‘Mastercard For Fintechs’ has been designed by Mastercard in response to the challenging fundraising environment that fintechs have recently been facing, offering them valuable support and opportunities to continue on their path to sustainable growth and profitability. As the network partner of choice for fintechs1, Mastercard’s collaboration with fintechs offers education, expertise, networking and exclusive tools to help them thrive.

“At Mastercard, partnership is a part of our DNA, critical to defining how the company innovates for the future and creates meaningful, sustainable impact for society. Our world-class programs nurture innovation, accelerate growth and streamline program launches. Our digital tools are designed to support fintechs across every niche and at every stage of growth. We are excited to see the fintechs joining this inaugural program from across Western Europe,” says Eimear Creaven, Division President, Western Europe Mastercard.

The ‘Mastercard For Fintechs’ program offers exclusive access to Mastercard’s dedicated fintech learning platform​, participation in a series of fintech events across countries in Western Europe and the opportunity to compete for the chance to win 50,000 €.

The competition is aimed at fintechs at a pre-seed, seed or series A investment stage, who have deployed a tangible solution in at least one of the following European countries – Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain and Portugal – in the fields of payments, Web3 and blockchain, new payment flows, banking & SMEs, embedded finance and/or sustainable technology.

Following an initial selection, participants of the European contest will take part in four local competitions that will take place from June to October in Paris, Madrid, Milan and Amsterdam2, with eight fintechs competing in each city, from which two local winners will be selected.

The eight local winners will then compete in the final event, which will take place in Paris at the end of the year.

Fintechs will be required to pitch their projects in front of a jury comprising of members from Mastercard and external partners, followed by a Q&A session, with each project graded according to the team’s expertise, the innovation of the project, together with its financial health, long-term viability, scalability potential and strategic fit with Mastercard.

The winner of the final event will receive a prize consisting of 50,000€ in marketing support, including access to Mastercard’s sponsorship assets, fast-track to the Start Path program’s final selection day and mentoring support from experts and founders in the ecosystem.

Mastercard Start Path has worked with more than 380 fintechs from 54 countries, with more than 10 unicorns emerging from the program, including Revolut, Razorpay and Airwallet. About 50 commercial deals were secured with Mastercard and its customers in 2023 alone.