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Visa's (V) Program to Aid Asia Pacific Startups Thrive Globally

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Visa Inc. (V - Free Report) recently introduced an accelerator program in an effort to provide startups with the opportunity to establish presence across newer markets after successfully launching their solutions in the home markets. The program usually runs for a time period of four to six months.

This time around, Visa has invited several startups across Asia Pacific to participate in the Visa Accelerator program, out of which the company will select a maximum of six elite startups. The selected startups will work closely with Visa and even get access to its broad network of bank and merchant partners in Asia Pacific. This, in turn, is likely to provide the selected startups not only the opportunity of global expansion but also access to diverse customer groups.

Through this accelerator program, Visa aims to work with startups, which intend to leverage numerous financial and technological opportunities prevailing in Asia Pacific. The emphasis of the selected startups should be on providing digital assistance to underserved consumers and businesses, and helping small businesses cope with the changing technology demands triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Case in point, Visa has always been committed to increasing usage of digital transactions, which was gradually gaining popularity but the pandemic accelerated the trend.

Moreover, the selected startups should try to innovate newer ways of money movement apart from the traditional means like credit or debit cards. They should also promote the open data environment thereby resulting in enhanced outcomes with regard to personalized banking and shopping experiences.

Furthermore, the abovementioned move bodes well since Asia Pacific has produced a host of successful startups, which have devised effective solutions. Hence, announcement of the Visa Accelerator program seems to be time opportune. With the global expertise of Visa, the selected startups will be able to roll out enhanced solutions, which can even fetch them a commercial deal with renowned banks, retailers or technology companies in the Asia Pacific region.

Shares of Visa have gained 15.7% in a year compared with the industry’s rally of 11.4%. Other companies in the same space, American Express Company (AXP - Free Report) has inched up 1.1% in a year, while Discover Financial Services (DFS - Free Report) has lost 9.4% in the same time frame.

Visa is committed to aiding startups with their expansion plans. This is evident from the latest move, which is aimed at eliminating the challenges often encountered by startups for operating in multiple markets.

It has to be noted that Visa has always provided necessary assistance to startups, ranging from technological assistance to empowering them with enhanced payments solutions. Case in point, Visa’s Fast Track program, which was enhanced last month, primarily intends to support growth of fintechs so that they can innovate new solutions and enhance growth prospects.

The company’s peer, Mastercard Incorporated (MA - Free Report) , has also been expanding its Accelerate portfolio, which was launched last year to enable the company to work with fintechs spanning across all stages of growth and transformation.

Coming back, the emergence of a cashless economy amid the rising adoption of digital transactions worldwide has provided Visa with an opportunity to bank on the prevailing scenario on the back of its technical prowess and secured payments network. Notably, it currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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