The Heart beats faster in Poland with Mastercard investment
Two hearts entwined are beating faster as Mastercard and the Heart have lovingly announced the inception of the Heart Ventures in Poland.
Poland is an “important market for Mastercard and an increasingly important innovation centre in Europe”
Financial details about the “investment” were not disclosed but together with corporations the new business unit aims to create new tech start-ups.
Bartosz Ciołkowski, country manager Poland, Mastercard, says the country is an “important market for Mastercard and an increasingly important innovation centre in Europe”.
The first five (unnamed) companies, which are to be launched by the Heart Ventures, will start operating next year, in sectors such as insurtech, fintech and retailtech.
Maciej Marszałek is the head of the Heart Ventures. Previously, he was chief digital and data officer at AXA Group in Madrid supervising the process of digital transformation for 29 markets in South America, Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Marszałek comments: “Implementing new business models in a corporation is difficult, time-consuming and often associated with resistance within the organisation itself. The Heart Ventures combines the agility of a start-up with unique corporate resources.”
The Heart Ventures will work with Mastercard Labs using the technologies developed in ten Mastercard research facilities around the world.
This development follows on from 20 November when the Polish Financial Supervision Authority appointed the Heart as one of the operators of the regulatory sandbox for companies developing new technologies from the financial sector.
The Heart is located on the 38th floor of the Warsaw Spire. It was established by D-RAFT and Ghelamco Poland with support of Mastercard.
Mastercard likes to get out and about as earlier this month it was part of a $16.5 million Series B funding round in mobile paytech Mobeewave.
