Two Israeli fintech startups in Visa’s digital payments push
ChargeAfter and Personetics are among 13 fintech firms selected by Visa to be part of a suite of new payment techologies it is offering European banking clients
Shoshanna Solomon was The Times of Israel's Startups and Business reporter
Two Israeli fintech startups will be among a total of 13 in a Visa Inc. initiative to equip its banking clients in Europe with a suite of new payment technologies.
Visa on Wednesday announced the launch of Visa Fintech Partner Connect, which will provide its banking clients in Europe with a suite of “enhanced capabilities,” combining Visa’s own solutions with those of “carefully selected” fintech partners.
Two of those partners are Israel’s ChargeAfter and Personetics.
“Fintech Partner Connect will help Visa’s clients meet their customers’ demand for new digital payment experiences by providing seamless access to innovative fintech solutions,” Visa said in a statement.
The European rollout of the initiative follows a successful pilot that has already seen a number of Visa’s clients use the technologies on offer, the statement said.
“The popularity and need for digital payments and online banking has never been greater, with the global pandemic accelerating this shift in behavior,” said Shahar Friedman, the head of the Visa Innovation Studio in Tel Aviv, which partnered with the two selected Israeli startups. “Many of our clients are looking for ways to rapidly develop their offerings. Visa Fintech Connect enables them to do just that, combining our expertise with some of Europe’s most innovative” fintech firms.
Both ChargeAfter and Personetics operate in the fast-growing Fintech space that attracts a lot of interest from Visa’s clients, she said, focusing on payment transactions and personal digital banking, respectively, she said.
ChargeAfter enables merchants to offer personalized and instant financing to their customers from a number of lenders, in turn allowing lenders to increase their customer base. The startup was set up 2017 by Meidad Sharon and has 35 employees in Ramat Gan, New York, Sunnyvale, California, and Dallas, Texas. In February, the startup said it received a “substantial” strategic investment from Visa.
Personetics helps analyze financial data in real-time, understanding individuals’ financial behavior, anticipating their needs and acting on their behalf. The company was set up in in 2010 by David Sosna and David Govrin and has 220 employees in its offices in Tel Aviv, New York, London, Paris, Spain, Singapore, Tokyo and Sidney.
The 11 other startups selected for the Visa program are European. They provide consumer credit insights; help simplify financial and accounting software into one platform; display clearer merchant details; increase transaction compliance and analyze payment transactions in real time, among other purposes.
