Lithic
Lithic is a New York-based card issuing and money movement platform that provides developers and businesses with APIs and program management for virtual and physical Visa, Mastercard, and Amex card programs, serving fintechs, embedded finance startups, and enterprises.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Lithic does
Lithic, Inc. (formerly Pay with Privacy, Inc., dba Privacy.com) is a New York-based card issuing and money movement platform that provides developers and businesses with APIs to launch and manage virtual and physical payment card programs. The platform is built directly on the payment networks via DEX connections to Visa, MIP connections to Mastercard, and connections to American Express, with direct Federal Reserve access for ACH and Fedwire processing. Lithic complements this core processing infrastructure with a modular product set spanning the Card Issuing API, Accounts & Payment Hub, Program Management, Fraud & Risk Controls, and a Graduation Path that lets clients migrate from Processing Only to full issuing on dedicated BINs.
The technology stack emphasizes configurability and developer experience, including Authorization Intelligence with AI-assisted rules across 25+ attributes, real-time reconciliation tied to a single transaction identifier, embedded ledgering, managed disputes and 3-D Secure, and a Lithic MCP Server that exposes the API inside AI editors such as Cursor, Claude Code, and Copilot. Lithic operates a self-serve developer sandbox alongside an enterprise field sales motion, and packages solutions for Agentic Commerce, Credit, Digital Banking, Disbursements, Fleet, and Stablecoin, targeting fintechs, embedded finance startups, enterprises, and verticals including bill pay, expense management, healthcare payments, insurance payouts, and rewards.
Lithic generates revenue primarily through interchange-based Customer Revenue share on monthly card volume, supplemented by program fees, custom enterprise pricing (including per-physical-card pricing), and pass-through bank and network fees. The company is venture-backed by Bessemer, Index Ventures, Spark Capital, Teamworthy, and Stripes, with $110 million in total capital raised at a reported $800 million post-money valuation as of the July 2021 Series C. As of 2026, Lithic reports 100+ high-growth clients processing billions in volume, an enterprise-grade 99.99%+ uptime SLA, and active international operations in the United States and Canada.
Lithic firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Lithic
- Legal name
- Lithic, Inc.
- Website
- https://lithic.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Lithic is a New York-based card issuing and money movement platform that provides developers and businesses with APIs and program management for virtual and physical Visa, Mastercard, and Amex card programs, serving fintechs, embedded finance startups, and enterprises.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Lithic industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Card Issuing Platform
- akta.pro primary industry
- Card Issuing Platforms (Issuer Processing) (FSAGABAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Merchant-of-Record (MoR) & Payment Facilitation (PayFac) Infrastructure (FSAGABAE), Embedded Card Issuing & Card-as-a-Service (FSAGALAC), Cards & Issuing Management (Debit/Prepaid/Credit, Program Management) (FSAGAAAE), Cross-Border Card-Based Transfers & Multi-Currency Cards (FSAGAKAE), Payment Initiation & Account-to-Account (A2A) Payments (PIS, RTP initiation) (FSAGACAI), Card Issuing & Virtual Cards (lodge cards, single-use, tokenization) (THALAHAB)
Keywords
Where Lithic is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Lithic business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Program fees: Lithic charges program fees for use of the Solution, set out in the API Pricing section of the website or in custom Enterprise Terms, deducted from Customer Revenue and/or linked funding source. Includes potential per-physical-card pricing.
- Customer Revenue share (interchange): Lithic shares a portion of Program revenue ('Customer Revenue') with customers, measured as monthly interchange-eligible transaction volume net of chargebacks, refunds, and disputes. Lithic retains the remaining interchange and may revise revenue share percentages if Payment Networks change fees.
- Custom enterprise pricing: Program Management — Enterprise Pricing Terms supplement the standard Services Agreement and supersede it on conflict, with per-physical-card and interchange-based pricing models available for high-volume programs.
- Program Management services: Modular service options including Processor Client (own bank relationship) and Lithic Program Management (Lithic owns operational complexity), with add-on services such as cardholder support, disputes and chargebacks, and fraud and risk mitigation.
