What initially started with 200 applicants to participate in a six-month long global Start Path class, global card network MasterCard has announced the pool is down to just four startups. Now selected, over the next six months, they will take part in immersion weeks hosted in Berlin and Singapore and receive ongoing support from the card network and attend the first Start Path Global Partner Summit. To qualify for the program, companies needed to already have a live product on the market and to have secured seed or Series A investment.
The program was started in Europe but MasterCard quickly saw that it needed to become more globally oriented. Commenting on the program, Stephane Wyper, global lead for MasterCard Start Path said,
“Through our local efforts to support developing fintech partners, we quickly saw the need for a more globally-inclusive program that provides startups access to new markets without uprooting them. This programme creates just that – a geographically diverse way to help some of those new to the market build partnerships with more established players as a way to accelerate their growth.”
With Visa and other participants in the payments industry launching their own innovation labs and fintech programs, each is trying to gain an upper hand in the development of the next generation of banking and payment products and technologies. While the four remaining startups might not prove fruitful to MasterCard, it at least is taking a step in the right direction and keeping pace with others in the payments industry.
Overview by Tristan Hugo-Webb, Associate Director, Global Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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