Dive Brief:

• Visa is launching a new program to draw small business creators into its fold, offering them ways to embed Visa’s financial and payment tools into their means of commerce. The program is part of the company’s broader Visa Ready effort to sell its services to specific industry verticals.
• The card giant is tapping its long-standing partner Marqeta, the card company upstart backed by Visa, as well as new partners, creator marketplace company Linktree, creator e-commerce services provider SamCart and accounting services firm Rutter, to build out the new offering. Use of its Visa Direct business-to-business payment system will be one part of the offering.
• “The global initiative will help creator-centric platforms, such as social-commerce and video gaming companies, embed financial tools – like faster and more flexible payouts through Visa Direct and tipping and donations,” Visa’s Thursday press release said.

Dive Insight:

Commerce tied to creators, whether they be artists, musicians or gaming developers, is a rich target for Visa. The industry includes some 50 million professionals generating an estimated $100 billion, a spokesperson for the company said. 

The new program resembles Visa’s earlier effort to bring its tools to the transit industry, the company said. In that case, Visa enabled public transit providers to turn on contactless payment capabilities, the company said by email.

The new program for creators is designed to not only help creators be paid faster, it’s also aimed at allowing them to access their funds faster through its business-to-business services and to aid them in advertising, brand development and forging partnerships.

“The world is shifting, and for many, the traditional two-week pay cycle is becoming increasingly outdated – especially with the rise of the creator economy and social commerce,” Simon Khalaf, Marqeta’s chief product officer said in the release.

The company said in an emailed statement that it is “not involved in determining platform fees for tips or donations,” but rather the “enablers” for the creators, such as Linktree and SamCart, are the ones that will decide on fees.