Visa's Accelerator Program 2023 Cohort Showcases Transformative Solutions in Digital Payments

Seven startups successfully demonstrated proof of concepts at the 2023 Visa Accelerator Demo Day, showcasing solutions that address the biggest opportunities in digital payments

SINGAPORE, Nov. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On the side of the 2023 Singapore Fintech Festival, Visa presented its cohort from the Asia Pacific Visa Accelerator Program 2023, whose remarkable journey culminated in the demonstration of transformative proof of concepts at the Visa Accelerator Program Demo Day. Comprising seven startups, these innovators have harnessed Visa's mentorship, resources, and global network over six months to redefine the landscape of digital payments.

The seven startups – comprising Dowsure (Mainland China), Doxa Holdings (Singapore), Kadmos (Germany), Pi-xcels (Singapore), Playbux (Thailand), Transpure (India) and Twid (India) – were selected for the 2023 cohort earlier in May 2023. Over the past six months, the startups engaged in collaborative efforts with Visa's payment experts, business development teams, and clients to work on solutions in the areas of global money movement, embedded finance, merchant and small business enablers, open banking solutions and Web 3.0.

"We launched the Visa Accelerator Program in 2020 with the aim to help innovative startups to unlock their growth potential and those who are looking to expand their market reach," said Kunal Chatterjee, Head of Innovation, Visa Asia Pacific. "We have found a niche with the community with our key differentiator, focusing on developing viable proof of concepts and taking these solutions outside of our Innovation Center and directly to clients."

The Visa Accelerator Program Demo Day saw the results in the proof of concepts presented, from product development and technical integration to the testing and refinement of each startup's solution. Fast-tracked commercialisation is the final step of Visa's mentoring, where the startups' solutions are brought to Visa's extensive network of financial institutions, merchants, and digital partners to facilitate further commercial and collaborative opportunities.

"The achievements of the startups are a testament to Visa's commitment to fostering fintech and digital payments innovation," added Chatterjee. "Using Visa's expertise in areas such as digital payments, cross-border financing and loyalty, these startups were able to overcome market challenges from securing stakeholder participation to refining user interfaces and meeting market needs for consumers. We eagerly look forward to these startups' continued impact in digital payments, and will continue to champion collaboration, innovation, and growth in the digital payments ecosystem."

Since its inception, the Visa Accelerator Program has consistently supported advanced stage startups in the Asia Pacific region providing them with experienced mentors, cutting-edge technology, and opened doors to investment opportunities. Under Visa's guidance, startups from the 2021 and 2022 cohorts secured commercial deals with reputable regional clients and partners. As a further testament to its success, Visa has forged partnerships and commercial agreements with six startups, each exhibiting significant innovation in the payments industry.

The Asia Pacific Visa Accelerator Program 2024

The Visa Accelerator Program is set to return next year for its fourth iteration, with the call for applications to be announced in January 2024. Visa welcomes growth stage startups, with a strong commitment to long-term growth in the Asia Pacific region, with existing operations within the region, and a market-validated, proven solution, to apply. For more details and updates, please visit: https://www.visa.com.sg/apaccelerator

Startup quotes for use: 

Byron Pei, CEO of Dowsure, says, "The Visa Accelerator Program has been crucial in our innovation strategy, significantly boosting our credibility among large enterprises. Visa's bespoke mentorship has bridged our knowledge gap in digital payments and credit card design, optimising our engagement with key stakeholders in the banking and fintech sectors. Through the program, we have pioneered a data-driven underwriting model for credit cards in the cross-border eCommerce market. We anticipate that Visa's ongoing support will continue to foster valuable exchanges of best practices for the development of the industry."

Edmund Ng, Co-founder and CEO of Doxa, says, "Through the Visa Accelerator Program, we have gained unparalleled expertise in the payments ecosystem, enabling us to address critical challenges and expedite our solution development. Visa's targeted support has been instrumental, not only in securing issuer participation but also in offering expert counsel on the acquirer side. This has instilled in us the confidence to embark on commercialisation and regional expansion. The program's post-initiative support and the opportunity to collaborate with industry experts has been transformative, exceeding our expectations and proving invaluable for a startup like ours."

Sasha Makarovych, Co-founder of Kadmos, says, "We were highly impressed by Visa's sophisticated APIs and the team's meticulous professionalism, both instrumental in the success of our projects. Visa's commitment to effective proof of concept has been invaluable, providing key insights that have influenced our product structuring and licensing process. Visa's expertise in user interface refinement and API documentation has been crucial to our success."

Daniel Lim, Co-founder and CEO of Pi-xcels, says, "Leveraging Visa's expertise in data analysis, we have gained useful consumer insights in providing value-added services for retailers. Visa's tailored mentorship has been instrumental in addressing our unique challenges, yielding actionable outcomes that have enabled us to address market needs, and resulting in a long-term strategic partnership that is buoyed by Visa's post-program resources and networks, which continue to fuel our upward trajectory."

Sarun Vichayabhai, Co-founder of Playbux, says, "The Visa Accelerator Program has been a transformative experience. We were initially focused on a gasless Web 3.0 wallet, but the program's tailored mentorship and Visa's extensive network enabled us to evolve the product into a comprehensive inflation-hedging solution. Strategic guidance from Visa helped us overcome challenges in securing local partnerships, accelerating our proof of concept. Visa's expertise is indispensable in offering unparalleled opportunities for us to maximise the program's potential."

