Visa, the world leader in digital payments, is looking for startups from across Asia Pacific to join the second cohort of their accelerator program. The Visa Accelerator Program focuses on helping startups in Asia Pacific expand their business into new markets with a strong emphasis on identifying commercial opportunities for the startups to collaborate with Visa and its extensive network of bank, merchant and government partners in the region.

"As the world transitions from a pandemic to an endemic state, there is great demand for digital-first experiences that shape new thinking around digital currencies and open data. And many startups have developed new innovations to tap these opportunities," said Chris Clark, regional president, Asia Pacific, Visa. "At Visa, we want to support these startups by helping them go from a local success story to a regional player, providing guidance and connections to navigate the complexities of entering new markets."

The Visa Accelerator Program is designed for startups that have launched successful solutions in their home markets but are looking towards the next stage of growth. As a network working for everyone, Visa is uniquely positioned to help startups break into new geographies and reach new customer groups.

Money movement, digital currencies, open data and B2B as key focus areas

With increased expectations for digital-first experiences from consumers and businesses, startups in the 2022 cohort will tackle some of the most pressing financial and technological opportunities in Asia Pacific:

• Simplifying and expanding money movement between consumers, businesses and governments to enable new ways to pay and be paid, domestically and internationally
• Delivering new innovative payment methods such as digital currencies through the development and adoption of blockchain
• Leveraging the open data environment to facilitate advanced decision-making and scoring capabilities in the areas of digital identity, consent management, credit scoring as well as risk and fraud management
• Offering differentiated and personalised shopping experiences through new credit models, buy now pay later and loyalty solutions
• Accelerating the digitisation of businesses by streamlining credit underwriting solutions and developing mobile-first solutions for supply chain management
• Helping startups scale their business

Visa introduced the Accelerator Program in Asia Pacific in December 2020. Startups from the first cohort include Brankas, a fintech that provides financial software and solutions; Curlec, a subscription management platform that facilitates recurring payments and disbursements; DigitSecure, an omnichannel acceptance platform; ModusBox, an open-source platform for real-time payments and Open, a neo-banking platform for small businesses. The startups concluded their activities with a product pitch to hundreds of Visa's clients and partners across the region.