Visa, the global leader in payments technology, announced Payswiff as the grand winner of the first Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI) challenge in India. With participation from more than 260 fintechs and 400+ applications, a record number for any VEI program outside the US, the Initiative had challenges focused on digital issuance for driving access to payments and credit, increasing small merchants’ acceptance and digitally transforming B2B payments.
While Payswiff won for its solution of providing end-to-end omni channel electronic payments to banks, SMEs and enterprise merchants, Phi Commerce won the challenge on digital issuance through integrated payments across channels and Samunnati won the challenge on B2B payments for a solution specializing in the Agri-value chain. The challenges were part of the first Indian edition of the Visa Everywhere Initiative – a leading global innovation program for identifying and collaborating with fintechs to produce cutting-edge solutions to digital payment challenges, in addition to enhancing their product propositions and providing payment solutions for Visa’s vast network of partners.
TR Ramachandran, Group Country Manager for India & South Asia, Visa said, “Our hearty congratulations to Payswiff, the grand winner of the first ever Visa Everywhere Initiative in India. We would also like to congratulate Phi Commerce and Samunnati, the winners of the two other challenges. Through VEI, we were on the lookout to collaborate with fintechs that are creating agile, secure and seamless payment experiences, thereby putting completely new and evolved payment experiences into the hands of consumers and businesses. We are happy to have engaged with this vibrant community and look forward to creating unique payment experiences for India.”
He further added, “It is a fact that India is the hotbed of payment innovation and are going to further push the envelope in inventive payments. While VEI is a platform to enable fintechs to enhance and take their innovative solutions to market faster, we are privileged to nurture the companies who are redefining the way India pays.”
After seven months of scouting for the most talented fintechs across the country by hosting roadshows, the pitch day was held in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad for shortlisting fintechs under each of the three challenges. Visa invited nine finalists for a virtual presentation, in light of the current pandemic, to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges which included executives from Visa, their partners and leading fintech organizations.
“The entire VEI journey has been an exciting experience for us at Visa. It has also been a culmination of our last three years of fintech outreach – starting with Visa Developer Platform in 2017, followed by the Visa Ready Program and Fintech FastTrack launches in 2019 – as we continue to open up for business with Indian fintechs and take them to a global stage,” said Arvind Ronta, Head of Products for India & South Asia, Visa.
“We congratulate the winners Payswiff, Phi Commerce and Samunnati and are excited to work with them closely and help commercialize their solutions through Visa’s expertise and capabilities,” added Arvind.
Since its inception in the US in 2015, VEI has expanded into a global platform with more than 6000+ participating startups, that have collectively raised over $2.5+ billion in funding, with more than 215 finalists and nearly 100 winners. The program has been rolled out in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa, touching over 100 countries.
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