Lemon Way, the platform that facilitates and secures transactions, is pursuing its international expansion by opening a subsidiary in the City.
After winning the FinTech 50 award in London in 2014, Lemon Way is speeding up its international development by opening a subsidiary in the heart of the UK capital (Lemon Way – Aldgate Tower, 4th floor, 2 Leman Street – London E1 8FA). Lemon Way, a certified payment institution, worked its way into first place amongst French FinTech startups by word of mouth between players in e-commerce, through crowdfunding and thanks to a market looking for a means of securing its transactions.
London: a great way to start 2016
Every FinTech startup that is serious about developing its business on an international scale knows that London is the place to be. For Lemon Way, this move means much more than simply opening a branch office: it is a genuine strategy to become established and to grow on the British market, along the same lines as the company's operations in the rest of Europe.
"Thanks to our service that facilitates and secures the processing of transactions, Lemon Way has benefited from the extensive grapevine that exists between startups in the new economy. The result? 1,400,000 customer accounts opened in France and the rest of Europe in two years. By setting up shop in London, we intend to strengthen our presence on the UK market, where our volume of orders is growing significantly. This strategic decision to gain a local foothold underlines our determination to bring our dedicated teams as close as possible to our customers," explains Sébastien Burlet, founder and Managing Director of Lemon Way.
"We needed to be present in the global FinTech capital," adds Damien Guermonprez, Chairman of Lemon Way.
The UK subsidiary will be managed by Antoine Orsini, Deputy Managing Director of Lemon Way.
The FinTech company Lemon Way has global ambitions
Lemon Way has taken off in Europe thanks to the boom in crowdfunding and the sharing economy. "Around ten platforms contact us every day," claims Sébastien Burlet, who expects the number of crowdfunding sites in Europe to rise sharply.
New European regulations require any entity that receives money on behalf of a third party to call on, or to become, a payment institution. As a consequence, crowdfunding platforms, e-commerce marketplaces, websites for wedding or birth gift registries, collective gifts, kitties, car sharing or renting between private individuals, can all call on Lemon Way to open an account for each of their customers in order to be in line with new regulations.
As an accredited payment institution, passported in 29 European countries, Lemon Way has become one of Europe's leading FinTech operators.
"In 2015, Lemon Way handled €190 million for 300 marketplaces – crowdfunding sites, collective kitties, ticketing sites – and, within four years, we plan to service 6,000 and to open 30 million accounts for private individuals in the same period," explains Lemon Way's Chairman, Damien Guermonprez. "We will hire 30 new recruits in 2016 to support our development in Europe and on the international stage," he concludes.