Visa Innovation Studio In Tel Aviv Maps Israeli Paytech Landscape

Visa’s new Innovation Studio in Tel Aviv unveiled a map of the Israeli payment technology landscape this week, looking at key players driving paytech technology forward in the Startup Nation.

The studio said in a statement that the map is meant to showcase the rapidly growing paytech ecosystem in Israel, while seeking to foster further collaborations, engagement, and innovation within the industry.

The studio also identified key trends to accompany the map, including mobile behaviors, the future of retail, and digital payments, underlining how startups are faring.

In a world where many companies are thinking of mobile first, if not only mobile only, “we see a high
number of startups in the Mobile Wallet segment in Israel, and this connects well to this global trend,” wrote Shahar Friedman, head of the Visa Innovation Studio, and Roi Ben Daniel, head of venture investments & digital partnerships at Visa. The pair sees rapid adoption of digital wallets, especially in emerging markets.

When it comes to retail, Freidman and Ben Daniel say “consumers have growing digital expectations for in-person retail,” noting that “innovative in-store experiences are combining the best of both worlds – digital information savviness coupled with the touch and feel advantages of the physical world.”

There are a number of Israeli startups working in this space, including Trigo Vision (which NoCamels profiled in September) Paidit, and Shopic.

“We think that the benefits of convenience and personalized experiences will drive retailers to ultimately adopt technologies that will allow for new and innovative point of purchase experiences,” Freidman and Ben Daniel add.

And as far as digital payments go, they note that a new generation of small- and mid-size business owners and operators are looking their payments, inventory management, payroll, and accounting services to be all accessible on a single platform. Startups in Israel have followed suit, they say, seeing more local entrants into the sector.

Visa launched the Innovation Studio in Tel Aviv this past winter to support the Israeli ecosystem as a whole and create a gateway for Israeli startups to Visa and to the global payments ecosystem.

The company has since then been kicking off collaborations between bank, investors and startups, made its first venture investment in Israeli startup Behalf, and showcased a number of Israeli startups in Visa Innovation Centers around the world.