Mastercard empowers open banking startups

Mastercard has launched the global Start Path Open Banking program to engage open banking startups on their path to scale, identify unique opportunities for co-innovation, and power experiences that enable consumer choice.

The companies chosen for this inaugural class – Dapi, Finantier, mmob, Mono, and Paywallet – have strong synergies with Mastercard’s tech-driven approach and are committed to putting consumers and small businesses at the center of where and how their financial data is used to access services they want and need.

During the three-month program, startups will be able to leverage Mastercard’s open banking expertise and market insights, as well as learn more about the company’s open banking platforms via wholly-owned subsidiaries Finicity and Aiia.

Mastercard, an early supporter of open banking around the world, has expanded its open banking capabilities by combining its proprietary technology and expertise with the complementary services of Finicity and Aiia. 

“Open banking is a natural progression of how Mastercard has always embraced innovation and consumer trust with equal measure, and how we’ve remained a trusted partner for our customers,” said Blake Rosenthal, executive vice president, Fintech & Segment Solutions at Mastercard. “We are thrilled to launch the Start Path Open Banking program and welcome five high-growth startups from around the world to collaborate with us and accelerate open banking innovation.”

The following fast-growing open banking companies have been selected to join the Start Path Open Banking program, ranging from making financial services accessible to providing the tools businesses need to build next-generation financial products:

• Dapi (United Arab Emirates) is an open banking payment API that provides an experience for accepting account-to-account payments and tools for enterprise payments operations.
• Finantier (Indonesia) is an open finance platform powering the technical infrastructure for financial inclusion and enabling the next generation of digital and financial services across Southeast Asia.
• mmob (U.K.) seamlessly integrates third-party products into the financial ecosystem via its proprietary tool without coding.
• Mono (Nigeria) enables businesses in Africa to access financial data and process direct bank payments.
• Paywallet (U.S.) helps lenders and other financing providers improve payment certainty by enabling repayments directly from payroll deductions and powering underwriting decisions based on accurate identity, employment and payroll data.

These five businesses will join a network of over 300 startups that have taken part in the award-winning Start Path startup engagement program. They will be able to collaborate with Mastercard’s global ecosystem of banks, merchants, partners, and digital players to deliver and scale open banking solutions. Start Path alumni are now entering public markets, achieving unicorn status, and pursuing long-term commercial relationships with Mastercard and its customers.

Start Path is a key program within the Mastercard Developers portfolio that provides a single point of entry for fintech companies in open banking and beyond to access the APIs, services, and tools they need to iterate at each stage of their journey, transform bold ideas, and scale quickly to bring more people into the digital economy.