Today we are pleased to welcome six scaling startups to our award-winning Mastercard Start Path program, from companies building blockchain-based payments solutions with the aim of humanizing finance to startups designing sustainable lending platforms to close the small business credit gap in emerging markets.

“As the fintech landscape evolves at an unprecedented speed, Mastercard provides the infrastructure and assets to help fintech innovators grow and ultimately bring more people into the digital economy,” said Amy Neale, Senior Vice President, Fintech & Enablers. “The newest Start Path companies represent the future of the fintech industry and are designing inclusive solutions that anticipate consumer needs – we’re thrilled to partner with these innovators on their path to scale.”

Start Path brings together a diverse network of innovators who are looking to accelerate the way they change the world. Mastercard works intimately with these startups through a six-month program where they can take advantage of Mastercard technology, expertise and resources to rapidly scale their business. The startups receive direct access to the company’s channels, customers and product teams as well as immersive virtual events and programming to uncover co-innovation opportunities.

Mastercard has selected the following fintech innovators with global ambitions to join Start Path:
• Asante Financial Services is a provider of high impact digital financial services that supports Africa's growth through sustainable lending for underserved small businesses and individuals.
• Cledara is an all-in-one software as a service (SaaS) management platform that helps companies manage, control and automate their cloud software, enabling them to scale their operational processes, comply with regulations and save money.
• Jifiti offers an end-to-end consumer financing solution for banks and lenders to quickly launch a white-labeled buy now, pay later solution requiring zero point-of-sale integration.
• Moeda Seeds offers digital banking, payment and micro credit services powered by blockchain that aim to humanize finance and distribute social impact.
• SpenDebt's SaaS payment solution is a frictionless way for consumers to automate their debt repayments through a predefined micropayment deducted at every transaction.
• Tippy is the modern tip disbursement engine built for cashless tipping in the service industry, saving owners processing fees while increasing tips and delivering them to service professionals’ accounts in real time.

We look forward to continuing to deepen our relationships with fintech builders and key partners by opening up our APIs to drive a more inclusive economy.