Pune: Innovecture and Nexio have expanded their strategic technology partnership through Innovecture’s Global Engineering Center (GEC) in Pune, strengthening engineering collaboration between their India and U.S. teams.
The Innovecture partnership with the U.S.-based payments technology company is expected to create a three-digit number of jobs in Pune over the next one to two years.
The partnership began as a technology engagement in 2024 and has since evolved into a broader engineering relationship supporting Nexio’s global technology priorities.
Through the Pune GEC, Nexio is expanding its technology presence in India while gaining access to specialised engineering talent, technology capabilities and delivery expertise.
According to the companies, the Pune GEC will support Nexio across digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI), data, application modernisation, quality engineering, application support and IT operations.
The centre is intended to operate as an extension of Nexio’s onsite technology team, connecting engineering teams in the U.S. and India around common product and technology priorities.
Innovecture-Nexio Partnership Evolves Into Global Engineering Center Model
During an interaction in Pune, Innovecture India CEO Girish Rao said the relationship between the two companies has developed over the past two years and is now moving towards a long-term strategic partnership.
The engagement initially involved project-based work, with Innovecture supporting Nexio across application development, data modernisation, quality assurance and other engineering functions. The relationship has subsequently expanded into a broader Global Engineering Center model.
Rao said the Pune centre is intended to go beyond being a conventional delivery location by becoming an integrated part of Nexio’s global technology organisation.
The Pune GEC combines Nexio’s product and domain expertise with Innovecture’s engineering talent, delivery ecosystem and technology capabilities.
The model is expected to allow the two organisations to work as a connected engineering team while remaining aligned with Nexio’s global technology strategy.
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Nexio Sees India as Key Source of Technology Talent
Nexio COO Justin Brown said the company, a payments fintech based in Utah, had traditionally developed its technology capabilities locally in the United States.
As the business expanded, however, the company needed access to specialised technology talent across multiple areas and the ability to hire those capabilities quickly.
Brown said the partnership with Innovecture enabled Nexio to expand its technology team in terms of both size and capabilities. He noted that the relationship began on a smaller scale and steadily expanded as the two companies developed greater familiarity and saw successful outcomes.
According to Brown, the partnership allows Nexio to bring in people with specific technology skills quickly when new requirements emerge. He also indicated that Nexio expects the relationship to continue growing and remain an important part of its presence in India.
Innovecture Pune GEC Expansion Expected to Create Three-Digit Jobs
The partnership behind the Global Engineering Center in Pune is set to expand significantly, with the initiative expected to create a three-digit number of jobs over the next one to two years, according to company officials.
Officials said the partners are discussing further hiring plans and areas of expansion through 2027, with significant investment expected from both sides.
GEC Model to Combine Technology and Business Functions
Girish Rao explained that the GEC model differs from traditional offshore development and captive centre models through its approach to ownership, delivery and business integration.
Under the arrangement, the team will be hired locally, while significant control over people, delivery and projects will remain with Nexio USA. The model is also intended to bring teams closer to the business rather than focusing exclusively on technology.
He said the approach combines elements of traditional offshore development and Global Capability Centre models while allowing closer collaboration between technology and business teams.
AI Becomes Central to Nexio’s Technology Strategy
AI emerged as a major focus during the interaction, particularly across payments, risk management, software development and fraud detection.
Brown said risk management is a critical component of Nexio’s payments business and that the company is using AI across different parts of its operations.
At the same time, the growing use of AI by fraudsters is creating new challenges for the payments industry. Brown said Nexio is working on AI-enabled tools that can help the company identify risky businesses, individuals and transactions and take action before they result in losses.
The discussion also highlighted the growing use of AI-generated images and documents. Nexio’s engineering leadership noted that AI-based image generation has become increasingly sophisticated, enabling the creation of fake documents and manipulated facial images.
This is creating a need for stronger AI-based detection capabilities to identify fraudulent material within payment processes. The company is therefore looking at AI not only as a tool for improving software delivery and productivity, but also as part of its broader approach to risk and fraud management.
GenAI Changes Software Engineering and Talent Requirements
Nexio’s engineering leadership also discussed how generative AI is changing the company’s approach to software engineering.
According to the discussion, Innovecture initially supported Nexio with legacy application documentation and support, with the objective of reducing the total cost of ownership of legacy systems while keeping them operational.
