Visa opens applications for its start-up booster programme in the UAE

Visa, the world's largest payments company, has opened applications for its 2023 start-up booster programme in the UAE, enabling companies to pitch their solutions to solve payment and commerce challenges.

The global Visa Everywhere Initiative will offer start-ups the opportunity to solve real-life industry challenges using their ideas and solutions, with the winner receiving $20,000, the San Francisco-based company said on Tuesday.

In the Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (Cemea) leg of the event, Visa and Emirates NBD will select a FinTech to tackle fraud management, cyber security and credit risk, among others.

This will be done as part of the company's first FinTechs Innovating in Risk Excellence (FIIRE) award, wherein the winner will receive $25,000, as well as an opportunity to work with Emirates NBD, Dubai's biggest bank by assets, in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey region.

Visa will be accepting applications until May 14. Aside from the top prize, $10,000 will be awarded to "audience favourites". The winner of the Cemea event will represent the region in the finals that will be held during the TechCrunch Disrupt event in San Francisco on September 19.

About $16 billion in funding has been raised by start-ups from more than 100 countries through VEI since it was established in 2015, which has a global start-up network of nearly 12,000.

In the 2022 edition, more than 4,000 start-ups participated across five regions, with VEI awarding more than $530,000 in prize money.

VEI is a "platform that empowers FinTechs and entrepreneurs to showcase the most ground-breaking, impactful solutions in the world of payments and commerce”, Salima Gutieva, vice president and country manager for the UAE at Visa, said in a statement.

“Through their technology-driven, innovative solutions, FinTechs have the potential to offer broad social benefits to the markets they operate in — particularly when it comes to providing financial services to those who have traditionally been underserved."

Start-ups are booming globally as they take on the challenges of developing solutions for a world that is becoming increasingly digital in key sectors such as retail, services and commerce. They are also increasingly seeking funding from global investors to accelerate their development.

The current value created by start-ups worldwide is about $3 trillion, which is almost on par with the gross domestic product of a G7 economy, according to advisory company Startup Genome.

Funding for these companies set a record in 2021 when it hit $621 billion, according to CB Insights.

Regionally, start-ups across the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan and Turkey raised $7.2 billion through 1,473 deals last year, despite macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, Magnitt said in a previous report.

Funding for Mena start-ups crossed the $3 billion mark last year, an annual increase of 8.3 per cent, with FinTech leading both funding and a number of deals in the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan and Turkey region as the sector's funding reaching $2.25 billion across 351 deals in 2022, the start-up data platform said.

The increasing use of mobile platforms to gain access to financial services is also growing in the UAE, with more than half of all residents now using digital wallets, as online payments increase after the pandemic. The trend is more popular among the younger generation, payments solutions provider Checkout.com said in a previous report.

"We believe access to the digital economy drives equitable, inclusive growth," Ms Gutieva said, noting the importance of "supporting the innovators playing a leading role in this space”.