Payhawk

Based in Bulgaria, Payhawk offers a business expense card and payout management platform. Payhawk users get a dedicated International Bank Account Number (IBAN) for enterprise customers to move money into from their existing bank accounts to fund cards and transactions. 

The platform lets enterprise users issue physical and virtual business expense cards (credit and debit cards) for individuals and teams and set custom limits and approval flows for the cards. The card users can then leverage Payhawk’s OCR and machine learning technology (that supports more than 60 languages) to automatically upload receipts for expense recording and management purposes. Payhawk also reportedly offers a 3% cashback for its European customers on card payments, which helps to partially or fully negate the platform subscription costs.

Payhawk enables businesses to make payments to vendors directly from the platform (through the dedicated IBAN), through Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Instant and Faster Payments transfers. It also provides a subscription optimization solution that helps businesses uncover hidden costs and identify duplicate subscriptions, in addition to making payments for them.  

The platform can be integrated with several ERP and accounting softwares, including NetSuite, QuickBooks, TravelPerk, Xero, and Microsoft Dynamics. The company charges users a monthly subscription of EUR 149 per month (for just the cards) or EUR 299 per month (inclusive of payout solutions, OCR, and out-of-pocket expense management), with custom plans available for larger players. In addition to the subscription, Payhawk charges EUR 9 per month per card issued. 

In November 2023, Payhawk i ntroduced a Purchase Orders system to automate and enhance the procure-to-pay process for businesses.

The company has a global presence with offices in the UK, Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands, the US , and Lithuania . 

In January 2024, Payhawk obtained an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from UK, enabling the company to directly issue electronic money, process digital payments and provide card issuance and payment solutions to customers in the UK.  Due to the acquisition of the new license and its performance in 2023, the company also aimed to increase the headcount by 44% in the UK in 2024.

Key customers and partnerships

Payhawk targets medium-sized and large enterprises, primarily those with multinational operations. As of July 2023, the company had customers based across 32 countries, with LuxAir, Lotto24, Viking Life, and Flink featuring among them. 

In August 2023, the company partnered with Yapily to offer instant payment top-ups to Payhawk debit and credit accounts, by linking bank accounts from over 2,000 banks and financial institutions.

In September 2023, Payhawk launched “Payhawk Green” in partnership with Lune , to help companies make sustainable spending decisions. This allows customers to automatically quantify the CO2 associated with purchases made on Payhawk cards, and to also collect and manage ESG data for suppliers to improve supply chain transparency.

Funding and financials

Payhawk’s revenue reportedly rose by over 520% in the year leading to September 2022. In March 2022, the company raised a USD 100 million extension to its Series B round (in November 2021), led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, bringing its Series B funding total to USD 215 million. The extension valued the company at USD 1 billion (from USD 570 million in November 2021), making it the first-ever Bulgarian unicorn. The funds were earmarked for recruitment, product developments and adding new features, as well as expanding its global sales and marketing operations.