Sandeep Chandalia, Co-founder and CEO of Transpure, says, "The multidisciplinary exposure and invaluable mentorship has enabled us to refine our cross-border payment solutions and establish critical business partnerships. Collaborating with Visa has been instrumental in advancing our proof of concept and navigating regulatory challenges, particularly in cross-border remittances. The Visa Accelerator Program's well-defined structure and regular engagement have ensured our focus on timely solution delivery, making the experience both productive and rewarding."

Amit Koshal, Founder and CEO of Twid, says, "Through the Visa Accelerator Program, Twid has significantly elevated its value proposition for issuers and merchants. Leveraging Visa's global expertise, we have co-created innovative, contextual solutions poised to drive increased card transactions and spending. Our collaboration has enabled us to pinpoint specific use cases that align seamlessly with our mission, amplified by the integration of Visa's data and application programming interface (API). The program has been a rich source of key learnings, providing us with invaluable insights into market trends and consumer behaviour, thereby shaping our strategic approach for future initiatives."

About Visa

Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at Visa.com. 

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Media backgrounder

The Visa Accelerator Program 2023

About the Visa Accelerator Program

The Visa Accelerator Program was created to help startups unlock their growth potential and scale across Asia Pacific, by collaborating on joint solutions that address the biggest opportunities in digital payments.

Together with Visa's payment experts, product architects and business development teams, startups in the Visa Accelerator Program get to rapidly co-develop, test, and iterate new solutions, while pursuing tangible go-to-market opportunities with our extensive network of financial institutions, merchants and digital partners.

This unique six-month program is designed for growth-stage companies looking to expand their market reach, with a focus on product solutioning, technical integration and fast-tracked commercialisation. Since its launch, the Visa Accelerator Program has enabled the growth of some of Asia Pacific's most prominent startups.

Startup Profiles

The Visa Accelerator Program 2023 is proud to present the seven graduating startups from our latest cohort. Each startup brings a unique perspective and solution to industry challenges.

Dowsure
Company description: Dowsure delivers digital financing solutions for cross-border merchants on global eCommerce platforms.
Proof of concept: Through the Visa Accelerator Program, Dowsure, aims to address a market gap by offering credit facilities to eCommerce vendors and is closely monitoring trends in digital assets and embedded financial solutions. Since the Program, Dowsure has issued its first credit card using a data-driven underwriting model, positioning itself as an expert in cross-border eCommerce financing.

Doxa Holdings
Company description: Doxa Holdings provides a collaborative trade platform that automates procure-to-pay and financing workflows for companies in cross-industry ecosystems. Its platform digitises manual procurement processes, featuring automated three-way matching between purchase orders, goods receipt notes and invoices. It also interfaces directly with internet banking for final payment steps.
Proof of concept: The Visa Accelerator Program has enabled Doxa to integrate deep-tier financing on its trade platform for businesses within a multi-layered contractor model. The solution leverages Visa's Business Payment Solution Providers (BPSP) and Visa Payables Automation solutions. The first proof of concept, together with UOB, JTC Corporation and Kimly Construction is expected to roll out in November 2023.

Kadmos
Company description: Kadmos offers a comprehensive salary payments platform for cross-border workers, integrating fintech, low margins, and transparent FX into traditional industries.
Proof of concept: Aimed at employers with a large global workforce, Kadmos' platform will be unique in its offering of cross-border salary payouts to bank accounts and cards, using Visa Direct. Through the Visa Accelerator Program, Kadmos was able to integrate Visa's APIs and Visa Direct for the salary payouts to bank accounts, streamlining payments for shipping firms, where the process was previously manual.

Pi-xcels
Company description: Pi-xcels digitises paper receipts instantly through NFC technology, providing offline retailers with real-time, actionable shopper data via a single tap.
Proof of concept: Together with Visa, Pi-xcels has identified opportunities to securely combine receipt data with Visa's transaction data to enable hypertargeting for offline merchants. This allows merchants, especially those in the retail space, to offer better consumer experiences by identifying shopping trends.

Playbux
Company description: Playbux offers a fully integrated Web 3.0 community platform featuring commerce activities, blockchain technology, NFTs, and virtual communities. The company focuses on integrating Web 3.0 technologies like blockchain and NFTs while simplifying the user experience for crypto buying.
Proof of concept: Participation in the Visa Accelerator Program has enabled Playbux to develop a Visa-linked wallet that significantly reduces the time and effort to get onboarded into Web 3.0 by simplifying gas fees payment.

Transpure
Company description: Transpure aims to minimise friction and build seamless, cost-effective solutions for cross-border payments and remittances. The company ensures speedy and reliable transactions while complying with regulatory frameworks.
Proof of concept: Transpure, together with partner banks, will be offering the first non-Swift outbound remittance money movement solution as a service for financial institutions in India using Visa Direct. This offers bank customers and fintechs better transparency, speed and cost efficiency on their remittance transactions.

Twid
Company description: Twid is a rewards-based payment network that consolidates various issuers' rewards points systems to enable them as a payment method across merchants.
Proof of concept: Through the Visa Accelerator Program, Twid is able to enrich its value proposition for issuers and merchants with a data-driven approach in activation, reactivation and spend diversification of customers. Integrating and co-creating with Visa's capabilities has helped us bring new solutions to partners at large and can together we play a vital role in adoption of spends and card transactions.

Note: The information provided in this factsheet is based on data available as of 16 November 2023. We recommend visiting the individual startups' websites for the latest information.

SOURCE Visa Worldwide Pte. Ltd