Archives May 2026

Business Wire India

Paymentology, the leading global issuer-processor, today announced a $175 million investment co-led by Apis Partners (”Apis”), a private equity firm specialising in financial infrastructure and services, and Aspirity Partners (“Aspirity”), a pan-European Private Equity firm focused on Financial Technology & Services and Enterprise Technology & Connectivity Services.

 

The investment will support Paymentology’s continued global expansion, product development and strengthening of its team, as the company builds on strong demand for modern issuer processing on a global scale.

 

 

The transaction brings together two investors with deep experience in the payments industry and a shared focus on advancing payments infrastructure, united by the view that issuer processing represents one of the most significant opportunities in the sector. For Apis, the investment, made by Apis Growth Fund III¹, marks the firm’s 16th payments investment. Both Apis and Aspirity will draw on their deep sector and global network of payments experts to support the next phase of Paymentology’s growth.

 

 

Joe O’Mara, Founder and Managing Partner at Aspirity Partners commented: “Payments is a core pillar of our investment strategy, and Paymentology represents the kind of category-leading platform we look to back: modern technology, global relevance and strong exposure to long-term growth in digital payments. As Aspirity’s first investment from our inaugural fund, this partnership reflects our sector-specialist approach and was the downstream outcome of our proactive thematic origination model, including the valuable contribution of our Innovator & Leader network. We have been particularly impressed by the execution and ambition shown by Jeff and the team, and look forward to supporting the company through its next phase of international growth.”

 

 

Matteo Stefanel, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Apis commented:“We are thrilled to partner with Paymentology – a company that operates at the centre of an attractive and fast‑growing segment in the global payments ecosystem – and build on our decade plus relationship with the executive team. Leveraging our global connectivity and sector expertise across the payments value chain, we look forward to supporting management as they continue to scale, extend their capabilities and deliver meaningful, lasting impact by improving access to modern financial services worldwide.”

 

 

Despite the global payments market being estimated at $49 trillion by 2026, much of the issuing layer remains constrained by legacy infrastructure, limiting innovation, speed and the quality of end-user payment experiences. Paymentology is addressing this gap through its highly configurable, cloud-native platform, enabling real-time processing at scale for clients across 68 countries and giving issuers the flexibility to launch, adapt and manage card and digital payment experiences more efficiently across markets.

 

 

Jeff Parker, CEO at Paymentology, commented: “The future of finance is already here, but legacy infrastructure continues to hold back innovation. At Paymentology, we see a significant opportunity to remove that friction and enable our clients to move at the pace the market demands. We’ve built an issuing platform designed for growth, helping digital banks, fintechs and financial institutions launch, scale and expand their card programmes with confidence. By combining global capability with the flexibility to adapt locally, we enable our clients to compete more effectively with speed, control and efficiency, in an increasingly dynamic landscape.

 

 

This investment and the strength of our partnership with Apis and Aspirity is a strong endorsement of our platform and strategy. It positions us to accelerate our growth, expand our capabilities, and continue supporting our clients as they build momentum, and unlock truly unstoppable progress.”

 

 

This momentum is reflected in Paymentology’s performance, with new sales rising 117% year-on-year in FY25 and transaction volumes increasing 65%. Growth has been driven by strong demand from digital banks, embedded finance providers, digital asset-linked card programmes and expense management platforms, alongside established banks modernising legacy systems. The business also benefits from a highly diversified international client base and significant exposure to high‑growth regions including the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and APAC.

 

 

Paymentology’s strong customer relationships, ability to operate across diverse regulatory environments and continuity of management further strengthen its position as a trusted global infrastructure partner. The company will use the capital to support the growth and innovation ambitions of its current and future clients, while expanding beyond core issuer processing into adjacent areas including credit, stablecoin, tokenisation and AI-driven services. Paymentology supports clients in close to 70 countries, including leading FinTechs (for example: M-Pesa by Safaricom, RedotPay, Rain, TrueMoney, ARQ, and many others), and some of the world’s fastest growing neobanks (such as GoTyme, Snappi, Wio Bank, D360, Albo, among others).

