Startup firm Deserve launched its digital-first credit card-as-a-service after a $50 million fund infusion from Goldman Sachs during the Series C round, reported by Business Insider. The program lets clients issue credit cards complete account management accessibility through their own applications.
Moving to cater to the recent surge in embedded finance, Deserve CEO Kalpesh Kapadia partnered with Apple Card provider to help companies issue digital cards. The firm has customers such as Sallie Mae and fintech companies BlockFi and OppFi.
Embedded finance is the practice where non-financial firms provide payment services into their applications. Kapadia saw this as an opportunity to jump into this emerging market.
Kapadia explained, “All the digital brands are looking at payment mechanisms and loyalty. Everyone from Uber and Airbnb to DoorDash and Instacart.” These brands have launched their own credit cards and Deserve is one of the contenders for these deals.
The startup offers a fully digital process for card membership, from applying and managing accounts to disputing transactions. Kapadia said, “With our products, you don’t have to ever touch paper or plastic. Everything can be digital.”
Deserve’s new offering is based on its credit card-as-a-service application program interface (API) which was launched in 2018. The API was first used for the company’s student credit card business
Kapadia is optimistic about this move as it is “going to be a core go-forward business.” With the help of the student card business, the company aims to showcase its API to gain more B2B customers.
Potential clients who want to launch a digital card can see how it can work through Deserve’s API. These partnerships can also be customized to be co-branded or fully labeled. Clients can also choose which parts of the startup’s technology it wants to use.
To provide this service, Deserve continues to work with Mastercard and Visa which respectively launched digital-first and immediate issuance cards.