The application program interface (API) economy continues to surge the Mastercard Inc.’s introduction of a new developers platform that provides a single gateway for commerce partners to access a range of APIs in areas such as payments, data and security. Mastercard also announced a “New and Experimental” API category platform that enables partners to try out new technologies and interfaces.

The new platform features more than 25 APIs, along with documentation, developer tools and sample code for the top six programming languages. Among them are:

• Masterpass, a digital payment service that enables consumers to pay with any payment card or device;
• Mastercard Digital Enablement Services, which provides services around the tokenization of Mastercard card numbers for increased payment security;
• Mastercard Send, a transaction service that works with debit accounts;
• Market Insights for trend and sales data at industry and micro-sector levels;
• Retail Location Insights for commercial real estate holders;
• Digital Media Campaign Measurement; and
• Fraud Scoring for Merchants, which enables a merchant or fraud solution provider to score transactions for the likelihood of fraud.

Use of the Mastercard Developers site has grown 400 percent in the past year, the company said. The addition of experimental APIs lets partners build, scale and enable payments on new platforms, and explore new categories such as augmented and virtual reality, Internet of Things and new mobile devices. Among the experimental features are bot commerce, Blockchain and direct connection to vending platforms. The company also added the Mastercard Aid Network API, which streamlines aid distribution even in the absence of telecommunications infrastructure.

Image by Nicholas Jones via Flickr CC