designed to help patients living with conditions such as diabetes and obesity. Verily is also eyeing a future beyond Alphabet's walls. In January, the life sciences group separated some of its internal systems from Google's, such as certain employee benefit systems. Last year, Verily issued employees new laptops, office badges, and email addresses that are no longer aliases of the Google email domain, multiple people familiar with the matter told BI. Verily is also looking to raise another round of capital in the next few months, BI previously reported.
