• UK start-up won with solution that uses machine learning to support regional commerce experiences
• More than 300 entries submitted from start-ups in 19 countries

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) has announced the winners of its first European Everywhere Initiative programme, awarding a total of €100,000 to three start-ups for their successful proposals in three categories, and the opportunity work with Visa APIs in conjunction with executive mentors and technologists.  The category winners receiving €25,000 each are:

• bitemojo (Israel) – Local Community Challenge.  They presented “Visa Bite”, an app that creates a self-guided food discovery experience using nothing but your smartphone.
• Kompas (UK) – Regional Intercity Challenge.  Their “Dependable City Exploration” app uses machine learning to personalise content based on individual preferences and interests.
• Fly Money (Israel) – International Travel Challenge.  Their proposal provides an API to compare and select travel money solutions at the same time a consumer books aflight with a travel agent or airline.

 Kompas won an additional €25,000 for the best overall proposal.

Visa executive vice president, innovation and strategic partnerships, Jim McCarthy, awarded the prizes at this year’s Money 20/20 conference in Copenhagen and said:  “At Visa, we are looking at new ways to enable innovation in payments. This is why we are engaging with the start-up community through Visa’s Everywhere Initiative, looking for fresh new ideas to drive key business objectives and improve consumer experience.  We look forward to working with these companies, giving them access to our APIs through the Visa Developer Platform to help them take their ideas to the next level.”

Announced at Mobile World Congress in February, the European Visa Everywhere Initiative programme began accepting proposals in April in the three categories outlined above.  After entries closed in May, Visa selected five finalists from each of the categories and invited a representative from each company to the Money 20/20 conference in Copenhagen to pitch their idea in front of a panel of judges including executives from Visa as well as Davide Rigamonti from CornerCard and Birte Quitt from Erste Group, and Ohad Maimon from Leumi Card.  The winners were announced by McCarthy in a presentation to start-ups on the conference’s Sixth Stage, specifically designated for the start-up community.

Since the programme launched in the United States in 2015, more than 1,500 start-ups in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia have participated.