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Pliant

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Can a European B2B card-issuing infrastructure company become the default Cards-as-a-Service and Card OS layer for banks, fintechs, and SaaS platforms globally?

HQBerlin, Germany
FoundersMalte Huffmann, Fabian Terner
Total raised$100M+
Latest roundSeries B, April 2025
IndustryInfrastructure / Card issuing
The story

Founded in Berlin as a B2B corporate credit card product, Pliant initially relied on third-party e-money issuers (TPML / Transact Payments Malta Limited) before obtaining its own EMI license through Pliant Oy in Finland and achieving Visa Principal Membership, establishing self-operated card issuing infrastructure. The company then pivoted from a pure end-customer credit card product toward a B2B infrastructure play, launching Cards-as-a-Service (CaaS) and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) capabilities so that non-financial companies, SaaS platforms, lenders, and banks can embed card programs into their own products. The 2025 Series B marks the beginning of an international expansion phase, with the US market as the primary target.

Last 12 months
2025-04
Product timeline
2020
Pliant launched as a B2B corporate credit card platform in Germany, targeting businesses seeking flexible spend controls.· card
2022
Pliant obtained its own EMI license via Pliant Oy (Finland) and Visa Principal Membership, moving away from reliance on third-party card issuers for its core EU product.· banking
2023
Launched Cards-as-a-Service (CaaS) offering, enabling third-party businesses and fintechs to embed B2B card programs via API.· card
2024
Expanded Card & Spend OS product targeting banks seeking to launch credit card programs on Pliant's infrastructure; ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification obtained for Pliant GmbH.· banking
2025
Closed $40M Series B led by Illuminate Financial and Speedinvest to fund US expansion; announced US market entry.· pivot
Regulated entities
2
regulatory licences held by Pliant
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
In the press
embeddedfinancereview.com ↗
Coverage sourced from Embedded Finance Review — a content partner for this report. All articles are © their original authors; click any card to open the source.
◇ article2025-04-19
Pliant acquires Hi.Health and increases its focus on insurance companies
Pliant acquires Hi.Health and partners with Pflegenavi, targeting insurance and care facilities with card-as-a-service. How healthcare embedded payments evolve.
pliant
Source · Embedded Finance Review ↗
The stack
4 layers disclosed in Pliant’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Pliant (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Accounting
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
7 more providers across 3 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.