Connect with us

Technology

Ivalua Launches IVA Studio, Redefining How Procurement Works With AI

Published

on

Ivalua’s Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA), now powered by IVA Studio, is a fully agentic system able to execute any Source-to-Pay process from day one and automate any procurement workflow. IVA Studio is built on the same skills framework pioneered by leading frontier AI labs, giving IVA full platform access, self-improving capabilities, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) support. Governance is enforced at the platform level: IVA inherits the same permissions applied to people, cannot exceed them, and logs every action for complete auditability.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ – Ivalua, the enterprise AI platform for procurement, announces the launch of IVA Studio, enabling a fundamentally new way for procurement teams to work. Rather than managing many AI agents atop fragmented data and disjointed systems, IVA Studio enables procurement to perform any activity across the Source-to-Pay (S2P) process through a single agent, IVA, that knows your data, follows your rules, and gets work done on day one. IVA Studio is the AI control tower managing IVA’s skills, permissions, tools, and MCP integrations.

Procurement can operate with greater speed and intelligence with IVA. A category manager preparing to re-source an expiring contract can ask IVA to pull the contract, benchmark against agreements, identify stronger suppliers, set up an RFx, and launch the event, all in a single conversation. An Accounts Payable team can have IVA validate incoming invoices against not just price and PO, but also against the harder-to-enforce contract terms buried in documents.

“At Ivalua, we believe the future of procurement is not AI, it’s people using AI to deliver better and faster results. IVA, powered by IVA Studio, is a decisive step forward into a new era for procurement, one full of disruptive challenges and exciting opportunities. With IVA, procurement teams can focus on what they do best: building strategies and relationships, internally and externally. We are thrilled to lead this journey with our customers and partners,” said Franck Lheureux, CEO of Ivalua.

IVA also works autonomously, in workflows, and in the background. A supplier risk event can trigger IVA to surface every affected contract, open a PO, create a mitigation plan, and propose qualified alternative suppliers. IVA can do anything a user can and more, because the entire Ivalua Source-to-Pay application is its knowledge source and toolset.

A Complete Agentic Operating System for Procurement

Procurement teams gain a truly intelligent, intuitive experience – they simply tell IVA what to do, and IVA assembles the right skills, tools, and knowledge for the task. For complex work, IVA creates and orchestrates temporary sub-agents.

This is the first complete S2P agent to follow the skills-based architecture frontier AI labs are converging on. Users do not need to build, orchestrate, or select from a growing catalog of agents. Instead, IVA understands all the data in the Ivalua S2P platform, can take any action as a tool, and follows organization-specific best practices through skills, with human-in-the-loop controls maintained.

Ivalua’s AI technology and services combine to ensure successful implementation, adoption and continuous optimization. IVA delivers value immediately because it can execute any action a user can from day one. Unlike competing solutions, there is nothing to integrate or configure. Over time, IVA gets smarter as organizations use it, encoding their expertise in skills and memory. And as teams grow to trust it, IVA can take on more autonomous work — embedded in workflows or running in the background — turning Source-to-Pay into an automation engine. Additionally, Ivalua and its implementation partners provide guidance, expertise and support services.

“Procurement teams have typically had to spend time building and configuring AI agents before seeing any results. Ivalua’s approach is entirely different: IVA accesses the Ivalua platform as its toolset and source of knowledge, so procurement can start getting value from day one, within a framework of governance that’s enforced by design,” said David Khuat-Duy, Founder & Chief AI Officer at Ivalua.

Governed by design

Governance is enforced at the platform level, not by the agent. IVA inherits the permissions of the user who invokes it and cannot exceed them. When IVA is operating autonomously in a workflow, it still has an accountable user whose boundary it follows and who it falls back on for human-in-the-loop controls. Every action is logged with a continuous audit trail. AI works only where it is allowed to work, and procurement leaders can prove it.

Expertise that compounds

IVA learns employee best practices: sourcing approaches, negotiation strategies, and compliance rules as skills that IVA follows. Skills turn individual expertise into team capabilities, building institutional knowledge that compounds with every interaction. A new hire working with IVA operates with the benefit of the whole organization’s experience. IVA also maintains memory of interactions, self-improving automatically.

Fits your AI ecosystem

IVA Studio is the AI control tower to manage the skills IVA uses, the tools it can call, the external systems it connects to through MCP, and the LLMs it runs on. IVA is LLM-agnostic, customers can use the models Ivalua provides out of the box or bring their own. With IVA Studio, IT teams, partners, and customers can build or tailor what IVA can do and how it connects.

