VGS congratulates four of our customers, Aspiration, Brex, Gemini, and TrueBill, that made the Forbes' Fintech 50 2021 list of most innovative fintech companies.

Making this prestigious list is no easy feat and puts organizations in the company of notable 'graduates' (aka those who have gone public) like Coinbase and Affirm. We’re not at all surprised to see these four listed, with their focus on innovation extending all the way to security and compliance.

Quo Finance is a mobile subscription app that helps you easily set and achieve your lifestyle and financial goals. CEO Tucker Haas recently sat down with us to discuss the critical role data security plays in their product and why they decided outsourcing would keep customer data safest.

Note: The following has been edited for length and clarity. You can see the full discussion here.

Today, we are excited to announce our participation in Visa Fintech Partner Connect, a program designed to help Visa’s issuing clients quickly connect with a vetted and curated set of technology providers.

Now more than ever, cardholders expect best-in-class experiences from their issuers. Concurrently, issuers have evolved in recent years from exclusively traditional banks with brick and mortar branches to everything from food delivery platforms to crypto exchanges. Couple heightened cardholder expectations and the expanded issuer category with digital acceleration driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, and you have meaningful tailwinds resulting in more personalized and nimble card products.

As divided as the U.S. may be in recent years, there’s at least one issue the vast majority of us seem to agree on: the price of healthcare is out of control.

As healthcare costs continue to inflate faster than other goods or services, healthcare premiums also grow. Whether through an employer or direct, people are often stuck with higher-deductible health plans just to be covered. Out-of-pocket costs for copays or the deductible can result in debt, unpaid bills, or perhaps worst of all, the person choosing not to get care.

Last year was volatile. Many industries struggled, while some found their legs. One space, in particular, found the spark to propel their own business and serve as a support system to the global economy. Meet Buy Now, Pay Later, known as BNPL in the payments industry – an afterpay financing option empowering consumers and merchants alike.

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you already know what PCI is and you may also have some inclination that it can be a pain in the you-know-what, too. Just how severe that pain can be is something else altogether.

As little as five years ago it was rare to see venture investment filtering through Africa, with seven-figure seed investment rounds happening as infrequently as spotting a bat-eared fox on safari. Fast forward to 2021... Early-stage startups in the region are bagging multi-million dollar deals and pre-seed rounds are taking off, paving the way for the world's next household names.

So what’s changed, and why is fintech at the core of this shift?

Peter Berg is the VP of business development and strategy for Very Good Security (VGS). Peter joined VGS from Visa, where he created and led Visa Ventures, their global venture investment arm responsible for investments in early-stage payment and technology companies including Stripe, Marqeta, Klarna, Chain and more.

Before leading Visa Ventures, Peter helped shape Visa’s product strategy in new and emerging payments, and lead Visa’s relationship with Square. Prior to Visa, Peter was a co-founder or early employee of several successful startups in financial services and technology; two were acquired and one remains privately held today.

Fintech security has become more important than ever as traditional data protection strategies continue to be out of reach for most startups.

Very Good Security (VGS) is excited to announce its participation as a launch partner for Visa’s expansion of their Fast Track program to the U.S. The program is part of Visa’s global strategy to open its network and to support a broad range of players that are developing new commerce experiences. The Fast Track program makes it easier for fintechs to partner with Visa and access its global payments network. The VGS team is pleased to work alongside Visa and our fellow launch partners to provide premier services for emerging fintechs.