Keep more of the money you make: SumUp and iZettle rival Lopay signs up 20,000 merchants in 18 months

More than 20,000 small businesses across various sectors have signed up to new instant payment startup Lopay. Together they’ve used it to take nearly 10 million customer payments.  

Founded in January 2022 by Richard Carter, Lopay is an app that, to quote a press release, “enables small businesses to take card payments from their customers for a fraction of the cost charged by the corporate payment providers”.

Users also have the option to receive cleared funds into their bank account the instant a transaction is made. 

Lopay says that its instant settlement and fees - which it claims are less than a third of those charged by PayPal and half those levied by SumUp and Zettle - have been central to its growth. 

It estimates that its pricing has saved merchants more than £1 million in card fees since launch.

The company expects to process a further £500 million in card payments in the next 12 months, saving its customers as much as £2.6 million in fees. 

The brand’s pitch to small businesses - keep more of the money you make - has been championed by industry bodies including the National Federation of Builders and the 150,000 member Federation of Small Businesses. 

Richard Carter, Founder at Lopay, comments: “Lopay’s mission has resonated with thousands of small businesses and sole traders who are being squeezed simultaneously by high inflation and fragile customer demand.”

“Against that backdrop, the big beasts of the card payment industry have been poor champions of small business. Their high fees mean too many small firms are paying up to 300% more than they need to - or waiting up to three business days - to receive card payments from their customers.”

“By contrast, our easy to use app and card reader give small businesses an instant way to save money on every sale they make. More than 20,000 firms have already found that switching to Lopay is a small step that makes a big difference to their bottom line, and that’s why several of the UK’s leading industry bodies have chosen to partner with us.”

“Since launch we’ve focused on building robust financial architecture and hiring a talented, committed team. With this solid platform for growth, we’re now ready to scale - and we’ll be using this major injection of seed capital to launch internationally and develop new products that save small businesses even more money.”