 

 

Udayan Goyal, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Apis added:“As the 16th investment Apis has made in the global payments sector, this deal reinforces our strong conviction in the opportunity within issuer processing. This partnership represents a shared vision to accelerate the democratisation of card issuance, broaden access to digital financial infrastructure and expand into new geographies and adjacent capabilities. This further exemplifies our approach of backing proven mission-critical infrastructure providers, capital‑light business models that generate attractive returns while driving measurable positive impact demonstrating that long‑term value creation and impact go hand in hand.”

 

 

¹ Apis growth Fund III denotes Apis Global Growth Fund III and Apis Growth Markets Fund III

 

 

About Paymentology

 

 

Paymentology is the leading next-generation issuer processor, empowering fintechs, digital banks and retail banks to effortlessly launch and manage innovative payment solutions on a global scale. The company drives greater customer choice and value through easy-to-use, integrated platforms and services that help clients to disrupt the status quo, accelerate time to market, and achieve growth.

 

 

With a superior multi-cloud platform offering a vast global footprint, and enhanced real-time data, Paymentology distinguishes itself as a leader in the payments industry. Its team of payments experts, with deep local market knowledge, operates across 68 countries and 14 time zones, providing 24/7 support. Paymentology is deeply committed to expanding financial inclusion globally, changing lives and positively impacting the communities in which it operates.

 

 

For more information visit www.paymentology.com.

 

 

About Apis Partners

 

 

Headquartered in London, the Apis Group (“the Firm”) is a leading global private equity firm specialising in financial infrastructure and technology. Managing or advising on US$2.3 billion in AUM, the Firm invests in profitable, proven business models, partnering with management teams to drive transformative growth and deliver exceptional returns.

 

 

With a team of over 40 professionals across three global hubs, the Firm leverages decades of sector expertise and deep international connectivity. Dedicated to creating value, the Firm employs a hands-on, partnership-driven approach, supporting portfolio companies with strategic advice, M&A opportunities, and operational improvements. The Firm is highly conscious of the impact that the provision of growth capital can achieve; as such, financial inclusion and financial wellness are core tenets of its impact investment approach.

 

 

For more information visit www.apis.pe.

 

 

About Aspirity Partners

 

 

Aspirity Partners is a pan-European private equity firm focused on growth buyouts and strategic minority investments in Financial Technology & Services and Enterprise Technology & Connectivity Services. The firm partners with businesses providing mission-critical, technology-enabled services in sub-sectors benefiting from long-term secular growth trends.

 

 

Aspirity combines deep sector experience with a proactive, insight-driven investment approach, working closely with management teams to deliver high-impact initiatives that drive operational excellence, internationalisation, and strategic expansion.

 

 

The firm’s model is supported by a network of founders and senior executives (Innovators and Leaders), providing specialist insight, and partnering with businesses to help unlock step-function growth.

 

 

For more information visit www.aspiritypartners.com.

 

 

 

 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260512676799/en/

 

Mumbai, May 12: Garnier India has collaborated with Mumbai-based visual artist and storyteller Neha Doodles to produce a limited–edition ‘Care Box’ ahead of Mother’s Day, available now across select pincodes in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad.

 

The Care Box is a curated Garnier hamper featuring original illustrations by Neha Doodles applied across the packaging. Each doodle depicts a specific domestic or personal moment — a holiday bag, a bathroom shelf, an evening ritual — drawn from the artist’s signature style, which roots product use within the emotional texture of everyday life. The result positions the hamper as a keepsake as much as a gift.

 

The pan-India initiative invites consumers to gift the Care Box to their mothers as a gesture tied to what the campaign calls ‘moments of care’ — the habitual, unannounced acts of nurturing that the brand is seeking to make visible and celebrated. For Garnier, the collaboration extends its brand positioning beyond product efficacy into cultural territory, using illustration to open a wider conversation around appreciation and recognition.

