Financial technology company opens its app in more than 50 countries during FLOW Summit as 500-plus builders develop AI and Web3 products

BANGKOK, Oct. 17, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE  — U-topia, a financial technology company building a self-custody app for everyday money movement, has opened its public beta in more than 50 countries. The company announced the launch at FLOW Summit 2026, held Oct. 15-16 at Avani Sukhumvit Bangkok, five years after U-topia was founded.

More than 700 people attended the two-day launch, including technology entrepreneurs, developers and community members from several countries. The program combined U-topia product demonstrations and company updates with U-Hackathon, a global build program focused on practical AI and Web3 products.

“Five years ago, I set a simple standard: if my mother could not use the product without calling me for help, it was not ready,” said Emmanuel Quezada, founder and CEO of U-topia. “Opening the beta with people from around the world, while hundreds of builders were creating new tools beside us, brought that idea to life. Our goal is to make moving money as simple as sending a message while keeping people in control.”

A public beta designed around everyday use

U-topia is designed to let eligible users hold, send, spend, convert and withdraw digital and everyday currencies through one mobile app. Users can send funds to another U-topia user through a U-Tag, a simple @name that replaces a long wallet address. The company says funds remain under the user’s control rather than being held by U-topia.

The public beta follows private alpha and closed beta testing with community members and ambassadors. Feature availability varies by country. Account opening, card issuance and transactions remain subject to age requirements, identity verification, partner rules and local law. U-topia is not a bank or card issuer; card and local currency services are provided through licensed partners where available.

U-Hackathon brings global builders to Bangkok

FLOW Summit also hosted U-Hackathon on Oct. 15-16. Organizers said the event attracted more than 500 hackers and builders from around the world. Teams worked through a 24-hour build period with product, engineering and design mentors before presenting working prototypes in two tracks: artificial intelligence and Web3. The program extended the app launch into a working forum for new products, technical collaboration and international builder participation.

The competition recognized three teams in each track. Organizers valued the combined awards at more than 2.5 million Thai baht, including the advertised THB 1 million core prize pool, partner bounties and technology credits. UBotPay, an AI-powered payment agent built for Web3, won first place in the Web3 track. U-Reach, an AI-powered marketing, sales and customer relationship management platform, took first place in the AI track.

U-Hackathon was sponsored by ElevenLabs, Tokenomist AI and DTC Group, in association with Avalanche, Team1 Thailand, Yellow.com, ContributionDAO, CUBS Chula and Hooray. Judges selected projects on merit, and members of the U-Center DAO community voted live for the grand prize.

The summit also included a preview of U.bot, a related AI venture from members of U-topia’s founding team. U.bot is being developed as a user-controlled orchestration layer that can select among AI models and coordinate specialized agents. Its long-term roadmap aims to create a more capable personal AI experience with characteristics the team associates with superintelligence; those advanced capabilities are planned and are not currently available.

About U-topia

Founded on Oct. 16, 2021, U-topia is a financial technology company building a self-custody mobile app intended to help people hold, send, spend, convert and withdraw digital and everyday currencies while retaining control of their funds. U-topia is not a bank and does not issue cards. Availability and features vary by country and are subject to partner requirements and local law. Learn more at www.u-topia.com.

Civil servant, researcher and AI pioneer tells the 3rd World AI Summit, Bengaluru, that people-first, sovereign AI can make India a global AI leader

Bengaluru, India, 16th October 2026, ZEX PR WIRE  — Dr. Hemant Garg, Deputy Director (Legal), Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, received the “Excellence in AI for Public Policy” award at the 3rd World AI Summit in Bengaluru on 14–15 October 2026, placing an Indian public-policy voice at the centre of the global debate on how AI should serve people.

Dr. Garg described all of his work, from AI agents for government to AI-led labour law outreach, as an effort to help realise Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of Viksit Bharat@2047, under the leadership of Hon’ble Union Labour and Employment Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, whose Shramev Jayate reforms, Labour Codes and Ease of Doing Business drive set the direction. The goal, he said, is an Atmanirbhar Bharat in AI, built on a Bharat AI Stack: Indian large language models such as Sarvam, the Bhashini platform serving citizens in their own languages, and home-grown agents and talent under the IndiaAI Mission, taking India into the global AI league.

Held with Digital India, the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) as partners in Bengaluru, India’s startup, IT and now AI capital, often called India’s Silicon Valley, the Summit was themed “AI for All: Accelerating India’s Journey Towards Inclusive, Responsible and Future-Ready AI”.

The award honours his creation in 2023 of “IFSCA Karmayogi”, the first AI agent at the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), GIFT City, and his research on AI in anti-money laundering, the Labour Codes and algorithmic management of gig workers.

