Assessment
Lithic is used by fintechs, business spend platforms, and software companies that want to issue their own debit, prepaid, or credit cards. It powers card programs for more than 100 clients, including Mercury, and its best use cases are virtual cards, business spend cards, and card programs that need tight control over each authorization. It charges by usage, and its main competitors are Marqeta, Thredd, SoFi Technology Solutions, and Stripe Issuing.
Bo Jiang co-founded the business in 2014 as Privacy, a consumer service for single-use virtual cards, and built Lithic after finding that the older processor it used took more than a year to launch on. It has raised about $115M, including a $60M Series C in 2021 led by Stripes. It holds SOC 1, SOC 2, PCI DSS, and ISO 27001 certifications.
It fits a US program that wants modern APIs, quick launches, and fine control over card spending. It is a weaker fit for a program that needs card issuing in many countries from one processor, or for a buyer that wants posted prices.
Rating by criterion
We score each of the eight criteria out of 100.
Sector criteria
Use it for US card programs. It supports virtual and physical cards for credit, disbursements, and digital banking.
Build against its sandbox first. Lithic offers a sandbox, API documentation, SDKs, and a public changelog.
Check its audit reports. Lithic holds SOC 1 Type 1, SOC 2 Type 2, PCI DSS, and ISO 27001 certifications and targets uptime of 99.99% or more.
Confirm your sponsor bank and network early. Lithic works through partner banks, so ask which ones support your program type.
Vendor criteria
Look past cards if you need a ledger. Lithic also offers accounts and a payment hub with flexible ledgering.
Use its client stories to scope a launch. Programs such as Mercury, Coinstar, and Order.co run on Lithic.
Ask for usage-based rates. Pricing scales with the cards and volume you run, and full rates come with a quote.
Negotiate volume tiers. Lithic’s revenue grows with client volume, so larger programs have room to ask for lower rates.
Against its peers
These are the other companies in payments and acquiring, with their ratings.
User comments
We read Lithic’s product site and a Sacra company profile to see what buyers value, and set them against the main limit a buyer meets.
- Upside
- Downside
Where customer reviews couldn't be found, our analysts attempted to give a voice to buyer sentiment, drawing on real information from review sites, forums and product documentation.
Based on: Lithic home page; Sacra, Lithic.
Fact file
| Founded as | Privacy, in 2014 |
|---|---|
| Chief executive | Bo Jiang, co-founder |
| Card programs | More than 100 |
| Total raised | About $115M |
| Certifications | SOC 1, SOC 2, PCI DSS, ISO 27001 |
| Uptime target | 99.99% or more |
Competitive landscape
Card issuing processors a fintech or software company would compare with Lithic.
Lithic: 79
- Lithic79
- Moov77
- Highnote77
- SoFi Technology Solutions76
- Marqeta74
- Thredd74
- Tribe Payments71
- Stripe IssuingNot reviewed
Moov bundles card issuing with acceptance, payouts, wallets, and ledgers for software companies, a wider payments stack than Lithic's issuing processor.
Comparisons
Key leadership
Bo Jiang co-founded Lithic, then called Privacy, in 2014 and is its chief executive.
How this review was created
This profile gives our own assessment of Lithic to companies selecting a Payments & acquiring provider. The Fintech Index receives nothing for featuring a firm, for sponsorship, or for advertising, and Lithic gave us no payment for the profile.
The rating equals the average of eight criteria, with every criterion running from 0 to 100. Four address buyer needs in this sector, and four address the company together with its commercial terms.
Ratings are our editorial judgment, made from public information: pricing and legal pages, product documentation, compliance disclosures, public reviews and filings. Fact-checking took place on November 4, 2026.
Source pages
- Lithic home page: https://www.lithic.com/ (As of November 4, 2026)
- Lithic, about: https://www.lithic.com/about (As of November 4, 2026)
- Sacra, Lithic: https://sacra.com/c/lithic/ (As of November 4, 2026)