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Truecaller completes the acquisition of TextPlus Inc.

STOCKHOLM, Sept. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On the 10th of September Truecaller AB (publ) (“Truecaller” or the “Company”) completed the previously announced acquisition of TextPlus Inc. (“TextPlus”) (the “Acquisition”). The Acquisition increases Truecaller’s footprint in the US and…

transcosmos establishes CX Square Park23 Bali in Indonesia

Provides multilingual CX services by expanding its operations network in Indonesia to 7 locationsTOKYO, Sept. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — transcosmos today announced the opening of CX Square Park23 Bali, a new operation site in Indonesia. As its 7th operation…

baraka launches investments on DFM and ADX for UAE investors

Eligible customers can invest in companies listed on Dubai Financial Market and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange through baraka, with local investments funded in AED.More than 70% of baraka investors are under 35, highlighting the growing participation of younger…

How the Aquamation Process Works

Endswell modern funeral home logo

What this covers Building a Category Rather Than Entering One The Economics of Green Death Care Three Locations in Four Years Availability What Preplanning Changed About the Model A husband and wife team with no funeral industry background have grown a single Hillsborough practice into three North Carolina locations since 2022. CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina, United States – September 8, 2026 – Four years after entering an industry neither had worked in, Hunter Beattie and Veronica Penn Beattie have opened a third location for the funeral home they founded, taking a space at 601 W. Rosemary St., Unit 109, in Chapel Hill. The couple started Endswell Funeral Home in Hillsborough, North Carolina in 2022. Their backgrounds were in the nonprofit and renewable energy sectors. Neither had worked in death care. The decision was made quickly. In early 2022 Hunter Beattie was sitting near a cemetery in Carrboro and read about Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who had chosen aquamation, a water based alternative to flame cremation, for his own body. Within two weeks the couple had resolved to build a funeral home around the process. At the time, no facility in North Carolina’s Triangle region offered it. That remains true today, with Endswell the only provider. Building a Category Rather Than Entering One Launching a funeral home is difficult. Launching one around a process most families have never heard of is a different problem, and it shaped how the business grew. Rather than compete on the terms the industry already used, the company built around a small set of practices that were unusual for the sector. It publishes its general price list openly rather than supplying figures on request. It hosts Death Cafe gatherings, informal community conversations about mortality. It built much of its early business around families who wanted a farewell that reflected how a person had lived. “We were two people with no funeral experience and a strong opinion that families deserved better options,” said Hunter Beattie, co-owner and co-founder. “Everyone told us the industry does not change. What we found is that families were already ahead of it. They were asking for things nobody was offering them.” The Economics of Green Death Care The environmental side of the business has attracted outside investment. Endswell received a grant through the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program covering half the cost of a 150,000 dollar solar installation, intended to bring its aquamation and green burial services to carbon neutral operation. Aquamation itself uses water and alkaline chemistry instead of flame. According to Hunter Beattie the process releases no toxic or carcinogenic gases and produces no carbon emissions. The company also became the primary funeral home working with Bluestem Conservation Cemetery, a conservation burial ground that opened in 2022, the same year Endswell did. Endswell now assists with the majority of natural burials there. Three Locations in Four Years The Chapel Hill opening is the company’s third site, joining Hillsborough at 407 Meadowlands Dr. and Durham at 116 Crutchfield St. Neither older site closes, and the team works across the whole group rather than being tied to one address. The new building is standalone and staffed, with its own signage, and handles aquamation, green and natural burial, traditional cremation, traditional burial, preplanning and memorial services. There is a symmetry to the address that is not lost on the founders. West Rosemary Street runs toward the Carrboro line, a few blocks from the cemetery where the original idea arrived. “Standing in the new building and remembering where the thought first landed is strange,” said Veronica Penn Beattie, co-owner and co-founder. “We did not have a plan four years ago. We had a conviction and no idea how hard it would be. What has kept it going is families telling us it was the right decision on the worst week of their lives.” Availability Families across Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough, Durham, Mebane and Pittsboro are served from the three sites, and the company answers calls day and night. What Preplanning Changed About the Model A meaningful share of the company’s work is preplanning, in which a person records and often prepays their own arrangements before death. For a young business, preplanning is both a revenue base and a slower, steadier relationship than at-need work, which arrives without warning and is decided in days. It also suits the kind of customer the company attracted early. Families who want aquamation or a conservation burial tend to have thought about it in advance, which is a different sales conversation from the one a traditional funeral home has at the door. Running three sites off shared staff and a single preparation facility is the operational question that follows. Arrangements are made locally, at whichever address suits the family, while the specialist equipment stays centralized. About Endswell Funeral Home Founded in 2022 by Hunter Beattie and Veronica Penn Beattie, Endswell Funeral Home runs three sites in North Carolina, United States, at Hillsborough, Durham and Chapel Hill. Its work spans aquamation, natural and green burial, cremation and traditional funerals, and it remains the Triangle’s only aquamation provider.

New VA Clinic Opens in Chesapeake’s Western Branch

New VA Clinic Opens in Chesapeake's Western Branch

The Hampton VA has opened a new outpatient clinic in Chesapeake’s Western Branch, a facility outlets say includes the Veterans Health Administration’s first drive-through pharmacy and aims to shorten travel times for area veterans.