Latest news with #Mesh
Khaleej Times
7 hours ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
CE-Ventures backs the future of financial infrastructure
CE-Ventures, the corporate venture capital platform of Crescent Enterprises, has announced landmark investments in Plaid and Mesh, two companies building critical infrastructure for the next generation of financial services. CE-Ventures' participation in the strategic funding rounds reflects the expectation that the future of finance will be open, programmable, and crypto-native — and that enduring, systemic value will be created by companies building the underlying rails and connectivity layers. Silicon Valley startups Plaid and Mesh, focused on data infrastructure and digital asset movement respectively, are both critical enablers of financial interoperability. Plaid's global fintech data network and Mesh's global crypto payments network have both been significantly endorsed by their recent fundraising. For Plaid, its $575 million fundraise was led by Franklin Templeton with participation from CE-Ventures alongside Fidelity, BlackRock, NEA, Ribbit Capital, and others. Mesh's $82 million Series B funding was led by Paradigm with participation from CE-Ventures, Consensys, QuantumLight Capital, Yolo Investments, and others. 'We are investing in the financial systems of the future – and we see Plaid and Mesh as foundational platforms in a converging world of fintech and crypto,' said Sudarshan Pareek, Senior Vice President at CE-Ventures. 'We are at the beginning of a systemic shift in global finance — from closed systems to open networks, from batch-based processing to real-time programmability, and from siloed fiat rails to interoperable digital assets. Plaid and Mesh are laying the technical infrastructure for that future.' The strategic investments in Plaid and Mesh reflect the current generational transformation in financial infrastructure, driven by defining trends of interoperability, programmability, and user-centricity. Interoperability ensures seamless movement of data and value across platforms, geographies, and asset classes. Programmability for real-time financial workflows is enabled by APIs, smart contracts, and automation. User-Centricity empowers end-users, individuals and businesses, with control over their data, assets, and financial interactions. CE-Ventures has a history of investing in category-defining infrastructure companies that operate at this intersection. With investments in Plaid and Mesh, CE-Ventures is positioning itself for the most resilient value to accrue to infrastructure providers that power broad ecosystems rather than single verticals. Plaid has become the connective tissue for consumer-permissioned financial data, enabling thousands of apps and institutions to securely link bank accounts, verify identities, and power fintech use cases such as lending, payments, and budgeting. As open finance expands globally, Plaid's infrastructure is becoming indispensable to fintech ecosystems. Mesh is building a blockchain-native API layer that allows users and platforms to transfer crypto and stablecoins seamlessly across wallets, exchanges, and applications. As digital assets move from speculation to utility, Mesh is creating the middleware infrastructure for the crypto-to-fiat and crypto-to-crypto payment economy.
Zawya
11 hours ago
- Business
- Zawya
CE-Ventures backs the future of financial infrastructure
Investments in Silicon Valley Startups Plaid and Mesh Focuses on Data Infrastructure and Digital Asset Movement as Critical Enablers of Financial Interoperability Future Of Finance to be Open, Programmable, and Crypto-Native, Requiring New Technical Infrastructure Generational Shift in Financial Systems Enhancing Expectation of Enduring Value Creation from Foundational Fintech and Crypto Infrastructure Sharjah, United Arab Emirates – CE-Ventures, the corporate venture capital platform of Crescent Enterprises, has announced landmark investments in Plaid and Mesh, two companies building critical infrastructure for the next generation of financial services. CE-Ventures' participation in the strategic funding rounds reflects the expectation that the future of finance will be open, programmable, and crypto-native — and that enduring, systemic value will be created by companies building the underlying rails and connectivity layers. Silicon Valley startups Plaid and Mesh, focused on data infrastructure and digital asset movement respectively, are both critical enablers of financial interoperability. Plaid's global fintech data network and Mesh's global crypto payments network have both been significantly endorsed by their recent fundraising. For Plaid its $575 million fundraise was led by Franklin Templeton with participation from CE-Ventures alongside Fidelity, BlackRock, NEA, Ribbit Capital, and others. Mesh's $82 million Series B funding was led by Paradigm with participation from CE-Ventures, Consensys, QuantumLight Capital, Yolo Investments, and others. 'At CE-Ventures we are investing in the financial systems of the future – and we see Plaid and Mesh as foundational platforms in a converging world of fintech and crypto,' said Sudarshan Pareek, Senior Vice President at CE-Ventures. 