Mastercard Adds 5 Participants to Startup Engagement Program for Blockchain and Digital Assets

Mastercard has added five new startups to its Start Path startup engagement program for blockchain and digital assets.

The startups joined Start Path after a competitive global application process and will now gain support from the program, Mastercard said in a Monday (Sept. 15) press release.

This support includes access to Mastercard’s global network, partnerships and FinTech solutions; dedicated support from the Mastercard team; access to the firm’s customers and partners; and potential investment from its dedicated fund for startups, according to the program’s webpage.

The startups include Nomyx, which provides a no-code tokenization platform that enables fund managers and financial institutions to launch, manage and trade real-world assets; Keyrails, which connects merchants to the global financial system without requiring new licenses or banking setups; Plume, whose purpose-built blockchain for real-world asset finance enables tokenizing, trading and using real-world assets on chain; Borderless.xyz, which offers a global execution network for stablecoin transactions; and Nominis, which offers a real-time know-your-transaction (KYT) and blockchain investigation platform.

“The digital assets sector has undergone a pivotal transformation this year, marked by regulatory clarity, mainstream adoption and a surge in institutional engagement,” Mastercard said in the release. “Mastercard has doubled down on its commitment to build a trusted, scalable and interoperable foundation for the future of digital commerce, with real-world applications of tokenized payments, stablecoin settlement and identity-verified blockchain transactions.”

Start Path has supported FinTechs since 2014, according to the program’s webpage. Over that time, it has supported more than 500 startups in 55 countries and brokered 15,000 global connections.

Mastercard estimates that these startups raised over $25 billion in capital after their participation in the Start Path program, the page said.

When selecting startups to invite to join the program, Mastercard looks for a unique and proven solution, a strategic fit with its strategy and business, an investment raised with a product live in market and generating revenue, and founders with strong backgrounds who are passionate and ready to scale, per the webpage.

Mastercard added the Start Path global startup engagement program for digital assets, blockchain and cryptocurrency companies in July 2021.