Visa announced that it plans to invest $100 million in companies developing generative AI technologies and applications “that will impact the future of commerce and payments.”
The investments will be made through Visa Ventures, the card giant's 16-year-old global corporate investment arm.
Visa claims to have been a “pioneer in the use of AI in payments” since 1993. For those unfamiliar, generative AI is an emerging subset of AI trained on large existing data sets to generate text, images or other content when You are given text prompts.
"While much of generative AI so far has focused on tasks and content creation, this technology will soon not only reshape the way we live and work, but will also significantly change commerce in ways we need to understand," he said. Jack Forestell, official director of product and strategy at Visa, in a declaration.
David Rolf, principal at Visa Ventures, said generative AI has the potential “to be one of the most transformative technologies of our time.”
He added that Visa Ventures "had a lot of flexibility" regarding how many investments it would make with the new fund and the average investment size.
“Given the early stage of the industry, we would expect to make a series of smaller investments of a few million dollars,” Rolf said. “That said, we have the ability to make larger investments where there are strong reasons to do so.”
As for the criteria, he said Visa in particular seeks to support companies that are "applying GenAI to solve real problems in commerce, payments and fintech."
“This includes B2B processes around payments, as well as infrastructure that can have a profound impact on commerce. “We are interested in businesses at multiple levels, from organizing data for GenAI to the experiences users will have at work or in their personal lives,” Rolf added. “Visa can be an impactful enabler for businesses to solve the next set of challenges to further unlock trade and this is a way for us to connect with those startups. “One of our key considerations is how well these companies are practicing responsible use of AI, in line with Visa policies.”
In August, Marie-Elise Drogaquien was named Visa's new chief financial technology officer. At the time, she noted that her team “often collaborates” with the Visa Ventures team, serving as a sort of exploration engine for Visa's venture arm.
