Mastercard today announced the addition of seven new startups to its global startup engagement program, Mastercard Start Path.
Mastercard Start Path has received applications from over 1,500 startups each year since its inception in 2014, and the program has assisted over 350 businesses in raising over $3.5 billion in funding.
Successful applicants are welcomed into Mastercard’s fintech network, where they are provided with “growth-critical opportunities” to collaborate, receive mentoring, and leverage Mastercard’s existing connections and clientele to accelerate blockchain, Web3, and fintech innovation.
This year’s cohort includes seven companies from five different countries. Loot Bolt, a Web3 payments company, Quadrata, a crypto privacy and compliance firm, and Uptop, which uses blockchain technology to help brands personalise their consumer experience, are all based in the United States.
Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Colombia, and Dubai round out this year’s intake.
Mastercard’s Start Path aims to catalyst innovation in the space and accelerate the hybridization of Web3 and emerging fintech systems with traditional finance by bringing together various firms from various fields within crypto.
Mastercard has joined the crypto investment trend
Mastercard isn’t the only company investing in startups to help accelerate the growth of cryptocurrency.
Binance, a centralized exchange (CEX), announced a $100 million investment in France in November 2021.
The “Objective Moon” initiative seeks to establish a Binance Research and Development hub in France in order to attract blockchain talent from across the country and continent.
Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao praised France for its “pro-crypto regulations” in April, and announced that his exchange had acquired floorspace in Paris’s Station F, the world’s largest startup incubator.
The building houses over a thousand startups and is partnered with Microsoft, Google, and Facebook.
The agreement provides free housing and access to various resources to Binance’s selected startups during their incubation period.
They also have access to Binance’s team and partners for technical support and guidance.
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