Digital payment service provider Visa has selected digital payments start-up TallyKhata from Bangladesh for the 2022 cohort of its Visa Accelerator Programme in the Asia Pacific.
Joining a select group of five elite startups from across the region, TallyKhata is a leading digital payments platform with wallet and credit capabilities for small and micro-businesses in Bangladesh, a press release said.
It will support financial inclusion by developing new ways for small businesses to access credit lines and working capital.
Over the next six months, the startups will work closely with Visa on creating defined commercial opportunities they can bring to Visa's extensive network of banks, merchants, governments and venture partners.
Through the programme, TallyKhata aims to partner with leading banks in Bangladesh to issue a Visa virtual card for small business working capital to micro merchants.
The Visa virtual card serves as a line of credit (short-term working capital loan) to be used by the MSME for direct payment to a list of approved suppliers/FMCG companies.
"Leveraging Visa rails and TallyKhata transaction data and credit scoring, we will enable quick and easy access of digital credit for the 11 million small businesses in Bangladesh." said Shahadat Khan, chief executive officer of TallyKhata
"We aim to help scale the economy and accelerate the digitization of the value chain." said Soumya Basu, country manager for Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan at Visa.