information. dissemination.
Affairs April 2026
30.04.26
Middle-market real estate investment manager Meadow Partners has acquired ten ground leases for energy assets across the U.K - a portfolio comprised of eight gas peaker sites (combustion engines powered by natural gas that produce electricity on demand), two battery energy storage system (BESS) sites with a combined total capacity of 243.5 MW and 12.7 acres of land. The portfolio is 100 per cent leased to existing leading energy and infrastructure services tenants and is situated across two well established and active industrial locations, Merseyside and the Isle of Sheppey in North Kent, offering key grid access points in highly urban areas with stable and predictable gas and electricity demand.
Crypto data platform Blockworks has closed a Series A extension at a $192 million valuation. The round was co-led by ParaFi and Reciprocal Ventures, with additional investment from Coinbase Ventures, Advancit Capital, MoonPay Ventures, Firestreak, Modular, Moonrock, Auros, Flowdesk, EV3, Equilibrium, EVG, 6ixth Event, Sfermion, The Rollup, Milk Road, and more. More than 20 founders and operators from Blockworks' customer base participated personally in the round, including leaders from Solana, MegaETH, LayerZero, Pyth, EigenLayer, Canton, Zora, ZKsync, Ellipsis, Kraken, Pudgy Penguins, Jito, Arbitrum, Celestia, MFV, Squads, Berachain, Baxus, Dawn, Polygon, Katana, InfStones, Steakhouse, and more.
29.04.26
AI, digital business and technology services enterprise NTT DATA has launched its Software Defined Infrastructure (SDI) Services Agent, a conversational agentic service experience for enterprise infrastructure. The SDI Services agent acts as an orchestrator selectively triggering the appropriate agents in the background; it continuously senses, reasons and acts across networking, hybrid data centre, cybersecurity and digital workplace environments – delivering predictive intelligence, faster resolutions and measurable outcomes across availability, utilization and business value. Chris Barnard, vice president, IDC, said, “Traditional infrastructure services are increasingly out of step with the demands of an AI-driven enterprise. NTT DATA is differentiating itself through an innovative-first multivendor agentic service experience. Its AI-first approach enables infrastructure leaders to break out of traditional maintenance models and focus on outcomes at scale.”
Tilt, a live auction app for fashion, collectibles and more, has launched Snap – an integrated AI feature that automatically creates product listings from live video in under one second, and in early testing is already delivering a 47 per cent increase in sales simply through smarter listing. The launch targets one of live commerce's most persistent problems: industry research shows marketplace sellers lose roughly 16 hours per week to manual admin, with individual product listings taking 8-12 minutes each to create. Snap does it in under one second, creating higher quality listings in the process – leading to an increase in sales volume and frequency.
Phillips 66 Limited has completed the acquisition of the assets and associated infrastructure of Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery Limited. Paul Fursey, Phillips 66 Limited UK lead executive, commented, “This strategic move will unlock new growth opportunities for traditional and renewable fuels and help protect UK energy security at a time when domestic production is under pressure.”
28.04.26
JLL, a global commercial real estate services firm, has standardised on SwiftConnect's connected access network platform to deliver mobile wallet access across its corporate offices and the assets it manages, enabling employees and building occupiers to use mobile credentials in NFC wallets in place of physical badges.
27.04.26
Absa Group Limited, one of South Africa’s “big 5” banks, has dramatically improved debt collection strategies and fraud protection using customer communications technology from global analytics software firm FICO. By using WhatsApp to instantly confirm suspected fraud transactions with customers, Absa improved self-solve cases by 47 per cent for digital and card fraud and prevented significantly more fraud. Furthermore, Absa improved fraud investigation customer communication by 121 per cent, leading to improved fraud customer experience throughout the investigation stages.
Hitachi Digital Services, a systems integrator powering mission-critical platforms, has formed a strategic partnership with Stripe, a programmable financial services company, to deliver seamless, end-to-end payment solutions for enterprise organizations. The partnership is initially focused on the insurance industry, with plans to expand into retail and hospitality, and will be centre stage during a joint insurance industry event later this month.
