Visa (NYSE: V) announced on Thursday it has made a strategic investment in YellowPepper, a mobile payments platform in Latin America, to help accelerate innovation in digital payment technology. Visa reported that this is the first of its kind for the credit card giant in the region and the investment reinforces a shared vision for increasing usage of mobile payments throughout Latin American and the Caribbean. Visa and YellowPepper previously established a multi-year partnership in 2017.
According to Visa, preliminary efforts of this investment will focus on growing opportunities for tokenized payments, increasing access to Visa APIs, and expanding the usage of push payments via Visa Direct. Eduardo Coello, regional president for Visa Latin America and the Caribbean, stated:
“Through our investment in YellowPepper, we want to bring the best of Visa’s technology and capabilities to a broader set of partners and clients across the region. Visa is always looking for new investments that allow us to accelerate innovation for our clients, finding new ways to support our clients’ technology. YellowPepper’s extensive experience in the region and the strength of their existing client base makes them an ideal partner to build the future of payments.”
Visa also reported that as a certified Visa Token Service Provider, YellowPepper offers Visa’s secure, digital payment token services, ensuring that regardless of form factor, nearly any Internet-connected device can become a more secure place for commerce. Serge Elkiner, Co-Founder and CEO at YellowPepper, commented:
“We have been a go-to service for major financial institutions and retailers for years and now are expanding our secure and efficient technology to build out a robust ecosystem within Latin America and the Caribbean to make interacting with, managing and accepting cashless payments as easy as possible.”
Visa added that the investment in YellowPepper is part of a global strategy to open up the Visa ecosystem and support a broad range of new partners who are helping to redefine and enhance the purchase experience for millions of consumers globally.
