YY Group (NASDAQ: YYGH) Issues Strategic Update on AI-Native Platform Evolution and Inaugural AI Product Preview

Outlines Four-Module AI Framework Built on Existing Hospitality Workforce Operations Across 12 Countries and Regions

Unveils Yolara, its first AI-Powered Product for the Hospitality Industry

Reaffirms FY2026 Revenue Guidance of US$103 Million to US$110 Million

SINGAPORE, May 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- YY Group Holding Limited (NASDAQ: YYGH) ("YY Group" or the "Company"), a global leader in on-demand workforce solutions and integrated facilities management (IFM), today published a strategic update outlining its evolution from one of Asia's largest hospitality workforce providers into an AI-native workforce management platform for the global hospitality and service industries.

From Workforce Provider to Intelligent Infrastructure

Leveraging more than 16 years of hospitality and facilities management experience, YY Group has built one of Asia's largest hospitality-focused workforce operations, placing tens of thousands of workers annually across hotels, commercial properties, and service environments in Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, Malaysia, Thailand, and a growing number of markets worldwide through its YY Circle application.

That operational foundation — deep client relationships, high-volume placement infrastructure, and a proprietary digital platform that is already embedded in daily workforce operations across 12 countries and regions — is now the launchpad for the next phase of the Company's growth: the development and systematic integration of AI tools across its workforce solutions and IFM businesses.

The Company has already deployed first-generation AI capabilities within YY Circle, including automated digital workforce verification, AI-powered customer support, and intelligent attendance assurance. These initial deployments validated the Company's thesis that AI can meaningfully improve operational efficiency at scale across its hospitality workforce operations. For its next phase, the Company has established a strategic partnership with Arros AI, an NVIDIA Inception program member, and appointed Arros AI CTO & Co-Founder, Kai Yang, as Chief AI Scientist, to support its evolution from operational AI that improves internal efficiency to product AI that generates new revenue streams and deepens engagement with clients.

The Industry Challenge

The global hospitality industry is facing a structural workforce crisis that traditional staffing models cannot solve. Labor shortages across hotels, commercial properties, and service environments are no longer cyclical — they reflect a permanent shift in how workers choose, engage with, and exit employment. At the same time, hotel operators and facility managers are navigating rising wage floors, high turnover, expanding regulatory complexity across jurisdictions, and growing pressure to maintain service quality with leaner teams.

Legacy approaches, such as manual sourcing, phone-based screening, and paper-driven scheduling, were not built for this environment. The companies that solve the hospitality labor problem at scale will do so with intelligent infrastructure, not incremental headcount. YY Group is positioned to be that company — with 16 years of operational experience, a platform embedded across 12 countries and regions, and now, an AI infrastructure roadmap designed specifically to shape the future of hospitality workforce management.

YY Group's AI Infrastructure Strategy

YY Group is building its AI capabilities around four modules that align with the end-to-end workforce lifecycle, progressing from today's intelligent decision support toward the Company's longer-term vision of agentic AI — systems that autonomously execute workforce tasks end-to-end without human intervention.

Talent Intelligence — AI-driven candidate discovery, screening, ranking, and matching. This is the Company's most advanced AI capability and the first to market, built through its technology partnership with Arros AI. Yolara, the Company's first product under this module, extends YY Circle from blue-collar gig staffing into white-collar hospitality recruiting, enabling hotel clients to source management-level roles, such as revenue managers, sales directors, and operations leaders, through the same platform they already use for frontline staffing.

Workflow Intelligence — AI-optimized workforce deployment, shift scheduling, and real-time demand matching. Using predictive analytics to anticipate staffing needs based on occupancy data, seasonal patterns, and historical utilization, this module's products are designed to reduce unfilled shifts, lower deployment costs, and improve workforce responsiveness.

Data Intelligence — An analytics and reporting layer providing hotel operators with workforce performance insights, labor cost benchmarking, and predictive workforce planning. Products under this module aim to transform YY Circle from a staffing tool into a workforce management decision infrastructure that becomes deeply embedded in how hotel operators plan and manage labor.

Agentic and Robotic Automation — Automation is the Company's longest-horizon module, designed to extend the platform's intelligence layer from decision support into autonomous action. Agentic AI products under this module are being developed to execute workforce tasks such as shift filling, compliance checks, and worker communications autonomously, operating across the messaging channels workers and hotel managers already use. Beyond software, this module also encompasses physical automation capabilities for hospitality environments, including the Company's existing robotics pilot program evaluating hospitality and security robots in partnership with KEENON Robotics in Southeast Asia and a local robotics company in Las Vegas, Nevada.

These modules and their products are at different stages of development. Products will be announced individually as each reaches the stage of demonstrable product readiness and measurable client results.