26/04.26
Zorrox has expanded its trading platform with new infrastructure designed to improve global accessibility, speed, and user experience. The updates include the rollout of an extensive local payment network across Latin America, strategic integrations with Trading Central and TradingView, upcoming iOS and Android mobile applications, and planned AI-powered trading tools.
Zeon Logistics, which specialises in logistics technology, has launched its proprietary Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform. The system provides regional courier companies and last-mile providers with a turn-key global warehouse network, connected through a single, sophisticated API. By integrating with Zeon's Global OS, regional players can now offer their customers dedicated shipping addresses in the United States, China, Italy, Greece, and Turkey, effectively transforming local delivery businesses into international logistics powerhouses overnight.
Global semiconductor revenue is projected to exceed $1.3 trillion in 2026, exhibiting the highest growth in the last two decades, according to Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company. “Amid high demand for AI processing, data centre networking and power, and memory price inflation (memflation), the semiconductor industry is projected to achieve a third consecutive year of double-digit growth in 2026 – a milestone that underscores the sector’s pivotal role in the AI technology stack,” said Rajeev Rajput, senior principal analyst at Gartner.
25.04.26
Matternet, which has developed a urban drone delivery system, has started drone delivery operations in Central London for the UK's National Health Service (NHS). The launch marks Matternet's first operations in the United Kingdom and a major step toward building a city-wide medical drone network for the NHS. Operating in partnership with Apian, Matternet’s M2 drone system now connects two of Central London’s busiest hospital campuses through bi-directional aerial routes designed to move critical medical items in minutes. The service will support the transport of diagnostic samples, laboratory specimens, pharmaceuticals and other time-sensitive payloads, helping reduce delays, improve hospital workflows and strengthen the resilience of healthcare logistics in one of the world’s most complex urban environments.
24.04.26
North Highland, a change and transformation consultancy, and ORO Labs, an agentic procurement orchestration platform for global enterprises, have formed a partnership aimed at transforming procurement organisations so those making purchases get what they need seamlessly. ORO has tapped North Highland as an official change partner to drive adoption, productivity and user satisfaction. “We see time and again that cutting-edge technology without human adoption becomes expensive chaos,” said Matt Klein, senior managing director and global head of Life Sciences at North Highland. “This partnership pairs agentic procurement orchestration with integrated change, training and communications to drive productivity. With persona-based outreach, role-based messaging, and phased adoption campaigns, we help teams champion new ways of working and sustain adoption at scale.”
Derivative Path, Inc., a derivatives and risk management platform serving financial institutions, today announced a strategic collaboration with Baton Systems, a real-time risk, liquidity, collateral and settlement orchestration platform, to deliver a fully integrated FX payments and nostro management solution for regional and mid-market financial institutions. Zack Nagelberg, co-founder and president of Derivative Path observed, "Regional banks with established FX programmes know what the next level looks like, but most technology solutions either underserve them or require an enterprise build that takes years. What we have built with Baton gives these institutions the operational control they need to grow their FX business on their terms. Banks that understand nostro management, spread control, and the complexity of handling incoming FX flows at scale will recognize immediately what this combination makes possible."
Lyft has agreed to acquire Gett’s UK business, subject to customary closing conditions, with close expected in the coming weeks. Gett is a London black cab app, and combined will have the majority of registered black cab drivers across Greater London on the Lyft platform. With the addition of Gett, Lyft is positioned as the leading app for London black cabs and will offer a comprehensive suite of ground transport options - from black cabs and private hire to bikes and executive chauffeur - that will nearly double the number of rides on the platform across the capital.
23.04.26
Experian's ‘Transaction Forensics’ is now live. This pioneering AI-powered fraud and anti-money laundering solution is designed to help financial services detect and prevent increasingly sophisticated fraud and financial crime in real time. Combining Resistant AI’s advanced behavioural and transaction analytics and Experian’s leading proprietary consumer and commercial data assets, Transaction Forensics uses more than 80 AI models to deliver an all-encompassing, granular view of fraud risk across bank-to-bank payments.
