Visa has joined Zone2boost, an investment startup programme created by CaixaBank, Global Payments and Worldline.
Visa joins the international innovation initiative following its first year of activity with more than 300 start-ups assessed, eight start-ups incorporated into its acceleration programme and a committed investment volume of €800,000. Companies receiving investments span a wide range of financial and e-commerce activities, driving innovation through the use of cutting edge technologies like blockchain and AI.
Visa will contribute to the programme by helping selected startups to scale and enrich their products and by contributing to investment funding.
Eduardo Prieto, managing director of Visa in Spain, comments: “At Visa, we continually evaluate technology of all kinds, especially those that have the potential to improve our clients' digital payments user experience. So we are looking for investments that really extend our reach to the global commerce ecosystem and Zone2boost is a great opportunity to identify new collaboration prospects."
The time period through which the entrepreneurs are supported varies from six months to two years, throughout which the new companies may evolve from very early stages to a level that can allow them to successfully access the market through A and B investment rounds.
In total, Visa, CaixaBank, Global Payments and Wordline intend to invest €3 million through Zone2Boost by 2022.