Lemonway, a pan-European payment institution, posted half-year revenues up 90% to €14m and a positive net result at the end of June 2023.
The FinTech has now exceeded its break-even point in a sustainable way and self-finances its regulatory capital needs.
“This enviable situation contrasts with past years and should continue throughout 2023”, assures Antoine Orsini, CEO and co-founder of Lemonway. The startup anticipates reaching €30m in annual revenue for 2023 and targets an annual net profit of €3m.
This is a spectacular acceleration compared to 2022 which presented revenues of €16.2m and a net loss of €11m. “The 2023 results show that the strategy put in place is delivering the expected acceleration”, added Damien Guermonprez, Executive Chairman of Lemonway.
In terms of staff, the FinTech has 125 employees and plans to recruit 20 people in 2023, particularly in Germany.
1. Compliance and payment, two pillars of the same new business
Lemonway serves marketplaces by protecting their end consumers. Its job is to secure the sums paid or invested by the end customers of the marketplaces it serves.
These sums are collected and then escrowed to leading banking partners such as BNP Paribas or BPCE before being paid to marketplace merchants. This way, customer payments do not pass through the balance sheet of marketplaces and are fully protected in accordance with applicable European requirements.
This also means that in the event of Lemonway’s default, the funds collected on behalf of the client platforms would be fully reimbursed by its banking partners to the customers of the digital platforms.
The recent bank failures in the United States and the losses suffered by customers of certain unregulated crypto-asset marketplaces, following their bankruptcies, demonstrate, if necessary, the importance of protecting customer funds.
2. Cooperation at the service of innovation
To serve more and more marketplaces and stand out from the competition, Lemonway continues to forge strategic partnerships with banks in Europe.
Recently, Société Générale, one of the major European banking groups, chose Lemonway to provide payment services to large Western European companies launching their B2B marketplaces. This partnership comes after the ones launched with other banking groups.
3. A key account strategy
With the recent signatures of new platforms such as the ESF (French Ski School) or Eiffage, Lemonway is strengthening its presence with “key account” customers and its position as a regulated payment leader in Europe.
As an expert in collection on behalf of third parties, Lemonway meets the specific functional and regulatory needs of its large customers. To maintain its leadership, the fintech has recently launched new innovative products and services such as B2B “Buy Now Pay Later” as well as Paypal for marketplaces.