On the panel “AI for All – India’s Journey to a Sovereign, Inclusive AI Future”, with Shri Aman Mittal, IAS, Dr. BVRC Purushottam, IAS and Prof. (Dr.) T. G. Sitharam, former Chairman, AICTE, moderated by Dr. Ravi Gupta, Dr. Garg said inclusive AI must include the worker, and that India can blend Europe’s rights-based approach, US-style audits and Singapore’s skilling model through its Labour Codes, the DPDP Act and e-Shram.

His keynote, “AI, Employment & Skills: Building a Future-Ready Workforce for India”, presented as “From Files to Foresight”, began with a worker disabled in an accident, or a family that has lost its breadwinner, whose care and pensions depend on ESIC, EPFO, the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the National Health Authority. “The true test of AI in government is how quickly that family receives its benefits, and whether it is treated with dignity on the way,” he said.

He traced three waves of governance: e-Governance, which put paper online; Digital Governance, built on India’s digital public infrastructure; and now AI-enabled Intelligent Governance, where benefits reach eligible citizens without their having to apply.

Dr. Garg propounded that AI will change tasks first, then jobs, then institutions and the workforce, and called for institutions for AI governance, impact assessment and exposure mapping to curb job attrition, support reskilling and compensate workers in transition. e-Shram, ESIC and EPFO, now reaching gig and platform workers, can extend social security to those left out, while indigenous models such as Sarvam and Bhashini can grow home-grown AI talent under the IndiaAI Mission.

Government AI, he said, must be lawful, explainable and accountable; “a pattern is not proof”; and India must guard against a new colonisation “not by ships, but by servers”. He proposed “Five Ts”: Trust, Transparency, Talent, Thin and safe data, and Tested-then-scaled.

An LLB, LLM and Ph.D., and an IIT Delhi CTO Programme alumnus with nearly two decades in public service, including Punjab’s Department of Cooperation, Dr. Garg has researched digital governance in governments and cooperatives extensively; his work is published internationally, taught in universities and presented at Oxford, Harvard and Cambridge.

“Not artificial intelligence replacing governance, but intelligent governance that remains deeply human,” he concluded.

Connect with Dr. Hemant Garg on LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/in/dr-hemant-garg-2b26699

ShippingContainersNow.com has launched an upgraded online store offering certified new and used shipping containers with 48-hour dispatch from 15 regional depots, alongside turnkey container offices, refrigerated units, and container pool installations shipped to all 50 states in the USA.

Los Angeles, California, United States, 17th Oct 2026 — Buying a shipping container used to mean calling around to depots, waiting days for a quote, and hoping the delivery company showed up on time. ShippingContainersNow.com was built to change that.

The company, which has been operating since 2016, has upgraded its online store to let customers across all 50 states browse, select, and order containers directly — without the back-and-forth. Inventory includes 20ft and 40ft units in new and used condition, refrigerated containers, open-side models, container offices, and container pools, with most orders dispatched within 48 hours of purchase.

“We kept hearing the same thing from customers — they didn’t know where to start, or they’d get a quote and then hear nothing for a week,” said James Harlow, Founder and CEO. “We wanted to fix that. You should be able to buy a container the same way you buy anything else online — see what’s available, know what it costs, and get it delivered.”

The site currently lists over 100 container options across multiple grades and configurations. Every unit is wind and watertight (WWT) certified and inspected for structural integrity before it ships. Customers also get a tracking link once their order is dispatched and a call from the driver before delivery — something Harlow says his team added after customer feedback.

Delivery is handled through a network of 15 regional depots across the country, which keeps rates lower than competitors working out of a single location. Larger orders can be moved via rail freight for bulk purchases.

Beyond standard storage containers, the company also supplies refrigerated conex units for cold-chain storage, modular container offices built out with insulation, electrical, and HVAC, and container pools that arrive ready to connect and fill. Harlow says demand for the conversion side of the business has grown steadily over the past two years.

“People are getting creative with these things,” he said. “We’ve sold containers that became farm offices, pop-up shops, event bars, and backyard pools. The storage side is always steady, but the conversion requests keep growing.”

The company’s blog also covers buying guides, size comparisons, price breakdowns, and delivery tips — aimed at first-time buyers who aren’t sure where to start.

ShippingContainersNow.com can be reached at sales@shippingcontainersnow.com. The full product catalog is available at https://shippingcontainersnow.com/shop.

Media Contact

Organization: ShippingContainersNow

Contact Person: James Harlow

Website: https://shippingcontainersnow.com

Email: Send Email

Contact Number: +13232851569

Address: 2100 E Anaheim St

Address 2: unit 14

City: Los Angeles

State: California

Country: United States

Release id: 49991

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ShippingContainersNow.com Now Offers 48-Hour Container Dispatch From 15 Depots Nationwide