 

Neha Doodles is known for illustration work that translates emotional states into accessible visual narrative. Her practice draws on nostalgia and intimacy, qualities that informed the brief for the Care Box and its translation of Garnier’s product range into illustrative storytelling.

 

The Care Box is available while stocks last. The campaign film is available to view on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYFT8OMPsjX/

Business Wire India

 

Highlights

• The State of India’s Competitiveness Report was released on 11.05.2026 by the Institute for Competitiveness (IFC). In the run-up to its release, the Institute engaged in a series of high-level conversations across leading academic and policy institutions, spanning Stanford University, the University of Akron, Northeastern University and Harvard Kennedy School as part of a broader global dialogue on India’s economic trajectory, the future of competitiveness, and the policy imperatives of a world in flux.
• The report, featuring a foreword by Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, V. Anantha Nageswaran, offers a comprehensive, data-driven examination of India’s competitive landscape across its core factors of production.
• The report offers a comparison of India against advanced and emerging economies across six dimensions: productivity, human capital, financial systems, infrastructure, innovation, and environmental resilience.
• The report identifies four transformations (4Ts) as essential imperatives for India’s journey to Viksit Bharat.

 

The State of India’s Competitiveness Report was released on 11.05.2026 by the Institute for Competitiveness (IFC). In the run-up to its release, the report catalysed a series of substantive engagements across leading institutions as part of a broader global conversation on India’s economic trajectory, the future of competitiveness, and the policy imperatives for a world in flux.

The report, featuring a foreword by Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, V. Anantha Nageswaran, arrives at a pivotal moment as India charts its path towards becoming a developed economy by 2047. In his foreword, Mr. Nageswaran notes that the report serves as “a useful stocktaking; identifying structural gaps, benchmarking performance, and anchoring the conversation about India’s economic future in measurable, comparable data rather than assertion.”

Key Engagements in the Lead-Up to the Report’s Release:

On April 7, 2026, Prof. Amit Kapoor delivered a talk on “The Rise of the Startup Ecosystem in India and Its Societal Impact” at Bishop Auditorium, Stanford University. The talk was followed by a discussion with Dr. Richard Dasher, discussing the massive changes in India’s market structure and evolving dynamics, highlighting how the startup ecosystem is reshaping both economic and social outcomes at scale.

On April 13, 2026, Prof. Kapoor delivered the University of Akron School of Law’s prestigious Oldham Lecture “Policy, Economic Development and Competitiveness: What the Populist Moment Reveals About Growth and Governance” at the University of Akron, Cleveland, Ohio. Drawing on his work in global competitiveness, he situated recent political upheavals not as isolated events but as signals of deeper economic and institutional change, challenging conventional assumptions about what drives growth and exploring how technological shifts, including AI, are redefining talent, skills, and opportunity in the global economy.

On April 15, 2026, Prof. Kapoor delivered a talk to the Mason Fellows at Harvard Kennedy School; a programme that counts among its alumni 14 heads of state and Nobel Peace Prize laureates sharing his perspectives on India’s economic growth journey, public policy, and the larger global role India can play to the mid-career leaders. He was also in a fireside conversation with Dr. Mark Esposito, Faculty Associate at the Centre for International Development, Harvard Kennedy School, Boston, on the theme of “How Technology is Remaking Global Power Dynamics and the Role of India in a World in Flux.” The discussion, held at Harvard Kennedy School in partnership with the India Caucus, examined India’s competitive positioning at a moment of global technological and geopolitical realignment.

Honorary Chairman of the Institute for Competitiveness, Prof. Amit Kapoor, said: “In 2022, Prof. Michael Porter, Prof. Christian Ketels, and I set the roadmap for the Economic Advisory Council of the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) and asked where India needed to go. This current report asks whether India’s structural competitiveness foundations are strengthening in ways that allow the country to attain its vision for 2047.”

