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A group led by The Lifetime Value Company and its founders has acquired Tel Aviv-based fintech Kipp, which connects card issuers and merchants to address certain declined transactions. The deal’s financial terms were not disclosed; Kipp plans to expand its U.S. network and will continue operating independently under its co-founders.
A group led by The Lifetime Value Company (LTVCo) and its founders has acquired Kipp, a Tel Aviv-headquartered fintech that connects card issuers and merchants to address some declined payments. The acquisition gives Kipp new backing for a planned U.S. expansion; the financial terms were not disclosed, and the company is set to continue operating independently.
Founded in 2021, Kipp focuses on transactions declined because a customer has insufficient funds or has exceeded a credit limit. Those declines can mean a lost sale for a merchant and, for an issuer, lost interchange revenue and a possible effect on customer loyalty, according to the company’s description in Finextra’s report.
Kipp’s platform lets merchants pay a premium on selected transactions that would otherwise be declined for insufficient funds. Consumers pay no additional fee, according to the report. Kipp operates as a real-time decisioning and collaboration layer, using issuer-defined rules and transaction-level information while leaving approval decisions and pricing under issuers’ control.
After the acquisition, Kipp is expected to remain independent under co-founders Chanan Lavi, chief executive, and Nir Levy, chief technology officer. The company has also appointed former American Express president Jeff Stiefler as executive chairman, a former Worldpay chief strategy officer as a strategic adviser, and former First USA president Randy Christofferson as a board member. The report did not provide the adviser’s name.
A New Backer for U.S. Growth
The acquisition gives Kipp an investor group and additional operational backing as it seeks to expand its presence in the U.S. payments market. The company’s stated aim is to add more issuers and merchants to its network, a step that could make its model available across more transactions. The report does not quantify the planned expansion or state how much capital or operational support the new owners will provide.
Kipp’s approach addresses a trade-off for payment businesses: a declined card can protect an issuer from approving a transaction outside its risk limits, but it can also cost a merchant a sale. The company says its system allows issuers to define the rules and retain decision-making control while merchants can pay for selected approvals. Whether the model will gain traction with U.S. issuers and merchants remains to be seen.
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How Kipp Handles Declined Payments
Kipp’s model is based on coordination between card issuers and merchants rather than replacing an issuer’s authorization process. The platform uses issuer-defined criteria and information about individual transactions to identify some declined payments that could be reconsidered under those rules. According to the report, merchants pay a premium for selected transactions; consumers are not charged an extra fee.
The acquisition follows Kipp’s launch in 2021 and comes alongside appointments of experienced payments executives to its leadership and board. Finextra reports that Kipp will remain independent, rather than being folded into the investor group’s operations. The available report does not describe earlier U.S. activity, the size of Kipp’s current network, or the number of transactions it processes.
Deal Terms and Expansion Scope
The investor group’s financial terms and ownership details were not disclosed in the report. It is also unclear how much funding or other resources Kipp will receive, which U.S. markets or partners it will prioritize, or when it expects to reach specific expansion milestones.
The report offers no performance figures, such as approval rates, transaction volume, merchant adoption, or revenue. It therefore does not establish how often the platform can turn a decline into an approved transaction or what effect it has on issuer risk and merchant sales. The planned expansion and the company’s description of its benefits are not evidence of results in the U.S. market.
Kipp’s Next U.S. Network Steps
Kipp says it will focus on expanding its U.S. issuer and merchant network and increasing the number of transactions on its platform. The company is expected to continue under Lavi and Levy as it pursues that work, with Stiefler serving as executive chairman and Christofferson joining the board.
No launch timetable, target number of partners, or next public milestone was included in the report. Further details about the acquisition’s terms, Kipp’s U.S. partnerships, and platform performance will be needed to gauge the scale and pace of the expansion.
Key Questions
Who acquired Kipp?
Kipp was acquired by an investor group led by The Lifetime Value Company (LTVCo) and its founders, according to Finextra.
What does Kipp’s platform do?
Kipp connects card issuers and merchants to address certain declined transactions. Merchants can pay a premium for selected transactions that would otherwise be declined for insufficient funds, while issuers retain control over rules and approval decisions, according to the report.
Will Kipp continue operating independently?
Yes. The report says Kipp will continue to operate independently under co-founders Chanan Lavi and Nir Levy.
What were the acquisition terms?
The financial terms were not disclosed. The report also did not specify the amount of funding or operational resources available to Kipp after the deal.
What is Kipp planning to do next?
Kipp says it plans to expand its U.S. issuer and merchant network and bring more transactions onto its platform. The report gives no timeline or numerical expansion targets.
Source: finextra.com
