Lemonero, an AI-powered embedded finance platform, has secured approximately €12m in funding from Komerční banka.
Prague-based Lemonero will use the investment for expanding into western and eastern European regions and developing new products for cash flow management.
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As part of the expansion plan, Lemonero will initially foray into France and the Netherlands, which will be followed by expansion into the DACH region and eastern Europe.
The fintech is focused on offering revenue-based financing for SMB merchants, with the ticket size ranging from €1000 to €200,000.
It caters to e-commerce, marketplaces, and payment service providers.
Czech lender Komerční banka, which is part of the French banking group Société Générale, made the investment through its subsidiary KB Smart Solutions.
Komerční banka’s latest investment in Lemonero builds on its investment in the startup in late 2020 in exchange for an 11% stake in the startup.
With the new investment, Komerční banka’s stake in the lending platform has increased to 24.99%.
Lemonero founder and director Jan Laštůvka said that the firm aims to support SME e-shops by providing capital that will help them stay afloat.
Laštůvka noted that around 60% of e-commerce businesses fail prematurely due to lack or unavailability of external capital and Lemonero aims to solve this problem.
For Komerční banka, the investment will allow it to tap into the e-commerce space and enable the Czech bank’s transformation into a digital bank.