Inaugural AI Product: Yolara, AI-Native Workforce Solutions for the Hospitality Industry

The Company's first AI product, Yolara, is currently in development and is expected to launch in the third quarter of 2026. Yolara is designed as an AI-native platform extension, enabling YY Circle to serve the full hospitality labor spectrum — from blue-collar worker deployment to white-collar management hiring — within a single integrated system.

Blue-collar workforce deployment will be powered by YY Circle's existing technology, enhanced with AI-driven scheduling, matching, and attendance assurance. White-collar hiring capabilities will be delivered through an integration of Arros AI's recruitment intelligence technology, bringing AI-powered candidate screening, ranking, and matching to management-level roles in a segment where placement cycles are long, recruiter workloads are high, and the cost of a bad hire is significant.

The underlying technology, developed by Kai Yang, CTO and Co-founder of Arros AI, has demonstrated the ability to reduce recruiter workloads by approximately 80% in prior deployments. Mr. Yang holds a master's degree in statistics from Harvard University and a bachelor's degree in mathematics and statistics from the University of Toronto, where his research in deep learning and natural language processing was conducted within one of the world's foremost AI research environments. Before co-founding Arros AI, he also founded and successfully exited Moyin Tech Inc., a Y Combinator China alumnus.

For YY Group's existing hotel clients, Yolara will allow operators who rely on YY Circle for blue-collar staffing to manage and source management-level talent through the same platform. This unified approach will create a new revenue stream from the Company's existing client base while deepening platform engagement, increasing switching costs, and strengthening long-term client retention.

Management Commentary

Mike Fu, Chief Executive Officer of YY Group, commented, "When we built YY Circle, we started with a simple realization: the hospitality industry needs workforce solutions that are faster, smarter, and more reliable than what traditional staffing can deliver. That insight has taken us from a single market in Singapore to operations across 12 countries and regions, serving some of the world's most recognized hotel brands. Today, we are taking the next step–evolving from a workforce solutions provider into an AI-native infrastructure platform for the global hospitality and service industries.  

"Our clients already rely on YY Circle to staff their properties every day. With Yolara, those same clients will be able to source and evaluate management-level talent through the same platform — powered by AI technology that has already demonstrated the ability to reduce recruiter workloads by approximately 80%. This is a genuinely new revenue stream built on existing client relationships, and it is only the first of several AI-driven capabilities we intend to bring to market.

"The appointment of Kai Yang as our Chief AI Scientist and our technology partnership with Arros AI give us the technical foundation to execute this vision at scale. The hospitality labor challenge is structural and global. The company that solves it — not with more headcount, but with AI infrastructure that autonomously manages workforce operations end-to-end — will define the category. That is what we are building."

Jason Phua, Chief Financial Officer of YY Group, added, "Our AI platform investments are being executed within a disciplined financial framework, with AI-related projects funded from operating cash flow and existing resources. We delivered revenue of US$57.2 million for fiscal year 2025, up 39.3% year over year, and reaffirm our fiscal year 2026 revenue guidance of US$103 million to US$110 million and anticipated non-IFRS profitability. We also expect the operating leverage in our model to drive continued margin expansion as we scale. This AI strategy enhances our growth trajectory — it does not change our path to profitability."

The Company will provide detailed updates on Yolara's adoption, including client usage data and operational performance metrics, following the initial deployment period. Updates on subsequent AI module launches, product development milestones, and the integration of AI capabilities across the Company's IFM business will be communicated as each reaches the stage of demonstrable product readiness and measurable client results.

About YY Group Holding

YY Group Holding Limited (Nasdaq: YYGH) is an AI-native workforce management platform and integrated facility management (IFM) provider, headquartered in Singapore and operating across Asia and beyond. The Company's intelligent workforce solutions system, YY Circle, helps clients across hospitality, food and beverage, retail, and other service sectors predict, plan, and optimize workforce deployment. In YY Group's IFM business, its 24IFM software platform and comprehensive IFM subsidiary portfolio support clients across hospitality, transportation, banking, retail, and mixed-use facilities.

As both business lines scale, the Company is systematically embedding AI and automation capabilities – progressing from intelligent decision support toward increasingly autonomous workforce management – to improve service quality, reduce deployment costs, and drive long-term margin expansion. Listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, YY Group is committed to infrastructure innovation, measurable client outcomes, and long-term value creation.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the YY Group Holding Limited's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. These factors include, but are not limited to, (i) growth of the hospitality market across Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and other markets in which the Company operates, (ii) capital and credit market volatility, (iii) local and global economic conditions, (iv) our anticipated growth strategies, (v) governmental approvals and regulations, (vi) our ability to successfully develop, deploy, and commercialize our AI-powered products and capabilities, including through strategic partnerships, and (vii) our future business development, results of operations and financial condition. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "may," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "target," "aim," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "potential," "continue," "is/are likely to" or other similar expressions. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and YY Group Holding Limited undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

Investor Contact

Jason Zhi Yong Phua, Chief Financial Officer
YY Group
[email protected]

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