Smartstream, a data solutions provider for leading global financial institutions and enterprises, today announces new findings from its latest industry research report, Smart Reconciliations: The Buy-Side Perspective, highlighting the structural shifts transforming reconciliation, control, and operational confidence across buy-side firms. Based on insights gathered from a roundtable of senior operations leaders across asset management and investment firms, the report identifies five critical realities reshaping reconciliation strategies. Despite widespread awareness of rising operational risk, many firms remain constrained by fragmented, reactive, and legacy-driven models. The research reveals that over 70 per cent of buy-side firms rely primarily on end-of-day reconciliation, while 53 per cent cite timing differences and data mismatches as the leading causes of breaks. Data quality and availability remain the single largest barriers to achieving effective intraday control.
22.04.26
BearingPoint has launched GenAIQ, its proprietary agentic AI platform designed to help organisations move beyond fragmented AI pilots and into real operational impact. Built for enterprise environments, GenAIQ automates knowledge-intensive tasks and business processes while enabling transparency, governance, and seamless integration with existing IT landscapes. While many organizations are exploring generative AI, few succeed in scaling it into daily operations. Fragmented data, document-heavy workflows, and increasing demands for transparency, compliance, and control continue to slow adoption. GenAIQ addresses these challenges by combining agentic AI, domain-specific intelligence, and deep enterprise integration in a single, modular platform - turning experimentation into scalable execution.
TEPCO Systems Corporation, the digital transformation arm of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Incorporated, has signed a distributor agreement to bring SambaNova’s energy‑efficient, high‑performance AI infrastructure to enterprises across Japan. Under the agreement, TEPCO Systems will also deploy SambaNova’s AI infrastructure as the foundation for the TEPCO Group’s next‑generation AI system platform, powering mission‑critical applications that demand performance, security, and efficiency at scale.
Wind River, which operates in the field of mission critical software for the intelligent edge, has joined the CHERI Alliance, a group championing the global adoption of the Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions (CHERI) security technology. CHERI architecture is designed to enhance system security through memory protection and access permissions which can combat security issues such as memory corruption and unauthorised code execution. Wind River’s work with the Alliance aims to help the ecosystem develop more secure products and drive cybersecurity innovation by reducing memory vulnerabilities.
21.04.26
SOLUM, a retail technology solutions provider, and Rynly, an in-store fulfilment technology specialist, have formed a strategic partnership to connect fulfilment intelligence with store-level execution in response to the growing complexity of omnichannel fulfilment. The partnership brings together Rynly’s fulfilment orchestration capabilities with SOLUM’s Newton Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) platform, enabling a highly responsive pick‑by‑light experience at the shelf edge. Powered by the Newton Protocol, SOLUM’s Newton ESLs can be updated rapidly, with integrated 7-colour LED indicators providing near-instant visual cues at the shelf edge for fast and intuitive pick execution, while remaining fully integrated into the store environment.
QuidelOrtho Corporation, which specialises in in vitro diagnostics, has acquired LEX Diagnostics Limited, a UK-based molecular diagnostics company and a spin-out of TTP Group. Founded in 2020, LEX Diagnostics originated from a TTP innovation programme to translate a breakthrough in ultra-fast thermal control into a commercially viable diagnostic solution. This work led to the development of a point-of-care molecular testing platform capable of delivering PCR results in minutes.
Eutelsat has reached a strategic agreement with Cadena Tres, part of Grupo Imagen, for the distribution of its television signals via the EUTELSAT 117 West A (E117WA) satellite. With this agreement, Eutelsat strengthens its leadership in Mexico by becoming the satellite operator that hosts virtually all the country’s most important public and private broadcasters within its video neighborhood. This move consolidates E117WA in television distribution in Mexico and a reference point across Latin America.
20.04.26
PPG has completed the acquisition of Ozark Materials, LLC, a U.S.-based provider of pavement marking solutions, from Ingevity Corporation. The all-cash transaction includes a purchase price of US$65 million, subject to customary adjustments. Ozark Materials serves customers across the United States and Canada and has a strong reputation for quality, service and operational excellence. The company has approximately 130 employees and well-established customer relationships that align closely with PPG’s Traffic Solutions business.
