Visa challenges start-ups with a €50,000 prize – competitors can apply from today at European Everywhere Initiative

New European competition invites start-ups to submit ideas focused on improving the local community and travel experience, enhancing everyday lives of people everywhere

Visa Inc. is challenging start-ups and innovative fintech companies from 19 European markets to enter the first-ever European Everywhere Initiative. Competitors will have a chance to win up to €50,000 to support a development programme with Visa, or through business partnership with Visa’s financial institution clients. Successful entrants will have the opportunity to access Visa APIs through the Visa Developer Platform, executive mentors and technologists to help them further develop their ideas.

First launched in the USA in 2015, Visa’s Everywhere Initiative is designed to encourage payment innovation as the payments industry shifts from plastic to digital, and nearly 1,000 start-ups that have participated have collectively raised $1.7 billion in funding. In addition to Europe, Visa will also continue to host Everywhere Initiatives in North America, Latin America and Asia this year.

Eligible participants in Europe are invited to submit proposed business solutions aligned to any or all of the following briefs via the Everywhere Initiative website which will be live on Wednesday, 19 April:

Local Community Challenge: How can digital payment technologies help create products that connect people and enrich local communities?
Local Community Challenge: How can digital payment technologies help create products that connect people and enrich local communities?
International Travel Challenge: How can new products and services, based on Visa APIs, deliver a more seamless international travel experience?

Bill Gajda, senior vice president, innovation and strategic partnerships, said: “The consumer experience is at the heart of the payments industry, a sector that is accelerating and developing at a greater pace than ever before, spurred on by new technologies. Through competitions like Visa’s Everywhere Initiative, we are spurring technological innovation to drive acceptance and promote even greater convenience for consumers. By focusing on local community and travel experience we hope to facilitate improvements to the everyday lives of people, wherever they are. Having already witnessed success across the Atlantic, we look forward to welcoming submissions from innovative European start-ups looking for funding and fruitful collaborations to help them realise great ideas.”

Start-ups can apply via the website from 19th April – 17th May 2017 – with finalists pitching for the prize to a live panel in Copenhagen at Money 20/20 on 26-28th June 2017.

Find more details about the competition here.

About Visa’s Everywhere Initiative
Visa’s Everywhere Initiative is an innovation program designed to encourage the “next big thing” in payments, as the payments industry shifts from plastic to digital and new entrants join traditional stakeholders in payments. The program first launched in the U.S. in 2015 and to-date, nearly 1,000 start-ups have collectively raised $1.7 billion in funding, with ultimately 60 finalists and 14 winners selected. The 2017 programme will be the first in Europe and will be open to companies from 19 markets including: Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, The UK, Turkey. All phases of the competition are conducted in English.