Mastercard Teams up with Paykrom

FACTS

• The payments giant Mastercard sheds light on a new FinTech: Paykrom.

• Paykrom built a full-digital banking solution for entrepreneurs, self-employed workers and business heads.
• This offer features solution for improving cash management processes:
  • Tools for settling invoices,
  • Real-time expense tracking,
  • Tools for monitoring cash flow costs,
  • Account configuration.
• In line with this partnership, Paykrom may also add a Mastercard Business card for their customers.
• Paykrom also plans to branch into financing solutions, and may launch credit, leasing or factoring solutions in the near future.

MASTERCARD AND FINTECHS

Mastercard leads Accelerate, a global program for supporting FinTechs, with:

• 15 Labs worldwide
• 1 Startpath program
• 150 FinTechs supported
• Partnership with Paris FinTech Forum

CHALLENGES

• Boosting their investments. In 2019 only Mastercard announced more investments in and acquisitions of innovative financial services (partnership with Treezor, whose Open Banking opens doors to several innovative FinTechs; buyout of Vyze and Ethoca).
• Aiming for corporates. With Paykrom, Mastercard stresses their interest in BtoB-dedicated financial services. This card scheme also acquired a majority stake in Corporate Services business unit from the Danish e-payment specialist Nets.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• Business-oriented banking offers from alternative players have been gaining momentum over the past years. Major industry specialists (Starling Bank, Revolut) are facing competition from smaller, yet ambitious structures of high interest to investors (Pleo, Shine, and Brex, for instance).