Some founders can find it difficult to accept that their startup baby is flawed – but Matt Bird takes a different view.
Bird already had a pair of retail businesses under his belt in We Are Gntlmen and The Shirt Society – where he 鈥渓earnt the ropes of how to build a startup鈥� – before founding FinTech aboard.
The startup enabled merchants to collaborate and launch multi-brand memberships that would include multiple benefits to the customer under a single subscription fee.
Despite securing an investment term sheet, he was clear-sighted enough to realise that the long-term prospects for the business didn鈥檛 stack up.
鈥淎s a founder, it鈥檚 important to look for a clear path to scalability throughout the process, and despite having a solid foundation for the business, we couldn鈥檛 see a way to scale it further,鈥� he tells 老九品茶Cloud.聽
鈥淚nvestors were very interested in aboard, and we had secured a term sheet to fuel the next stage of growth. However, we couldn鈥檛 identify a way to grow the business to benefit both ourselves and the stakeholders involved.聽
鈥淪ometimes, you have to know when to walk away, even when investors are prepared to back it and invest your time in other opportunities.鈥�
Full of zest
A few months later, still in 2023, he teamed up with chief product officer James Lewis – a former head of product and COO at augmented reality RetailTech firm DigitalBridge – to found lemon. The business and Bird are based in London, with Lewis and chief technical officer Matt Parke – appointed in 2024 – based in Manchester.
The financing platform is designed to save businesses thousands of pounds on their SaaS subscriptions while improving vendors鈥� cash flow by getting them paid upfront.聽
鈥淭he idea for lemon was born whilst working on one of my previous ventures, which was a shirt company based on a subscription model,鈥� explains Bird.聽
鈥淲e always had this paradox: wanting to get paid upfront, whilst our customers wanted to pay monthly. The tricky part was that those customers also wanted the discounted annual price for their monthly payments.聽
鈥淭his is where the opportunity first presented itself, and the more we looked into it, the clearer it became that B2B SaaS companies face the same challenges we had with their business customers. At the same time, we wanted to remove the personal guarantees and expensive credit that many SMBs use to fund their operations. Combining all of these needs into functionalities led to the birth of lemon.鈥�
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Nothing bitter
It鈥檚 a memorable name. What’s the story behind it?
鈥淥ur main goal was to save SMBs money on their rising software costs as we were allowing them to finance their annual plans,鈥� answers Bird. 鈥淭his meant that the price would cost the businesses less on a monthly basis, so we took the first two letters of 鈥榣ess鈥� and the start of the word 鈥榤oney鈥� to form lemon.聽
鈥淲e wanted the name to be memorable, much like many consumer brands.鈥�
The tech connects lenders – usually banks – to SaaS vendors, allowing them to offer their customers an annual plan discount, which can be paid back on a monthly basis. Through the lender, the SaaS vendor receives 100% of the cash up front, improving cash flow, and the customer pays this fee back in monthly instalments, which is far cheaper than the original monthly rate offered.聽
鈥淥ne of our clients has a three-year deal on the table with one of their customers, which is worth 拢500K in value. However, the upfront cash is far more valuable to them than receiving it over a period of three years, so the client is prepared to offer the same deal for 拢400K if the customer can pay for those three years upfront,鈥� expands Bird.聽
鈥淔or many SMBs, a 拢400K cash outlay is simply too much to bear, but with lemon, the client can input their deal into the system and we can automatically connect them to financing, through our integrated network of partner funders – whether that be Shawbrook, Siemens, or even our banking partners in the US.聽
鈥淥ur network of lenders all have different requirements and goals, and lemon succinctly matches the right opportunity, to the right funder and facilitates everything in between, all within a matter of minutes.鈥�
The client can also choose the amount they want to pay towards lemon鈥檚 fees versus the cost of financing they pass on to the end customer.聽
Since it launched its lending product in October 2024, Bird says lemon has seen 拢30m of inbound demand, which he says is an 鈥渁mazing achievement鈥�.聽
鈥淲e鈥檙e also excited to see this expand into the US soon, where we have recently acquired our first customers and integrated with our first funders,鈥� he adds.
Singing investors鈥� tune
Bird – a former lead singer in a pop rock band – reveals that lemon has just closed its seed round of funding despite a challenging landscape.
鈥淢ost founders have felt disheartened by unsuccessful or tricky funding rounds throughout their founding journeys,鈥� he advises. 鈥淚t鈥檚 integral that founders don’t take it personally when their raise doesn鈥檛 close, or the money doesn鈥檛 come in as quickly as they thought it might.聽
鈥淵ou鈥檒l hear more 鈥榥os鈥� than 鈥榶eses鈥�, but don鈥檛 let rejections stop you in your tracks. Try to understand the investor’s perspectives and appeal to how they operate. Remember, each ‘no’ is a chance to refine your approach and get closer to a ‘yes’.鈥�
FinTech 50 goodness
lemon starred on our FinTech 50 ranking late last year.
鈥淲e were delighted [as this] highlights our business model’s credibility and scalability,鈥� says Bird. 鈥淎s a niche FinTech operating predominantly within the SaaS space, this recognition helped us showcase聽 the value of our product on a wider scale, increasing visibility to potential customers and investors alike.聽
鈥淲e also read 老九品茶Cloud, so on a personal note, it was really nice to see ourselves on there!鈥