Dr. Mark Esposito, Faculty Associate, Centre for International Development; Berkman Klein Venter and IQSS said: “This report gives India’s innovation ambition something it has always deserved, which is a rigorous, honest, and forward-looking map of where the foundations are strong and where they need to go next.”

Productivity and Prosperity

The report places the bridging of the productivity gap at the centre of India’s competitiveness agenda. India’s GDP per capita stands at USD 2,397, below peer emerging economies such as Brazil (USD 9,567) and Vietnam (USD 4,018). While India has sustained a labour productivity CAGR of 3.76% between 2010 and 2024, output per worker of USD 5,964 remains significantly below that of both advanced economies and emerging peers. Alongside this, the report discusses the challenge of advancing social progress to build a more durable foundation for productive growth and long-term prosperity.

Financial Systems

Banking and financial systems enable productive investment, capital allocation, and economic growth. Non-food credit grew at an 11.73% CAGR between 2013-14 and 2024-25, gross NPAs fell to a two-decade low of 2.3% by March 2025, and near-universal financial inclusion has been achieved with 89% adult account ownership and UPI now active across multiple countries. Yet domestic private sector credit at ~50% of GDP remains well below China (170%), the US (220%), and Vietnam and Australia (120%). MSMEs, which represent over 90% of enterprises and ~30% of GVA, face an estimated credit gap of ₹20-30 lakh crore. This carries implications for enhancing the efficiency and quality of capital allocation.

Human Capital

Gaps in education, health, and skills risk undermining its productive potential. Mean years of schooling stand at 6.88, below advanced economies and most emerging peers, with learning outcomes weakening sharply by Grade 9. Health expenditure at 3.31% of GDP lags China, Brazil, and most advanced economies. On skills, only 3.74% of those aged 12–59 have received vocational or technical training, and 88% of the workforce remains in low-competency occupations. Women account for 42% of STEM graduates but hold only 14% of STEM jobs. With a Brain Drain Index of 4.8 and an outbound-to-inbound student mobility ratio of 28:1, converting demographic scale into productive capability remains the central human capital challenge.

Innovation Capacity

Enhancing a country’s innovation capacity requires sustained investment in knowledge creation to raise total productivity. India ranks 38th on the WIPO Global Innovation Index 2025 and has been an innovation overperformer for 15 consecutive years. However, R&D expenditure remains at 0.65% of GDP; researcher density is among the lowest; corporate R&D intensity among the top 2000 companies is low; only 4 innovative clusters drive the economy; and the startup ecosystem faces a conversion bottleneck from validation to scale, accompanied by low and concentrated investment.

Physical infrastructure

India has made significant strides in enhancing its physical infrastructure, from road connectivity to digital infrastructure, and its rise in the world’s renewable landscape. India has reduced logistics costs to around 8% of GDP. However, persistent gaps remain. Per capita electricity consumption is low at 1,182 kWh, transmission losses stand at 14%, and despite 82% population coverage of 5G, urban-rural digital divides and cyber vulnerabilities affect the quality of infrastructure.

Environment and Sustainability

The report has identified environmental sustainability as a core determinant of long-term competitiveness and examines five dimensions – natural endowments, water stress, carbon intensity, waste and circularity, and climate commitments through the lens of productivity, investment, and market access. India has progressed by achieving 52.57% non-fossil energy capacity early, reducing carbon intensity, and committing, through its updated NDC, to 60% non-fossil capacity and a 47% emissions-intensity reduction by 2035. However, gaps in water governance, industrial decarbonisation, and circularity remain.

The Four Transformations

The report concludes by identifying four transformations the 4Ts essential for India’s journey to Viksit Bharat: Talent Development (converting demographic scale into productive human capital and social progress); Technological Evolution (translating digital reach into AI-enabled productivity); Transforming Existing Innovation Ecosystems (moving from fragmented innovation to a scaled industrial and investment ecosystem); and Transition to Climate-Resilient Growth (shifting from linear growth to climate-consistent and circular competitiveness).

