UAE-Based Teen Banking Startup Cashee Joins Visa Fintech Fast Track Program With the program, Cashee can access capabilities within Visa's global network, as well as boosts its roll out to offer a digital payment solution to youth in MENA.
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Cashee, a Dubai-headquartered enterprise that offers a free banking app and prepaid card for teens in the MENA region, has announced that it has joined Visa's Fintech Fast Track Program, a program to partner with and support promising early-stage payment startups. With the program, Cashee can access capabilities within Visa's global network, as well as boost its roll out to offer a digital payment solution to youth in MENA.
Founded in 2020 by Smeetha Ghosh and Brad Whittfield, Cashee's mission is to encourage financial literacy and financial inclusion for youth in the MENA. The startup provides teens and young adults in the MENA region with a banking mobile application as well as a personalized Visa prepaid card. Besides the app, Cashee also functions as an edtech platform by promoting and teaching money management to teens. The platform promises a safe and secure platform with parental controls as well, thus providing parents with the confidence of allowing their children to join a digital and cashless world.
Commenting on its newest partnership with Visa, co-founder and CEO Ghosh said, "Together with Visa, Cashee is using technology to have a positive social impact on the MENA region by improving financial literacy and increasing financial inclusion... We would like to thank Visa for their belief in the Cashee vision and team, and for providing a partnership ecosystem to accelerate our regional roll out plan."
Source: Cashee
"By joining Visa's Fintech Fast Track program, exciting fintechs like Cashee gain unprecedented access to Visa experts, technology, resources and can launch with speed," said Alex McCrea, Vice President and Head of Digital Partnerships and Ventures in CEMEA at Visa. "We are delighted to partner with Cashee to re-invent the way teens and families in the region are managing money and empower teenagers through financial education and gamification."
The soon-to-be-launched app has gained interest from investors too- in 2021, the fintech and edtech had raised a US$1 million in a pre-seed funding round from undisclosed investors. Cashee is planning to roll out its app in the UAE in April 2022.