Middle market companies play a pivotal role in driving local, regional and global economies. Often in a growth phase, they face unique challenges that set them apart from larger corporations and smaller businesses. Despite their importance, middle market firms are frequently underserved by traditional service providers. These businesses need tailored solutions to support their growth, like optimizing cash flow and expanding their purchasing power, and ultimately, they need the right partners who understand their evolving needs.
Visa’s commitment to the middle market
Visa has long been the leader in the middle market, providing critical insights, innovative solutions and strategic collaborations that help empower businesses in this key economic segment. Making up 57.1 percent of the market segment, more than half of middle market companies prefer Visa, strengthening our influence and commitment to this sector.
Visa has been the exclusive payments sponsor of the National Center for the Middle Market (NCMM) since January 2022, recently kicking off our fourth year of collaboration.
NCMM provides leadership, research and insights to the middle market, making it a unique and invaluable resource for businesses. This partnership is significant — bringing together an academically based center like NCMM with a private sector, payments company all focused on the same end goal: supporting the growth of the U.S. middle market.
Innovative solutions for the middle market
Visa has been at the forefront of product innovation tailored specifically for the middle market. Our flagship product, Visa Commercial Preferred, launched in 2022 and is a solution designed for the specific needs of Middle Market business owners, combining elements like access to working capital, reporting and expense management along with rewards in a single commercial card and payables solution.
Visa has collaborated with multiple issuers to launch new card programs that address the specific needs of this market and deliver targeted solutions.
For Citi's middle market business, Visa provides Middle Market thought leadership to help Citi deliver intentional and targeted solutions that address and solve the specific key needs of this segment.
Fintech leader Ramp has chosen to serve the needs of their Middle Market clients by embedding Visa exclusively into their platforms.
Customizable tools: Growth Corporates Working Capital Index
Visa launched the Growth Corporates Working Capital Index in September 2023, the first and only index of its kind. Recognized as a key industry differentiator, this index provides critical financial insights and has been featured prominently in the media and at multiple industry conferences over the past two years.
Just recently, Visa launched a dynamic version of the Working Capital Index report and a benchmarking calculator based on our findings. This customizable version of our 2024-2025 Growth Corporates Working Capital Index provides a deep dive into the business conditions and financial strategies of middle market companies across 23 countries and five global regions.
What’s next? Driving middle market success forward
Visa continues to drive growth and innovation in the middle market through a robust multi-year strategy.
In the coming months, we will be deepening our engagement with this segment, bringing greater visibility to the unique challenges and opportunities middle market businesses face. Through new insights, expanded resources and strategic collaborations, we remain committed to delivering solutions that help these companies thrive in an evolving economic landscape.