Zürich, 19. September 2023 – Das Start Path Blockchain and Digital Assets-Programm, eines der globalen Startup-Engagement-Programme von Mastercard, hat heute sieben neue Unternehmen in sein Portfolio aufgenommen. Darunter auch erstmals ein Liechtensteiner Startup, die Lirium AG.

Mit den neuen Unternehmen sind nun fast 360 Startups aus 43 Ländern Teil des Start Path-Portfolios. Diese nutzen das Programm, um sich mit Mastercards Ökosystem aus Banken, Händler:innen, Partner:innen sowie digitalen Akteuren auf der ganzen Welt zu vernetzen und mit ihnen zusammen neue Lösungen zu entwickeln.

Weitere Informationen zum Mastercard Start Path Programm und zu den neuen Start-ups finden Sie in der englischen Medienmitteilung:

Fostering the next generation of digital assets innovation

Seven blockchain and digital assets startups join Mastercard’s global startup engagement program to scale innovation, simplify the movement of decentralized financial assets and more

Blockchain technology is playing an increasingly prominent role in finance and payments, unlocking countless opportunities to enable broader consumer choice. Blockchain, the technology that underpins most digital assets, is transforming commerce around the world. From speeding up supply chains to tracking carbon emissions, Mastercard is at the forefront of this innovation. Through the Start Path Blockchain and Digital Assets program, we’re supporting startups from around the world that are driving best-in-class user experiences and expanding use cases that reveal the incredible power of blockchain technology.

Through Start Path, startups receive an opportunity for technical collaboration, access to Mastercard customers and channels as well as subject matter expertise and bespoke training. The following companies will join the nearly 360 startups from 43 countries in the Start Path portfolio that are looking to venture into new markets and scale blockchain innovation:

• Cenoa (Singapore) is a zero-fee digital dollar account that makes it easy and cheap to buy, grow, send and spend dollars in emerging markets.
• Crossmint (U.S.) offers infrastructure for enterprises to create, distribute, store and enable non-fungible token (NFT) use cases, simplifying the process for companies and end users.
• AI (U.S.) is a blockchain transaction security platform that declines exploits, scams and fraudulent transactions in real-time.
• Emerge (U.K.) reimagines the impact of technological innovation through an experimentation lab that is at the convergence of technology, impact and finance.
• FI (Germany) simplifies the process of moving assets, offering the ability to complete complex multi-chain transactions with one click.
• Lirium AG (Liechtenstein) enables banks and digital wallets to give their customers the ability to buy, sell, receive, send and store digital assets through their own platforms.
• Polytrade (Dubai) uses blockchain technology to tokenize real-world financial assets to make lending and borrowing seamless.

“We always take a collaborative approach to innovation, building with a developer-first mindset to make it easy for fintechs to embrace the vast utility and scale of our network,” said Raj Dhamodharan, executive vice president, Blockchain and Digital Assets at Mastercard. “Our network is a bridge that connects ecosystems to quickly power new, relevant solutions and create efficiencies in existing digital commerce experiences.”

The companies selected for Start Path have a demonstrated product-market fit focused on digital assets, crypto payments, scalable blockchain solutions, NFTs or loyalty use cases, and have raised seed or Series A capital. Through the program, we’re making it easier for fintechs and enterprises to use blockchain technology, simplifying the deployment experience and making the technology more accessible.

Startups interested in the Start Path Blockchain and Digital Assets program can apply here.

Founder Quotes

“We started Cenoa with the mission of helping billions of people in emerging markets combat inflation,” says Seçkin Çağlın, co-founder of Cenoa. “Participating in the Mastercard Start Path program will hugely expand Cenoa’s reach and impact.”

“We built Crossmint to empower companies to build real-life blockchain use cases without requiring any crypto experience and make the blockchain invisible to end users,” says Rodri Fernandez Touza and Alfonso Gómez-Jordana, co-founders of Crossmint. “We are proud to join the Mastercard Start Path program and leverage Mastercard's ecosystem to make this happen faster."

“Web3 has a security gap: real-time transaction security,” says Einaras Gravrock, founder and CEO of CUBE3.AI. “The key to unlocking blockchain potential is making the security stack more secure by blocking malicious and fraudulent transactions in real time, which will build trust and incentivize more companies to feel safer entering the ecosystem.”

“We're incredibly excited to bring our fearless, impact-forward experimentation to Mastercard's Start Path program,” says Lucia Gallardo, founder of Emerge. “Together, we're looking to explore new precedents in how technology, impact, finance, creativity, and experience converge.”

"When I entered the space, I felt the very same excitement that I felt when I learned to code,” says Philipp Zentner, CEO of LI.FI. “There’s an endless amount of new opportunities to connect humanity globally on another level.”

“We strongly believe that participation in Start Path empowers our plans to be ready for the adoption of blockchain technology — providing simple, fast and safe channels to support the next wave of adoption," says Martin Kopacz, co-founder and COO of Lirium AG.

"Polytrade was born out of a realization that core challenges in our current financial systems can be solved using blockchain, leading to not just better capital allocation but meaningful last-mile impact,” says Piyush Gupta, founder and CEO of Polytrade. “As our products mature, we are seeing the applicability of our standards across multiple asset classes.”