Kiwi mobile wallet provider Dosh is to launch a Visa card in a bid to accelerate its business by allowing users to pay digitally anywhere Visa is accepted.
Dosh launched in 2021 and is the brainchild of Shane Marsh and James McEniery who returned home from high-flying corporate jobs in Singapore due to Covid-19 but found many of the digital services they had got used to don't exist here.
In March they raised $5 million through a seed-funding round for the business which allows users of the app to make instant payments via mobile number or QR codes.
Marsh said its collaboration with Visa would drive significant innovation in New Zealand's payment landscape.
"The opportunity to work together is to bring together Visa's global capability with Dosh's local focus and really try and accelerate payments innovation in this country to bring New Zealand back in line with the rest of the world."
Anthony Watson, Visa's country manager for New Zealand and South Pacific said: "There is significant demand for new forms of digital payments that are both convenient and secure. By leveraging Visa's network and scale, Dosh can expand its solution to deliver a great customer experience and innovation to more Kiwi consumers and businesses."
Marsh said it would begin offering a Dosh-branded Visa card for its users in the second half of this year and then a digital version which could be added to ApplePay or Androidpay wallets.
"What that will enable is someone to pay out of the Dosh wallet to any Visa merchant in New Zealand or around the world. The first for NZ here is the real-time payment network we have with the ability to pay out to any merchant."
That meant people could move money instantly to another person or business 24 hours a day seven days a week, something banks can't currently do because they only operate five days a week.
McEniery said the move would bring to life one of Dosh's major points of difference - splitting a bill.
"Until now, there has been no simple or instant way to split the cost of a meal at the end of dinner out with friends. With Dosh, diners can easily adhere to the hospitality sector's call for 'one bill per table'. A user can pay the restaurant with their Dosh Visa card, choose the Split Bill function from within the Dosh app, then simply select the group members from their contacts list to be reimbursed on the spot."
Marsh said it hoped to encourage businesses to see split bills more positively and get customers to do it through the mobile app as opposed to standing in queues holding cards at the till trying to split the account.
"It's a win-win situation."
McEniery said another area of use that it was looking at was getting money instantly to a person in need to enable them to pay expenses.
"If someone needs help for emergency costs to help them buy some food, get some clothing or fill up their car to go to the doctors, with Dosh you will be able to load that wallet either through the bank or through a top-up and then that user could go straight away and buy the goods and services they require."
Marsh said: "We really think this could solve critical issues for New Zealand."
The pair are talking to government agencies and the Reserve Bank about the technology and its potential uses.
"The government agencies is from that perspective of how could new and innovative technology solve issues for Kiwis and two of the obvious ones are financial inclusion and hardship and then for the Reserve Bank the conversations are more about the future of money," Marsh added.
The pair believe the Visa collaboration will be a game-changer.
"In the environment today without seven day banking, without real time payment we think this is a game-changer for people."