Visa Everywhere Initiative 2022

Get global exposure for your startup or fintech. This year is set to be our biggest ever—with multiple competitions, over $500k in total prizes, and the chance to compete in the global finals in Qatar in November.

Wade Arnold, CEO of Moov, global winner of Visa Everywhere Initiative 2021

Let’s get your startup on the world stage

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.

Naureen Hyat, Co-Founder of Tez Financial Services winning the 1ˢᵗ Visa Everywhere Initiative Women’s Global Edition in 2019

Giorgi Tsurtsumia, Co-Founder and CEI of Payze celebrates winning the regional finals in Central Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Eduardo Coello, Ruben Salazar, Andres Fontado

Vietnam winners celebrate their victory in 2018

Kim Kadlec and Mary Ann Reilly awarding Natacha Frank, Founder of EON at the 2020 women’s edition

Moov crowned as the overall winner at the 2021 global finals

Key global competition details

Our 2022 global competition is going to be bigger and better than ever before—with more prizes and more opportunities for your fintech to get in front of Visa’s executives and clients. One winner per region will be selected to compete in the global finals, which will take place in Qatar in November. If you’re a startup with great products already in market and gaining traction—and are looking for an extra push from a global, trusted brand like Visa to gain scale—this competition is perfect for you.

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

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)

visa-everywhere-initiative-techcrunch-800x450

TechCrunch + Visa Everywhere Initiative

For our 2022 global competition, Visa will once again be partnering with TechCrunch, a leading online publisher focused on the tech industry and the heart of the global startup ecosystem. The North America, CEMEA, and Latin America regional finals events will be virtually hosted on TechCrunch and live-streamed worldwide.

Win more with Visa Direct

With Visa Direct, you can empower customers to send and receive money to billions of endpoints worldwide¹, in any of 160 transaction currencies. Do you already have a partnership with an acquirer, and are based in North America, Latin America, or CEMEA? If so, let us know, as there might be additional prizes for you. Visit our resource center for more information about how Visa Direct could help you win even more.

It’s rewarding to win the regional and global finals

Validation

Winners receive recognition from one of the world’s most valuable brands.

Exposure

The regional finals will be livestreamed on TechCrunch, giving finalists global exposure.

Monetary Prize

Winners at the global finals receive a monetary prize (no equity taken).

2021 Visa Everywhere Initiative winners

Moov

Global winner, Global Audience Favorite winner, North America winner, and North America Audience Favorite winner

Discover Moov

Finerio Connect

Latin America winner and 2nd place Global winner

Explore Finerio Connect

PearlPay

Asia Pacific winner and 3rd place Global winner

Find out more about PearlPay

Fiskl

Europe winner

Learn more about Fiskl

Payze

CEMEA winner

Check out Payze

Arifpay

Get to know Arifpay

2021 Visa Everywhere Initiative winners

Ready to take the next step?

Start unlocking opportunities for your startup by joining the Visa Everywhere Initiative network. For questions or more information contact [email protected]

¹ Availability varies by market. Please refer to your Visa representative for more information on availability.