The Visa Innovation Program was held for the fourth year. In this context 16 fintechs from the project hubs in Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey presented the solutions they propose to senior industry executives, Venture Capitals, representatives of the Governmentand media. For example, they proposed solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing the financial services industry, such as:

• the promotion of new generation payment experiences
• the empowerment of small and medium-sized enterprises
• unlocking new payment flows
• building a smarter and more sustainable future

Six Greek companies graduated from the programme:

• Action Finance Initiative
• Come Together
• Coriander
• Infin8
• Loader
• Valuelenz

Since its inception to date, the Visa Innovation Program has attracted over 900 applications. Applications from companies that come from at least 60 countries. Among them, the following were selected and graduated from the programme 72 start-ups. At the same time the number of proof of concept which were closed amounts to 68. A key feature of the programme is to provide access for local fintechs to Visa's global network of business partners to share knowledge or commercialise solutions in the market. In the last two years alone, the following events have been organised 133 "Days Without Borders". The aim is strengthening links and cooperation between different markets.

The Programme in numbers

Since its launch in 2018, the Visa Innovation Program has completed four cycles in Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey. During the program, 1,300 hours of consultancy were implemented. The fintechs, took part in 84 investment cycles that yielded a total of more than 350 million euros in funding. One of the first companies to participate in the programme, Payhawk from Bulgaria, became a unicorn in 2022. Notolytix, Ferryhopper, Plum Fintech, Welcome Pickups, Divilo are some of the most recognizable startups businesses that graduated from the Visa Innovation Program.

The Visa Innovation Program is a regional collaboration platform for emerging fintechs. It was created by Visa, in collaboration with Crowdpolicy (Greece), Eleven (Bulgaria) and Hackquarters (Turkey). It provides the selected fintechs with an advanced training programme. At the same time, they gain access to experts and advisors from Visa and its network of partners. At the same time, it implements specialized design sprints and workshops to boost their development. The Visa Innovation Program leverages resources such as:

• the design thinking
• the expertise around fintech
• the consultancy
• access to the market
• and a network of experts in the fintech sector

Through the programme, fintechs are presented to a network of partners (Proof of Concept), such as electronic payment institutions, banks, merchants and other organisations, to test and validate their proposals and get to market faster.

The companies that graduated from the 4th Cycle

The sixteen companies that participated in the Visa Innovation Program this year, demonstrated significant performance in product development, business creation and management, fundraising and sales during the Demo Day.

Action Finance Initiative

Action Finance Initiative is a non-profit microcredit company that provides access to finance to those who have a business or idea but cannot secure access to the necessary funds. At the same time, it supports these businesses by providing them with free training and support.

Alternatif

Alternatif brings together B2C and B2B customers by providing loyalty, payment and CRM solutions for B2B companies, as well as wallet purchase solutions for B2C customers.

ComeTogether

ComeTogether is introducing a new form of blockchain-based digital ticketing to unlock new revenue from secondary markets and NFTs, while improving the attendee experience.

Coriander

Coriunder is a complete management platform that combines banking and financial management card acceptance and issuing services to help companies develop their products (branded with the "white label" process).

Enno Wallet

Enno Wallet is a mobile encryption wallet and DeFi aggregator. It aggregates DeFi apps and integrates them into a wallet that stands out for its UI and UX design.

EV Loader

EV Loader is developing the first open network of chargers in Greece and Southeastern Europe. It provides charging station management software to businesses such as hotels and shops that already have a charging station on their premises and communicates their location through the EV Loader map application.

Flow

Flow is a B2B2C personal finance management application that uses rules and artificial intelligence, connects to PSD2-enabled banks and automates the various payments made by the user.

Identiym

Identiym answers the needs for seamless customer recognition, identification and participation, sharing of master and financial data and legal document signing. It is based on cutting-edge web and mobile technology and backend platform.

Infin8

Infin8 is an application that leverages open banking to aggregate accounts, initiate payments, intelligently manage finances and generate potential customers for merchants and SMEs.

Native teams

Native Teams is a payment and employment platform for freelancers and remote workers. The product is centred on a wallet system, for flexibility in withdrawals and deposits, but supported by the practice of "employment as a service".

MonoPayments

MonoPayments is a single white-label platform that empowers fintechs to produce technology suitable for e-money and payment institutions.

Prime Dash

Prime Dash offers Machine Learning and Advanced Analytics technologies for real-time credit data. The data are provided to financial institutions and relate to the SME sector.

Qumpara

Qumpara is a mobile app that rewards consumers for sending photos of their receipts. Businesses are able to create more effective product promotions faster, while consumers are rewarded immediately.

Skipit

Skipit is a fintech that combines urban mobility and leisure activities to reflect on the way we visit another city by having a cross-border digital payment card to facilitate the payment of public transport in each place.

Valuelenz

Valuelenz is a hybrid commerce startup that enables physical stores to gain a range of digital capabilities that create exciting and secure ways for customers to make purchases.

Yancep

Yancep helps increase personal wealth by making portfolio management digital, simple and accessible to all. It allows users to make investments in professionally managed portfolios, designed according to their own risk appetite and financial goals.