Four startups join Visa’s innovation center in Tel Aviv | The Times of Israel

Four new startups will join Visa’s innovation center in Tel Aviv in a bid to get the startup and development community working in tandem with the financial services giant to build the next generation of payment solutions.

The four startups are:

GetHere offers a personalized and contactless ordering and payment option for hotels and restaurants — reducing operating costs, improving customer experience and increasing revenue per bill, the company said.

Spendl has developed a blockchain card that allows users to pay with cryptocurrencies anywhere Visa is accepted.

Pinch is building a debit card where cardholders can choose content creators in gaming and media to support. Every time a fan swipes their card, the swipe fee goes to these creators, rather than a bank.

GoGo Getter provides parents with financial access to childcare and the opportunity for employers to retain their employees who manage a work-home balance. Employers receive access to capital, and employees receive interest-free financing paid over a three-year period directly from wages. The funding is given to employees on a rechargeable card so they can pay for the necessary expenses of childcare — like maternity leave, kindergarten and babysitters.

Since the Visa Innovation Studio was set up in Tel Aviv two and a half years ago, some of the selected startups that joined have integrated their products with payment systems worldwide through collaborations with banks and financial institutions, Visa said in a statement last week.

“We constantly strive towards connecting up-and-coming Fintechs to Visa’s global network of customers and merchants searching for solutions to their challenges and for ways to differentiate themselves from competition,” Shahar Friedman, the head of the Visa Innovation Studio, said in a statement. “What makes Visa’s approach to innovation unique, is our focus on establishing collaborations with tech partners.” This creates a way to supply digitized solutions for the acute needs of merchants and banks, he said.