Reshape Africa’s financial ecosystem with the Visa Accelerator Program. This groundbreaking initiative is designed to unlock innovation and unleash your FinTech potential, driving your startup toward unprecedented success.
Join the FinTech revolution in Africa with the Visa Accelerator Program. This contest connects Africa’s brightest minds with experienced mentors, cutting-edge technology, and unparalleled investment opportunities. Are you ready to disrupt the industry, revolutionize finance, and make an impact on the ecosystem? Embark on this exciting 3-month journey to propel your startup towards growth and recognition.
Benefits of the Visa Accelerator Program
1. Visa Specific Training: Benefit from exclusive FinTech and payment training modules designed by Visa. Enhance your understanding of the FinTech landscape, payment ecosystem, and industry best practices. Access Visa’s developer portal and experiment with Visa products and services.
2. Funding: Secure the funding needed to bring your innovative ideas to life. Showcase your startup during the Demo Day and be considered for investment opportunities by Visa, Plug and Play, and the wider Venture Capital community.
3. Partnership Opportunities: Forge powerful partnerships that can drive your startup forward. The program aims to open doors to valuable collaboration opportunities with industry leaders, innovative companies, and strategic partners.
4. Product Perks: Gain access to a wide selection of product perks and discounts from over 100 vendors, with a combined offer value exceeding $200,000. This includes AWS product credits, mentorship, and FinTech-specific training modules.
5. Knowledge and Expertise: Gain a competitive edge with a tailored program covering product design, marketing, finance, sales, and more. Receive guidance and strategic insights from experts to accelerate your startup’s growth and unlock its full potential.
6. Mentorship: Access one-on-one mentoring from experts and founders in the ecosystem from Africa and beyond. Learn from the experiences of others to overcome your challenges.
Who Should Apply?
The Visa Accelerator Program is looking for startups that have already designed a minimum viable product (MVP) related to the proposed areas or have a market-ready solution. The ideal candidates meet the following criteria:
- Stage: Seed to Series A startups with at least an MVP.
- Solution: Building a solution addressing one of the program’s themes.
- Traction: Market-tested solution with demonstrated traction.
- Geography: Existing operations in Africa or a demonstrated commitment to expand in Africa.
Visa Accelerator Program Timeline
- July 1, 2024: Applications open.
- August 11, 2024: Applications close.
- October 14, 2024: Cohort announced.
- October 28, 2024: First week of the cohort.
- February 11, 2025: Last week of the cohort.
All applicants will undergo two rounds of screening by the program team. The first round reviews program alignment, existing traction, founding team, and proposed synergies with Visa. Shortlisted startups will participate in a series of virtual interviews, with finalists notified ahead of the program kickoff. The program will be delivered in a hybrid format over three months, including an onboarding week, ten virtual focus weeks, an investor week, and an in-person Demo Day. Additional in-person events such as city meetups or regional events may also be organized.
Opportunity Areas
The Visa Accelerator Program is seeking the best and brightest companies to address the following themes. If your company is building solutions in one or more of these areas, you are encouraged to apply:
1. Unlocking New Payment Flows: Digitize cash-intensive P2P, B2C, B2B, G2C payments to create new commerce opportunities.
- Cross-border remittances and funds disbursements.
- Finance management platforms for B2B (e.g., payables, receivables, procurement).
- Social commerce and the creator economy.
- Government disbursements, collections, and payouts.
- Open banking and account-to-account solutions.
- Treasury-as-a-Service.
- Mobile money flows and interoperability.
2. Embedded Finance: Create advanced intelligence solutions to enhance payment and finance experiences in B2C and B2B commerce models.
- Installments and flexible financing models.
- Transaction engagement and management (e.g., sustainability tracking, transaction controls, PFM).
- Consumer loyalty and rewards.
- Banking-as-a-Service.
- FinTech-as-a-Service.
3. Empowering Merchants & SMEs: Accelerate the growth of merchants and SMEs through digital payment solutions to foster financial inclusion.
- Next-generation omni-channel online and face-to-face payments.
- Installments, POS financing, and BNPL.
- Financing, alternative lending, and risk mitigation structures.
- Merchant value-add solutions (e.g., working capital optimization, supplier marketplace, inventory management).
- Merchant loyalty and engagement.
4. Payment Infrastructure Enablers: Solve the fundamental layers of payment infrastructure and key enabling services.
- Authentication and fraud solutions.
- KYC, customer onboarding, and identity management.
- Payment processing and facilitation.
- B2B platform enablers.
- Credit scoring and risk management solutions.
- Data solutions and insights.
5. The Future of Finance: Build at the frontier of payment and FinTech by integrating cutting-edge technology.
- Integration of AI/ML into payment solutions.
- Leveraging blockchain and decentralized technologies.
- Programmable money.
- Crypto risk, fraud, data, and intelligence.
- Custodial and non-custodial infrastructure.
- CBDC and stablecoin solutions.
6. Sustainable & Inclusive Finance: Enhance payment technology to contribute to a more equitable and inclusive financial system, reduce inequality, and create a positive impact on people, economies, and the environment.
- Financial services for underserved or climate-vulnerable communities.
- Affordable and accessible financial solutions.
- Impact management and measurement.
- Carbon footprint and climate-neutral solutions.
Other Details
The program will be conducted primarily in English; however, language support can be explored if needed through Visa’s in-market country teams. Note that the interview process will be entirely in English.
How to Apply
To apply for the Visa Accelerator Program, fill out the online application form via the following link: Application Form.
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to participate in a prestigious startup competition and propel your business to new heights in Africa’s FinTech ecosystem.