Mastercard and Enel X were chosen by the Government of Israel, following a competitive tender launched by the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA), which aimed to advance innovations within the fintech and cyber sectors by accelerating growth of the country’s start-up ecosystem.
The lab combines the strength of Israel’s start-up economy with the support of the lab’s technical infrastructure, knowledge and expertise.
The lab is located in the southern city of Be’er Sheva, a city designated by the Israeli government as the cyber and fintech capital of the world and home to many cyber R&D centers of top global technology companies.
The lab complements Mastercard's Israeli headquarters in Tel Aviv, its award-winning global start-up engagement program Start Path, and its eight global technology centers in Arlington, Dublin, New York, Pune, St. Louis, Sydney, Vadodora and Vancouver. The lab builds on Mastercard and Enel’s record of collaboration in areas including financial inclusion products for the unbanked and digital wallet payments for electric vehicle charging stations.
Enel opened its first Innovation Hub in Tel Aviv in 2016 and since then has collaborated with local start-ups in fields such as the Internet of Things, cybersecurity, e-mobility, energy storage and many more. In addition, Enel’s Infralab, an innovation lab dedicated to digitalization of infrastructure businesses, is today home to more than six lab companies and eight additional start-ups.
Mastercard has a track record working with startups and fintechs. Through the Start Path program, Mastercard provides a powerful global network, innovative technology and deep expertise to help them grow their businesses and scale sustainably. Since 2014, Mastercard has invited more than 230 later-stage startups worldwide to participate in its six-month virtual program, providing technical guidance, operational support and commercial engagements within the Mastercard ecosystem. Startups in this growing network have gone on to raise $2.7 billion in post-program capital and collaborate with Mastercard, major banks, merchants and other high-profile organizations.
Israeli companies that have gone through Start Path include:
Enel X is part of the Enel Group, a global leader in the service sector, and is dedicated to the development of high added-value products and services in industries where energy has the greatest potential for transformation.
Through a flexible platform that is open to digitalization, sustainability and innovation, Enel X creates an ecosystem of solutions that transform energy into new opportunities in various sectors: electric mobility, public and private energy efficiency, artificial intelligence and data analysis services, energy consulting and management, and financial services.
Enel X supports cities, businesses and individuals in speeding up their adaptation to a constantly evolving world, turning complex technologies into simple, accessible and effective solutions.
Enel X: an energy partner for everyone, everywhere.
Enel embraced the open innovation model to help guiding the transformation of the energy, mobility and financial sector to make it smarter, more efficient and more reliable, developing new products and services for our clients.
Through our crowdsourcing platform, Open Innovability, and our international network of Innovation Hubs in the world’s main centres for innovation, we have been able to engage and work with the best startups and the most innovative SMEs worldwide. We are offering our expertise, opening the doors of our laboratories and guaranteeing the resources required to develop better solutions in a fast way.
In four years we’ve already selected more than 8000 startups, activated 300 projects and scaled up more than 60. Through our Israeli Innovation Hub and Lab we scouted more than 700 startups and activated 38 projects.
Some of them: