Digital payments major Visa announced that it has picked seven new startups, from more than 450 applicants, to partner and accelerate payments innovations in the region through its Visa Accelerator Program in the Asia Pacific.
The startups chosen for the 2023 cohort include digital financing firm Dowsure from Mainland China; trade platform Doxa Holdings and digitisation company Pixcels from Singapore; and salary payments platform Kadmos from Germany.
Web3 community platform Playbux from Thailand and payments firm Transpure and rewards-based payment network Twid from India also comprise the startups that will have the opportunity to collaborate with Visa’s payment experts, business development teams, and customers over a six-month period.
Startups in the Visa Accelerator Program will co-develop, test, and refine their solutions while leveraging Visa’s network of financial institutions, merchants, and digital partners to validate their offerings against commercial opportunities.
“Our collaboration with past cohorts of startups has yielded multiple commercial partnerships, joint intellectual property (IP) creation, and new product developments with Visa and our clients in the Asia Pacific,” said Kunal Chatterjee, Head of Innovation, Asia Pacific, at Visa.
With its 2023 cohort, Visa pursues opportunities in Web3, global money movement, embedded finance, merchant and small business enablers, and open banking.
Visa has partnered with global innovation platform Plug and Play for the Visa Accelerator Program 2023. Plug and Play will help identify, attract, and accelerate startups that aim to solve industry challenges and scale new technologies, per the announcement.
“We are excited to be part of the Visa Accelerator Program and that both teams will be co-creating innovative solutions to elevate the customer payments experience by leveraging Visa and TWID’s network strengths,” said Amit Koshal, founder and CEO of Twid, one of the seven startups picked for the Visa Accelerator Program 2023.