Credit card giant American Express today announced a new multi-year digital commerce initiative that, according to the company, is designed to help identify and develop innovative technologies that will help accelerate the company’s digital transformation.
American Express believes the venture will also help strengthen its connections to a growing base of customers around the globe.
Putting its money where its faith is, American Express will invest $100 million in the initiative, focusing on early stage startups in the digital commerce space.
American Express’ digital commerce initiative will look to make such investments in companies focused on serving critical parts of the digital commerce experience, including loyalty and rewards, mobile and online payment management, fee-based services, security and fraud detection and data analysis.
“American Express is a 162 year old company that has continuously reinvented itself,” says Dan Schulman, Group Presiden of Enterprise Growth at American Express. “As we enter the next chapter in our history, we recognize the need to work with emerging technology companies to inspire change, encourage innovation, and ultimately deliver the best products and services to our customers.”
American Express’ digital commerce initiative will be managed out of the company’s newly established office in Silicon Valley and led by Harshul Sanghi.
“The payments industry is undergoing a fundamental change as the very nature of commerce is redefined,” says Sanghi. “We believe our global network of businesses and consumers, international employee base, world-class customer service and data analytics will provide a significant advantage to potential portfolio companies.”