April

Based in Australia, April (formerly known as Limepay) provides a backend service for merchants to offer customers BNPL solutions under their own branding while integrating with other payment methods. In February 2023, the company rebranded (as April) and shifted its focus to its embedded financial solutions offerings.  In April 2022, it also launched a B2B BNPL infrastructure offering called STACK. Using April’s white-label platform, merchants can ensure that customers execute the payment and checkout process within their website as opposed to being redirected to third-party sites. In addition, April offers a merchant dashboard providing insights related to transactions such as average order value and customer preferences. 

April generates revenue through merchant fees paid as a percentage of the transaction value on BNPL transactions, as well as additional fees for payments that go through its gateway. Customers pay in four equal installments and will be charged a late fee of AUD 5 per missed payment, capped at AUD 20.

Key customers and partnerships

As of February 2021, April had 120 merchants using its solutions, including Accor (a French hospitality company), EB Games (gaming retailer owned by GameStop), and Puma.

In January 2021, April announced a partnership with the leading online property portal, Domain, to roll out BNPL solutions for real estate agents through a new product called MarketNow. Through MarketNow, agents can receive up to AUD 25,000 (approximately USD 19,000) in upfront market costs while vendors pay MarketNow over time. In addition, agents are charged 5% of the transaction value.   

Funding and financials

In December 2020, April raised AUD 21 million (approximately USD 15.4 million) in the first phase of its pre-IPO round from institutional investors. The fresh capital was allocated to scale sales and marketing efforts, product development, and strengthen its balance sheet for merchant funding. The round came less than a year after its USD 6 million seed funding round.

Pursuing an IPO on the Australian Securities Exchange in H2 2021, April made seven new high-profile hires in February 2021. The hires included newly-appointed chief financial officer Mark Ledsham, the former CEO at XE.com (online forex tools platform), and Willie Pang, the former Yahoo managing director. Additionally, Limepay also revealed that it is expediting the launch of its operations in New Zealand. However, the plans took a hit when its co-founder and CRO, Daniel Peters, left the company in May 2021; notwithstanding, the company reported that the IPO is still on track to happen by May 2022.