Visa Innovation Program Europe is in search of the fintech companies that have the highest potential to partner and conduct pilot or proof of concepts with Visa clients and partners, therefore your capabilities should be go-to-market ready for the country you are applying to. We can support market expansion needs on a per case basis and other opportunities beyond. Additionally, you will benefit from curated training, mentorship and introductions to selected investors
Core Value Proposition
Who Should Apply
If your team has already completed a proof of concept related to the proposed challenges or has a market-ready solution,
you are the right fit for the Visa Innovation Program Europe.
The Program In Numbers
*Funding raised by the participating Fintech companies after joining the program either independently or through connections of Program Managers (Eleven and Tenity)
program managers
The Visa Innovation Program Europe is run by the collective efforts of our local partners in Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey, Spain, Portugal and Italy. They bring their know-how, network, domain expertise and operational resources to make the Program a reality.
Main Program Managers
Local Ecosystem Partners
The Timeline
Open call for applications
27 january – 28 February 2025
Selection
19 March – 27 March 2025
Program Start
April 2025
Discovery sessions
One-on-one meetings with PoC partners
April – May 2025
Workshops
Design thinking sprints
May – December 2025
PoC/Pilot development
Mentoring sessions
May – December 2025
Graduation Event
December 2025
The Timeline V2
The Timeline v3
Themes
We are looking for the best and brightest companies to address our themes. The applicants need to provide proven solutions to drive innovation and technological advancement for Visa and Visa’s clients. If you believe your company addresses one or more of the themes, you are welcome to apply and become part of the Visa Innovation Program Europe family.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Next-gen payment experiences
Are you exploring how AI tools can level up financial products and services? Can you unleash the potential of new technologies and infrastructures to introduce innovative commerce and payment journeys, increase operational efficiencies, enable digital onboarding of consumers and businesses, improve fraud and risk management capabilities;
✵ AI powered risk and fraud solutions
✵ Digital wallets
✵ Super app components
✵ Data enrichment
✵ Personal finance (PFM) and wealth management
✵ Payments in Metaverse
✵ Crypto / Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), DeFi applications
Embedded Finance and Commerce Empowerment
Embedded Finance and Commerce Empowerment
Can you facilitate cash displacement in B2C and B2B commerce models? Are you enabling integration of financial services into non-financial businesses through APIs and platforms in various sectors (e.g. GIG economy, travel & entertainment, shipping & logistics, lifestyle, healthcare, proptech, agriculture, sports). Do you revolutionize?
✵ Open banking
✵ Instalments, credit scoring, POS financing, BNPL
✵ Payment infrastructure enablers
✵ Customer acquisition, loyalty, and engagement
✵ Digital Identity: Payment Credentials, authentication, digital onboarding, and KYC / KYB
✵ Expense / ERP management solutions
✵ Merchant/retail and SME targeted solutions
Money Movement Flows
Money Movement Flows
Are you ready to digitize cash intensive P2P, B2C, B2B, B2b, G2C payments to create new commerce opportunities for consumers and businesses?
✵ Cross-border payments
✵ Funds disbursements (e.g. Social commerce, earned wage, refunds, remittances, government payments)
✵ Finance management platforms for businesses (e.g. payments, accounts, procurement)
✵ Supply chain payments
✵ Treasury/Payment-as-a-Service
Sustainable and Inclusive Future
Can you help enhance payments technology to contribute to the transition to an eco-friendly economy and to foster financial inclusion, reduce inequality and create positive impact for people, economies and the environment? Are you working on:
✵ Urban mobility (e.g. EV charging), Fleet Management
✵ Government payments (e.g. Financial aid, social benefits, bill and tax payments)
✵ Interconnected services for citizens and tourists
✵ Financial education
✵ Carbon footprint / carbon neutral
✵ Sustainable finance / commerce / payment card
✵ Impact management and measurement
✵ Impact Investing
Testimonials
“Participating in the Visa Innovation Program before our MVP launch was invaluable. It’s the ultimate program for fintech companies, offering close monitoring and support for you growth, extensive local and international networking opportunities, and streamlined B2B partnerships. A must for any fintech founder. “
Hilmi Kaya, Co-Founder Yancep“The Visa Innovation Program team is like family to us! We’ve worked with the Visa team since Divilo was founded, and so far, I can only say good things about them. They have opened doors we would never have crossed if they had not helped us. Thank you! Visa Innovation Program Europe – Spain Edition’22 “
Juan Guruceta, Founder - Divilo“The Visa Innovation Program brought unparalleled value to our company. Throughout our collaboration with Eleven Ventures we managed to improve our value proposition, tailor the product towards different customer personas and experiment with business models. We were introduced to new clients, but most importantly, we managed to sign our first pilot project in less than two months.”
Catalin Rus, Co-Founder and COO - Prime Dash“The tailor-made format of the Program and our personal design thinking concierge’s support allowed us to stay focused on our core business while working on a very practical case for Visa Direct’s integration in Foundy’s underlying technology. That’s invaluable when you run a international company and have to deal with multiple challenges as a founder.”
Valeria Vahorovska, CEO - Foundy“Visa Innovation Program provided us with the support, motivation and partnerships from Visa’s wider network we needed to overcome the obstacles we faced and eventually launch our product for a PoC in the Greek market.”
Elena Avatangelou, Co-Founder, Service & Product Design - Giving Streets“The program was pivotal in establishing key partnerships with Visa partners and Visa’s network and exploring new service lines for very small businesses. During the program we managed to expand out marchant outles from 1100 to 1500 with promising collaborations in place and an extended contact network.”
Evangelos Rossetos, Co-Founder - Simply POS“We always want to work with market leaders like VISA and the banks that participate in the program. Connecting with experts is critical in accelerating our development and our market reach. Through the Visa Innovation Program we were able to get access to the banks and present our solution to key stakeholders across major financial institutions. VIP has helped us accelerate this process, and as a founder this is one of the most important and tough tasks.”
Dimitris Kalavasis, CEO - RoadCube Inc“The largest value of the program was access to the global network of partners, customers and a startup ecosystem. Iris Solutions pivoted form B2C to B2B solutions company. We verified a fully new effective business model and strategy.”
Galya Dimitrova, CEO - Iris Solutions“The Program helped us to developed our product for small and medium enterprises with leading experts from San Francisco and London. A key step in our growth is the opening of our office in Berlin, located next to the Visa Innovation Center in Germany.”
Hristo Borisov, Co-Founder and CEO - Payhawk“The largest value of the program was access to the huge network of partners, custormers and a startup ecosystem. We are able to keep up with the current trends, identify new opportunities and connect with startups and team that are changing the financial world around us. Keep up the good work! “
Konstantinos Vaitsas, Head of Digital Innovation - Alpha Bank“The program was pivotal in establishing Glocalzone’s key partnerships with Visa and Visa’s network and entering new markets. What’s more, we grew our customer base from 10 to 150k users and our valuation increased 4 times during the period we were in the program.”
Dogan Turan, Co-Founder - Glocalzone“This program gave us a unique opportunity to accelerate our product to market alongside some of the best mentors and leaders in the business. We also received the partnership with Raiffeisen Bank to build, test and create the future of payments with biometric technologies that have never been done before on the Bulgarian market. “
Mihai Draghici, Founder & CEO - Paybyface
