:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/ZAMTA2QMAJDFVAQNNVEFZWPIDQ.jpg?resize=800&w=800 "Visa Follows Mastercard With Investment in Credit Card Tech Startup: Report")
Visa (Shutterstock)
The credit card giant has made an undisclosed investment in Deserve following the success of its crypto rewards card issued in partnership with BlockFi.
Visa Inc. has joined Mastercard Inc. as an investor in Deserve, the credit-card technology startup’s CEO said in an interview, according to a report from Bloomberg.
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Deserve launched a Visa credit card in partnership with cryptocurrency financial services provider BlockFi in July. The card allows customers to earn rewards in the form of bitcoin.
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Transaction volume for the card is approaching $2 billion on an annualized basis and BlockFi cardholders are projected to spend roughly $30,000 per year, 50% above that of average credit cardholders, Deserve’s co-founder and CEO Kalpesh Kapadia told Bloomberg.
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Mastercard previously invested in Palo Alto, Calif-based Deserve in June in a $50 million funding round that valued the company at more than $500 million, according to Bloomberg. Other investors in Deserve include Ally Ventures, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Sallie Mae.
- Visa didn’t immediately respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.
This article was published on Coindesk by Michael Bellusci.
