If there is one thing we’ve learned from the past 13 months of shutting our cameras off during virtual meetings, it’s that we all want to been seen less on and watch more cartoons.

Vyond, the animation software company for business has raised $50 million US to capitalize further on the demand for its product from large enterprises.

“Growth at all costs has never been a page in our playbook”, said Gary Lipkowitz, the company’s CEO. “Vyond has delivered a consistent track record of high growth, coupled with sound fundamentals and we’ve been profitable since inception. Last year we generated more cash flow than we’ve ever raised.”

Press release: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vyond-raises-50-million-to-solidify-position-as-leader-in-enterprise-video-creation-301270409.html

And, when you have to be seen on screen, but not as a cat, avatar or Lisa Simpson, more tools are coming! With salons and barbershops closed during lockdown, digital wigs are the next big thing.

With barbershops and salons shuttered for lockdowns, Hong Kong-based Evergreen Products Group, a wholesaler of synthetic and human hair wigs and extensions, is developing and investing in digital wigs. The new products for the virtual fashion space, will use the Ethereum blockchain currency of non-fungible tokens or NFTs.

“We took a hard look at our position during the COVID crisis,” said Evergreen CEO Chang Yoe Chong Felix. “Since we are already a market leader in the traditional wholesale business segment, we realized we owed it to ourselves and our customers to be much more aggressive about becoming more digital. E-commerce is only the beginning.”

Press release: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/evergreen-products-sets-its-sights-on-e-commerce-nfts-and-the-future-of-fashion-301270565.html

Beyond cartoons and digital accessories, there is still one more tool to fight screen fatigue! Gamification.

Ambition, a provider of sales gamification and coaching software, has launched new functionality for sales teams through Metric Snapshots. The function suite allows sales leaders to populate CRM records and data into ad hoc or scheduled one-on-one check-ins or pipeline reviews. The approach is meant to create a more data-driven approach to coaching while reducing the prep time for coaching sessions and check-in meetings with salespeople.

“The best sales coaching is data-driven. Yet a challenge we hear often is that before a check-in with a sales rep, a manager has to download a few custom reports from Excel or open multiple tabs to find the information that will help them effectively coach their people,” said Ambition co-founder and COO Brian Trautschold. “Right now, there’s no way to show a pipeline snapshot from the past alongside one from the present, highlight the change and surface it in a meeting format.”

Press release: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ambition-launches-metric-snapshots-to-personalize-coaching-11s-with-dynamic-data-301267165.html

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Kate Baggott is a former Managing Editor of B2BNN. Her technology and business journalism has appeared in the Technology Review, the Globe and Mail, Canada Computes, the Vancouver Sun and the Bay Street Bull. She is the author of the short story collections Love from Planet Wine Cooler and Dry Stories. Find links to recent articles by following her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-baggott-9a0306/