'We are at the beginning of a systemic shift in global finance — from closed systems to open networks, from batch-based processing to real-time programmability, and from siloed fiat rails to interoperable digital assets. Plaid and Mesh are laying the technical infrastructure for that future.' The strategic investments in Plaid and Mesh reflect the current generational transformation in financial infrastructure, driven by defining trends of interoperability, programmability, and user-centricity. Interoperability to ensure seamless movement of data and value across platforms, geographies, and asset classes. Programmability for real-time financial workflows enabled by APIs, smart contracts, and automation. User-Centricity to empower end-users, individuals and businesses, with control over their data, assets, and financial interactions. CE-Ventures has a history of investing in category-defining infrastructure companies that operate at this intersection. With investments in Plaid and Mesh, CE-Ventures is positioning itself for the most resilient value to accrue to infrastructure providers that power broad ecosystems rather than single verticals. Plaid has become the connective tissue for consumer-permissioned financial data, enabling thousands of apps and institutions to securely link bank accounts, verify identities, and power fintech use cases such as lending, payments, and budgeting. As open finance expands globally, Plaid's infrastructure is becoming indispensable to fintech ecosystems. Mesh is building a blockchain-native API layer that allows users and platforms to transfer crypto and stablecoins seamlessly across wallets, exchanges, and applications. As digital assets move from speculation to utility, Mesh is creating the middleware infrastructure for the crypto-to-fiat and crypto-to-crypto payment economy. About CE-Ventures CE-Ventures is the corporate venture capital platform of Crescent Enterprises. CE-Ventures backs transformative technologies and visionary founders across fintech, enterprise software, digital health, climate solutions, and frontier tech. Its global portfolio includes companies such as Plaid, LayerZero, Mesh, NorthLadder, Shiprocket, and FreshToHome. To learn more visit: About Crescent Enterprises Crescent Enterprises is a multinational company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with strategic investments across sectors. Established in 2007, the business comprises a diversified group of 57 subsidiaries, affiliates, and investments across 19 countries, and employs more than 1,600 people. The corporate structure has four platforms: CE‑Operates, CE‑Invests, CE‑Ventures, and CE‑Creates. The platforms span various business sectors, including ports, logistics, food and beverages, healthcare, life sciences, and business aviation. They also include business verticals, such as private equity, venture capital, and business incubation. Crescent Enterprises is a subsidiary of Crescent Group, a family-owned business shaping the MENA region's economy for over 50 years. For media inquiries please contact: Charlie Scott, cscott@ Ghyna Kurdy,
Time of India
18-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Baba Vanga's July 2025 predictions bring hope for Aries, Libra, Leo and Sagittarius
According to recent revelations from Baba Vanga's prophecy, the month of July 2025 is poised to bring immense good fortune for individuals born under Aries (Mesh), Libra (Tula), Leo (Singh), and Sagittarius (Dhanu). The predictions, originally reported in a Hindi article by Jagran, suggest that these four zodiac signs are set to experience transformative shifts across career, relationships, finances, and personal growth. Aries (Mesh): A Wave of Opportunities For Aries natives, Baba Vanga predicts a surge in luck and new beginnings. The month is expected to bring career advancements and personal success. Astrologers interpret this period as ideal for embracing change and pursuing fresh opportunities without hesitation. Libra (Tula): Favorable Tides in Finance and Love Librans can look forward to a harmonious blend of financial stability and emotional growth. New partnerships, both personal and professional are likely to flourish. The stars seem aligned for fruitful collaborations and the strengthening of existing bonds. Leo (Singh): Recognition and Radiance Those born under Leo may find themselves basking in appreciation and public recognition. With heightened energy and magnetism, Leos are encouraged to step into leadership roles and make bold moves. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Summer Clearance Sale Is Live Now Luxury Watches Buy Now Undo July appears to be a month where hard work meets visibility. Sagittarius (Dhanu): New Horizons Await For Sagittarians, the forecast points toward adventure and inner expansion. Whether it's travel, learning, or spiritual awakening, the month offers fertile ground for exploring the unknown. Personal and professional growth may come through unconventional routes. Spiritual Perspective Baba Vanga, who passed away in 1996, left behind a legacy of predictions that continue to fascinate people worldwide. Though her visions are often seen through a mystical lens, they remain influential among astrology and numerology enthusiasts. Discover everything about astrology at Times of India , including daily horoscopes for Aries , Taurus , Gemini , Cancer , Leo , Virgo , Libra , Scorpio , Sagittarius , Capricorn , Aquarius , and Pisces . Read your detailed Horoscope Today and Horoscope Tomorrow here.
