This year, the Visa Everywhere Initiative invited a diverse and innovative group of startup founders from North America, Latin America, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa, Europe and Asia Pacific to showcase their payments innovations. Over the course of the year, startups and fintechs from around the world have presented their innovative solutions, and one finalist was selected to represent each region at the global finals hosted at TechCrunch Disrupt on Sept 19th in San Francisco, California.
The event was hosted live at the Fintech Stage in Disrupt.
“This year, the Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI) has significantly expanded its reach to unique fintech startups around the globe, said Marie-Elise Droga, SVP and Head of Global and North America Fintech Partnerships, Visa, “At Visa, innovation is at the heart of our operations, and by supporting the next generation of payments technology providers in their early stages through VEI, we are fulfilling our mission of uplifting everyone, everywhere.”
The 2023 VEI Finalists are:
• Jonas Overgaard – Founder & CEO at Anyday
• Saksham Shubham – Business Head – APAC at Decentro
• Chibuzo Opara – Co-Founder & CEO at Drugstoc
• Jeff Catalano – Co-Founder & CEO at Payment Porte
• Carolina Nucamendi – Co-Founder & CEO at Waivr
Overall Winner: Drugstoc
Audience Favorite: Drugstoc
Visa Direct Winner:Â Anyday
The competition was hosted and emceed by Delores Terry, Senior Business Development Manager, Inclusive Client Partnerships, Visa. Judges evaluated each finalist based on the quality of their solution and presentation, the opportunities it offers to partner with Visa and clients, and the desirability, uniqueness and feasibility of their product or solution.
This year’s judging panel included:
• Ayodeji Arikawe – Co-Founder at Thrive Agri and global winner of VEI 2022
• Emily Man – Partner at Primary
• Rodrigo Barros de Paula – Regional Head of Fintech Partnerships for LAC at Visa
• Akshay Chopra – VP, Head of Innovation & Design for CEMEA at Visa
• Ralph Koker – Visa Direct VP & Head of Market Expansion at Visa
• Dan Roesbery – VP, Fintech Business Development at Visa
The 2023 VEI Global Winner was announced by Visa’s Marie-Elise Droga, the awards include:
1. Overall Global Winner: $50,000 USD
2. Audience Favorite: $10,000 USD
3. Visa Direct: $10,000 USD
Additionally, Marie-Elise Droga hosted a fireside chat with Wade Arnold, Co-Founder ad CEO, Moov Financial. Moov was the global winner of the 2021 Visa Everywhere Initiative. Since the win, Moov has fast-tracked onboarding to Visa’s global network and leveraged Visa’s security and fraud protection technologies to expand to new markets. In 2023 Moov raised $45M in their Series B round of funding.
Since its launch in 2015, nearly 15,000 startups from more than 100 countries have applied to the Visa Everywhere Initiative. These startups have gone on to collectively raise more than $16 billion in funding. Every year, Visa has expanded the Visa Everywhere Initiative to include unique startups solving unique problems in the world of payments. In the U.S., the Visa Everywhere Initiative 2023 Special Editions spotlighted Black, Women and LGBTQ+- founded startups and we will continue to work with diverse startups and fintechs in the future.