Mastercard adds Next Generation of LAC Fintech Partners to Accelerate Program

MIAMI, FL | AUGUST 12, 2020

• Four companies from the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region join the Start Path startup engagement program;
• Other nearly 50 new deals signed to help customers make growth ambitions a reality
  
  

Mastercard has announced the expansion of its Accelerate fintech portfolio, adding new companies to its startup engagement program Start Path and more technology partners to its Engage network, providing access to expert engineers and specialists that can help customers deploy new services quickly and efficiently. Through Accelerate, Mastercard helps emerging brands build and scale their businesses, supporting their programs today and providing the resources they will need in the years to come.

“For many years, Mastercard has been the partner of choice in LAC’s fintech space and our success with fintech partnerships is one of high collaboration and trust,” said Kiki del Valle, Senior Vice President, LAC Digital Partnerships. "As we continue to live through the dramatic shift toward digital payments, there's never been a more exciting time to help emerging brands grow and scale their businesses –supporting their programs today and providing what we know they will need in the decades to come.”

Mastercard Start Path

Mastercard is welcoming these four new LAC start ups alongside seven others from around the world to its Start Path program, offering a powerful network, innovative technology and deep expertise to help them grow their business and scale sustainably.

The four LAC fintech partners joining the Start Path program are:

• Aper: partners with financial institutions to develop their own e-commerce marketplaces, enabling them to enter a new market, cross-sell financial products and protect from fintech and technological disruptors.
• Bit Capital:a blockchain-based open banking platform that enables customers to deliver their own digital financial products securely and quickly.
• Finerio Connect: the first end-to-end open banking and personal finance management Application Programming Interface in Latin America that empowers fintechs and financial institutions to build customized and rapid solutions.
• Juvo: analyzes mobile network data to build financial identities for the 68% of adults worldwide with no formal credit history. Juvo's unique solution has enabled hundreds of millions of consumers throughout Latin America and Southeast Asia to build financial identities, enabling financial institutions to serve new segments.
  
  
  

Since 2014, Mastercard has invited more than 230 later-stage startups worldwide to participate in its six-month virtual program, providing technical guidance, operational support and commercial engagements within the Mastercard ecosystem.

Start Path evaluates more than 1,500 applications each year and selects approximately 40 startups that offer the most promising technologies and demonstrate a readiness to scale. Startups in this growing network have gone on to raise $2.7 billion in post program capital and collaborate with Mastercard, major banks, merchants and other high-profile organizations.

Mastercard Engage

Consumer expectations are evolving more rapidly than ever and banks, financial institutions, and digital players are looking for even more agility in bringing new solutions to market; Mastercard’s global reach and local roots afford it the ability to foster a strong, carefully curated network of technology partners that are qualified based on Mastercard standards and industry requirements. Mastercard is expanding its Engage program to support even more solutions and deliver better learning and promotional opportunities for partners.

Engage identifies, serves and promotes a network of more than 170 strategic partners who comply with Mastercard certification and rules, to build and deploy new solutions on behalf of fintechs, banks and merchants. In the first quarter of 2020 alone, Engage signed almost 50 new deals with partners such as Antelop, Giesecke+Devrient Mobile Security, MeaWallet, Netcetera, Payair and Thales across Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Middle East Africa.

Strengthening the capabilities of technology partners is even more critical during times of crisis, so fintechs can innovate faster and better serve consumers and businesses. Engage has enabled more than 200 million cards to support financial growth and market entry for fintechs around the world. Additional resources are now available for partners through the new Mastercard Engage website.