Six fintechs from Greece, out of a total of sixteen worldwide, are included in the 4th Cycle of the Visa Innovation Program.
The Visa Innovation Program is a platform for Visa’s collaboration with Startups and fintech entrepreneurs operating in Southeastern Europe.The Visa Innovation Program connects fintech Startups with Visa’s global network of partners, including e-money organizations, banks, merchants, governments and other important organizations. Visa’s initiative aims to foster innovation in the financial and payment industries.
In fact, Visa is part of Elevate Greece, an initiative of the Greek Government, which aims to map Startups, as well as to support their growth.The aim is to promote a strong innovation ecosystem.
The Programme operates in collaboration with Crowdpolicy, a technology and open innovation company (Greece), Eleven Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund (Bulgaria) and Hackquarters, a business accelerator (Turkey).
The fintechs that have the right to participate in the 4th Cycle of the Visa Innovation Program from Greece are:
The Action Finance Initiative (AFI) is a non-profit microfinance company that provides access to finance, through microcredit, to those who have a business or idea but cannot secure access to the necessary funds. At the same time, it supports these businesses by providing free training and support.
ComeTogether is introducing a new blockchain-based form of digital ticket to unlock new revenue from secondary markets and NFT, while improving the participant experience. ComeTogether is one of the registered Startups of Elevate Greece that was selected to participate in the Visa Innovation Program.
Coriunder a complete management platform that combines Card Acceptance and Issuance services/Banking and Financial Management to help companies develop their products (whitelabeled and under their brand).
EV Loader develops the first open to all charging network in Greece and Southeastern Europe. It provides charging station management software to businesses such as hotels and stores that already have a charging station on their premises and communicates their location through the EV Loader map application and other applications. EV Loader is one of the registered Startups of Elevate Greece that was also selected to participate in the Visa Innovation Program.
Infin8 an app that leverages open banking to gather account information, initiate payments, financially manage and generate leads for merchants and SMEs.
Valuelenz “Hybrid trade and phygital markets”. Valuelenz is a Startup Hybrid that allows physical stores to acquire a range of digital features that create exciting and secure ways for customers to make their purchases.
Visa collaborated with Elevate Greece
This year, Visa collaborated with Elevate Greece, the National Startup Registry in Greece, to further support the development of the Greek Startup ecosystem and beyond. In this context, Visa invited Startups registered in Elevate Greece to participate in the 4th Cycle of the Visa Innovation Program, which has been operating successfully for the last 3 years in Greece in collaboration with Crowdpolicy.
Three Startups belonging to Elevate Greece, Come Together, Valuelenz and EV Loader were accepted.
“The Visa Innovation Program for the 4th consecutive year enables the country’s fintechs to expand outside Greece and offer solutions that shape the future of payments and trade.This year, we participate with great enthusiasm as an Official Partner in the initiative of the Greek government Elevate Greece, aiming to further support the development of the Greek Startup ecosystem. As part of our partnership, Visa will offer the Visa Innovation Program Award worth 50,000 euros, through which it will provide in-kind services to the two selected fintechs of Elevate Greece, to help them acquire the necessary skills and tools to develop.
Exchange of knowledge and new business opportunities
The selected Startups will participate in a complex training program, with specialized design sprints and workshops, in order to boost their growth. The teams will work with an extensive network of Visa mentors and consultants, as well as Visa’s global network, in the field of payments, open banking, crypto and blockchain, security and sustainability, to gain insights into the industry and improve their value propositions. They will also be presented to a Network of Partners (Proof of Concept), such as banks, merchants and other organizations, to test and validate their proposals and reach the market faster.
Different groups with scalable solutions
More than 219 companies from 28 countries applied to work on the key issues of this year, which are the promotion of next-generation payment experiences, the empowerment of small and medium-sized enterprises, unlocking new payment flows, building a smart and sustainable future.
The selected teams have demonstrated deep knowledge of the fintech sector and scalable business models, which could determine new application cases and customer behaviors in the financial industry.
“The Visa Innovation Program for the 4th consecutive year enables the country’s fintechs to expand outside Greece and offer solutions that shape the future of payments and trade. This year, we participate with great enthusiasm as an Official Partner in the initiative of the Greek government Elevate Greece, aiming to further support the development of the Greek Startup ecosystem.As part of our partnership, Visa will offer the Visa Innovation Program Award worth 50,000 euros, through which it will provide in-kind services to the two selected fintechs of Elevate Greece, to help them acquire the necessary skills and tools to develop into successful businesses.”, said the Vice President and Regional General Manager of Visa Greece, Sevi Vassileva.
“We are very proud of our participation in this innovative program that aims to highlight the value, creativity and great dynamic synergies at an interregional level. It is of the utmost importance to address the common challenges through the Programme in order to improve our daily lives.I would like to wish everyone the best of luck! Rest assured that we will support every fintech Startup, as well as our partners, to leverage the collective fintech experience generated by the Visa Innovation Program.”, stated CIO/CTO and Co-founder of Crowdpolicy, Giorgos Karamanolis.
Exchange of knowledge and new business opportunities
The selected Startups will participate in a complex training program, with specialized design sprints and workshops, in order to boost their growth. The teams will work with an extensive network of Visa mentors and consultants, as well as Visa’s global network, in the field of payments, open banking, crypto and blockchain, security and sustainability, to gain insights into the industry and improve their value proposals. They will also be presented to a Network of Partners (Proof of Concept), such as banks, merchants and other organizations, to test and validate their proposals and reach the market faster.