This work was particularly relevant given Nexio’s compliance, security and PCI DSS requirements.
The introduction of GenAI has subsequently created both opportunities and challenges. AI models are evolving rapidly, making it difficult for organisations to determine how each new model will perform across different tasks until it is tested.
Nexio’s engineering team said the relationship with Innovecture provides flexibility to develop or add the required skill sets as new AI tools and models emerge.
This allows Nexio to experiment with new technologies without having to build every specialised capability immediately within its U.S. operations.
Innovecture Supports AI-Led Technology Development
The companies said the Pune GEC will bring together capabilities spanning software engineering, data, AI, automation, quality engineering, application modernisation and IT operations.
The centre is expected to provide Nexio with a platform to continuously expand its engineering capabilities across payments technology and software development, while enabling Innovecture to contribute more deeply to Nexio’s global technology and product journey.
Girish Rao said: “Our vision for the Nexio–Innovecture relationship goes well beyond building engineering capacity in India. We are creating a connected global engineering capability where talent, technology, domain expertise and innovation come together to deliver meaningful business value for Nexio.”
Rao added that the Pune GEC represents the next stage of the relationship, bringing together Nexio’s product and technology vision with Innovecture’s engineering expertise, talent ecosystem and delivery capabilities.
The expanded partnership also brings Nexio leadership to India, with Justin Brown, COO, and Wei Liu, Vice President of Engineering, visiting India to engage with the Pune engineering team and deepen collaboration between teams across the two geographies.
AI Shapes Technology Choices at Pune Centre
Artificial intelligence is also expected to play a major role in technology decisions at the Pune centre.
Officials said a recent software project demonstrated a shift away from simply reusing technologies already deployed within the organisation. Instead, teams are evaluating business use cases and the value expected from new software before selecting tools and frameworks.
The company is also assessing technologies based on their compatibility with AI development.
According to an Wei Liu, around 90% of the code generated by its development teams in the latest round of work was generated by AI. This is influencing decisions around programming languages, tools and frameworks.
The company said it is also keeping an open approach to technology selection as AI models and tools continue to evolve. Areas already being explored at the Pune centre include AI, quality assurance, automation, digital transformation, Salesforce and data.
AI Improves Software Development Productivity
Justin Brown said AI has allowed software engineers to become several times more efficient, with productivity improvements being observed across both U.S.-based and India-based teams.
The increased efficiency is also affecting the pace of software development. Software engineers are now working faster than product management, while the cost and speed of delivering software solutions have both improved.
AI adoption is not limited to technology teams. The organisation is also developing AI-based tools for functions including finance and human resources to improve productivity and efficiency. AI is also being explored for risk management and fraud prevention, as fraudsters increasingly adopt technology. The objective is to stay ahead of emerging risks and develop software that can help reduce them, Brown said.
Innovecture and Nexio Adopt Flexible AI Model Strategy
The company is using multiple AI models depending on task and cost requirements. Wei Liu said the company is also evaluating the cost and capabilities of different AI models as newer models become available and older models become less expensive.
The approach involves using highly capable models for complex planning and coordination tasks while assigning smaller or simpler tasks to less expensive models.
The company is also exploring open-source large language models that could be hosted on-premises. This is intended to provide an option for situations involving highly sensitive information where commercial AI models may not be suitable, even under enterprise agreements.
AI Expected to Change, Not Reduce, Hiring
Officials said AI adoption is expected to reshape the skills required in the technology industry, but they do not currently expect it to reduce hiring at the organisation.
Instead, the company plans to either maintain or increase the number of people it hires while using AI to increase the amount and complexity of work that teams can deliver.
Officials said employees across technical and non-technical functions will need to learn how to use AI tools and continuously enhance their skills as technologies change.
They also pointed to the rapid pace of technological change, with new technologies emerging every three to six months, as an important factor influencing hiring and workforce requirements.
Semiconductor Sector Emerges as Expansion Area
Beyond the existing partnership and technology operations, Innovecture is also evaluating opportunities in the semiconductor industry.
Girish Rao said the organisation already has significant capabilities in the BFI industry and has been seriously considering semiconductors as an additional area of expansion over the past two to three months. “We have met with some world-leading companies in the semiconductor space as part of this exploration.”
