Global payment leader Visa has unveiled a $100 million venture fund supporting startups specializing in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technologies.
Visa’s initiative aims to provide financial support to companies at the forefront of GenAI development. David Rolf, Head of Visa Ventures, Visa, expressed excitement about investing in disruptive startups focused on generative AI, commerce, and payments. He highlighted the immense potential of generative AI as one of the most transformative technologies of our era.
The venture fund will be overseen by Visa Ventures, the 16-year-old corporate investment arm of Visa, which has a history of actively investing in and collaborating with firms in the payments and commerce sectors. GenAI technology leverages advanced computer models to generate various forms of content, such as text and images, based on prompts and extensive existing data.
Jack Forestell, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Visa emphasized the broad implications of generative AI technology. While it has primarily been applied to tasks and content creation, Forestell believes that it will soon reshape our daily lives and work and revolutionize commerce in ways that demand our understanding. Visa’s new fund underscores the company’s commitment to staying at the forefront of innovation and technology in the payment industry.
