Visa Announces $100M Investment To Boost Generative AI In The FinTech Industry!

Visa is making moves in the AI space, staking a $100 million gamble on FinTech startups.

Visa, foreseeing the direction of the AI industry, has announced plans to invest $100 million in businesses working on generative AI technologies and applications "that will impact the future of commerce and payments."

Visa Ventures, the global corporate investment arm of the credit card and financial services company, will be responsible for making the investments. Founded in 1993, Visa has been a "pioneer of AI use in payments" ever since and will now step into the emerging generative AI space.

“While much of generative AI so far has been focused on tasks and content creation, this technology will soon not only reshape how we live and work, but it will also meaningfully change commerce in ways we need to understand,” said Jack Forestell, chief product and strategy officer of Visa, in a written statement.

 

So, What Is Visa's Take On This Strategic Shift?

Visa Ventures' CEO, David Rolf, has called generative AI "one of the most transformative technologies of our time."

He added that Visa Ventures "had a lot of flexibility" when deciding how many investments to make and the value of each individual cheque.

“Given the early stage of the industry, we’d expect to make a range of smaller investments of a few $M,” Rolf said. “That said, we have the ability to make larger investments where there is a strong rationale to do so.”

In terms of investment criteria, he stated that Visa is particularly interested in "applying Generative AI to solve real problems in commerce, payments, and fintech."

“This includes B2B processes around payments as well as infrastructure that can have a profound impact on commerce. We are interested in companies at multiple levels of the stack, from data organization for GenAI up to the experiences that users will have at work or in their personal lives,” Rolf added. “Visa can be an impactful enabler of companies solving the next set of challenges to further unlock commerce, and this is a way for us to connect with those startups. One of our key considerations is how well these companies are practicing responsible use of AI, in line with Visa’s policies.”
 

What Did Stakeholders At Visa Ventures Say About The Move?

Marie-Elise Droga, who was brought in as Visa's new head of fintech at the end of last year, said that her group "often collaborates" with the Visa Ventures group, acting as a type of scouting engine for Visa's VC arm.

Droga furthr said she is focused on “identifying and synthesizing” factors that influence the payments landscape, including new behaviors, new stores of value, new frameworks for money movement and new transaction environments.

“It’s a very rich function that helps Visa be at the forefront of product innovation. Our team is constantly challenging itself in terms of what trends do we have to pay attention to and how does that translate into growth, not only for our products, but also so we can have even more pertinent solutions for our clients.”

With Visa pouring $100M into generative AI companies, are we witnessing the birth of a new era for the financial industry?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!