Introducing Lithic, The Fastest Way To Create Payment Cards
Today we are excited to announce the launch of our card issuing platform, Lithic - the fastest and simplest way to programmatically create virtual and physical payment cards and monitor transactions. Created for developers, by developers, Lithic enables a faster time to market and creates flexibility to scale businesses and unlock new revenue streams.
From Privacy.com to Lithic
In starting Privacy.com in 2014, we wanted to rethink how payments in an online world would work for consumers if we prioritized security and usability. Over the last 7 years, we worked diligently to iterate on our technology and to expand our payments knowledge so we could build the infrastructure needed to bring the card issuing process in-house. We continued to receive inbound interest from other developers who wanted to quickly issue virtual debit cards for their own businesses, and realized that there were thousands of other companies who were struggling with the broken process of issuing cards on their own.
This brought us to the creation of our card issuing API.
When we initially launched our card issuing platform last summer, we were eager to introduce a product that could offer a way for developers to overcome the key challenges in card issuing. A few shorts months later, we realized that we were onto something bigger. With the incredible amount of feedback we received, we understood that this was not just another product in our portfolio - card issuing is who we are. After years of rethinking the process for ourselves, at the core, we have built the fastest way to create payment cards for developers so that they can focus on growing their business instead of trying to navigate complex back-office operations. Today we are introducing Lithic, accessible developer tools for card issuing.
Though Privacy.com will continue to be our consumer-facing product, we are rebranding our main enterprise to Lithic to focus on modern card issuing for developers, startups, and brands.
By definition, Lithic means “of the nature of or relating to stone.” Strong and formidable, stone has laid the foundation for infrastructure. In much the same way, Lithic’s mission is to provide the framework and tools needed for developers to get to market faster and unlock new revenue streams. The rebrand to Lithic signals our dedication to developers, arming them with the footing needed to enable the fastest creation of virtual payment cards.
Why Lithic?
Consumers today are accustomed to simple, instantaneous service. We can order a car in seconds, or get groceries delivered in under an hour, or book a hotel in a few taps from our phone. Simple and instant are becoming the rule, not the exception. Similarly, consumerized IT is making it faster than ever for startups to stand up a business, or add new business lines to an existing one, with less effort and manual work.
However, money - and how we enable people to spend it - hasn’t caught up. Many small businesses are struggling to find a quick and easy way to issue payment cards to users and customers. Traditionally, creating payment cards would require lengthy MSAs, expensive setup, bloated products, hard-to-grasp policies, and high up-front commitment. As a small business owner or a developer simply looking to explore their scaling options, these are tremendous barriers to cross, and unfortunately, end up defaulting to expensive and burdensome checks, slow ACH, and inflexible legacy services to send and spend money.
Lithic changes this with accessible building blocks that make it simple to enable and control spending. Designed for developers, by developers - Lithic generates fit-for-purpose cards that can be used instantly. We enable a faster time to market, and flexibility to scale your business and unlock new revenue streams.
Lithic is the fastest way to customize and distribute payment cards. You can sign up today and start moving money today. With our self-serve platform, there is no need to talk to Sales or wade through lengthy MSA’s to get started. With one CURL command, you can issue a card instantly.
Lithic’s flexible developer tools adapt to your product needs, not the other way around. Avoid unnecessary feature bloat and administrative burden. Our accessible building blocks provide focused functionality to build upon - Lithic supports any programming language, so you can bring your own. Start quickly with Lithic’s self-serve product, then bring your own bank partner as your business scales without changing your APIs.
Lithic’s simple, sane pricing makes it the most founder-friendly way to control and enable spending. We’re committed to simplifying the process so you can start making money instantly. Create active cards for a few cents each, with no expensive monthly fees. Avoid confusing, hard-to-model pricing structures, complicated contracts and hidden fees. When someone spends money, you’ll earn back a percentage of interchange revenue generated by the merchant.
Whether you’re looking for a straightforward way to handle disbursements, issue employee cards, or streamline back-office operations, our goal at Lithic is to provide you with the infrastructure needed for you to grow into your highest potential.
Thank you for building with us. We’re excited to take you on this next chapter, and if you’re interested in joining us, we’re hiring!
