Visa Trying To Push Ahead With Payments Services In Europe
Visa Europe has announced the launch of an innovation hub which aims to help bring in the next-generation of payment services - Visa Europe Collab, an international effort across a network of partners drawn from the digital and financial tech world, and it will offer startups and entrepreneurs the necessary tools and connections to help develop new payment methods.
The aim for the initial year is for Visa Europe Collab to take at least 20 new concepts through its “100-day innovation funnel”, which runs from qualification to market testing and design, then proof of concept.
The best efforts will then be validated and picked out to be developed into full-blown services by Visa, and rolled out to banks and retailers across Europe.
Steve Perry, founder and co-creator of Visa Europe Collab, commented: “The key to Visa Europe Collab is collaboration. It’s not about acquiring startups or buying stakes: instead, we’re giving Europe’s most innovative companies access to the mentoring, services and R&D of a community of like-minded organisations that want to transform the relationship citizens have with payments.
“Through our 100-day innovation funnel, entrepreneurs will have a unique opportunity to collaborate with the very best minds in the payments landscape, and beyond, to bring their ideas to life and give them access to a huge potential customer base of leading banks throughout the region.”
A Way To Grow The Ecosystem
While the hub will be based in London to begin with, Visa Europe Collab also plans to set up shop in a number of tech innovation hotspots across the globe, including Berlin and Tel Aviv.
Perry added: “The fintech space has never been more exciting, with everything from wearable technology to virtual reality impacting the way consumers interact with payments. For us, this made it the ideal time to launch Collab.
“We believe we can provide the glue that binds myriad stakeholders, such as innovators, banks, retailers, mobile operators and government together, to grow the ecosystem and ultimately deliver the best new payments services.”
Author: Darren Allan
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