Accenture and Avanade are co-developing an agentic factory intelligence system with Microsoft to help companies reinvent factory operations through seamless collaboration between humans, machines, AI agents and data. Manufacturers Kruger and Nissha Metallizing Solutions are early adopters, helping validate the agentic factory ahead of its planned general availability later in 2026.
19.04.26
In a move designed to set a new standard for AI engagement in higher education, the University of Virginia College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and UVA Library have founded the AI Literacy and Action Lab, a joint venture to equip the UVA community with capabilities and critical discernment needed to understand, navigate and integrate AI technologies across diverse disciplines. The Lab is grounded in a framework developed by Leo S. Lo, UVA University Librarian and Dean of Libraries, and adopted by peer institutions across the country. Programming in the Lab is organised around five linked competencies: technical knowledge, ethical awareness, critical thinking, practical skills and understanding AI’s societal impact.
Sideline Group has closed its debut fund, Sideline Group Fund I, with US$155 million in committed capital. Sideline is an investment firm that partners with culture-setting brands and experiences at the intersection of consumer, sports, and media & entertainment. Fund I is backed by a diverse group of institutional investors - including a leading US university endowment, funds of funds, and family offices, as well as sports team owners, investment firm founders, and operators. The fund substantially exceeded its initial fundraising target. In a world flooded with screens and algorithms, Sideline's focus on the offline, physical world is notable as people are increasingly seeking community and in-real-life connection at a moment when hybrid work and AI are reshaping leisure time - and hence as businesses tied to healthier, active lifestyles and events and experiences are poised to benefit. Sideline’s portfolio and ongoing research efforts reflect this conviction.
18.04.26
Blaize Holdings, Inc, which specialises in programmable, energy-efficient AI computing, and NeoTensr, a hardware and software system integrator, are working together on a contract worth up to US$50.0 million to develop and deploy co-branded AI edge data centre infrastructure targeting the rapidly growing compute market across the broader Asia Pacific region. The agreement marks a significant escalation of the two companies’ partnership, which generated over US$20.0 million in revenue for Blaize in Q4 2025, bringing the total potential contracted value between Blaize and NeoTensr up to US$70 million.
Canva, a visual communication platform, has formed a strategic collaboration with Anthropic. The collaboration makes it easier for Claude Design users to turn AI-generated drafts and ideas into fully editable designs in Canva, where they become collaborative, on-brand, and ready to scale and publish. It helps address one of the biggest gaps in today’s AI landscape: turning AI-generated content into real, usable work.
AI startup Creao AI has closed a US$10 million round led by Prosperity7 Ventures - the US$3 billion diversified venturing fund of Aramco Ventures - bringing total funding to US$25 million across three rounds in under a year. The bet: that the AI industry's real bottleneck isn't intelligence. It's the gap between a chatbot answering a question and an agent actually running your work while you sleep.
17.04.26
SOLUM, a retail technology solutions provider, and Gander, a food waste reduction technology specialist, have formed a strategic partnership to help grocery retailers simplify markdowns on short-dated products and reduce food waste. The partnership brings together Gander’s expiry-based pricing intelligence with SOLUM’s Newton Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) and Aims SaaS platform, making it easier for retailers to ensure the right price is applied at the right time, directly at the shelf edge. With UK retailers under increasing pressure to balance sustainability objectives with tight margins and limited in-store resources, the partnership focuses on making markdown processes more consistent, less manual, and easier to manage across multiple stores. By connecting expiry-led pricing decisions with real-time shelf updates, retailers can reduce the need for manual interventions in-store, helping teams stay compliant while freeing up time for other tasks.
Zip, an AI platform for enterprise procurement, offers AI Contract Orchestration, a solution that automates supplier contract review, negotiation, and compliance, eliminating the manual back-and-forth that costs companies millions in legal fees and procurement delays every year. Hundreds of industry leaders – including Anthropic, AMD, Northwestern Mutual, Dollar Tree, and OpenAI – use Zip to orchestrate their procurement process. AI Contract Orchestration brings that same intelligence into contracting for the first time, with AI agents that don’t just assist the work, they do it.
