FinTech News

Visa Expands Fast Track Program for FinTechs to the U.S.

When it comes to FinTech startups, speed is everything. That’s why so many firms are focused on hitting the ground running, gaining as many users as possible and catching the attention of VCs to help boost them to the next level. With that in mind, after launching in Europe, Africa,  Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East, Visa has announced that their Fast Track program is coming to the United States.

The Visa Fast Track program makes it easier for FinTechs to integrate with Visa. This includes card issuance, value-added services, push payment integration, and much more. In order to make this program a reality, Visa is partnering with several companies, including Green Dot, Stripe, Alloy, and Q2 just to name a few.

Speaking to the program’s stateside debut, Visa SVP and Global Head of FinTech Terry Angelos said in a statement,  “In markets across the world, Visa has successfully rolled out the Fast Track program, linking arms with FinTechs to provide a clear path towards getting to market, leveraging Visa’s scale, security, reach and strong network of partners. By launching Fast Track in the U.S., we are continuing our support for FinTechs across the globe, with the goal of accelerating the growth of digital payments and creating better ways to move money everywhere.”

Visa is also working with venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, Trinity Ventures, and others to bring their portfolio of companies into the Fast Track program. Commenting on the impact this arrangement will have, Trinity Ventures general partner Schwark Satyavolu said, “Speed is essential for FinTech startups, particularly in the early stages. Easier access to the kind of infrastructure provided by Visa’s Fast Track program will help unlock massive amounts of innovation in the payments ecosystem.” Satyavolu went on to add,  “We are looking forward to introducing our companies to Visa as they continue pushing forward digital innovation in the payments landscape.”

With access to the Visa Network, FinTechs will essentially be giving their customers the ability to pay at more than 50 million merchants around the world. Notably we’ve recently seen how much value FinTechs put into these types of payment as several have launched their own debit cards (with the help of either Visa or Mastercard in most cases). Therefore its easy to see why this new Fast Track program could be a big deal for startups. For more on the program and to apply, visit Visa.com/FinTech.

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