Payhawk launches in Lithuania after securing EMI licence from central bank
Bulgarian spend management platform Payhawk has expanded into Lithuania and opened up an office in the capital city of Vilnius after securing an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from the Bank of Lithuania.
Payhawk expands into Lithuania
Through its presence in Lithuania, the company hopes to gain more business in the Baltic region.
“We’ve always considered Lithuania an important country for us to operate in,” comments Saulius Žlabys, managing director at Payhawk Lithuania, adding that the company is in talks with a “significant number” of Lithuanian businesses looking to optimise their business spend.
On securing the new EMI licence, Hristo Borisov, CEO and co-founder of Payhawk, says the Bank of Lithuania “proactively” supports innovative financial companies.
“The licence will help us bring innovation to our customers,” Borisov adds. “Over the next year, we plan to release new features to help our customers better manage even more types of spending in even more global currencies.”
Payhawk became Bulgaria’s first unicorn in March last year following a $100 million Series B extension round. Just three months prior to that, the firm raised $112 million in Series B funding.
The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in London, UK, with offices in Berlin, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Sofia, New York, and now Vilnius. It provides business payments, company cards, reimbursable expenses, accounts payable, and accounting software integrations through its platform.
It claims to serve customers in 32 countries across Europe, the UK, and the US.
To support operations in its newly opened office, Payhawk is looking to hire professionals with a background in finance, payment operations, and risk assessment to help in the development and rollout of new products.
