Payments giant Visa will launch a local contest for fintech start-ups in Australia and New Zealand to encourage application development for its network.

Penned as ‘The Everywhere Initiative’, the tech contest will give the opportunity to win up to $70,000 and the chance to run a pilot program with the company and gain exposure to the broader global financial services sector.

Visa global head of digital and marketing transformation, Shiv Singh, said that entrepreneurs would greatly benefit from exposure to global innovative companies and provide networking opportunities that has the potential to formulate into lucrative partnerships.

“From the massive list of start-ups, the ones that rise to the top invariably become the ones that we partner with and we learn from them as much as they learn from us,” he said.

“We believe that it is a matter of time before there are 50 billion-odd internet of things devices and every one of them will have a commerce piece to it.”

New Zealand-based firms Tank Steam Labs and The IceHouse will work with Visa to begin bridging the gap between establish corporates and fast-paced start-ups.

“We see as much opportunity for them to help our business as we see ourselves helping them,” said Singh.

“We want to be there to help them on their journey.”