Lithic design partner for differentiated card experiences
Bo Jiang, co-founder and CEO of Lithic, on the key primitives in card issuing
Lithic is strongest when the card itself is part of the product, not just a commodity add on. That usually means customers who need unusual controls, custom bank and compliance workflows, or new money movement flows inside their software. In practice, Lithic becomes the programmable layer behind a fintech or vertical SaaS product, handling network connectivity, authorization logic, card manufacturing, and reporting while the customer designs the end user experience around it.
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The common customer is a company outgrowing an all in one BaaS setup or building something that does not fit a template. Lithic is used by neobanks bringing issuing in house, by software platforms embedding cards into procurement or payouts, and by newer programs like insurance claim disbursement and OTA travel payments.
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The product work is concrete. A customer can create single use or vendor locked virtual cards, set spend limits, monitor webhooks, and tune authorization rules. Order.co uses this to issue hundreds of thousands of cards a year, pay vendors, consolidate spend onto one bill, and reduce manual reconciliation work for finance teams.
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This is the main split versus both BaaS bundles and simpler issuers. All in one platforms win on speed when a company wants an off the rack neobank. Developer first point solutions win when a company wants to mix card issuing with separate KYC, ACH, compliance, or crypto infrastructure and keep control of roadmap decisions as the product gets more complex.
The next wave of issuing should move further toward multi rail, modular payment infrastructure. As cards, ACH, and other rails get pulled into the same API layer, the winners will be the processors that let software companies turn payments into product features, and not just ship another generic card program.