Mastercard Launches Accelerate to Supercharge Fintech Success

Program simplifies experience for fintechs worldwide; drives digital innovation, provides countless ways to transform lives and economies

Mastercard today launched Mastercard Accelerate, a global initiative that simplifies the way that Mastercard works with fintechs, giving them access to everything they need to grow quickly. Offering a simple, single entry-point to the company’s wide portfolio of specialized programs, Mastercard Accelerate gives start-ups and emerging brands support and assistance for every stage of their growth and transformation, from market entry to global expansion.

Accelerate will enable fintechs to be onboarded to Mastercard in a matter of weeks and provide a guided experience through everything the company can offer. Program participants are connected to relevant parts of the business, to integrate Mastercard’s proprietary technology, leverage its insights and cybersecurity services, engage new customers, and reach new markets and segments. In addition, Mastercard’s commitment to financial inclusion drives focused product development, helping co-create solutions that enable a more inclusive economy.

“Mastercard Accelerate is a single doorway to the countless ways Mastercard can help fintechs all over the world grow and scale sustainably,” said Michael Miebach, chief product & innovation officer, Mastercard. “Fintechs are contributing to the rapid digital transformation that makes lives more convenient, simpler, and rewarding. We’re the partner of choice for the top Fintech brands worldwide, and with Accelerate we invite the next generation of global entrepreneurs to join us.”

“And for our financial institution partners and customers, Mastercard Accelerate provides access to the next generation of innovators, with a portfolio of start-up partners and fintechs ready to co-create and collaborate on new experiences,” added Miebach.

Accelerate is comprised of a range of award-winning programs that have helped participants all over the world access and benefit from Mastercard’s ecosystem, customers and innovations:

• Mastercard Fintech Express – Provides easy access to a customized set of rules, relevant resources and digital-first services designed to address the unique needs of fintechs and enable program launch and global expansion with speed.

• Mastercard Engage – Connects fintechs to thousands of Mastercard technology partners, making it quicker and easier to work together.

• Mastercard Start Path– Invites later-stage startups to participate in a 6-month program, providing opportunities to scale and secure strategic investments. More than 200 companies have participated in the Start Path’s program since its founding in 2014 and those companies have collectively gone on to raise $1.5B in capital.

• Mastercard Developers – Provides APIs for everything, empowering engineers with the ability to access Mastercard payment, security and analytics services via simple, user-friendly documentation, SDKs and sample code for the top programming languages.

Mastercard Accelerate – supporting fintechs, scaling businesses:

Mastercard is taking a thoughtful approach to partnerships by identifying the brightest companies with the most promising technology. Together, we are solving challenges with digital innovation, commercial connections and strategic investments.

Bridging the divide in entrepreneurship

“At Brex, our mission is to help ambitious companies scale. We built our card issuing technology from the ground up to help entrepreneurs better navigate the financial and regulatory hurdles that exist today. We value Mastercard as a strategic partner in our ambition to create the best payments experience for all businesses.” – Henrique Dubugras, Co-Founder & CEO of Brex

Seamless money movement among businesses and people

"Payment products today have the unique opportunity to scale quicker than ever, and Mastercard as a global partner not only accelerates the process but also helps navigate key challenges that only experience and an existing global reach provides." – Roy Sosa, Chief Executive Officer, Rêv.

“At TransferWise, we wanted to remove the financial barriers keeping people from managing their life across borders, so providing a multi-currency card for the world’s first global account was crucial to set us apart. Mastercard’s platform was the perfect option to help solve our problem and has been integral to bringing the debit card to customers all over the world. They’ve continued to help us identify new use-cases, provide marketing guidance, and push TransferWise into a high-growth phase.” – Andrew Boyajian, Head of Banking for North America at TransferWise

Driving financial inclusion

“From Mastercard Send to the launch of our new fee-free debit card, Mastercard has been an incredible partner in Branch’s efforts to create financial technology that works for hourly workers. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Mastercard as we develop new solutions to help this demographic grow financially.” - Atif Siddiqi, CEO and founder of Branch.

“We are continuing to push the envelope on our digital strategy at Deserve, and Mastercard is making it even easier for our developers to create next-generation solutions with easy to use APIs. With MDES APIs we are able to make our onboarding frictionless while Mastercard card-link services helps us build real time engagement through instant gratification” –  Kalpesh Kapadia, CEO and Co-founder of Deserve.

To learn more about Mastercard’s partners and how they are working with us, visit mastercard.com/fintech.

About Mastercard

Mastercard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. Our global payments processing network connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MastercardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.