The growth platform for Fintech companies
The Visa Innovation Program is a fintech pilot-centered collaboration platform designed to
help your company scale and engage with Visa, its clients and partners.
The Timeline
Open Call for Applications
12 January – 1 March 2026
Selection
11 March – 19 March 2026
Program Start
April 2026
Discovery Sessions
One-on-one Meetings with PoC Partners
April – May 2026
Workshops
Design Thinking Sprints
May – December 2026
PoC / Pilot Development
Mentoring Sessions
May – December 2026
Graduation Event
November 2026
Visa Innovation Program Europe is in search of the fintech companies that have the highest potential to partner and conduct pilot or proof of concepts with Visa clients and partners, therefore your capabilities should be go-to-market ready for the country you are applying to. We can support market expansion needs on a per case basis and other opportunities beyond. Additionally, you will benefit from curated training, mentorship and introductions to selected investors
Core Value Proposition
Who Should Apply
If your team has already completed a proof of concept related to the proposed challenges or has a market-ready solution,
you are the right fit for the Visa Innovation Program Europe.
The Program In Numbers
*VIPE has expanded to eight new markets across the Nordics and Baltics in 2025, bringing its total footprint to 15 markets across Europe.
**Funding raised by the participating Fintech companies after joining the program either independently or through connections of Program Managers (Eleven and Tenity)
program managers
The Visa Innovation Program Europe is run by the collective efforts of our local partners in Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey, Spain, Portugal and Italy. They bring their know-how, network, domain expertise and operational resources to make the Program a reality.
Main Program Managers
Local Ecosystem Partners
Themes
We are looking for the best and brightest companies to address our themes. The applicants need to provide proven solutions to drive innovation and technological advancement for Visa and Visa’s clients. If you believe your company addresses one or more of the themes, you are welcome to apply and become part of the Visa Innovation Program Europe family.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Agentic Commerce
Agentic commerce for consumers (e.g. shopping agents, personal assistants)
B2B agentic payment use cases
Financial Agents (e.g. Personal finance and wealth management)
Conversational commerce and next‑gen user interfaces
Tokenized & identity powered checkout experiences
Hyper-personalized finance (e.g. AI-tailored insights including affluent services)
Fraud prevention, security, and risk intelligence (e.g. deepfake detection)
B2B and Money Movement Flows
Stablecoins and digital currencies
xBorder payments and remittances
Finance management platforms for businesses (e.g. B2B payments, expenses, supply chain)
Treasury and FX services for businesses
Government payments (e.g. Financial aid, social benefits, bill and tax payments)
Open Finance and Data
Banking-as-a-service and infrastructure enablers
Embedded finance and payment services
Digital identity wallets, authentication and next-gen KYC/KYB platforms
Hyper-personalized offers (e.g. loyalty and rewards tools)
Alternative Finance (e.g. Instalments, credit scoring, POS financing, BNPL)
Merchant/retail and SMB targeted solutions
Interconnected services for citizens and tourists
Financial education and Literacy
Testimonials
“Participating in the Visa Innovation Program before our MVP launch was invaluable. It’s the ultimate program for fintech companies, offering close monitoring and support for your growth, extensive local and international networking opportunities, and streamlined B2B partnerships. A must for any fintech founder. “
Hilmi Kaya, Co-Founder Yancep“The Program helped us to developed our product for small and medium enterprises with leading experts from San Francisco
and London. A key step in our growth is the opening of our office in Berlin, located next to the Visa Innovation
Center in Germany.”
Hristo Borisov, Co-Founder and CEO - PayhawkThe tailor-made format of the Program and our personal design thinking concierge’s support allowed us to stay focused on our core business while working on a very practical case for Visa Direct’s integration in Foundy’s underlying technology. That’s invaluable when you run a international company and have to deal with multiple challenges as a founder.
Valeria Vahorovska, CEO - Foundy“The largest value of the program was access to the global network of partners, customers and a startup ecosystem.
Iris Solutions pivoted form B2C to B2B solutions company. We verified a fully new effective business
model and strategy.”
Galya Dimitrova, CEO - Iris Solutions“The program was pivotal in establishing Glocalzone’s key partnerships with Visa and Visa’s network and entering new markets. What’s more, we grew our customer base from 10 to 150k users and our valuation increased 4 times during the period we were in the program.”
Dogan Turan, Co-Founder - Glocalzone“The largest value of the program was access to the huge network of partners, custormers and a startup ecosystem. We are able to keep up with the current trends, identify new opportunities and connect with startups and team that are changing the financial world around us. Keep up the good work! “
Konstantinos Vaitsas, Head of Digital Innovation - Alpha Bank“The Visa Innovation Program team is like family to us! We’ve worked with the Visa team since Divilo was founded, and so far, I can only say good things about them. They have opened doors we would never have crossed if they had not helped us. Thank you! Visa Innovation Program Europe – Spain Edition’22 “
Juan Guruceta, Founder - Divilo“This program gave us a unique opportunity to accelerate our product to market alongside some of the best mentors and leaders in the business. We also received the partnership with Raiffeisen Bank to build, test and create the future of payments with biometric technologies that have never been done before on the Bulgarian market. “
Mihai Draghici, Founder & CEO - PaybyfaceIl Visa Innovation Program ha apportato un valore ineguagliabile alla nostra azienda. Durante la nostra collaborazione con Eleven Ventures siamo riusciti a migliorare la nostra value proposition, adattare il prodotto a diversi tipi di clienti e sperimentare modelli di business. Siamo stati presentati a nuovi clienti, ma soprattutto siamo riusciti a firmare il nostro primo progetto pilota in meno di due mesi.
Catalin Rus, Co-Founder and COO - Prime Dash“Visa Innovation Program provided us with the support, motivation and partnerships from Visa’s wider network we
needed to overcome the obstacles we faced and eventually launch our product for a PoC in the Greek market.”
Elena Avatangelou, Co-Founder, Service & Product Design - Giving Streets