Entrepreneur
17-07-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
How this Technocrat is Automating Accounting's Messiest Problems with AI at Mesh
Engineering and systems infrastructure expert Nandini Ramakrishnan set out to solve as co-founder and CTO of Mesh, a fintech platform using AI to automate error-prone accounting workflows. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Many financial institutions still rely on manual, disconnected workflows for core accounting tasks, often using mismatched tools like spreadsheets, third-party software, and legacy systems. This fragmented setup slows teams down, creates oversight gaps, and increases the risk of costly errors, ultimately undermining the accuracy and reliability of financial reporting. This is what financial engineering and systems infrastructure expert Nandini Ramakrishnan set out to solve as co-founder and CTO of Mesh, a fintech platform using AI to automate error-prone accounting workflows. Mesh uses AI agents to connect fragmented tools, monitor workflows for patterns and anomalies, and automate essential tasks like reconciliation, reporting, and discrepancy resolution. By reducing dependency on manual input, Nandini's platform empowers finance teams to minimize errors, reduce repetitive work, and gain real-time visibility into their operations, helping them build a stronger, more accurate accounting foundation. Read on for a closer look at Nandini's early life, foundation in systems thinking, and how Mesh is revolutionizing financial operations with AI. An Early Path to Systems Thinking Born and raised in India, Nandini began experimenting with coding at the age of eight. She credits her grandmother Lalitha, a former teacher with a degree in mathematics, for giving her a strong foundation in logic and structure. "She used to tutor me every day after school," Nandini recalls. "Thanks to her, it always felt ingrained in me to look at everything from an analytical perspective. And having such a powerful female mentor in STEM so early on greatly inspired me to pursue technical fields with confidence." That early curiosity led her to study electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, where she completed both her bachelor's and master's degrees and developed a deep understanding of the technical challenges behind building backend systems that support complex, real-world operations. She began working as a software engineer shortly after graduating, taking roles at Genesys and eBay before joining Carta, a fund administration platform for venture capital and private equity firms. She quickly rose from engineer to technical lead, playing a key role in building the company's infrastructure for fund setup, audits, and internal tools, all of which helped drive Carta's growth from $20 million to $100 million in annual recurring revenue. Nandini's experience at Carta gave her a first-hand understanding of how to design financial systems that are both scalable and dependable, knowledge that would prove essential in the next stage of her career. How Mesh Uses AI To Eliminate Accounting Errors In late 2024, Nandini co-founded Mesh, a platform built to automate the accounting tasks that many firms still handle manually. Despite the advent of modern software tools, many core workflows like transaction reconciliation, financial reporting, and document management often require teams to copy data between systems, verify records by hand, and track down information across emails, spreadsheets, and third-party platforms. These fragmented processes aren't only time-consuming but also increase the risk of costly errors. In fact, surveys show 59% of accountants report making financial errors each month, with 18% admitting to daily mistakes. Mesh reduces that friction by acting as an intelligent, automated bookkeeper. Its AI agents integrate with a company's existing systems, learn its specific workflows, and take over repetitive tasks such as transaction matching, discrepancy detection, report generation, and document classification. The platform also offers a unified dashboard with real-time visibility into payments and transactions, as well as a built-in chatbot to handle detailed queries and follow-ups. Nandini's experience at Carta, where audit readiness and system reliability were non-negotiable, was invaluable during the development of Mesh. She built the architecture with robust data validation protocols, clear audit trails, and safeguards to prevent inaccurate AI outputs (also known as "hallucinations"), ensuring that it's transparent, dependable, and ready for businesses of any size. By automating time-consuming, error-prone work, Mesh allows professionals to focus on higher-value tasks like analysis, compliance, and planning, making it especially valuable in high-stakes industries like healthcare, real estate, and investment management, where small accounting errors can carry major consequences. "Accurate, automated accounting should be table stakes for all kinds of businesses, whether they're big or small." Nandini explains. "At Mesh, I get to build AI agents that can safely and reliably take on the kind of gnarly, error-prone work no one wants to do by hand." Nandini's Approach to Leadership Nandini's scope extends well beyond her technical work. Her aim is to build a steady presence as a thoughtful leader in the engineering community, taking a visible, hands-on approach in both team settings and public forums. She first began building this approach at Carta, where she invested deeply in developing early-career engineers by leading cross-functional projects, running weekly design reviews, hosting pair programming sessions, and helping team members grow into leadership roles. Nandini carried that same commitment over to Mesh. She represented the company at Y Combinator's Demo Day, pitching to more than 1,000 investors and securing a spot in the accelerator's Winter 2025 batch, as well as at events like GenAI Collective meetups, Product Hunt showcases, and most recently, an AI privacy panel hosted by Founders Creative. For Nandini, effective leadership is about building and nurturing the systems and cultures that help engineering teams work well together and deliver reliable results; an approach that continues to guide her today. Rewiring Accounting with AI Nandini envisions Mesh becoming much more than just a tool for automating accounting tasks. With AI adoption accelerating, she sees it as a blueprint for how the technology can be thoughtfully integrated into critical business operations. "Tasks that weren't automatable just a few years ago now are," she concludes. "We have an opportunity to fundamentally reshape how accounting and finance teams operate and set a new standard for how AI agents can be utilized in compliance-heavy industries." Designed to support everyone from early-stage startups to large enterprises, Mesh has emerged as an efficient solution built for reliability, accuracy, and long-term trust. As more companies look to streamline operations, reduce manual effort, and maintain transparency, entrepreneurs like Nandini Ramakrishnan are driving the shift toward smarter, more reliable finance workflows.
