The Weekly Wrap: all you need to know by Friday COB | September 29th

By Puja Sharma

The Weekly Wrap is published every Friday and recaps the week’s main stories and deals, as well as upcoming events and announcements. For Prime subscribers only.

The Big Story

Infosys has announced its collaboration with Microsoft to jointly develop industry solutions that leverage Infosys Topaz, Azure OpenAI Service and Azure Cognitive Services.

Both organizations are bringing together their respective artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to enhance enterprise functions with AI-enabled solutions across multiple industries. The integrated solutions will accelerate the rapid democratization of data and intelligence that will help businesses increase productivity and drive new revenue growth.

Through the collaboration with Microsoft, Infosys Topaz is using Azure OpenAI Service and Azure Cognitive Services to augment its capabilities, to help enterprise customers transition from digital to AI solutions.

Balakrishna D. R. (Bali), Executive Vice President and Global Head – AI and Automation, Application Development & Maintenance, Infosys, said, “Infosys Topaz is empowering businesses with improved operational efficiencies and reduced time-to-market for launching new products and services. It converges the power of Infosys Cobalt and data analytics to AI-power business and delivers cognitive solutions and intuitive experiences that revitalize growth. Through our strategic collaboration with Microsoft, we will continue to lead the generative AI revolution, helping businesses amplify human potential and navigate their next towards becoming AI-first enterprises.”

Deals of the week

• Revio raises $5.2m to simplify payment operations in Africa
• Financial well-being startup Mintago closes $4.75m funding round
• Funding Societies raises $27m to bridge credit gap for SMEs in SEA
• Emirates NBD launches enhanced mobile banking app
• Poonawalla Fincorp & IndusInd Bank launch co-branded credit card
• Sharesies & Māori FinTech BlinkPay team to offer open banking services
• Sohar International rolls out financial & non-financial services
• Paymentology and Tuily launch Apple Pay for Colombian SMEs
• PhonePe unveils its Indus Appstore Developer Platform
• Standard Bank taps TCS to transform Custody, Settlement Operations
• Neem’s rolls out payments infrastructure to boost Pakistan’s digital SMEs
• Open banking platform Tarabut Gateway rebrands as “Tarabut”
• WealthTech Vega exits stealth with over $8m funding

Be on the lookout for

Backbase, the Engagement Banking Platform provider has announced Backbase ENGAGE EMEA 2023, taking place at De Hallen Studios in Amsterdam on October 11.

At its annual conference, Backbase, in collaboration with industry leaders, partners, and customers, including McKinsey and industry thought leader Chris Skinner, aims to inspire banks to make the “Big Shift” — the transition from Traditional to Engagement Banking.

Engagement Banking prioritises customer-centricity, multi-channel interaction, and personalized products and services, among other aspects.

This year’s event focuses on Progressive Journey-led Modernization, a new approach that centers on the customer and redesigning customer journeys. Banks will learn how to simplify and speed up delivery by progressively modernizing specific customer journeys. By concentrating on one journey at a time, banks can swiftly deliver visible value while anchoring their priorities.