Payment sharing Fintech Kasheesh offers an alternative to BNPL

• Kasheesh is a fintech that allows consumers to split online payments across multiple cards.
• Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, rapper Lil Baby and actor Damson Idris have recently invested.
• Kasheesh used this 12-page pitch deck to raise a $3 million round.

This payment-splitting fintech wants customers to drop purchases now, pay later at checkout.

Kasheesh allows users to split online payments across multiple debit and credit cards. The financial technology company is positioning itself as a “responsible” alternative to buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) services, which have been criticized by some financial advisers as “predatory lending.”

“We want to wedge in at the point of transaction before they hurt their credit so they can actually start building themselves into a financially healthy situation,” Sam Miller, co-founder and CEO of Kasheesh, told Insider.

Kasheesh generates a one-time card number for each purchase, which allows the user to split an online payment on the debit and credit cards of their choice. Kasheesh works on all platforms where Visa or Mastercard are accepted.

On Thursday, Kasheesh announced a $3 million expansion of its seed round that includes a number of high-profile investors and celebrities. Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, rapper Lil Baby, actor Damson Idris and entrepreneur John Terzian were last to join the cap table in this round. Other investors continued their support, including actress Robin Wright, former NFL star Odell Beckham Jr., and the firms Anthemis Group, Tribe Capital and Courtside Ventures.

The startup previously raised $5.5 million in seed funding in June 2022. To date, it has raised $8.5 million. A spokesperson declined to share Kasheesh’s valuation.

“Responsible Satisfaction”

Miller, who previously served as a director at venture capital firm Dreamit, co-founded the startup in June 2022 with Kasheesh CTO Kevin Kim, who held roles at Tudor Investment, BlackRock and Apple.

The impetus for its founding was the inability to split payment for online purchases across multiple cards in the same way a customer can when checking out at a store register. On Kasheesh’s online browser plug-in, users can share any online payment on up to five debit and credit cards.

Fintechs have misconstrued users’ enthusiasm for BNPL as the latest in alternative finance at the till, Miller said, “but what it really meant was consumers saying, ‘we want an option to pay outside of just a debit or credit card.’

Users were “pigeon-holed” to either use buy now, pay later or their credit or debit card, he added.

“Consumers are not going to get rid of instant gratification. If they want to buy something, they’re going to figure out a way to buy it,” Miller said. “We recognized that this is our opportunity for something that we’re creating ‘responsible gratification,’ so we’re still allowing consumers to actually make the purchases they want to make, but in a more responsible way that’s not detrimental to their financial health.”

To be sure, Americans are still racking up debt as card interest rates continue to rise. American credit card debt increased by $38 billion between July and September 2022, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Gen Zers, one of Kasheesh’s target customers, showed an increase in crime last year.

Kasheesh is looking to extend its reach beyond online shopping to physical products by creating a multi-purpose Kasheesh card that users can carry in their wallets or add to their Apple Wallet. The fintech also plans to offer discounts at the time of the transaction and wants to partner with product protection and credit monitoring companies.

Read the 12-page pitch deck Kasheesh used to raise a $3 million seed expansion round.