Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI), a global open innovation program, invites payment and fintech startups to present their innovative products and solutions. The finalists will be able to personally get acquainted with key figures in the financial sector, traders, representatives of venture capital funds and the public sector. The winners of the contest will receive cash prizes and the opportunity to become partners of the world-famous Visa brand.

The competition is open to innovative fintech startups from Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa – participants will gain access to the Visa network and compete for a total prize pool of US$35,000 for the CEMEA Region Final and US$125,000 for the World Final.

This year, the program expanded to include cryptocurrency-based startups and Visa Direct, a payment solution that allows companies to transfer money in innovative ways to billions of endpoints around the world. Finalists from all over the world, already influencing the development of economies today, will meet in the VEI final in Qatar in November 2022. 

“Fintech companies and payment innovators are improving the way consumers and businesses make payments in an effort to make it easier for more people to access the money they need right now, and the pandemic has shown that this is more important than ever. Each time we introduce this program to a new region, we strive to attract talented entrepreneurs who are distinguished by excellent innovative ideas in the field of payments and commerce and present the best solutions to solve the payment problems of tomorrow,” said Kristina Dorosh, Visa Regional Manager for Central Asia and Azerbaijan.

Past VEI competitions have provided an opportunity to accelerate the growth of the most promising innovators in the payments industry. For example, MayaSoft, a startup from Uzbekistan, one of the winners in the CEMEA region, in partnership with Visa, presented the first contactless payment solution in Uzbekistan based on Visa Tap to Phone technology, and PAYZE from Georgia, for presenting the best innovative payment and commercial solutions, meeting the challenges of the future.

“PAYZE was honored to be able to compete on the global stage with the most prestigious startups and, more importantly, gain global exposure and support from such a trusted global brand like Visa,” said Georgy Tsurtsumiya, Co-Founder and CEO of PAYZE (Tbilisi, Georgia), winner of VEI CEMEA 2021. PAYZE is an e-commerce oriented fintech that allows companies from the CIS countries to accept payments from all over the world through a single integration. With the support of the Visa network and a US$25,000 cash prize, the PAYZE team was able to realize their ideas and eventually process over 250,000 transactions in 2021.

The VEI network includes 8,500 startups from all over the world and continues to grow every year. Since its launch in 2015, the program has helped startups in over 100 countries raise over US$2.5 billion, solving one of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face. Each year, VEI expands its scope to engage with promising startups and solve unique challenges in the world of payments.

In 2022, the VEI program will focus on CEMEA, a region with huge opportunities for fintechs developing innovative products and solutions aimed at supporting society. This year’s VEI competition includes two new rounds in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as a global final in November in Qatar.

VEI is looking for innovative and ambitious companies that strive to facilitate money transactions and solve the pressing payment challenges faced by businesses of all sizes and sectors, including:

- Digital service activators and digital issuers

- Blockchain and cryptocurrencies

- Crowdfunding

- Bank as a Service (BaaS)

- BIN-sponsors

- Issuers/processing centers

- Program Managers

- Digital emission

- Blockchain and cryptocurrencies

- Alternative lending

- Personal financial management

- Money transfers and remittance

- Digital banking (neobanks)

- Digital wallets, P2P and transfers

- Payments to employees

- Accounts payable

- Corporate cards (cost management)

- Additional services for merchants and / or consumers in the field of finance

-Data and analytics

- ID, authentication and security

- InsurTech (insurance technology)

- Loyalty programs

- Trading Services and Tools

-Processing and payment infrastructure

- Retail

- Other

Small and medium businesses:

- Cash flow (payments, transfers on an internal account, P2P payment for services of suppliers, payments)

- Acceptance of payments (electronic commerce, acceptance of payments using mobile technologies)

- Risk management (chargebacks, etc.)

- Brand management (community building, etc.)

- Other.

Visa does not acquire any shares or portions of the charter capital from members of the Visa Everywhere Initiative as part of the competition.