Mastercard Collaborates With Microsoft to Accelerate Digital Commerce Startup Innovation

Mastercard and Microsoft announced a collaboration to drive innovation of digital commerce and startup ecosystems enabling financial inclusion.

The collaboration will accelerate Mastercard Labs’ cloud native research and development activities, enabled by Azure and AI, to advance its mission to de-risk and commercialise emerging technologies and platforms for digital commerce.

Through access to technical expertise and cutting-edge technologies, Mastercard’s partners will be able to build and securely scale new solutions.

Ken Moore

“This strategic collaboration will strengthen and extend our cloud services and capabilities for clients and fintech partners, sparking innovation and creativity for the ecosystem. It will enable us to explore opportunities focused on new client segments, technologies and trends as we continue to drive financial inclusion and build the future of commerce.”

said Ken Moore, Executive Vice President and Head of Mastercard Labs.

Judson Althoff

“Mastercard’s commitment to innovation and financial inclusion has accelerated digital commerce for individuals and businesses around the world. We look forward to building on our strong relationship and accelerating co-innovation to help connect and power a digital economy for everyone, everywhere.”

said Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President of Microsoft’s Worldwide Commercial Business.

Enabling financial inclusion

The collaboration will advance Mastercard’s vision to improve the lives of people by building pathways to financial security and access to critical services. The Azure cloud environment will serve as the native infrastructure for Mastercard Labs’ inclusion efforts and support Mastercard Community Pass — a platform that pulls together complex ecosystems and provides underserved communities with access to essential services, such as education, agriculture marketplaces and basic healthcare.

Microsoft Azure provides Mastercard — and the ecosystems they jointly serve — with a scalable and flexible platform imperative for establishing secure connections and protecting data, co-innovating with partners and delivering access to financial services