These are the seven fintech startups being backed by Mastercard
Mastercard is backing seven fintech startups hoping to change the way we use money and disrupt the finance world.
London startups Revolut and Everledger are among the tech firms chosen for Mastercard's six month Start Path programme from among more than 500 applications from 60 countries.
The startups, from as far afield as Israel and Argentina and announced at London Technology Week on Tuesday, will receive backing from Mastercard, including operations and commercial support and potentially investment.
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“The companies selected for this class are unbundling traditional commerce and financial services and reconstructing products that offer better consumer experiences,” said Stephane Wyper, global lead for MasterCard Start Path.
“They are altering the world of commerce by using powers of mobile, big data, and analytics, moving to mainstream at a very fast pace.”
Leanne Kemp, the founder and chief executive of Everledger, said: “The opportunity to learn from a global leader that champions emerging technology is perfectly aligned with Everledger’s innovation ethos, and we can’t wait to get started on building new applications and use cases in this environment to help grow our business.”
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Meet the seven startups
Revolut
The London startup is one of several challenger banks to spring up in the capital and boasts Balderton, Index and Seedcamp as early investors. Founded by a former bank trader, it is an app with a pre-paid card that offers foreign exchange at the same rate as the banks get.
It's added 220,00 customers in the last 11 months, spending more than half a billion pounds and now employs 45 people.
Everledger
This 14-month-old London startup uses blockchain technology to record ownership of diamonds and has also gone through Barclays' accelerator programme.
It's targeting the $50bn fraud problem and the $1.7 trillion counterfeit goods market and is working with insurance firms and Interpol to track high value goods across borders.
Cyberfend
This San Francisco-based cyber security startup was founded in late 2014 and is backed by the prestigious Y Combinator incubator, which has previously backed Airbnb and Dropbox. It works with several global brands on fraud prevention.
Mozio
This startup founded in 2014 aims to make urban mobility about more than just Uber ride-sharing targeting the more than 60m people who live in major cities around the world. Based in San Francisco, it lets users find the fastest way from the airport via any form of transport.
Itembase
The San Francisco and Berlin-based startup founded by a Danish entrepreneur automatically attaches a value to any item making it easier for people to sell items online such as ebay and boasts US postal firm UPS as a a backer.
Paykey
Based in Tel Aviv and having gone through Microsoft Ventures' accelerator programme, this startup will launch later this year. It brings payments to social media platforms such as WhatsApp.
RecargaPay
Founded in Argentina, based in Miami and with Brazil its biggest market, RecargaPay started out with helping people top up their phone credit via mobile and now lets you pay for other utilities without having to queue and pay money to family and friends. It's focused on financial services for the unbanked and is now the largest mobile wallet in Brazil.