IVA Studio is available in Beta today and will be generally available in summer. To learn more about IVA, powered by IVA Studio, watch this webinar.

About Ivalua

Ivalua is the only truly unified, enterprise AI platform for managing spend and suppliers. We seamlessly connect people, AI agents, workflows and data, making businesses more profitable, resilient, and sustainable. We are trusted by over 500 of the world’s most admired brands and consistently recognized as a leader by Gartner and other analysts. Learn more at www.ivalua.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

Global Media Contact

 

Corporate Communications 

media@ivalua.com

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ivalua-launches-iva-studio-redefining-how-procurement-works-with-ai-302797337.html

SOURCE Ivalua

Continue Reading

Technology

EFICYENT to Join Banks and Fintech Companies at Singapore FinTech Festival 2026

Published

on

By

DUBAI, UAE, Nov. 14, 2026 /CNW/ — EFICYENT, a cross-border payment platform, is going to attend the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) 2026, which is going to be one of the world’s largest gatherings of the global financial and technology ecosystem.  It will take place between November 18 – 20, 2026, at Singapore. This event will converge policymakers, financial institutions, fintech companies, and investors to discuss the developments that are going to shape the future of fintech.

As financial institutions are desperately discovering new technologies, evolving payment infrastructure, and better ways to move money across borders, SFF 2026 is going to be an ideal platform for industry collaboration and knowledge exchange. The event will explore key forces transforming the financial system, including technology, geoeconomics, capital, talent, and policy, developing opportunities for businesses to engage with global industry leaders and explore emerging possibilities.

By participating in this event, EFICYENT is looking forward to connecting with other fintech companies, banks, financial institutions, and peer industry stakeholders to share their ideas, discover potential collaborations, and hold a conversation on the growing demand for efficient global payment infrastructure. Also, the company’s presence will provide an opportunity to demonstrate how its capabilities can assist businesses navigating increasingly interconnected financial markets.

Ahead of the participation, Aravinth Ramesh, CTO at EFICYENT, said:

“As financial services entered a chapter where businesses expect something beyond the ability to transfer money. They need payment platforms that offer speed, transparency, flexibility, and access to global markets. So I think events like SFF create a better opportunity to know in which direction the industry is moving, to share our perspectives with industry leaders, and explore partnerships that drive meaningful progress.”

Balasubramanyam K, CEO at EFICYENT, added:

“The future of fintech will be shaped by how effectively technology, financial institutions and payment networks work together. And this SFF event is going to remain an excellent opportunity to connect with industry leaders, better understand emerging requirements, and discover new approaches to making cross-border payments more accessible and efficient.”

About EFICYENT

EFICYENT is a global cross-border payments and financial infrastructure platform that concentrates on enabling seamless international money transfers.

They focus on simplifying international transactions and advancing digital finance. EFICYENT is committed to supporting a seamless and interconnected global payments ecosystem.

Media Contact: 
EFICYENT
Dubai, UAE
Website: https://eficyent.com/ 
Email: support@eficyent.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eficyent/

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/eficyent-to-join-banks-and-fintech-companies-at-singapore-fintech-festival-2026-302939546.html

SOURCE EFICYENT

Continue Reading

Technology

SmallRig Joins Art World Figures to Discuss Creativity and Authenticity in the AI Era–and How Art and Technology Can Drive Innovation

Published

on

By

SHENZHEN, China, Nov. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As generative AI changes how images are made, one question grows more urgent: what still belongs to the human behind the lens? On November 11, Shenzhen International Art Museum and SmallRig, the imaging-gear brand built for creators, took up that question together by hosting an international exchange on how art and technology ecosystems are being reshaped in the AI era.

The conversation brought together leaders of Chinese art museums, Anett Holzheid, senior curator at Germany’s ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, artists and SmallRig co-founder Gao Haiyan.

Zhang Zikang, director of Shenzhen International Art Museum and professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, said art and technology are a key direction for the museum, rooted in Shenzhen’s tech environment. Wang Shaoqiang, director of the Guangdong Museum of Art, described using AI to produce short films about classic works, which cut cost and production time, yet stressed that art must return to personal growth, understanding of the world and the expression of Eastern aesthetics. Holzheid views exhibitions as shared ground for artists, audiences and curators, and sees AI widening perception and enabling collaboration across disciplines.

