The Israeli startup Kipp awarded first place at Mastercard Fintech Forum in Berlin

Jun 20, 2023

The Israeli fintech startup was chosen among 700 startups that applied to the competition and 5 that reached the finals

The Israeli startup Kipp, founded by Chanan Lavi and Nir Levy, won first place at Mastercard’s Fintech Forum CE event in Berlin.

700 startups from all over Europe applied to the competition, with only 6 startups qualifying for the prestigious final round, which was held in Berlin. At the finals, the startups presented their technological solution in front of the jury and the audience. Winning the competition entitles Kipp to participate in Mastercard’s program, Start-path.

Kipp, which has 15 employees and has so far raised $12.5 million from leading venture capitalists such as TLV Partners, Entree Capital, Augmentum Fintech, IZBA Ventures and R-Squared Ventures, offers a solution to the challenge that occupies the world of online payments – transaction declined by card issuers. According to European Union data, these refusals may cause 30% of customers to stop using this particular card, creating a loss for card issuers. Furthermore, 71% of customers who leave the purchase process on e-commerce sites do so due to a refusal or other problem with the payment.

Kipp’s model uses enriched data from both the merchant and the issuing bank and allows them both to share the cost of the risk. That leads to increased revenues and improved consumer satisfaction and loyalty for both.

“We are excited about winning first place and are grateful to our customers, partners and investors for joining us on our mission to authorize more card payments. We are thrilled to join Mastercard’s prestigious program and continue to contribute to improving the customer experience,” says Chanan Lavi, Co-founder and CEO of Kipp.

Kipp is one of the portfolio companies of the FinSec Innovation Lab, a joint venture by Mastercard and Enel X. The FinSec Innovation Lab provides startups with a technological and business umbrella of leading professionals and mentors from Israel and the world, allowing them to complete POCs, test their solutions in an infrastructure that simulates a real environment, and helps them grow at the international level.