Mastercard has welcomed 10 fintechs from around the world to participate in Start Path, a six-month startup engagement program that provides a platform for co-innovation and uncovering opportunities that leverage Mastercard’s technology, expertise and network.
Mastercard believes that with the accelerated shift to digital experiences and rapidly evolving consumer behaviors, COVID-19 has created an immediate need for innovative technology solutions, and partnership opportunities abound.
“We all thrive when fintechs have access to the technology they need to reach scale and democratise finances,” said Ken Moore, chief innovation officer at Mastercard.
“We are partnering with the newest fintechs joining Start Path to drive inclusion, innovation and trust with alternative ways to pay and authenticate, powerful solutions for small businesses, new ways to create efficiency for business payments, as well as address the wealth gap,” said Moore.
Start Path companies will have an opportunity to connect to many partners in Mastercard’s global ecosystem of banks and merchants as well as technology and digital players to scale their businesses and deliver transformative solutions.
With more than 250 startups in the Start Path program since its founding in 2014, these companies have gone on to raise $2.9 billion in post-program investments and are delivering solutions that are transforming the future of commerce.
The latest batch selected to join the elite program includes:
- Carry1st, which is leveraging mobile technology, payment gateways and culturally relevant content to serve the first generation of African smartphone users.
- FISPAN, a contextual platform that embeds business banking services within Enterprise Resource Planning and Accounting applications that clients can rely on to run their businesses.
- Lendio, which provides a full-service approach to small business financing, from technology infrastructure for financial institutions to access to growth capital.
- LISNR, which connects online to offline customer journeys globally using ultrasonic data-over-sound technology that enables proximity verification and contactless transactions for merchants, financial service providers and mobility companies.
- Mocafi,a financial services platform designed to help the underbanked with digital banking and credit building along with personal wealth coaching.
- Mo Technologies, which offers a credit scoring model for financial and non-financial institutions that helps to extend more credit products to more customers in all segments.
- Panda Remit, which is building a global financial platform where money is borderless, allowing for safe, convenient and low-cost money transfers.
- Paycode, which provides a low-cost biometric online and offline banking and payment system that solves the three key challenges of the unbanked last mile: identity, connectivity and cost.
