Payments startup Lithic raises $60m Series C as demand for card issuing platform surges

Lithic, the card issuing platform for developers, raised $60 million in Series C funding, bringing the company's total fundraising to $110 million. The round was led by Stripes, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Index Ventures, Exor, Rainfall, Tusk Venture Partners, and Commerce Ventures. The new round of funding comes on the heels of its May 2021 Series B, when Lithic also officially launched its API developer platform.

Launched two months ago, Lithic created the first modern API platform for developers at startups and enterprises alike to quickly launch new debit and credit card programs. While issuing payment cards has historically been an archaic and expensive process for startups and enterprises looking to build new financial products, Lithic's self-serve platform removes key pain points for companies by allowing developers to optimize back-office operations and avoid unnecessary administrative burden.

Bo Jiang, CEO and Co-founder, Lithic: "Since launching the Lithic brand only 2 months ago, the demand for our API platform has only continued to grow. Card issuing is undergoing a renaissance similar to what card acquiring underwent a decade ago. By building accessible infrastructure and lowering the barrier to entry for developers and startups to create credit and debit cards, we're helping the next generation of companies to launch new financial services products faster and more cost effectively."

Lithic has undergone rapid growth as leading startups and large enterprises across various sectors increasingly turn to its API developer platform to create configurable cards and approve transactions in real-time. Lithic has reached a number of milestones this year, including surpassing $1 billion in annual processing volume and 4x growth on its API developer platform in just the past eight months.

Saagar Kulkarni, Partner, Stripes: "Companies of all shapes and sizes are beginning to understand the power of highly configurable virtual and physical cards – speed, flexibility, compliance, economics, and more. Lithic has the best product in the market and has built a massive pipeline of completely inbound demand – and we are only just scratching the surface in terms of use cases that Lithic can enable. Stripes is incredibly excited to join Bo, Jason, David and the rest of the Lithic team on this very exciting journey."

As Lithic continues to grow, the new round of funding will help the team scale and meet the demand for its developer platform. The funding will also support Lithic as the team looks towards expanding the platform through strategic acquisitions to enhance the product and its core offerings.

www.lithic.com