The report can be looked at https://competitiveness.in/state-of-competitiveness-in-india/

Download Report

For more information, contact: Sheen Zutshi (sheen.zutshi@competitiveness.in)

Business Wire India

 

• IQM Radiance systems now operate as computational nodes inside HPC environments.
• The hybrid workflows are scheduled and managed alongside CPUs and GPUs by the same workload manager already operational in the world’s top supercomputing centers.
• The new HPC Integration Service reflects the company’s production quantum model – end-users own the hardware, run it on their infrastructure, and operate it under their control.

 

IQM Quantum Computers today launched HPC Integration Service, a turnkey solution that enables its IQM Radiance quantum computers to operate as a slurm node inside high-performance computing (HPC) environment.

 

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260512187465/en/

 

 

 

Using this widely adopted HPC workflow, IQM aims at accelerating adoption of hybrid quantum-classical computing across enterprises and research institutions. Slurm is the open-source workload manager used by most of the world’s leading supercomputing centers for its scalability and flexibility.

 

The integration service makes quantum a scheduled resource alongside central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs), removing the integration work that has slowed adoption.

 

 

In addition, the service is built on IQM´s Quantum Device Management Interface (QDMI), an open-source standardization layer that simplifies the vendor-specific software interfaces that have fragmented quantum integration to date.

 

 

The new HPC Integration Service has been demonstrated in a paper on arXiv co-authored with researchers at the Munich Quantum Software Company (MQSC) and is already running in production at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) in Germany, where IQM has installed four quantum computers.

 

 

“We have been hearing about an integration bottleneck from HPC customers for years,” said Jan Goetz, CEO and Co-founder of IQM Quantum Computers. “HPC integration is important work and by removing the complexity, end-users can focus on running quantum workloads instead on spending time on programming new routines. This is what production quantum means to us. Quantum you own, operate, and build value on. Real infrastructure inside real environments, doing real work.”

 

 

Quantum computers have been deployed at customer sites for several years, but once installed, most of them have operated next to the HPC software stack rather than inside them. Every deployment required custom integration work that the next deployment could not reuse. The new HPC Integration Service unifies the software stack, allowing customers to focus on use-case execution.

 

 

The HPC Integration Service closes the gap by enabling users to submit quantum jobs through the same interface and scheduler they use for CPUs and GPUs. Researchers can run benchmarks across systems using tools they already know, while system teams keep their existing operating model.

 

 

“Our vision has always been the seamless integration of quantum computing into existing HPC environments, where users can run applications without concern for the underlying hardware. The Quantum Device Management Interface, as part of the Munich Quantum Software Stack, is a key step toward this goal. We are proud to see innovations developed within Munich Quantum Valley now being adopted by IQM as a key player in the quantum world to enable hybrid quantum-HPC workloads in real environments,” said Prof Dieter Kranzlmüller, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Leibniz Supercomputing Centre.

 

 

IQM has on-premises systems operating at four of the world’s top 10 supercomputing centres and has sold more quantum systems than any other manufacturer. The company’s ambition is to be the foundation that customers build their quantum capability on.

 

 

In February, IQM announced plans to go public through a business combination with Real Asset Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: RAAQ). Following the close of the transaction, the company is expected to list on a major U.S. stock exchange, with a dual listing on the Helsinki Stock Exchange under consideration.

 

 

About IQM Quantum Computers:

 

 

IQM Quantum Computers is the global leader in superconducting quantum computers, delivering full-stack quantum systems and cloud platform access to research institutions, universities, high-performance computing centers, and national laboratories worldwide. IQM’s on-premises deployment model gives customers direct ownership and control of their quantum infrastructure. Founded in 2018, headquartered in Finland, it has over 350 employees. IQM operates across Europe, Asia, and North America. IQM has announced its plans to become the first publicly listed European quantum company on a major U.S. stock exchange by merging with Real Asset Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: RAAQ); with a dual listing on the Helsinki Stock Exchange also under consideration.

