

Discover more from SparkNews
Happy Wednesday!
This week, weβve flown the Paris team over to Malta for an off-site trip π©! What better way to celebrate the new year with the team knowing we can #workhard and #playhard anywhere, together? More about this below ;)
Hereβs what weβve put together for your weekly Spark reads:
π NEWS FROM OUR MATES
Equip your business with customer and employee success products with Freshworks πΌ
Our mates at Freshworks have been cooking up a neat deal for you - a US$10,000 credit for all of their products as part of their startup program!
Used by renowned brands like Cisco, Honda and Hugo Boss, Freshworks aim to support businesses of all sizes to achieve customer and employee success π Their products span across Customer Service, HR Management, Marketing Automation, IT Service Management and Sales Automation, with functional trainings, resources, networks and mentorship available.
They also have Freshstack, a CRM for Sales, Marketing and Customer Support operations in 1 (with a separate additional credit of US$3,000) to support you in launching your startup π If you have any questions, reach out to our mate Amrita directly!
π€Έ FUN PRODUCT WE LOVE
Create videos that drive action in minutes with Biteable π¬
Videos perform best when it comes to engaging audiences (or people in general!). Video making can be time consuming though - but not when youβve got over 1,000 templates to choose from!
Biteable is a video editing platform that allows you to make videos in minutes just by choosing a template to start from, personalizing its content, images and videos, and branding it with your company colors and logos. Their templates vary from ads, product announcements and infographics, to trailers, Instagram stories and hiring videos - youβll definitely have enough to pick and choose from to showcase your products, business or team!
Biteable starts at $0 which means you can already try it out, and goes from $49 once you need to use your own personalized watermarks (and remove Biteableβs!).
π TECH FOOD FOR THOUGHT
βFloatingβ train in China travels at 600km/h π
By the end of 2020, China had built over 140,000km of railways, with 38,000km dedicated to high speed trains, making way for the debut of the fastest ground vehicle available on the planet in Qingdao just last year: their latest maglev train that travels at 600 kilometres/hour or 373 miles/hour!
The train levitates just above the rails, using electromagnetic forces that both propel the train and eliminate friction. The train halves the travel time between Shanghai and Beijing, and can hold 2-10 cars with over 100 passengers in each! The trainβs service start date is still unknown - but we hope to see and try it out soon!
π± TECH FOR SUSTAINABILITY
Turn footsteps into electricity π
Weβve heard of generating electricity through hamster wheels and stationary biking, but what about through something we all do every day, effortlessly, like walking?
Researchers from Switzerland have found a way to turn footsteps into electricity, through wooden flooring β‘οΈ They developed an energy harvesting device called a βnanogeneratorβ, which uses wood with a silicone coating and embedded nanocrystal.Β
The nanogenerator essentially sandwiches two pieces of wood between electrodes, and a single A4-sized wooden plank can produce enough energy to power LED lightbulbs and small electronics! How cool is that?
π₯ WHATβS ON @ SPARKMATE
The Paris π«π· team takes over Malta π²πΉ
In 2020, we took an off-site trip to Lisboa. Last year, we went to Arcachon. This time, weβre at Malta! π
Business as usual for us this week - just that the team can jump in the pool/ocean/jacuzzi in between tasks (or do exercises at the indoor gym), and work alongside and bond under the Maltese sunset over good food and beers π₯ (Our Hong Kong and Bucharest teams couldnβt join us π’ - weβre playing by COVID rules! But again, we can #workhard and #playhard anywhere π ).
Exciting things are happening every day β‘οΈ Follow us on social media to stay tuned!