Kenbi launches in Israel to help merchants approve payments

A newly founded fintech has emerged in Israel to help card issuers and merchants process more purchases and utilise data.

Kenbi launched earlier this year

Kenbi offers an “advanced AI platform” which it says can enable real-time, cross-country matches between issuers and merchants.

It claims this process means both sides can approve transactions that would otherwise be declined. The firm’s platform sits on top of existing payment flows as an “additional optimised layer”.

The fintech is led by co-founders Nir Levy (chief technology officer) and Chanan Levi (chief executive officer).

Both men spent some years at Credorax, a licensed merchant acquiring bank based out of Israel. Nir left as vice president of products, and Chanan as senior vice president of electronic payments and pricing.

Kenbi has a single Seed funding round to its name so far, for an undisclosed sum. Entrée Capital, TLV Partners, and R-Squared Ventures are among its investors.

According to Start-Up National Central, Israeli fintech firms raised a record $2.3 billion in venture capital investments in the first six months of 2021.

The figure is a 260% growth over the previous year, and 28% higher than the $1.8 billion investment in the sector across all of 2020.