Fintech company Deserve announced on Wednesday that it had received a strategic investment from Visa (NYSE: V), the Payments giant, to expand its credit-card-as-a-service for financial institutions, fintechs and brands. According to the press release, Visa joins other investors like Mission Holdings, Mastercard, Ally Ventures, Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Sallie Mae to bolster Deserve’s offerings.
“Visa’s Crypto team collaborated with BlockFi and Deserve to launch a crypto rewards credit card that would appeal to crypto enthusiasts and introduce crypto to the masses. The BlockFi Bitcoin rewards credit card has been an immediate success. We are excited about our partnership and new investment in Deserve and are looking forward to continuing to drive the adoption of crypto-powered card programs together,” AJ Shanley, Vice President of Crypto at Visa, commented on the matter.
In 2020, Visa picked Deserve as its launch partner for its Fintech Track Program. Moreover, under that program, Deserve arranged a partnership with BlockFi and Visa last summer to launch a credit card with crypto rewards. “This investment validates the industry’s embrace of a digital-first, embedded approach driven by APIs and SDKs. We’re transforming credit cards into software that lives on mobile devices, not in wallets,” Kalpesh Kapadia, Deserve’s Co-Founder and CEO, stated.
The company clarified that Deserve seeks to offer the first mobile platform that powers mobile cards for major banks and financial institutions beyond offering cashback, points and miles.
Visa Partnership with ANZ
Early this month, Visa announced that it had expanded to Australia after inking a partnership with ANZ and Quest, a merchant payment provider. That said, Australian shoppers will have access to the ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ feature via their ANZ credit cards without taking any extra steps. In addition, the payments giant highlighted that a recent survey pursued by the US-listed payments giant unveiled that 90% of the participants in Australia showed a ‘high likelihood’ of using an installments option from their issuing bank.
