Mastercard is partnering with Adelaide-based startup Openly in a venture aimed at helping companies better manage their supply chain privacy and manage cyber risk.

Founded in 2018, Openly increases transparency of the risk between buyers and suppliers.

Openly has integrated Mastercard's RiskRecon cyber risk data into its platform as part of the partnership, and users of the Openly Vendor Monitor platform can now view RiskRecon cyber risk ratings for every vendor in the platform based on continuously updated data. Mastercard says RiskRecon evaluates over 40 security criteria across nine domains.

RiskRecon founder Kelly White says organisations can now better understand their risk profile across those relationships, as the Openly platform watches and updates more than 19,000 vendor profiles daily across 91 different industries

It can detect changes to key business information, privacy documentation, terms of service agreements and public records.

"We are excited about partnering with Openly to simplify an increasingly complex supply chain risk landscape,” Mr White said.

When the Openly Vendor Monitor platform was launched in mid-April, more than 200 businesses joined in a few days.

“We planned to launch softly into the Australian market and suddenly we had customers in 37 countries,” Openly co-founder Jay Gilden said, adding that Australia can lead the way in global privacy innovation as privacy laws are reformed.

“Senior business leaders are placing more weight upon the importance of privacy for long term business health. This is driving up the appetite for investment in innovation," he said.

Mastercard previously partnered with New Zealand’s TradeWindow to increase access to trade finance and simplify cross-border payments.