The payment institution Lemon Way closes a €10 million round
Lemon Way is a French pan-European payment institution, accredited by the ACPR, Bank of France, to offer secure payment solutions to e-commerce and crowdfunding platforms.
In Spain, in accordance with Law 05/2015 on the Promotion of Business Financing, Crowdfunding Platforms cannot directly manage their investors’ money, but must deposit it in a payment institution accredited by the Bank of Spain. Or additionally the platforms must also be accredited as a payment entity. Except for the MyTripleA lending platform, which has been regulated by the Bank of Spain as a Hybrid Payment Institution, the rest of the crowdfunding platforms that operate in Spain have opted to contract the services of the French company Lemon Way, which, at the moment, is the only entity authorized by the Bank of Spain to operate in the country.
In France, in accordance with the Law n° 2014-1 from January 2th, 2014, crowdfunding platforms must be accredited at least as a payment entity by the ACPR, Bank of France, or contract a payment entity as payment service provider agents. Most of crowdfunding platforms contract a payment entity accredited by the ACPR such as Lemon Way, only entity authorized by the Bank of Spain to operate in the country (Spain).
With the intermediation of a payment entity, both parties benefit.
On the one hand, individuals have greater security because the platforms do not have access to their funds that are guarded by the payment entity in segregated accounts. In this way, the accounts of investors are never mixed with those of the Platforms, and thus ensures that their contributions go to the project they have wanted to finance or invest in.
And on the other hand, the platforms are released from compliance with the requirements that affect the movement and custody of capital, that is on the payment entity.
There are many lending and equity crowdfunding platforms that work with the French Startup as payment entity. Among the real estate crowdfunding platforms that work with Lemon Way we can highlight the following:
In Spain: Brickstarter, Civislend, Housers e Inveslar.
In France: Dartagnans, Devenez proprio, Dividom, Find&Fund, Immovesting, Outremer, Seed and Collect, Stoneraise y Wiseed.
Recently, Lemon Way closed an investment round for € 10M that will allow it to continue growing in Europe in markets such as Germany and the United Kingdom, and has published the following press release:
The payment specialist for marketplaces will finance its European expansion and recruit new talents.
Lemon Way, the pan-European payment institution regulated by the ACPR - Banque de France announced today a €10 million funding round led by Breega capital, with the participation from Speedinvest, a FinTech venture capital fund. This transaction is currently being approved by the French regulator ACPR. On this occasion, the two VCs will join the Lemon Way Supervisory Board.
To finance its European ambitions
This fundraising will enable Lemon Way to continue its expansion on a European scale, particularly in Germany and the United Kingdom, and to consolidate its strongholds in France, Spain and Italy, where it is already a leader in the new business of collecting money on behalf of digital marketplaces, especially for crowdfunding websites (Lendix, Wiseed, Housers, Zankyou, Workinvoice ...). It will also recruit about thirty people to strengthen its team (80 people to date).
Lemon Way facilitates complex payments for digital platforms and e-commerce websites. Already 1,400 marketplaces in Europe including 200 crowdfunding websites trust him. Since becoming a payment institution in December 2012, the FinTech has opened 5 million payment accounts (also called e-wallets) to platform customers and has declared 95 platforms as Lemon Way payment agents with the ACPR.
'We are very proud to be accompanied by Breega capital and Speedinvest, two funds specializing in FinTech and resolutely European,' commented Antoine Orsini, CEO and co-founder. 'We were impressed by the complementarity and vision of the founding team of Lemon Way,' added Guzel Gumerova, Partner at Speedinvest.
'We are very pleased to be supporting Lemon Way in its expansion,' said Ben Marrel, Founding Partner of Breega capital, who led the operation. 'This investment is perfectly in line with our investment strategy, which is still very targeted in digital technologies, especially FinTech'.
FinTech accelerates its hyper growth thanks to large accounts
In 2017, Lemon Way processed €1.4 billion inflows and outflows against €900 million in 2016 (+ 55%). The FinTech achieved a turnover of €11 million in 2017, up 69% compared to 2016 (€6.5 million) and generated a positive net result. It has been self-financing its growth for ten years and now wants to become a leader in Europe.
French FinTech accelerates its hyper-growth pace and has the ambition to process €2.6 billion in 2018 thanks to major accounts it has recently signed such as the SoLocal Group (yellow pages), CNP Assurances, CCI Store, the Fédération Française de Football and the Fédération Française de Natation. 'Our new business of collecting money on behalf of marketplaces implies the issuance of millions of e-wallets in real time and in a very strict regulatory framework. This is the vein we are digging throughout Europe,' says Damien Guermonprez, Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
Lemon Way solutions are offered in partnership with banks and payment processing agents. The FinTech has enriched its banking relationships by working with Banque Postale, Barclays and Crédit Mutuel CIC, in addition to its long-standing partners BNP Paribas and Banco Sabadell. 'Our technology solution and associated services enable banks to benefit from a very powerful real-time payment account management tool,' said Sebastien Burlet, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder.
About Breega Capital
Breega Capital is a French private equity firm investing in highly promising European start-ups looking for their first round (Seed / Series A). Built around a team of entrepreneurs acting as an active trading partner rather than a mere investor, Breega brings, in addition to financing, industrial and operational expertise as well as a lever for international business development in its portfolio.
About Speedinvest
Speedinvest is a paneuropean venture capital fund with €170M under management that invests in seed stage technology start-ups in fintech, core technologies and marketplaces & e-commerce. Besides providing financial investments, the fund actively deploys its network and know-how to support its portfolio companies. Speedinvest’s office in Silicon Valley supports portfolio companies entering the US market. Speedinvest is one of the most active VC investor in European Fintech companies. The fund invests in leaders in their respective categories, such as payments (Iyzico, Payworks, Curve), banking (Holvi, Loot), lending (Fincompare, Billie, Cashpresso), security (Fraugster), insurance (Wefox, Amodo), investments (Wikifolio), regtech (Clausematch) and services (Candis).
About Lemon Way
Lemon Way is pan European Fintech dedicated to crowdfunding platforms, e-commerce marketplaces and other companies looking for payment processing, wallet management and third-party payment in a KYC/AML-regulated framework. The #1 French FinTech obtained its payment institution license at the end of 2012 and benefits from the ' EU financial passport' in 28 countries. Based in Montreuil, near Paris, since its creation in 2007, the company employs 80 people from 20 different nationalities.
