Amman, Jordan: Mastercard, a leading technology company in the global payments industry, recently welcomed ten startups to its Start Path program at the Mastercard Connecting Tomorrow Forum in Barcelona as part of its efforts to drive the startup ecosystem.

Mastercard Start Path is the company’s global initiative to provide startups with the operational support and commercial access needed to scale. The program brings together a global network of innovators ranging from startups to banks and merchants to shape the future of commerce in an agile and accelerated manner. Start Path evaluates roughly 1,600 applications per year and invites about 40 later-stage startups to participate each year.

Representing numerous countries including Jordan, Nigeria, Mexico, Australia, Singapore, the UK and the US, the participating startups are developing innovative financial services technologies that exemplify a new level of innovation and convenience in customer experience. During the Mastercard Connecting Tomorrow Forum, the selected startups were given the opportunity to pitch their ideas to an audience of more than 250 potential investors and partners.

“Startups are reimagining all touch points of the consumer lifecycle and we must harness their unique approach to addressing emerging challenges to our advantage. Through the Mastercard Start Path program we are able to combine our assets and expertise with the startup community’s out-of-the-box ideas and unconventional business models to shape the future of commerce together,” said Gaurang Shah, senior vice president, Product Management, Digital Payments & Labs, MEA, Mastercard.

The ideas presented by startups ranged from new approaches to enabling small merchants to accept payments and manage personal data and digital identities, to solutions that allow consumers to pay together for e-commerce transactions, as well as programs that empower citizens to be in control of their financial obligations across multiple geographies.

The full list of the companies comprising the latest wave of the program include:

  • Agora Services: helps banks enhance their legacy payment platforms (without replacing them) for a better user experience.
  • Billpocket: Improves Mexico's businesses competitiveness leveraging card payments for everyone through mPOS.
  • Extend: Extend is a platform that provides banks, FinTechs and their customers with the ability to distribute digital credit cards.  
  • Jaib: Instant consumer credit for unbanked customer purchases in emerging markets.
  • Meeco: Enables individuals and organizations to create mutual value from personal data in a transparent, ethical, compliant way.
  • Pay By Group: We help merchants sell more by letting friends buy together online. The buy button for groups.
  • Rewire: Helps international citizens manage their financial obligations across two countries or more.
  • Silot: Empower banks with fast & scalable AI
  • Lidya: Helps small businesses in emerging markets access credit within one day.
  • Simudyne: Provides simulation software for financial firms to easily build massively scalable AI simulations

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About Mastercard:

Mastercard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry.  Our global payments processing network connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories.  Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone.  Follow us on Twitter @MastercardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

About Start Path:

Start Path is Mastercard’s award-winning startup engagement program that brings together a network of innovators from across the globe to shape the future of commerce together. Startups benefit from the knowledge of a global network of Mastercard experts, technologies and channels. Banks and merchants gain access to a global portfolio of elite startups to accelerate commercial products and solutions through collaboration. Launched in 2014, startups that started with Start Path have gone on to raise over $1.2B in capital investment. 

Mastercard Communications Contact
Omar Abuhanoud
+971 4 563 8603
omar.abuhanoud@mastercard.com

© Press Release 2018

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