When selecting these startups during a competitive global selection process, Mastercard looked for unique expertise in high-growth sectors and, in some cases, dedication to advancing circular commerce, the company said in a Monday (Sept. 22) press release.
“Their groundbreaking innovations reflect the evolving demands of the FinTech landscape, and Mastercard’s commitment to supporting scalable solutions harnessing emerging technologies,” Mastercard said in the release.
The cohort includes AraxaTech, which connects card issuers and processors and aims to enable zero-downtime migrations; Hyperlayer, which focuses on accelerating the delivery of programmable financial products to banks and businesses; Kamina, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help financial institutions expand responsible credit access; and firmly, whose agentic AI platform allows customer to purchase at any digital touchpoint.
It also includes amnis, which provides an integrated financial structure for mid-sized companies; Qawn, which is building chat-based financial services for use across the Middle East; and MoovnPay, which offers platforms that help users move, pay and shop online.
Four members of the cohort whose solutions support circular commerce include Save Your Wardrobe, whose customizable tech infrastructure helps companies deploy after-sales services; Pentatonic, which offers a solution that helps brands automate product buybacks and route them to resale, repair or recycling; Circulae, which integrates an automated resale service into payment methods; and Circulayo, which enables instant deposits, refunds, rewards and environmental impact measurements for reusable packaging systems.
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Of the circular economy focus in choosing a subset of this cohort, Mastercard said in the release: “With an acceptance network of more than 150 million merchants, thousands of banking partners, and more than 3.5 billion cards in circulation, Mastercard is in a unique position to inspire, inform and enable people to make more conscious purchasing choices, and Start Path supports this as a force multiplier for good.”
Mastercard announced July 1 that it expanded Start Path to include a Security Solutions program dedicated to supporting startups in the fields of cybersecurity, fraud mitigation, digital identity and payment resiliency.
In May, the company announced the inaugural Start Path Acceptance group that is focused on payment acceptance and is made up of late-stage startups working on initiatives like creating low-cost solutions for small businesses and allowing for nontraditional channel acceptance.