- Passed-through bank and network fees: Where applicable, Lithic passes through actual attributable bank and network fees to customers, with the right to estimate those fees when direct attribution is not possible.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | — | Custom quote-based pricing for API and Program Management services |
| Transaction based/ take rate | — | Interchange-based Customer Revenue share |
| Unit Pricing | — | Per physical card pricing |
| Freemium | — | Self-serve Sandbox (free) |
Go-to-market motion4 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels10 records
Lithic product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Lithic operates a programmable card issuing and money movement platform that lets businesses, fintechs, and enterprises programmatically create and manage virtual and physical payment cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) via a REST API. The platform combines direct DEX/MIP network connections, an embedded ledger, ACH/wires, KYC/KYB, tokenization, and Program Management services so customers can launch debit, credit, and prepaid programs at scale with configurable authorization and real-time settlement.
Product overview
Lithic operates as a unified card-issuing platform with a modular architecture: the Card Issuing API is the core engine, augmented by add-on modules for Accounts & Payment Hub, Program Management, Fraud & Risk Controls, and lifecycle services (Processing Only, Graduation Path). Built directly into the Visa, Mastercard, and American Express networks, the platform exposes authorization, settlement, ACH, and wire-transfer rails through a single REST API. Solution packages — Agentic Commerce, Credit, Digital Banking, Disbursements, Fleet, and Stablecoin — bundle the underlying modules for specific vertical use cases across industries such as bill pay, corporate incentives, expense management, healthcare payments, insurance payouts, marketing & ad spend, rewards & loyalty, and travel.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Card Issuing API Core platform product that lets businesses programmatically create and manage virtual and physical payment cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) with built-in authorization controls, webhooks, and approve/deny/challenge authorization flows. Targeted at fintechs and enterprises building card programs.
- Accounts & Payment Hub Embedded accounts and money-movement hub that consolidates ACH, wire transfers, and ledger functionality alongside card balances, enabling platforms to offer full-featured financial accounts to their end users.
- Program Management Operational service in which Lithic acts as program manager with bank partners, providing cardholder support, KYC/KYB onboarding, disputes and chargebacks, fraud and risk mitigation, and back-office controls for high-volume card programs.
- Processing (Transaction Processing) Standalone transaction-processing service delivering Lithic's direct network connectivity (Visa DEX, Mastercard MIP, Amex), authorization engine, and settlement rails to issuers and program managers who may use their own BIN sponsorship.
- Fraud & Risk Controls Risk and fraud management layer with configurable authorization rules, AI-powered rule creation, shadow mode, API backtesting, velocity checks, hold adjustments, transaction monitoring cases, and 3DS step-up authentication to reduce chargebacks and unauthorized spend.
Quantifiable outcome
- Handles hundreds of millions of dollars of monthly volume without issue (Flex)
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Lithic
Customer profileNamed customers22 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Lithic technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration6 records
AI capability3 records
Feature11 records
Lithic partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered strategic, strategic / flagship, flagship network partner and core infrastructure.
- CoinstarstrategicCoinstar selected Lithic as its fintech partner to enable physical-to-digital currency conversion for the CINQ by Coinstar Debit Card. The launch supports Coinstar's digital transformation strategy beyond its traditional self-service cash conversion business, positioning both companies as strategic partners in digital financial services.
- StelrixstrategicStelrix, a New York-based fintech, launched the first investment-backed credit card backed by Lithic's issuing infrastructure, alongside partners HSBC and Sightspan. Beta is scheduled for Q1 2026 with full commercial rollout in early Q2 2026.
- AnthropicstrategicAnthropic collaborated with Arcade.dev to introduce URL Elicitation, enhancing security of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for enterprise AI applications. Lithic's MCP Server (referenced in Lithic docs) integrates with this ecosystem to enable Lithic functionality inside AI editors.
- Arcade.devstrategic / flagshipArcade.dev and Lithic have announced a new infrastructure for autonomous AI agents capable of browsing, making decisions, and completing purchases. They co-developed a 'just-in-time auth' mechanism that generates single-use credit cards linked to specific merchants and baskets, with spending boundaries and OAuth 2.0 authorization for services like Gmail and Slack.
- Visaflagship network partnerLithic maintains a direct DEX (direct exchange) connection to Visa, providing lower latency, fewer points of failure, and first access to cost-optimizing network products like Account Level Management (ALM) and Intelligent Commerce.
- Mastercardflagship network partnerLithic maintains a direct MIP (Mastercard Interface Processor) connection to Mastercard, providing lower latency, fewer points of failure, and first access to cost-optimizing network products. The Lithic Incentive Card is issued under license from Mastercard.
- American Expressflagship network partnerLithic maintains a direct connection to the American Express network, listed in the 'Direct to banks and networks' section of Lithic's homepage.
