CaixaBank, Global Payments and Ingenico Group partner to create an international innovation programme supporting startups in the fintech

The programme will identify the best initiatives in retail and financial services and will provide funding, co-working spaces and advisory services

CaixaBank, Global Payments and Ingenico Group join forces to launch an international innovation programme aimed at startups with the objective of contributing to promoting the creation of new products and services for the business and fintech sectors. „The project, Zone2boost, will be established as a new company owned by CaixaBank (40%), Global Payments (40%) and Ingenico (20%) and will rely on IESE as collaborating entity.”, according to the press release.

„Zone2boost’s mission is to identify innovative technology initiatives for businesses and financial services and support their growth. The selected startups will obtain funding and access to a physical space to develop their projects, as well as work in collaboration with other innovative companies and a team of expert mentors that will provide customized training and advice. Additionally, DayOne, CaixaBank’s division providing specialized services to startup businesses, will offer tailored financing.”, CaixaBank said

As a part of collaboration with the project’s partner companies, entrepreneurs participating in this initiative will be given the opportunity to have access to their customers. CaixaBank, Global Payments and Ingenico Group will have preference incorporating a project developed by the startups into each of their commercial offerings.

It is estimated that the support provided to these entrepreneurs will range between six months and two years, throughout which the new companies will evolve from very early stages to a stage that will enable them to access the market.

The programme will be open to studying startups from around the world, although initially it will focus on Barcelona, the city in which the activity will kick off and also where the workspace will be located (Pier02, Barcelona Tech City).

The initiative will be launched in the last quarter of 2019 and will entail an initial investment of five million euros over the next three years. Once the space is fully operational, it is expected to be able to accommodate approximately thirty companies.

Objective: to encourage innovation

Juan Antonio Alcaraz, CaixaBank’s Chief Business Officer, acknowledges, „the project’s main objective, beyond a successful investment or the entrepreneurial accomplishment of the projects we will support, is to encourage innovation in key sectors for our institution. CaixaBank currently benefits from the collaboration of startups in the development of its innovation, but we believe that the time has come to go one step further and become truly involved in the process of developing new business projects for the sector. We will provide these recently established companies with the optimal environment to test their idea’s potential for success.” Moreover, Alcaraz emphasises,”CaixaBank has an extensive knowledge on the entrepreneurial ecosystem, especially thanks to DayOne, a division that has created a comprehensive programme for the purpose of becoming the financial partner of the innovation economy”.

Jeff Sloan, Global Payments’ CEO, commented, “Global Payments is at the forefront of innovation in the payments industry, delivering distinctive technology solutions to our partners and customers worldwide. Together with CaixaBank and Ingenico, we look forward to investing in new businesses and technologies that will enhance future growth in this sector. As a leader in technology-enabled, software-driven payment solutions, this initiative aligns with our commitment to financial technology innovation on a worldwide scale”.

For Nicolas Huss, Ingenico Group’s CEO: “The payments industry is transforming more rapidly than ever before and the start-up community is a major part of this transformation. For us at Ingenico, innovation is at the heart of our solutions, so we are excited to be innovating alongside the start-up community through the Zone2boost ambitious program to assist our start-up partners scale up their businesses, and to continue to provide our customers with the best and most innovative payment experience”.

The creation of this international innovation programme for startups has led to a new innovation partnership between companies, following the successful creation of the Payment Innovation Hub by CaixaBank, Global Payments, Samsung, Visa and Arval in 2017.

Also located in Barcelona, it is one of the first hubs in the world to be launched by a multisectoral partnership of companies, all of which are leaders in their respective sectors.