On a call this week, an operator described AI as another software rollout. That mistake sits at the center of “The New PE Operating Team Is an AI Engineering Firm”: value creation now requires builders who can get inside the workflow, not advisers hovering above it.
An AP leader then asked who should own the risk after an invoice is approved. “Basware and Trustpair Are Solving the Part of AP Nobody Wants to Own” follows that question to the only outcome that matters: whether the right supplier gets paid safely.
I once treated capital mainly as fuel; experience made me care more about fit and the people behind it. “The Capital That Matters Most Is Rarely the Largest Check” explains why structure and judgment outlast headline size. Across operations, payments, and financing, advantage comes from owning the hard part others leave between systems, teams, and mandates.
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The roundup
This week: Nayax agreed to acquire smart-parking payments provider IPS Group from Windjammer Capital · Vanguard agreed to acquire digital RIA custodian Altruist for $4 billion · Pay.com is launching its B2B payments-rewards platform in the United States as PayRewards following a Series E round · Basware’s acquisition of Trustpair extends its B2B fraud-management coverage · Navan used Adyen’s issuing infrastructure to scale a multi-currency corporate-card program and embed payments into expense management.
The one thing
Nayax agreed to acquire smart-parking payments provider IPS Group from Windjammer Capital.
The newly announced transaction creates a private-equity exit and expands a publicly listed payments company into smart-parking infrastructure.
My take: Diligence should separate processing economics from hardware revenue, service obligations, customer concentration, and municipal contract renewal risk.
Payments
Vanguard agreed to acquire digital RIA custodian Altruist for $4 billion.
The transaction surfaced in reports on Aug. 26 and Aug. 28 as Vanguard expands further into financial advice and wealth management.
My take: A diligence team should probe net asset flows, adviser concentration, custody spreads, servicing costs and integration risk.
Also: Pay.com is launching its B2B payments-rewards platform in the United States as PayRewards following a Series E round. — The Australian company announced the U.S. launch on Monday after completing its latest funding round.
Office of the CFO
Basware’s acquisition of Trustpair extends its B2B fraud-management coverage.
Forrester published its assessment Wednesday as generative and agentic AI make supplier impersonation and business-email-compromise attacks easier to automate.
My take: What a deal team should test in Basware-Trustpair integration: supplier coverage, false positives, implementation effort, loss prevention and control ownership.
Also: Navan used Adyen’s issuing infrastructure to scale a multi-currency corporate-card program and embed payments into expense management. — New reporting published today detailed the partnership’s scale, authorization performance, and operating model.
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Ernest
Fern Capital