16.04.26
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), a post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, has new developments in its Cloud First strategy, including partnerships with public cloud providers, AWS and Microsoft, to advance this multi-year initiative to strengthen the resiliency, scalability, security and speed of DTCC’s core and digital assets platforms. DTCC is working with AWS to modernise many of DTCC’s core clearance and settlement systems and risk applications by rearchitecting them to be more modular, cloud-enabled and resilient, with the goal of strengthening the soundness of its systemically important services while enabling greater agility, faster recovery and enhanced cyber defence.
15.04.26
Talon.One, the leading incentives platform powering loyalty and promotions for over 300 global enterprise brands, has announced a native integration with Adobe Experience Platform. The integration enables brands to turn Adobe Experience Platform profiles and journeys into personalised, creative loyalty programmes that execute instantly, across web, app, and stores, with centralized governance, margin controls, and omnichannel consistency.
14.04.26
Clean Food Group, a biotech manufacturer pioneering sustainable oils and fats through fermentation, has secured a £4.5 million investment led by Clean Growth Fund and New Agrarian, two specialist investors dedicated to fostering sustainable growth in food technology. CFG has also successfully secured a £700,000 non-dilutive grant from Innovate UK which further improves the Company’s financial position.
10.04.26
Ativion, which provides platforms that advance student safety and wellness through intelligent insights, today announces the expansion of its flagship safeguarding platform, StudentKeeper. This extended release of StudentKeeper brings together critical capabilities for managing a modern classroom environment, including the new addition of iPad support. The enhanced platform ensures that schools can: gain full visibility into iPad activity, including in-app usage; apply real-time classroom management controls across all required devices; and enforce consistent filtering and safeguarding policies on managed and unmanaged devices.
Intruder, which specialises in exposure management, has released Container Image Scanning - an upgrade to its cloud security capabilities that automatically scans container images for vulnerabilities, granting customers clear, actionable insight into container risk without deploying and maintaining scanning agents across their estates. Building on existing integrations with major cloud providers, Intruder now supports Amazon Web Services Elastic Container Registry, Google Cloud Artifact Registry and Azure Container Registry. New images and updated versions are scanned daily for vulnerabilities, and users can view results in a single, prioritised list alongside other vulnerabilities, attack surface issues and misconfigurations detected by Intruder.
A study from the Resource Management Institute (RMI), commissioned by Kantata and titled 'Resource Management in the Age of AI' , finds most organisations are still early in that transition, with significant gaps in readiness, visibility, and execution. According to the report, 49 per cent of survey respondents indicate that the biggest barrier to AI-augmented resource management is limited understanding of where and how AI should be applied in resource management. That was followed closely by poor data quality or fragmented data across skills, outcomes, demand, and capacity (47 per cent), technology limitations that leave systems unprepared to support both AI-driven staffing and the orchestration of hybrid teams of human experts and AI agents (41 per cent).
09.04.26
iProov, which provides science-based biometric identity verification solutions, examines in its 2026 Threat Intelligence Report how generative AI is enabling threat actors to evolve their tactics and launch attacks faster and at greater scale, targeting organisations that rely on digital identity verification to secure access to systems and high-value transactions. Amongst other findings, the report indicates that injection attacks targeting iOS devices surged by 1,151 per cent in the second half of 2025, contributing to a 741 per cent annual increase.
Unity and Meta have sealed an extended multi‑year platform support and enterprise agreement that deepens the companies’ long‑standing collaboration in virtual reality. Under the extended partnership, Unity will continue to provide support for Meta’s VR platform. Alex Blum, COO, Unity, commented, “Meta is the world’s leading VR platform, and we’re proud that Unity powers the majority of its top‑selling VR games. Great content is what makes VR successful. By pairing Meta’s hardware and OS leadership with Unity’s role as the assembly point for interactive content creation, we’re making VR accessible to more developers so they can develop, deploy, and grow their games and business applications on Meta’s VR devices.”
TNS’ Financial Markets Business and Radianz have combined to form Waypoint Trading Solutions. The new organisation is focused on delivering high-performance infrastructure for financial markets globally. Waypoint’s capabilities are organised across three solution areas - Radianz, Xpress, and Sentinel. Radianz provides global trading connectivity through a financial extranet. Xpress delivers a managed low latency platform for high-performance access to exchanges. Sentinel provides market data solutions that support complex market data operations at scale.