 

 

 

 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260512187465/en/

 

 

 

 

Australia, 12th May – TrafficGuard, the ad verification platform, trusted by William Hill, Zain and Now Finance, has launched a fully automated self-serve platform that gives SMEs enterprise-grade click fraud protection in under 10 minutes. Once deployed, the platform immediately starts analysing campaign traffic and protecting Google Ads budgets from bots, click fraud and invalid traffic.

 

TrafficGuard has seen its SME customer base surge over the last 12 months, with self-serve accounts growing to over 10,000, driven by increased demand for ad-fraud protection solutions. TrafficGuard’s solution ensures SMEs can rapidly deploy and scale their analytics and defences with almost no barrier to entry. 

 

“Invalid traffic and click fraud are no longer just an enterprise problem – the bots have moved downstream, and small businesses are often the softest target. Most don’t even know how much of their ad spend is being wasted,” said Mathew Ratty, Co-founder and CEO of TrafficGuard. “With over 200 million SMEs spending on digital advertising globally, it’s crucial they have a clear and transparent view of their advertising performance and where their budgets are going. We’re now focused on providing our proprietary platform to all types of businesses to protect the ecosystem from invalid traffic and fraud.”

 

TrafficGuard’s self-serve platform allows SMEs to make better informed decisions with an expansive view of their advertising performance and invalid traffic (IVT) rates consolidated into a single interface. The solution provides in-depth analytics for Google Ads, with Meta (Facebook and Instagram) protection scheduled by July 2026. The SME offering is highly accessible at $49 per month, with a user-friendly sign-up and fully automated model without the need for enterprise level support.

 

“Tackling click fraud and other forms of invalid traffic has become increasingly urgent for advertisers in the SME sector, and this is one of the main drivers behind our decision to launch our tailored solution,” said Chad Kinlay, CMO at TrafficGuard. “The platform utilises a phased approach to pricing, minimising friction and simplifying decision-making so SMEs can protect their budgets right away.”

 

TrafficGuard is a multi-award-winning platform that detects, mitigates and reports on digital invalid traffic and ad fraud before it hits advertising budgets. It is trusted by thousands of global businesses, including enterprise brands operating across highly competitive verticals such as finance, eCommerce, travel and gaming. This launch comes after TrafficGuard’s recent expansion of its operations in the U.S. as part of a robust growth pipeline.

Business Wire India

The Career Architects’ Conclave 2026, scheduled for May 16, invites aspiring students to an engaging day of informed academic and career exploration, featuring personalised one-on-one guidance to help map the right career pathways. Hosted by IIHMR University, the event comes at a time when rapid technological advancements are reshaping industries, skill requirements, and career pathways.

Participation in the conclave is free and open to all interested students. Attendees will also receive a certificate of participation, along with access to networking opportunities and a campus walkthrough experience. Students interested in attending can register through the official link: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/8nzrf4wtu1

Designed especially for students exploring their next steps, the conclave aims to simplify the overwhelming process of career decision-making. With its central theme, “The Course Compass: How to Map High-Growth Careers in a Post-AI World,” the event will offer practical insights into emerging opportunities across healthcare, pharmaceutical management, data analytics, development studies, and public health.

A key highlight of the conclave is the Career Diagnostic Session, to ensure that participants leave with not just information, but clarity and direction. The educational event will also feature focused sessions on MBA pathways, offering students clarity on specialisations such as Hospital and Health Management, Pharmaceutical Management, Development Management, and Healthcare Analytics along with the Master of Public Health.

Dr. PR Sodani, President, IIHMR University, shared, “As students today face increasing uncertainty due to automation and AI-led disruptions, initiatives like this serve as important platforms for guidance and exploration. By focusing on emerging domains and evolving industry expectations, the event aims to empower students to make confident, well-informed career choices.”

Additionally, the conclave will also provide a dedicated networking segment for students to engage in meaningful conversations with faculty and peers. Such interactions are expected to foster peer learning, broaden perspectives, and encourage informed decision-making.