The Star
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
Thai cuisine true to its Bangkok roots
IF you are craving the punchy flavours of Thai cuisine without needing to hop on a plane, there is a place right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. For a limited time, The Mesh at Four Points by Sheraton Kuala Lumpur City Centre is serving Thai food that transports diners straight to the bustling streets of Bangkok. The hotel's chef de cuisine Kamarudin Dali said the dishes in The Mesh x Siam Road were authentically Thai, as two chefs from Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen's Park were invited to teach the team to prepare the dishes from scratch. To start off the buffet, there's an enticing variety of appetisers. The Mesh buffet offers a spread of typically Thai dishes of bold flavours that transport guests straight to the streets of Bangkok. Som Tam Goong (green papaya salad with prawns) is tossed fresh in front of diners, its crunchy texture and balance of sweet, sour, salty and spicy notes instantly awakening the palate. The Larb Kai (spicy minced chicken salad) offers a mix of herbs with a hint of roasted rice crunch, while Yum Som-O (pomelo salad) combines juicy pomelo segments with sea prawn and a spicy chilli paste dressing for a refreshing zing. Pla Neua Yang (slow-cooked beef brisket salad) is richly flavoured with lemongrass, shallot and mint, giving it a fresh and aromatic finish. Tom Yam Goong stands out with its thick, flavourful broth, slightly different from local versions. Kamarudin said the fragrant soup was made with prawn, mushroom, kaffir lime, lemongrass and just the right amount of heat. Authenticity is at the heart of the mains too, he said. 'The Pad Krapoa Nuea (stir-fried minced beef with basil) and Pad Krapoa Gai (the chicken option) are prepared the traditional Thai way, which is slightly dry, allowing the bold basil and chilli notes to shine through. Pad Thai Goong with a generous amount of plump, juicy prawns. 'Comforting street food like pineapple fried rice and instant noodles stir-fried with tom yam spices add a casual touch. 'Fried favourites such as vegetable spring rolls, fish mousse wrapped in palm leaf and Thai fish cake are served with a tangy chilli dip to round out the selection,' he highlighted. The live cooking stations are a major highlight of the buffet. At the Pad Thai Goong station, silky rice noodles are cooked with juicy prawn, bean sprout, tofu and eggs. Guests can ask for a generous sprinkling of crushed peanut and lime juice on top to complete the dish. Another standout is Daging Bakar Danok – juicy, grilled marinated beef slices served with spicy dipping sauce. The meat is tender and smoky, with a hint of char that enhances its rich, savoury profile. If you enjoy dessert, the variety here is bound to impress. Som Tam Goong served atop sticky rice and grilled chicken. There's the chewy and fragrant Kanom Babin (mini coconut pancakes), while Mango Sticky Rice is served with perfectly ripened mango and a generous drizzle of creamy coconut sauce. Pandan Toast provides a comforting sweetness, while Ploy Krob (water chestnuts in coconut milk) and Kluay Buad Chee (bananas in coconut milk) offer a refreshing finish to the meal. To complement the feast, a variety of traditional Thai beverages are available, including rich Thai Iced Tea, aromatic Thai Green Tea and soothing Lemongrass Juice. Alongside the Thai food, there are also some Malaysian favourites for those needing a bit of local fare. The buffet is available until June 30, priced at RM168nett per adult and RM84nett per child for dinner and RM148nett per adult and RM74nett per child for lunch (Saturday and Sunday). THE MESH, Four Points by Sheraton Kuala Lumpur City Centre, corner of Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. (Tel: 03-2706 9099) Business hours: 6.30am-10.30pm. This is the writer's observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