- Federal Reservecore infrastructureLithic maintains direct integration to the Federal Reserve for ACH processing and Fedwire capabilities, enabled for Lithic's program-managed services through bank partners such as Stearns Bank.
Scale indicators11 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Lithic competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Marqeta: Marqeta is a public card-issuing processor with direct network connections serving fintechs and enterprises, the closest direct competitor to Lithic. Lithic's comparison pages explicitly target Marqeta on developer experience, BIN architecture, and authorization flexibility.
- Galileo Financial Technologies: Galileo (owned by SoFi) is a legacy card-issuing and program-management platform competing for the same fintech and embedded-finance customer base. Lithic's comparison pages position against Galileo's older architecture and slower product velocity.
- Stripe Issuing: Stripe Issuing is an embedded card-issuing product bundled into the Stripe payments platform, targeting the same developer-led fintech segment. Lithic explicitly targets Stripe on dedicated BINs, transparency, and avoidance of platform lock-in.
- Unit: Unit is an embedded finance platform offering card issuing, business banking, and lending APIs to startups and fintechs. Lithic's comparison pages contrast its dedicated BINs and sponsor-bank depth against Unit's shared-BIN architecture.
- Highnote: Highnote is a card-issuing and embedded finance platform targeting fintechs with a multi-tenant BIN architecture and developer APIs. Lithic positions against Highnote on authorization configurability and program-management depth.
- i2c Inc. i2c is a global card-issuing and processing platform serving banks, fintechs, and retailers across credit, debit, and prepaid. Lithic explicitly contrasts its developer-first API and direct network connections against i2c's broader processor positioning.
Emerging players
- Synctera: Synctera is a Banking-as-a-Service platform pairing sponsor banks with fintechs for card issuing, accounts, and lending. It competes with Lithic in the embedded-finance sponsor-bank layer but with a narrower card-product focus.
- Modern Treasury: Modern Treasury provides money-movement APIs (ACH, wire, RTP) and ledger infrastructure that overlaps with Lithic's Accounts & Payment Hub. While Modern Treasury focuses on bank-to-bank flows rather than card issuance, both platforms increasingly compete for the same fintech platform-of-record wallet.
Broad incumbents
- Adyen: Adyen is a global payments platform offering unified online, in-person, and issuing processing for large enterprises. While Lithic specializes in card issuing for fintechs, Adyen competes for the same enterprise card volume at a much larger scale.
- Checkout.com: Checkout.com is a global payments processor with an embedded issuing product aimed at digital-first businesses. It overlaps with Lithic's enterprise and digital-banking solutions but as part of a much broader acquiring franchise.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Lithic social profiles
Digital presenceLithic compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance4 records
Lithic financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Lithic leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Lithic subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Lithic funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors12 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Lithic M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Lithic
What does Lithic do?
Lithic operates a programmable card issuing and money movement platform that lets businesses, fintechs, and enterprises programmatically create and manage virtual and physical payment cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) via a REST API. The platform combines direct DEX/MIP network connections, an embedded ledger, ACH/wires, KYC/KYB, tokenization, and Program Management services so customers can launch debit, credit, and prepaid programs at scale with configurable authorization and real-time settlement.
Is Lithic a public or private company?
Lithic is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Lithic founded?
Lithic was founded in 2014. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Lithic based?
Lithic is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Lithic make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Program fees are the primary driver. The others are customer Revenue share (interchange), custom enterprise pricing, program Management services and passed-through bank and network fees.
Who are Lithic's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Marqeta, Galileo Financial Technologies, Stripe Issuing, Unit, Highnote and i2c Inc.. Emerging players are Synctera and Modern Treasury. Broad incumbents are Adyen and Checkout.com.
Does Lithic have an API?
Yes. Lithic offers a public REST API for card issuing, accounts, transactions, and payment orchestration. Developers can build card programs, manage digital wallets, issue physical and virtual cards, run authorization controls, and automate money movement (ACH, wire transfers). The platform provides a sandbox environment, webhooks for event-driven workflows, SDK libraries (Python, Node, Ruby), and an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that brings Lithic tooling into AI editors such as Cursor, Claude Code, and GitHub Copilot. Developer documentation is at docs.lithic.com.
What industry is Lithic in?
Lithic's product category is Card Issuing Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAGABAD, Card Issuing Platforms (Issuer Processing), with a secondary code of FSAGABAE, Merchant-of-Record (MoR) & Payment Facilitation (PayFac) Infrastructure.