Global spend management solution and Bulgaria’s first unicorn, Payhawk, has obtained an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from the Bank of Lithuania. This has allowed the solution to open a local office in the country, as it now looks to hire a team of finance professionals to accelerate product development.
The expansion into Lithuania means Payhawk now serves clients in over 32 countries. It offers businesses across Europe, the UK and US a simplified payments solution which combines company cards, reimbursable expenses, accounts payable, and accounting software integration into a single product. Some notable clients include LuxAir and Babbel.
“We have been engaging in conversations with a significant number of Lithuanian businesses that are looking to optimise spend and make their finance teams more efficient,” says Saulius Žlabys, managing director at Payhawk Lithuania. “We’ve always considered Lithuania an important country for us to operate in, and we hope our local presence will help us bring the benefits of Payhawk to more businesses in the Baltics.”
The Bank of Lithuania EMI license
Payhawk has also recently received an EMI license from the Bank of Lithuania. According to Hristo Borisov, CEO and co-founder of Payhawk, the new license will accelerate the development of new features of the Payhawk platform: “We chose to pursue a license from the Bank of Lithuania because of their commitment to proactively support innovative financial companies like us.
“The license will help us bring innovation to our customers; 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 is hiring highly experienced professionals for its new Vilnius office. In particular, Payhawk is seeking professionals with a background in finance, payment operations, and risk assessment.
“Our company values include supporting flat hierarchies, taking ownership and responsibility, seeking and providing feedback, managing constructive critique, and speaking our minds,” said Borisov. “We understand that the best ideas don’t all come from the same place, so we encourage diversity and inclusion in all work areas.”
According to Elijus Čivilis, general manager at Invest Lithuania, Payhawk is a great addition to the fintech landscape in Lithuania.
“It is great to see that Vilnius is not only creating unicorns, but also attracting them. I’m sure that in Lithuania, Payhawk will find the right talent and support to continue its successful growth.”