Mastercard entered an agreement with Microsoft Corp. to collaborate on research and development of digital commerce, payments and emerging technologies using artificial intelligence and Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft will work with Mastercard Labs to accelerate emerging technologies and digital commerce platforms to help develop payments technologies and digital commerce to help startups.

"We are thrilled to deepen our longstanding relationship with Microsoft by advancing the research, development and scaling of new technologies and business models," Ken Moore, executive vice president and head of Mastercard Labs, said in a company release. "This strategic collaboration will strengthen and extend our cloud services and capabilities for clients and fintech partners, sparking innovation and creativity for the ecosystem."

Mastercard said that its Start Path program has assisted more than 230 fintech companies get off the ground.