Visa announces open call for startups for accelerator program

Visa on Friday announced an open call for startups across India to apply for the Visa Accelerator Program 2023.

Now in its third year, the Visa Accelerator Program selects a small group of startups from across Asia Pacific to collaborate on some of the most pressing challenges in the payments industry. The 2023 program will focus on developing solutions in Web 3.0, global money movement, embedded finance, merchant and small business enablers, and open banking solutions, a statement by Visa said.

Sandeep Ghosh, group country manager, India and South Asia, Visa, said, “We have seen some exceptional ideas from startups in India that have been a part of the past cohorts and co-developed great products. Expectations are high as we invite startups for the third cohort and hope to continue driving the same positive momentum with the program.”

Launched in 2019, the Visa Accelerator Program has enabled the growth of some of Asia Pacific’s most prominent startups, it said. The five startups from the 2022 cohort presented their proof-of-concepts at the Visa Accelerator Spotlight event, after working with Visa product and business development teams to bring their concepts to life and expand their businesses into new markets across the region.

Startups from the 2021 and 2022 cohorts secured nine commercial deals with Visa’s clients and partners in Asia Pacific. Additionally, Visa has entered into six partnership and commercial agreements with selected startups, emphasising the value that startups can bring to the larger payments industry. From India, the program had DigitSecure and Open selected in the first cohort while Perfios was part of the second cohort.

To tap into the best of the Asia Pacific startup community, Visa said it is partnering with Plug & Play, an innovation platform.

“Plug & Play will be a key strategic partner and will curate access to emerging fintech-focused startups for the Visa Accelerator Program 2023,” it said.