08.04.26
Openreach has deployed proactive AI agents from NiCE Cognigy to redesign customer engagement across 15 million customer journeys during one of the U.K.’s largest digital infrastructure transformation programmes. By shifting from reactive management to AI-driven proactive engagement, Openreach aims to deliver a more seamless broadband upgrade experience at national scale - increasing appointment success, reducing inbound contact volumes, and generating operational and commercial value not only for Openreach but also for clients such as Vodafone and Sky.
Redwire Corporation, which operates globally in aerospace and defence technology solutions, has opened an office in the United Kingdom to directly support current and future programmes under the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD). Redwire’s expanded UK presence includes dedicated staff across engineering, programme management, logistics and sustainment functions. The company is positioning itself to provide greater real-time support, rapid integration services and localised lifecycle management for MOD initiatives - strengthening alignment with the UK’s evolving defence priorities and accelerating delivery of cutting-edge capabilities.
Global programmatic media company MiQ is acquiring Rocket Lab, a mobile app growth hub. This move builds MiQ’s mobile in-app capabilities and strengthens MiQ’s expansion into growth markets. The acquisition combines Rocket Lab’s deep in-app expertise with MiQ’s omnichannel offering to deliver an end-to-end solution for clients across all media channels. MiQ has chosen Rocket Lab to accelerate in-app performance as a core product capability. This strengthens MiQ’s omnichannel proposition and enhances Sigma - its AI-powered operating system - by integrating critical mobile and regional data into its 700 trillion signals ecosystem. With Rocket Lab’s capabilities, MiQ enables more precise, performance-driven strategies for brands operating in an increasingly mobile-first world.
07.04.26
Tigo Energy, Inc., which provides intelligent solar and energy software solutions, has introduced a next-generation energy storage system and the latest addition to the Tigo GO optimised product line in Europe. The Tigo GO Battery joins the GO EV Charger and GO Junction for heat pump integration. The system delivers expandable energy storage capacity of up to 47.9kWh, faster installation via lightweight plug-and-play modules, and cold-weather operation down to -30°C. The new GO Battery arrives as several European countries set new all-time single-day records for solar energy production, and global solar installations grew by 11% between 2024 and 2025. The Tigo GO Battery serves European market demand with an optimised modular architecture built on 3.68kWh battery units that installers can configure from 7.3kWh for compact installations to up to 47.9kWh for larger households with higher energy consumption. Each battery module weighs 34kg, helping enable faster deployment while maintaining the compact footprint installers need for space-constrained installations. The modular design helps enable future capacity expansion as household energy needs evolve, giving residents the option to add battery modules without extensive rework or replacing existing infrastructure.
The Motor Accidents Insurance Board (MAIB) of Tasmania has selected the FINEOS Platform to replace its legacy Motor Accidents Claims System (MACS) with a contemporary, secure and client-centric claims management solution. FINEOS Corporation provides core systems for life, accident and health insurers globally. The MAIB provides compulsory third-party personal injury insurance to Tasmanian motorists in accordance with the country's Motor Accidents (Liabilities and Compensation) Act 1973.
06.04.26
Research published by Cognizant indicates that companies pursuing AI adoption overwhelmingly prefer IT services firms - such as "AI Builder" firms, a new services model defined by designing and building custom, full stack AI solutions - to deliver real enterprise value from AI. The research, titled 'How ai is reshaping business & empowering workforces', is based on a quantitative study of 600 AI decision makers and qualitative interviews with 38 senior executives, finds that organisations rank custom solutions and flexible engagement models as the most important factor when selecting an AI partner, ahead of pricing and time to value. Pricing and proven AI case studies remain important, but rank below capabilities that enable AI to be embedded directly into business operations and value chains. Ravi Kumar S, CEO of Cognizant, commented, "AI success is not about deploying isolated models - it's about engineering intelligence into the enterprise with purpose-built solutions. The most trusted path to an AI future is working with an AI Builder - one that brings deep industry context, systems engineering expertise, and operational accountability."
