Digital Transformation

Lexington, Ky. – September 16, 2026 -- A 14-year audit of 758 B2B press releases found that none scored above the 80-out-of-100 threshold required to be considered "AI wire-ready," according to research accompanying the launch of Pitch'd, a press release builder now live at www.pitchdapp.com.

Study finds AI-citation readiness in B2B releases nearly halved as AI search emerged

The report, titled "Why ChatGPT Doesn't Cite Your Releases," tracked the share of releases scoring well on AI-visibility metrics and found it fell from 21.5 percent in the pre-AI era to 10.8 percent in the AI era, driven by newly required scoring criteria tied to answer engine optimization (AEO). The findings underpin the case for Pitch'd, built by St. Nick Media Services, a B2B PR agency founded in 1998.

Atlanta – September 16, 2026 -- Granum has relaunched Greenius, its employee training platform for landscaping and arboriculture businesses, with new native mobile apps and bilingual course content in English and Spanish.

New hires can start training within five minutes via QR code sign-up

The rebuilt platform lets landscaping companies onboard a new hire by scanning a QR code, placing them into training content in under five minutes. The system draws on a library of more than 200 purpose-built courses covering landscaping and tree care operations.

Standardized playlists aim to keep crew output consistent across job sites

Businesses can assign pre-built, role-specific course playlists so that every new hire receives identical training regardless of which crew or manager brought them on. Granum says the goal is uniform output quality across properties, independent of on-site supervision.

Lake Oswego, Ore. – – September 16, 2026 -- LeadVenture, the digital technology partner serving roughly 40,000 dealerships and service centers, has appointed Nasi Jazayeri as Chief Executive Officer, effective September 16, 2026.

Jazayeri succeeds Tim MacDonald, who moves to an advisory board role

Tim MacDonald transitions out of the CEO seat but will remain on LeadVenture's Board of Directors in an advisory capacity. MacDonald described Jazayeri as "one of the most impressive technology executives you will meet, a builder who connects product and go-to-market."

Moriarty, New Mexico – September 16, 2026 -- Sceye's ST1 high-altitude platform has completed a nearly 30,000-km round-trip mission between New Mexico and Japan, landing back near the company's Moriarty headquarters after re-entering continental U.S. airspace on September 16, 2026. The uncrewed stratospheric aircraft reached New Mexico airspace on September 16, 2026, where engineers ran final platform tests before executing a planned flight-termination and descent procedure.

Los Angeles – September 15, 2026 -- Partillion Bioscience has secured a two-year, $2.1 million NIH Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award to scale its Cell-Cell-seq technology toward datasets of up to one million cell pairs. The grant, awarded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) under Award Number R44GM165220, is Partillion's 10th SBIR grant and brings the company's total non-dilutive federal funding past $8 million, roughly matching its private investment to date without additional equity dilution.

San Francisco – September 15, 2026 -- Fast Company has named Corgi Insurance to its Best Workplaces for Innovators in North America 2026 list, citing the AI-native insurance carrier's embedded culture of technology and rapid experimentation.

Corgi operates as a full-stack, AI-native insurance carrier across the underwriting lifecycle

The company uses automation throughout claims, underwriting, trucking and other emerging lines of business, while expanding into new product categories built for modern commercial clients.

Corgi built custom AI tooling and hundreds of internal automation skills for employees

The company has developed proprietary agent clusters and custom tools that let staff automate workflows across departments, reducing manual steps in core insurance operations.

Houston – September 15, 2026 -- Fiber broadband has added an estimated $1.6 billion in aggregate home value to single-family homes sold across Houston since 2020, according to an independent study commissioned by Ezee Fiber titled "Fueling Houston's Growth with Fiber."

Fiber coverage jumped from 75% to 94% of Harris County in three years

Access to fiber broadband providers in Harris County rose from 75% in 2022 to 94% by late 2025, reflecting sustained infrastructure investment across the region. Median download speeds nearly tripled over the same period, climbing from roughly 80 Mbps in December 2022 to more than 280 Mbps by December 2025, approaching the national average of 308.11 Mbps.

Lincolnshire, Ill. – September 15, 2026 -- 95 Percent Group has launched 95 Principles to PracticeTM—Literacy, a facilitator toolkit aimed at closing the gap between science of reading training and actual classroom instruction in K-3 schools.

82% of K-3 teachers report science of reading training, but only 52% say instruction reflects it

The disparity, cited from a Fordham Institute report, illustrates what the company calls the "knowing-doing gap" in literacy education. Research reported by the International Dyslexia Association found that without dedicated implementation teams, it takes 17 years on average to embed roughly half of a new initiative into routine classroom practice.

New York – September 15, 2026 -- FlexFactor has become the only organization shortlisted in six categories at The Card & Payments Awards US 2026, according to the company's review of the published finalist list.

FlexFactor recovers 15% to 20% of eligible declines across live merchant deployments

The payments technology firm is live with more than 100 merchants using AcceptIQ, its AI-native platform for real-time payment decline decisioning. AcceptIQ evaluates transaction, issuer, merchant, data-quality, acquiring, and routing signals to determine whether a declined payment is recoverable and identify the appropriate recovery path.

Austin, Texas – September 15, 2026 -- Walden Media Group (WMG) has been designated an approved marketing vendor for CycleBar, the indoor cycling brand operating more than 200 locations within the Extraordinary Brands portfolio.

WMG gains access to CycleBar's 200-plus studio network

The partnership brings WMG's localized performance marketing framework directly to CycleBar franchisees nationwide, targeting rider acquisition and membership growth at the individual studio level.