Ozone API is among eight companies to have been accepted onto Mastercard’s startup engagement program ‘Start Path’.
The latest Start Path cohort joins a global portfolio, comprising more than 450 startups from 60 countries, to participate in a dedicated ‘New Networks’ program for “scaling and powering experiences that enable consumer choice”.
Aazzur, Astrada, Carrington Labs, FairPlay, FutureBank, Impactica, Trudenty, and Ozone API have been selected to take part in Start Path in recognition of their approach to building solutions based on Open Banking and Open Finance principles.
Through the program, each of the eight companies will explore opportunities with Mastercard to democratise financial services and “put people and small businesses at the center of where and how their data is used”.
Ozone API’s Huw Davies
Huw Davies, co-founder and chief executive officer of Ozone API, said “We know Open Finance has the power to change the world — it will lay the foundations to drive economic growth, accelerate innovation and tackle societal challenges like financial inclusion.
“To help unlock that potential, we remove the complexity for banks, providing them with the tools to deliver high-performing APIs that fuels real progress.”
Aazzur is a platform for startups, enterprises and financial service providers to embed the financial services needed for “seamless” operations into existing systems, while Astrada helps software companies access and use real-time transaction feeds to create user-friendly payment experiences, starting with spend management.
Carrington Labs provides lenders and financial institutions with the ability to make more informed lending decisions with “product-specific” credit risk scoring and loan limit recommendations driven by “explainable AI”.
“Our platform is redefining credit risk scoring to unlock smarter credit decisions and expand access for underserved communities,” said Jamie Twiss, chief executive officer of Carrington Labs.
Open Finance solution Impactica Labs helps organisations to streamline public benefits enrolment and improve access to essential services.
Ariel Porath, co-founder of Impactica, added: “Fintech and Open Banking offer solutions that can transform and simplify access to essential benefits and create pathways to financial stability and opportunity for those who need it most.”
Lerato Matsio, chief executive officer of Trudenty, has experienced fraud both as a merchant tackling first-party fraud, and as a consumer losing money after a bank account takeover.
She said: “These challenges revealed a critical gap in the payments infrastructure: limited visibility into consumer behaviour across the ecosystem.
“That’s why we’re building Trudenty, where privacy-preserving data sharing enables merchants, issuers and acquirers to share fraud risk intelligence to combat fraud and improve experiences for trusted consumers.”
The other startups taking part in the program are FairPlay, which enables companies using AI to make decisions about consumers’ lives fix “blind spots” to increase revenue and ensure better outcomes for consumers, while FutureBank is a platform for financial institutions that simplifies the integration between core banking and modern fintech.
In June last year, Mastercard chose nine fintechs to join its four-month ‘Start Path Open Banking and Embedded Finance’ program.
Further reading: Open Banking, Open Finance and Open Data predictions for 2025
