Startups, start your engines

With more prize money being offered than ever before, the Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI) — a global pitch competition judged by Visa executives, clients and partners—is looking for innovative startups who are driving economic growth across the world.

With this year’s applications now open, the Visa Everywhere Initiative has expanded to showcase those startups using cryptocurrency and Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time¹ money movement platform, in innovative ways. Five finalists from around the world will meet in Qatar for a global competition in November 2022, with winners gaining first-hand exposure to key fintech constituents across banking, merchant, Venture Capital (VC) and government sectors, as well as monetary prizes and the opportunity to partner with Visa and its expansive client ecosystem.

Opening doors for early-stage companies

Fintechs and other payments innovators are transforming the way we pay, making it easier for more people to access the money they need when they need it — and during a pandemic year, more seamless access to those funds has become more critical than ever. In past years, the Visa Everywhere Initiative has given some of the most promising innovators in the payments space a shot at accelerating their growth.

“The Visa Everywhere Initiative opened doors that a year-old company could never have imagined — the direct access to executives, talent, and support from Visa was monumental,” said Moov Founder and CEO Wade Arnold, the 2021 Visa Everywhere Initiative Global Winner and Audience Favorite.

Arnold designed Moov to make it easy for developers to accept, store, and disperse money, all from a single platform, and, by winning four Visa Everywhere Initiative competitions, totaling $95,000 in prizes, he is bringing this vision to life. Other 2021 finalists included startups dedicated to expanding access to the unbanked, including Finerio Connect, a robust open banking API in Latin America and PearlPay, a Philippine-based fintech bringing digital banking solutions to rural banks and their customers.

New U.S. Special Editions spotlight inclusivity

The Visa Everywhere Initiative is now a network of 8,500 startups around the world and growing. Since its 2015 launch, the program has helped startups in more than 100 countries collectively raise more than $16 billion in funding, addressing one of the biggest challenges that entrepreneurs face in their startup years. Every year, we’ve expanded the Visa Everywhere Initiative to include unique startups solving unique problems in the world of payments. This year, we’ve intentionally focused on reaching a more diverse group of innovators. In the U.S., the Visa Everywhere Initiative 2022 Special Editions will spotlight Black, Women and LGBTQ+-founded startups during Black History Month (February 2022), International Women’s Month (March 2022), and Pride Month (June 2022), respectively.

Who should apply for the Visa Everywhere Initiative?

Now is your chance to build on a dream. The program is currently seeking innovative and ambitious entrepreneurs who are uplifting communities by solving payment and commerce challenges faced by businesses of all sizes and sectors, including but not limited to:

Enabler of Digital Services and Digital Issuers

• Blockchain & Cryptocurrency
• Crowdfunding
• Banking as a Services
• BIN Sponsors
• Issuer / Processors
• Program Managers

Digital Issuance