As AI workloads become more accessible across the enterprise, so does the threat of new security risks – both in the cloud, and on the device. This requires businesses to adopt stronger protection capabilities, built directly into their fleet of PCs, to help ensure that valuable information remains secure. To address this need, Intel and CrowdStrike have extended a multi-year collaboration to optimize the CrowdStrike Falcon platform for Intel-powered AI PCs. Leveraging Intel’s on-device AI acceleration across the CPU, GPU and NPU - enhanced by silicon-level telemetry through Intel Threat Detection Technology and Intel vPro’s hardware-assisted recovery - the Falcon platform enables consistent, high-performance security at enterprise scale. This enables real-time protection that helps stop breaches and prevent generative AI data leaks without slowing PC performance, giving businesses more confidence to use AI tools to drive innovation and efficiency while improving overall cost. Jen Larson, general manager, commercial client segments, client computing group, Intel, noted, "By combining Intel’s AI PC architectures with the CrowdStrike Falcon platform, we’re enabling real-time security and data protection on the device without compromising performance or user experience, expanding our joint roadmap and co-engineering pipeline to further accelerate delivery of AI-based security at the edge."
05.04.26
Starbucks Coffee Company has finalised its joint venture with Boyu Capital, marking a significant milestone in the company’s long-term strategy to unlock sustainable, disciplined growth in China. The transaction finalises the intent Starbucks shared in November 2025 and reflects the company’s continued confidence in China as a critical growth market. The joint venture is designed to enhance Starbucks ability to expand its footprint, deepen local relevance, and elevate the customer experience while maintaining the integrity of its brand and values. Under the terms of the agreement, funds managed by Boyu Capital now hold a 60 per cent stake in Starbucks China retail operations, while Starbucks retains a 40 per cent ownership interest and continues to own and license the brand and intellectual property to the joint venture. The joint venture oversees approximately 8,000 company-operated coffeehouses today, which will transition to a licensed operating model, with a shared long-term aspiration to grow to as many as 20,000 locations over time. Brian Niccol, chairman and chief executive officer, Starbucks Coffee Company, commented, “China remains one of the most exciting long-term opportunities for Starbucks, and finalising this partnership with Boyu accelerates our ability to grow with intention and discipline. By combining Starbucks trusted global brand with Boyu’s deep local expertise, we are positioning the business to serve more customers, enter more cities, and strengthen our leadership in a dynamic and evolving market.”
04.04.26
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) and France-based Orano have reached an understanding on cooperation over nuclear fuels. Under the agreement, KHNP and Orano will establish a broad cooperation framework covering the full nuclear fuel lifecycle, from securing uranium raw materials to processing stages such as conversion and enrichment. In particular, the two companies plan to strengthen their mid- to long-term fuel supply foundation through collaboration linked to new production facilities, and to build a stable nuclear fuel supply system resilient to external environmental changes.
Spacelabs Healthcare has signed an agreement with DEPTH Health, Inc., that will allow DEPTH Health to provide hospitals and health systems the Rothman Index through its DEPTH’s Real-Time Advisor for Clinical Expert Routing (RACER) offering. Spacelabs Healthcare’s Rothman Index is an advanced application that is designed to help healthcare providers identify subtle changes in a patient’s condition in the hospital, allowing doctors and nurses to intervene before patients show signs of declining. “As we were evaluating best-in-class systems that could complement the DEPTH RACER platform, the Rothman Index really stood out,” said Alan Portela, co-founder and CEO of DEPTH Health. “The system’s ability to detect subtle changes in a patient’s condition can help healthcare providers make faster, more informed decisions about a patient’s status and the level of care they need. These actionable insights assist caregivers in quickly deciding when a patient needs more intensive care or is ready for the step-down unit, which ultimately helps hospitals improve patient traffic flow and optimise every bed.”
Highflame, an AI Security company focused on securing AI agents and their interactions, has formed a partnership with Tailscale to bring real-time security evaluation to AI activity at the network layer. By integrating Aperture by Tailscale with Highflame’s platform, organisations gain visibility into LLM interactions and the ability to assess risk across prompts, tool usage, and model outputs. This works without requiring changes to agents or developer workflows.
