Applications are now open in Oman for the Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain edition of the 2024 Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI), a global open innovation program and competition that sees fintech startups pitch their solutions to solve tomorrow’s payment and commerce challenges.
In addition to equity-free funding, VEI winners gain access and exposure to Visa’s vast networks of partners in the banking, merchant, venture capital, and government sectors. The winners also benefit from receiving recognition from one of the world’s most trusted and valuable brands.
With applications open until April 22nd , this year’s Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain edition of VEI will see an in-person competition for finalists from all three countries in mid-June in Riyadh. The winner will progress to a virtual Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) competition on July 17th. The startup that wins at the CEMEA finale will participate in the global finale – competing against winners from Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and North America – at the TechCrunch Disrupt event in San Francisco on October 29th, 2024.
For fintech participants in Oman, this year’s edition of VEI brings back the Impact Prize, which goes to a competitor who has innovated a solution that has a positive social impact on the communities it operates in. Examples include initiatives that boost financial inclusion, promote sustainability, or safeguard the environment. Last year, Saudi-based fintech Lamaa won the Impact Prize for providing SMBs with technological, financially inclusive embedded finance and payment solutions.
This year’s edition also introduces the Fintech Innovating in Risk Excellence, or ‘FIIRE’ award which goes to innovative fintech specialized in fraud management, cybersecurity, and credit risk, among others.
“The Visa Everywhere Initiative is a powerful platform that empowers and uplifts fintechs and entrepreneurs to showcase the most ground-breaking, impactful solutions solving tomorrow’s challenges in the world of payments and commerce. We are delighted to bring VEI back again for a second year to Oman,” said Manish Gautam, Visa’s Country Manager for Oman.
“Fintechs have the potential to offer broad social benefits to the markets they operate in – particularly when it comes to providing financial services to those who have traditionally been underserved. At Visa, we believe access to the digital economy drives equitable, inclusive growth, and VEI is an important means of supporting the growth journey of fintechs in Oman – helping them take small but significant steps towards making an impact.”
The program first launched in the US in 2015 and quickly expanded into a global program. To date, nearly 15,000 startups have participated, and have collectively raised over OMR18.4B ($48B USD) in funding. VEI 2023 saw Nigeria’s Drugstock take home the VEI global grand prize of OMR19,200 ($50,000 USD), as well as the Audience Favorite prize of OMR3,800 ($10,000 USD).
