The Monday Roundup: what we are watching this week | Nov 10th

By Puja Sharma

The Monday Roundup sets the scene for the week’s biggest news stories, industry deals, and upcoming events. For Prime subscribers only.

Driving the next era of AI-powered through compute architecture

The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has partnered with MonetaGo to implement its globally recognised digital public infrastructure solution aimed at de-risking trade finance. This collaboration marks a pivotal milestone in India’s ongoing digital transformation of credit access for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), creating a secure, standards-based ecosystem designed to enhance trust, efficiency, and transparency in lending.

This initiative represents the first-ever deployment of MonetaGo’s solution by a Development Financial Institution (DFI), setting a benchmark for secure and scalable MSME financing across India’s financial landscape.

Established in 1990 by the Government of India and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India, SIDBI serves as the principal financial institution dedicated to promoting, financing, and developing MSMEs nationwide. As the nodal agency implementing key government programmes for the sector, SIDBI continues to bridge credit gaps, enable entrepreneurship, and foster inclusive, technology-driven growth.

The partnership underscores both organisations’ shared commitment to driving the next era of AI-powered transformation through cutting-edge data and compute architecture. Powered by the VAST AI Operating System, CoreWeave’s infrastructure provides seamless, high-performance access to vast datasets, enabling both training and inference workloads to operate with unmatched efficiency, scalability, and reliability.

Built on an infinitely scalable system architecture, CoreWeave’s deployment of VAST across its data centres empowers customers to operate without compromise—whether processing complex models or managing real-time AI applications. The collaboration enables a level of performance that supports some of the world’s most demanding computing environments, ensuring that customers can innovate continuously and compute without interruption.

As part of the expanded agreement, CoreWeave and VAST are co-developing advanced data services that optimise end-to-end data pipelines and enhance the full AI technology stack. This joint innovation unlocks new design capabilities for model developers and data scientists, accelerating time-to-value and supporting the creation of more intelligent, adaptive AI systems.

Helping vertical SaaS companies

MoneyGram, a U.S.-based FinTech specialising in global money transfers, has partnered with Oscilar to strengthen its financial crime risk management. Oscilar, founded in 2021 by Neha Narkhede and Sachin Kulkarni, provides a no-code, AI-driven platform that enables financial institutions to detect and respond to fraud, credit, and compliance risks. Through this collaboration, MoneyGram will integrate Oscilar’s platform to unify its fraud detection, compliance monitoring, and anti-money laundering (AML) systems. The platform introduces advanced features such as device fingerprinting and behavioural analytics, enabling more precise and automated risk decisions.

MoneyGram operates across 20,000 payment corridors in over 200 countries, serving more than 50 million customers annually. Since October 2024, the company has been led by CEO Anthony Soohoo, formerly of Walmart.

Upward, a U.S.-based FinTech startup, raised $8 million in seed funding to accelerate the development of its embedded finance infrastructure, which enables software platforms to integrate financial services like payments, lending, and banking. The round was led by Drive Capital, with participation from Parker Conrad (Rippling) and Gokul Rajaram (DoorDash).

The company also revealed a new partnership with Mastercard, aimed at enhancing its capabilities in issuing cards and managing payment flows. This collaboration will allow Upward to offer customisable financial products to its clients, such as branded debit cards and integrated payment solutions.

Upward’s platform is designed to help vertical SaaS companies and marketplaces embed financial tools without needing to build complex infrastructure from scratch. The funding will be used to scale operations, expand the team, and deepen integrations with banking and payment partners.

What is the Buzz

SouthPoint Financial, a U.S.-based financial services firm, has partnered with Investifi to provide clients with a streamlined and personalised digital investing experience. This collaboration enables SouthPoint to integrate Investifi’s advanced technology, which supports automated portfolio management, real-time performance tracking, and tailored investment strategies.

The partnership reflects SouthPoint’s commitment to expanding its digital footprint and meeting the evolving expectations of tech-savvy investors. By leveraging Investifi’s infrastructure, SouthPoint can deliver more efficient onboarding, improved compliance workflows, and scalable investment solutions.

Investifi’s platform is designed to empower financial institutions with tools that simplify wealth management and enhance client engagement. This move positions SouthPoint to compete more effectively in the digital wealth space while maintaining its focus on customer-centric service.