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Lemonway

“Can a regulated European payment institution become the full-stack financial infrastructure layer powering every major marketplace's money-in, money-out, compliance, and embedded finance product?”

Founded2007
HQ8 rue du Sentier, 75002 Paris, France
IndustryInfrastructure / Payments
The story

Founded in 2007 as a specialist payment institution for French online marketplaces, Lemonway secured ACPR approval in 2012 and became the de facto embedded payment rail for European marketplace and crowdfunding platforms. Over time it expanded from simple escrow and wallet management into a full marketplace payment stack: adding open banking via Tink (2021), proprietary BNPL (2022), B2B BNPL via Hokodo (2023), and cross-border payouts via Nium (2024). The company positions itself as Infrastructure / Payments for European marketplace operators rather than competing in consumer or merchant acquiring directly.

Last 12 months
2024-06
2023-01
Product timeline
2007
Lemonway founded as a payment service provider focused on marketplace payment flows in France.· pivot
2012
Approved by French ACPR as a regulated Payment Institution (CIB: 16568), enabling it to hold and transfer client funds across the EU.· banking
2021
Launched Pay By Bank in partnership with Tink, bringing open banking-powered payment initiation (PIS) to European marketplace customers.· banking
2022
Launched native BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) API product for marketplace platforms, enabling instalment payments without affecting buyer credit scores.· lending
2023
Partnered with Hokodo to offer B2B BNPL and trade credit to European B2B marketplace buyers, enabling upfront payment to sellers with risk protection.· lending
2024
Announced partnership with Nium to expand cross-border payout capabilities for marketplace sellers globally; also partnered with Ripple for instant euro-to-euro payments.· pivot
Regulated entities
Payment Institution
France (ACPR) · 2012
Lemonway SAS
The stack
Payments / PSP
Lemonway Payments (self-operated)
Lending
HokodoBNPL instalment payments (B2C, own product)B2B BNPL / trade credit (via Hokodo partnership)
Open banking
Tink
FX & payouts
NiumRipple
Crypto
Ripple
Accounting gap: significant