Hire now, float later: BNPL platform provider Limepay preps for IPO

Buy now pay later platform provider Limepay is putting together a new board and has tapped advisers to step up plans for a 2021 ASX listing.

Limepay co-founders Tim Dwyer, left, and Dan Peters say they are putting together a new board for a potential ASX listing this year. Picture: Britta Campion

Buy now pay later platform provider Limepay is putting together a new board, embarking on an executive hiring spree and has tapped advisers to step up plans for a 2021 ASX listing.

The Australian can reveal Limepay — which is backed by Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci in his personal capacity — has stockbroking firm Ord Minnett and the advisory arm of Prime Financial assisting with its initial public offering process.

Limepay, founded in 2016, provides a range of payment services including the technology and infrastructure for retailers and other merchants to draw on to provide their own-branded buy now pay later service. It is an alternative to the likes of Afterpay and Zip as retailers can retain the data, lead interactions with customers and use their own brand.

Limepay co-founder and revenue chief Dan Peters said the timing of an ASX listing would ­depend on market conditions and the overall progress in the company’s hiring plans.

“We are working towards that goal (2021 IPO) … there are some big things in the pipeline,” he said.

The company now has more than 120 merchants using its platform, including Accor, EB Games and Puma and property group Domain will start using Limepay to facilitate sellers paying marketing costs to real estate agents.

Mr Peters joined Limepay from Google Australia, where he worked alongside Jason Pellegrino, who is now Domain chief executive. Tim Dwyer, also a Limepay co-founder and chief executive, was the creator of fashion marketplace The Birdcage.

Fund managers are expecting Limepay will start a non-deal roadshow in coming months. But the ASX has been awash with BNPL-related floats over the past two years, so it won’t be an easy pitch. The company raised about $30m in 2020 to help drive its ­expansion and listing plans.

Mr Banducci invested in Limepay in a personal capacity, adding to his portfolio of financial services companies, including Tyro where he remains a top 20 shareholder, according to Bloomberg.

While Limepay is yet to lock down a chairman for its listing, it has appointed MediaCom Australia chief and former Yahoo local managing director Willie Pang as a non-executive director.

The hiring drive has also seen Limepay recruit six key executives including outgoing XE.com CEO and former Oz Forex executive Mark Ledsham as chief financial officer, and former PayPal and Westpac executive Jessica Turnbull who will lead marketing.

Developer and software architect Andy Britz, who has had stints at Simple Machines and Aussie Home Loans, has joined as chief technology officer.

“With these new additions, we are extremely confident about the team we have driving our pathway to a potential ASX listing,” Mr Dwyer said.

But the global industry received a blow this week as UK regulators signalled a clampdown on the BNPL sector and how it screens and approves customers.

The Woolard Review found BNPL represented “a significant potential consumer harm”, and recommended amending legislation “as soon as possible” to ­tighten regulation of the sector.

Mr Peters welcomed the increased regulatory scrutiny, saying it was a sign the sector was “maturing rapidly”. “We believe that the Limepay model of empowering brands with all the payments data relating to their customer’s behaviour enables them to make much smarter decisions around customers’ payment options … this actually incentivises better behaviours,” he said.

Limepay is hoping retailers start to question the value of BNPL operators such as Afterpay, Zip and the Commonwealth Bank-backed Klarna because they charge fees between 3 per cent and 6 per cent of transaction value. Some also try to steer and push marketing efforts on retailers using their model, which can cause angst among merchants and confusion about which brands are selected to participate.

On LinkedIn on Thursday, ­retailer Anthony Wilson pushed back at Afterpay on a request to participate in its own sale day, saying the BNPL operator shouldn’t be encouraging retailers to “chew margin with sales event after sales event”.

Mr Wilson is founder of Wilson Retail, which houses brands including Stormriders.

Limepay employs about 40 people and that number is expected to hit as many as 70 staff over the next few months.