Kipp offers a platform that connects merchants with card issuers and enables merchants to pay a premium to receive an approval rather than accept a decline of select debit card and credit card transactions.

Kipp doesn’t need any real-time data from merchants, so there is no need to integrate with them. Merchants only need to be willing to collaborate with card issuers to approve select transactions and then agree to pay the issuer a premium above what issuers already earn from interchange.

The issuer remains fully liable for the transaction. It defines and manages parameters within the Kipp portal that cover transactions for which they would be willing to accept a credit risk in return for compensation from the merchant. Those parameters can include the transaction amount, merchant category code, the availability of overdraft coverage on a card account and the cardholder segment. Issuers can set any price that covers the risk of approving a marginal transaction.

The amount of any premium a merchant might pay is flexible and based on its own parameters such as the type of transaction and the amount. The premiums merchants pay issuers are based on the entire purchase amount of the transaction.

Kipp integrates with card account processing system and resides in the dataflow of an authorization request. If a decline is about to be triggered, the issuer contacts Kipp via an API.

In milliseconds, Kipp matches the issuer’s alert with the merchant’s identity number to see if it participates in its system. If so, Kipp compares the amount of the merchant’s premium bid with the issuer’s asking price. If the bid meets or exceeds the asking price, plus Kipp’s fixed fee, Kipp notifies the issuer in real time to authorize the transaction.

Issuers can choose to communicate with cardholders and let them know that a decline became an approval. Kipp will collect premiums from merchants on a monthly basis and make payments to issuers.

The company never has access to consumer funds, nor does it need access to PCI-sensitive data or personally identifiable information about cardholders.

Participating merchants and issuers receive user interfaces (UI) from Kipp. Through the UI, issuers define the rules that determine their asking price, monitor aggregated results for covered transactions and track individual transactions. Merchants use the UI to configure what they are willing to pay, weighted for different transaction characteristics. They have access to aggregated performance data and transaction-level details.

Kipp, which was formed in 2021, and has signed a referral partnership agreement with Mastercard in Europe.

The company signed its first US-based partner, FIS, a top debit card processor, in 2025. Integration with FIS has been completed. The FIS deal gained added weight last year when Tsys, a top credit card processor, became part of FIS.

Kipp expects to conduct a pilot test with its first bank card issuer during the first quarter of 2027.

Merchant and issuer collaboration on nonsufficient debit card and over-thelimit credit card declines was piloted by Kipp in Israel with Isracard, a card issuer and merchant acquirer.

Isracard offered Kipp’s service to crossborder sellers of digital goods, gaming merchants, subscription services and retailers. Approval rates of transactions that were earmarked for declines ranged from 20% to 50%.

Kipp has had venture capital backing until an investor group, led by the Lifetime Value Company, purchased a majority stake in the company in September 2026.

Kipp has been signing merchants directly to participate in the 2027 pilot test. Funding from its new investor group will be used to build out the merchant network.

Kipp will offer reseller fees to acquirers for any of their merchants that join its network. Acquirers will benefit from an uptick in approved transactions.