Visa’s European Accelerator Launches Partnership

February 1, 2016         By: Mike Dautner

Some of Visa’s investments into financial technology are starting to payoff. Visa Europe Collab, the firm’s innovation hub in Europe, has found a partnership with a well established fintech firm.

The German-based Wirecard Technologies GmbH, a subsidiary of the institutional e-payment firm Wirecard AG, entered into an exclusive deal with Visa. Under the agreement, both companies will work together to both develop and provide electronic payment services.

Both Visa and Wirecard have agreed to to combine both their knowledge and technology for the project.

Wirecard said it would provide its existing technologies while also providing intricate marketing data to Visa. As its role as an accelerator, Visa Europe Collab will provide key industry development tools in addition to an environment to grow a fintech infrastructure.

Many European companies are attempting to look abroad for opportunities of growth due to the economic stagnation throughout the region. Visa Europe Collab is but one of Visa’s many accelerators in the region, with other operations in London, Berlin and Tel Aviv.

Although Wirecard has been an established company for some time, its exposure to the financial technology sector has been limited. “We are looking forward to this partnership with Visa Europe Collab, which is part of our long-term strategy to increase our activity in the FinTech industry.

The cooperation will provide global FinTech start-ups with access to our complete range of services; from banking to software and payment solutions, risk management, card issuing and value added services. Everything from a single source,” said Susanne Steidl, executive vice president of Issuing Services at Wirecard.