Visa announced a new platform designed to stimulate small businesses through a variety of tools and network opportunities on Thursday in advance of major sporting events this year.
The program, Visa & Main, identifies and is built around helping address what Visa calls the most pressing challenges that entrepreneurs face: access to capital, reaching customers, and adopting modern business tools.
That starts with a $100 million partnership with small business lender Lendistry, with Visa saying it would continue to provide “additional grants and financial support programs” as part of Visa & Main.
Additionally, Visa & Main connects Visa’s small business members with its corporate sponsors, identifying opportunities through major events like Super Bowl LX and this summer’s FIFA World Cup.
It launched the “Square Stops Here” hop-on, hop-off bus tour in San Francisco during Super Bowl week designed to “support and spotlight” local businesses. The company is using its platform to help direct potential customers to its small business members, also hosting workshops for entrepreneurs to help them convert a short-term gain into long-term sustainability.
“Heartbeat of local communities”
Visa & Main also intends to make it easier for small businesses to adopt AI in the workplace, noting that small businesses have adopted the new technology at a rate less than half that of bigger businesses.
The program attempts to close that gap by making tools such as expense management and fraud protection easier to access.
“Small businesses are the heartbeat of local communities and represent nearly half of our country’s economic activity,” Kim Lawrence, Visa’s North America regional president, said in a release. “With Visa & Main, we’re connecting Visa’s products and in-house knowledge with the expertise of our clients and partners to provide small businesses with flexible financing opportunities and customer acquisition and technology support.”
The move expands Visa’s investment into small businesses, an area where credit card companies have long competed for marketshare. For example, Small Business Saturdays was launched 15 years ago as a marketing push from American Express, and it has since become an annual Thanksgiving weekend event.
Visa held a launch event in Atlanta on January 21 for Visa & Main, where members worked directly with the Visa team to get hands-on experience with the product.