For startups. Visa Everywhere Initiative is an open innovation program that helps startups like yours unlock new opportunities—and gives you a global platform to demonstrate your ground-breaking solutions. The program first launched in the U.S. in 2015, and quickly expanded into a global program. To date, nearly 8,500 startups have participated, and have collectively raised more than $16 billion in funding.
The first step towards getting your startup worldwide attention is to join the Visa Everywhere Initiative network—the same network of startups that our product teams from all over the world access when searching for solutions.
Visa will select the top 5 regional finalists in each region listed below. Next, each region will select a winner that will move forward to the global finals event.
- North America
- Europe
- Asia Pacific
- Latin America
- CEMEA [Central Europe, Middle East, Africa] – For this region’s five finalists, one spot is reserved for an Egyptian startup and one spot is reserved for a Saudi Arabian startup.
We are looking for products that deliver innovative payment and commerce solutions to consumers and businesses. These include but are not limited to:
Enablers of digital services and digital issuers
- Blockchain and cryptocurrency
- Crowdfundin
- Banking as a service
- BIN sponsorsIssuer / processors
- Program managers
Digital issuance
- Blockchain and cryptocurrency
- Alternative lending
- Personal financial management
- Money transfer and remittance
- Digital banking (aka neobanks)
- Digital wallets, P2P, and transfers
- Employee benefits
- Payables
- Corporate cards (aka expense management)
Value-add for merchants and/or consumers in regard to finance
- Data and analytics
- ID, authentication, and security
- InsurTech
- Loyalty
- Merchant services and tools
- Process and pay infrastructure
- Retail technology
Small/medium-sized business
- Money movement (disbursements, intra-account, P2P vendor, payments)
- Acceptance (e-commerce, mobile acceptance)
- Risk management (chargebacks, etc.)
- Brand management (community building, etc.)
Five monetary prizes will be awarded during the global finals event:
- Overall Winner: $100,000 USD
- Audience Favorite: $20,000 USD
- Visa Direct: $20,000 USD
- 2nd Place: $20,000 USD
- 3rd Place: $10,000 USD
The overall winner, 2nd place-winner, and 3rd place-winner are all eligible to win the audience favorite prize.
Prior to the global finals, the following local and regional prizes will also be awarded:
Egypt
- Overall winner: EGP 500K (estimated value in USD: $32,000)
- 2nd place: EGP 350K (estimated value in USD: $22,000)
- 3rd place: EGP 250K (estimated value in USD: $16,000
Saudi Arabia
- Overall winner: SAR 200K (estimated value in USD: $54,000)
- 2nd place: SAR 150K (estimated value in USD: $40,000)
- 3rd place: SAR 100K (estimated value in USD: $27,000)
- Audience favorite winner: SAR 50K (estimated value in USD: $13,000)
North America
- Overall winner: $10,000 USD
- Audience favorite winner: $10,000 USD
- Visa Direct winner: $10,000 USD
CEMEA
- Overall winner: $25,000
- Audience favorite winner: $10,000
- Visa Direct winner: $10,000
LAC
- Overall winner: $10,000 USD
- Audience favorite winner: $10,000 USD
- Visa Direct winner: $10,000 USD
Special Edition competition prizes:
Black Community edition
- Overall winner: $10,000
- Audience favorite winner: $10,000
Women’s edition
- Overall winner: $10,000
- Audience favorite winner: $10,000
LGBTQ+ edition
- Overall winner: $10,000
- Audience favorite winner: $10,000
Important Dates
CEMEA:
Egypt
- Applications close: April 6, 2022
- Local finals event: May 12, 2022
Saudi Arabia
- Applications close: April 21, 2022
- Local finals event: May 17, 2022
Rest of CEMEA:
- Applications close: April 4, 2022
- Regional finals event: June 8, 2022 (live-streamed on TechCrunch)
North America:
- Applications close: March 31, 2022;
- Regional finals event: August 29, 2022 (live-streamed on TechCrunch)
Latin America:
- Applications close: March 25, 2022
- Regional finals event: July 12, 2022 (live-streamed on TechCrunch)
Asia Pacific:
- Applications close: June 14, 2022
- Winner notified (no finals event): July 8, 2022
Europe:
- Applications close: June 14, 2022
- Winner notified (no finals event): July 8, 2022
Global Finals:
- Event: November 2022 (specific date TBD)
