Because NFTs can establish ownership and authenticity of digital goods and media, like images, videos, and music, they can help creators generate revenue and grow their business.

“NFTs have the potential to become a powerful accelerator for the creator economy,” said Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto, Visa. “We’ve been studying the NFT ecosystem and its potential impacts on the future of commerce, retail and social media. Through the Visa Creator Program, we want to help this new breed of small and micro businesses tap into new mediums for digital commerce.”

Community, mentorship and access for emerging artists

The Visa Creator Program is geared towards entrepreneurs working in art, music, fashion and film who are serious about incorporating NFTs into their business model, whether they’ve just minted their first NFT or have several successful drops under their belt.

“In the early days of my NFT career, I relied on a community of NFT experts and advocates to ground me in this new world,” says Micah Johnson, former professional athlete, the artist behind Aku, and one of the first participants to work with the Visa Creator Program. “I’m excited to work with Visa in providing that same type of mentorship to emerging artists setting out on their NFT journey.”

Selected creators will join a cohort-driven program designed to build and deepen their fluency in crypto commerce and traditional payments. The program is focused on supporting creators in five key area:

• Technical and product mentorship: Mentorship with Visa’s team of crypto product and strategy leaders, to cover topics including: evaluating tradeoffs between underlying blockchain networks, smart contracts, and NFT marketplaces.
• Community building: The opportunity to exchange ideas and problem-solve with a community of creators in various stages of their NFT journey.
• Access to thought leaders: Hear from leading edge thinkers and researchers working across digital commerce, web3, crypto and payments.
• Exposure to Visa’s clients and partners: Opportunities to engage with companies across Visa’s network of clients and partners.
• Stipend: One-time stipend to help creators kick-start the next phase of growth.

Supporting new forms of small business

The Visa Creator Program is part of Visa’s ongoing efforts to help small and micro businesses gain greater access to the digital economy. Through community-based initiatives like the Visa Creator Program and She’s Next, Visa is focused on digitally enabling small and micro businesses through opportunities to access funding, resources and expertise.

As the concept of ‘small business’ continues to expand and evolve, from mom-and-pop storefronts to content creators and gig economy workers, Visa is excited to support the next generation of entrepreneurs in scaling a business and getting paid.

To learn more about the Visa Creator Program and how to get involved, visit the Visa Creator Program.

Global Processing Services announces new partnership with Mastercard to power ‘Next Generation Payments’ technology to global fintechs

• Mastercard deepens a decade long collaboration with GPS, launching and scaling hundreds of card programmes for some of the most successful fintechs in the world
• GPS recently raised over US$400 million in new capital to accelerate investment in open API, cloud-based technology, driving global expansion into many of the world’s largest markets over the next three years

Global Processing Services (“GPS”), a leading global payment technology platform, today announced a new strategic partnership with Mastercard.

Today’s announcement expands on the two firms’ longstanding relationship stretching back over a decade. Together, GPS and Mastercard have worked in partnership to launch and scale hundreds of card programmes for some of the most successful and innovative fintechs in the world including Revolut, Starling Bank and Curve, amongst many others across Europe and Asia-Pacific.

In January 2022, GPS announced a significant capital injection of over US$400 million providing GPS with a bench of experienced global growth investors including Advent International – through Advent Tech and affiliate Sunley House Capital – Viking Global Investors; Temasek, the global investment company headquartered in Singapore; and MissionOG, a US-based growth equity firm.

GPS intends to invest strongly in international expansion and product development with an eye on new and fast-growing verticals where adoption continues to rise including digital banks, crypto, BNPL, open banking and cross border payments, and as a result, Mastercard has made a strategic investment into the company.

GPS plays a crucial role in enabling fintech customers of networks such as Mastercard to deliver a trusted and dynamic digital commerce experience to billions of consumers who use physical and virtual cards – innovatively, quickly, and securely.

Through GPS’s modern and agile cloud-based technology, fintechs can access a diverse and expanding suite of modern open APIs that enable ambitious and disruptive players to scale at speed. Fintechs can also access GPS’s unique ecosystem of international partners, freeing them up to focus their time and resources on what truly matters to them – delivering an exceptional customer experience and continuous product innovation that disrupts and advances traditional banking, payment and lending services.

Jason Lane, Executive Vice President Market Development Europe, Mastercard, said: “We are excited to be formalising our partnership with GPS, working with them to build the fintechs of the future. Mastercard has a long history of partnering with fintechs, ensuring we have the programmes, products and tools that every innovative financial company needs even as the sector continues to evolve. We provide the solutions and expertise to iterate with fintech companies at each stage, transform together and achieve scale at pace.”

Joanne Dewar, Chief Executive Officer at GPS, said: “Our partnership with Mastercard is a resounding endorsement of our API-first payment technology platform and our bold vision for the future of payments. Together, for over a decade, we have helped to reliably scale many customers at speed. We welcome them as a GPS investor and we are ready to support many more future Mastercard fintech customers to scale into global businesses with the innovation, speed, and security they expect.”

Contacts

Louisa Bartoszek / Sumeet Vermani

Marcom@globalprocessing.com

PSC Insurance Brokers and Paragon International Insurance Brokers are part of PSC Insurance Group (ASX: PSI)

Paragon is a specialist insurance broker, operating in the Lloyd’s of London, Bermuda, European and International Specialty markets. We have market-leading capabilities and experience in the Financial, Professional and Casualty Lines sectors.

With a broad, independent platform, we can deliver the best services and resources for our clients and broker partners.

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