Zadok Ben-David used AI to explore bird forms for an installation, repeatedly refined the images and selected some for the work, determined that it retain an artist’s character, emotion and humanity. A photographer set an AI-generated lightning strike against a desert he had photographed himself, gaining new ideas but noting that generated imagery tends toward sameness, while real presence at a scene cannot be substituted. Spatial artist Feng Yu championed honesty of material, where imperfection and unplanned outcomes can carry sincerity.

Speaking for SmallRig, Gao noted that technology has opened imaging to everyone, but “AI cannot replace real-life experiences or the act of capturing them.” AI can be an efficient, enabling creative tool, he said, but it cannot meet the human need for real images.

In SmallRig’s view, technology helps more people express what is real, while art and creator’s real needs give innovation its direction. The company will therefore move closer to creative scenes and the creators themselves, developing solutions faster for people who make real images.

After the forum, guests visited SmallRig’s headquarters to unveil Ode to the Orchid, an installation co-created with Feng Yu and the first of his works placed in a corporate workplace. Instead of sponsoring an exhibition or releasing a co-branded product, SmallRig placed art in everyday spaces, so people meet it in passing rather than behind museum walls.

Gao said companies often move from manufacturing to technology, while SmallRig also wants to merge with art and creativity. The space is only the surface. The real aim is an open, diverse, inclusive and creative culture, and a lasting bond with creators built on shared taste. SmallRig will keep working with artists, exploring art IP and cultural products, and linking products, content and services into one ecosystem. More activities to support creators are also on the way, bringing the meeting of technology and art into everyday creative practice. Real images remain where SmallRig starts, and where it hopes to innovate alongside creators.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/smallrig-joins-art-world-figures-to-discuss-creativity-and-authenticity-in-the-ai-eraand-how-art-and-technology-can-drive-innovation-302938911.html

Continue Reading

Technology

uSMART Securities Singapore Marks Third Branch Opening in Bugis with Lion Dance and K-pop

Published

on

By

SINGAPORE, Nov. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — uSMART Securities Singapore officially opened its third branch at 516 North Bridge Road, #01-00, Singapore 188740 expanding its physical presence in Singapore with a new uSMART Investor Hub. The opening was marked by a private ceremony featuring a speech, a traditional lion dance and a K-pop dance performance, bringing together the uSMART team, esteemed guests and partners.

The Bugis opening marks another milestone in uSMART’s expansion in Singapore, following the launch of its first local branch at Robinson Road in July 2025 and its Somerset branch in October that year. The new branch reflects the company’s approach of combining digital trading with face-to-face support, offering clients an additional location to make enquiries, receive assistance with account opening and engage directly with the team.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Eng Thiam Choon (TC Eng), Chief Operating Officer of uSMART, highlighted the importance of maintaining physical branches alongside digital brokerage services. Clients may appreciate the opportunity to discuss opening their first investment account, gain a better understanding of products available on the app or receive assistance with any issues.

“Customers should have a choice in how they deal with us. If they’re comfortable doing everything on the app, that’s fine. If they’d prefer to come in and talk, we want to make that possible too,” said Mr Eng.

Drawing on its experience operating branches in Hong Kong, uSMART has tailored this approach to the Singapore market through ongoing engagement and conversations with local clients.

Mr Eng also highlighted the importance of understanding different trading rules, currency exposure and diversification as investors explore more markets. Seminars and conversations with the branch team will support these learning opportunities, equipping clients with the knowledge and information they need to make informed investment decisions.

“You don’t need to come with a decision already made. You can come with a question,” said Mr Eng.

Beyond the opening celebrations, Mr Eng highlighted the importance of consistent client service through attentive listening, clear communication and following through on commitments.

About uSMART Securities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Established in March 2021, uSMART Securities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. is the Singapore entity of uSMART Group, which holds a Capital Markets Services licence issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) (Licence No. CMS101161).

Through the uSMART platform, the company provides access to stocks across global markets, as well as ETFs, options, futures, funds, Contracts for Difference (CFDs) and forex products. Its services include digital trading tools and client account support.

In addition to its digital trading platform, uSMART offers structured investment solutions, including Fixed Coupon Notes (FCNs), catering to investors with different investment objectives and risk preferences. Through its growing network of physical branches, the company also provides face-to-face assistance, investor education and account support, complementing its digital services.

Branch Address

uSMART Securities – Bugis Branch
516 North Bridge Road, #01-00
Singapore 188740

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/usmart-securities-singapore-marks-third-branch-opening-in-bugis-with-lion-dance-and-k-pop-302939511.html

SOURCE uSMART Securities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Continue Reading

Trending