A San Francisco startup called Kasheesh has raised $5.5 million to launch a “new era for online payments.”

The payments service, according to the company, “allows anyone to split payment for online purchases across multiple combinations of debit and credit cards in any way they want, without added cost or interest hikes.

So Kasheesh raised the $5.5 million from a mix of VCs and celebrities. The VC lineup includes Tribe Capital, Anthemis, Courtside Ventures. The celebs are wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr, former athlete (now investor) Sahil Bloom, and the actor Robin Wright (House of Cards, Forest Gump).

Kasheesh describes itself as a better option for consumers than using a buy now pay later account or maxing out a card for a single purchase.

“Most people are used to paying for something with one form of payment, be it one card or BNPL alternatives. There’s a significant cost burden, risk, and little to no personalization when you’re forced to put an entire payment onto one card, especially when that card is frequently used for multiple purchases,” said Kasheesh Co-founder and CEO Sam Miller.

“Kasheesh leverages existing spending power, not added debt. We maximize rewards versus maxing out cards.”

Unlocking Credit They Already Have

Of course, it’s long been possible to split payments across two or more cards in real life. It’s possible at most restaurants or brick-and-mortar retail stores. Maybe a little awkward. But possible. Yet to date, no one has offered a way to split payments for online purchases.

This novelty seems to be what attracts investors.

“There are no online payment platforms that allow U.S. shoppers to split their payments. No less ones that allow consumers to avoid incurring further debt,” said Bloom, Managing Partner of SRB Ventures. “I appreciated the way that Kasheesh unlocks consumers to pay for things using the credit they already have in the most efficient manner. And the future opportunity to allow consumers to optimize their spend across various rewards points and perks.”

Kasheesh works by consolidating consumer spending power across multiple credit and debit cards. There are no loans. This means no underwriting.

Here’s how the solution works. Kasheesh auto-generates a unique banking “card” number pulled from debit and credit cards that the user chooses in order to split the cost of online purchases.

Kasheesh says it brokered more than $11 million in user transactions and purchases during a closed trial.

Will this replace BNPL? Probably not. But it will address a pain point that exists, particularly among younger and lower-income consumers, without leading to a new credit obligation, which BNPL is despite the industry’s preferred “debit economy” narrative.

However, it may be a stretch to attach the financial responsibility label to a service that helps consumers access their last few drops of available credit.