03.04.26
OLX Group, a fast-growing platform for vertical transactions, has launched AutoGPT - a conversational AI assistant that transforms how people search for and buy cars. Built in partnership with OpenAI and powered by agentic AI innovation, AutoGPT allows consumers to describe what they need in natural language and receive personalised recommendations. AutoGPT is now live for OTOMOTO (Poland) on ChatGPT, with rollouts scheduled for LaCentrale (France), Autovit.ro (Romania), and Standvirtual (Portugal).
AI and data transformation company Solita has launched Solita RoadCrew Agentic Orchestrator, a multi-agent tool designed for autonomous, enterprise-grade software development. It marks a significant step forward in how software is designed, built and operated in complex organisational environments. Solita RoadCrewAO enables a more intelligent, faster and adaptive approach to software development by orchestrating specialised AI agents that collaborate across the development lifecycle. These agents learn from organisational context and adapt over time while operating under human supervision.
Options Technology, a provider of mission-critical infrastructure and connectivity solutions for global financial markets, has strengthened its presence in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region by adding direct connectivity to the Japan Alternative Market (JAX), a proprietary trading system (PTS). The integration marked a strategic expansion of Options’ market access offerings across Japan and APAC. JAX’s entry into Japan’s financial ecosystem introduces greater diversity in liquidity sourcing and enhances price discovery for both trading participants and the broader buy-side community. As a founding partner, Options Technology supported JAX from its market launch and has played a key role in enabling seamless, low-latency access to its trading and market data feeds.
02.04.26
Project management professionals are rapidly embedding artificial intelligence (AI) into their day-to-day work, transforming how projects are planned, delivered and managed, according to new research from the Association for Project Management (APM), conducted in partnership with Censuswide. The survey of 1,000 project professionals in the UK highlights widespread adoption of AI tools across sectors including financial services, technology, construction, engineering and transport and logistics - with applications ranging from administrative automation to advanced decision support and risk forecasting.
Fintech firm Acrisure has completed the acquisition of Vave, a technology-driven property MGA, from Canopius Group. Vave is now part of Acrisure Underwriting, a platform of 12 MGAs operating in the U.S. insurance markets. Vave continues to operate under its brand name through the leadership of its founding management team, led by Marek Shafer. Canopius Group continues to be one of Vave’s capacity providers under a multi-year agreement.
African financial platform Moniepoint Inc. has completed its acquisition of Sumac Microfinance Bank Limited. The transaction, approved by the Central Bank of Kenya and Competition Authority of Kenya, marks Moniepoint’s first major acquisition on the continent and its formal entry into the East African market. Moniepoint now holds a 78% majority stake in Sumac. The move allows Moniepoint to deploy its suite of banking, payments, credit and business management tools to Kenya's 7.4 million MSMEs - a sector contributing 40% of the nation’s GDP.
01.04.26
Options Technology, which provides institutional-grade infrastructure, market data and managed services for global financial services, has completed its acquisition of Crossvale, a specialist in application and platform modernisation. The completed acquisition strengthens Options’ ability to help financial services firms modernise legacy environments, reduce technology debt, and accelerate adoption of private cloud and AI, within a secure, compliant operating model purpose-built for regulated markets. The acquisition builds on an already successful partnership between the two firms, with several joint deployments underway.
Seagray has acquired Worldwide Currencies, marking the first step in a deliberate strategy to build a diversified and integrated financial services group. Established over 20 years ago, Worldwide Currencies has built a highly respected foreign exchange business defined by long-standing client relationships, disciplined execution and a strong service culture. The firm will now serve as the initial platform for Seagray’s broader expansion across complementary financial services sectors.
Hitachi Digital Services has confirmed that it is strengthening its operational technology (OT) and informational technology (IT) integration via the use of a comprehensive manufacturing operations management (MOM) platform. The technological advancement enables Hitachi to accelerate the transformation of discrete manufacturing sites into resilient, sustainable smart factories. Further, the MOM platform is slated to expand Hitachi’s HMAX Industry solutions portfolio, serving as a strong foundation for industrial AI-driven modernisation.
