For decades, small business owners have quietly absorbed one of the least-discussed costs in commerce: payment processing fees. Every time a customer swipes a card, a slice of that transaction (often 2-3%) is siphoned off by banks and processors. For businesses running on razor-thin margins, those costs can amount to thousands of dollars annually, acting like an invisible tax on entrepreneurship.
Enter Lopay, a U.K.-born fintech founded in 2022 by Richard Carter, a serial entrepreneur who previously built OrderPay, the UK’s leading table-ordering platform during the pandemic. Carter saw firsthand how high fees and long settlement times were crippling small businesses. Determined to build a better way, he launched Lopay with a simple mission: let entrepreneurs keep more of their money and access it instantly.
Instant Access Meets Net-Zero Fees
The heart of Lopay’s appeal is speed and savings. Unlike traditional providers that make merchants wait days for deposits, Lopay offers instant payouts 24/7, including weekends and holidays. For business owners juggling inventory orders, payroll, and bills, that kind of liquidity can mean the difference between growth and stagnation.
But perhaps the most disruptive feature is the free Lopay Expense & Rewards Card. Every payment a merchant processes is instantly available on the card. Even more importantly, by using it for everyday expenses, merchants can offset all processing fees, reducing costs to effectively zero. It’s the first-time small businesses have had a tool that not only manages cash flow but also eliminates one of their biggest hidden costs.
Carter calls it “net-free payment processing.” For a business processing $250,000 a year, Lopay’s model can save thousands annually compared to traditional providers. That’s money that can fund new equipment, marketing campaigns, or simply provide breathing room in uncertain times.
Competing With Giants
By teaming up with Stripe, Lopay is entering the U.S. market head-on, ready to compete with dominant names like Square, Zettle, and Clover. While competitors charge 2.6% + $0.15 per transaction or more, Lopay’s U.S. fees start at 1.99% + $0.10, already the lowest on the market.
Add the Expense & Rewards Card, and those fees vanish entirely.
This value proposition is especially potent at a time when small businesses are being squeezed by inflation, tariffs, and labor shortages. “Payment processing shouldn’t feel like part of the squeeze,” Carter says. “Our job is to help merchants thrive, not drain their profits with fees and delays.”
A Platform Built for Entrepreneurs
Beyond rates and settlement speeds, Lopay is built with small businesses in mind. Features include:
- Free POS software and card readers for those who want hardware.
- Tap-to-Pay via smartphones, eliminating the need for terminals.
- QuickBooks and Xero integration for streamlined accounting.
- Fraud protection and PCI compliance, ensuring security without complexity.
- Cash advances up to $2 million, giving businesses access to growth capital.
- BNPL customer payment options with both Affirm and Klarna.
This suite of tools means Lopay can scale with a business, whether you’re a street vendor just starting out, a barber managing multiple chairs, or a fitness studio expanding to new locations.
A Mission Beyond Payments
Carter often frames Lopay’s mission in bigger terms than just lowering fees. While Stripe’s stated goal is to “increase the GDP of the internet,” Lopay’s goal is to increase the GDP of small and micro-businesses.
That focus is evident in the company’s growth strategy. More than 30% of Lopay’s merchants come from word-of-mouth referrals, a sign of trust and satisfaction. The app already has a 4.9-star rating across platforms, reflecting the company’s commitment to customer-first service.
It’s also evident in Carter’s empathy for the underdog. “Many fintech solutions are built top-down,” he says. “We built Lopay bottom-up by sitting with market traders, taxi drivers, and barbers, listening to their challenges, and designing with them, not just for them.”
Global Growth and Future Trends
Just three years since launch, Lopay already serves more than 50,000 businesses across the U.K. and U.S., saving millions in fees. And the expansion isn’t slowing. Through a project called Terminal Pay, Lopay plans to expand to 23 countries in Europe and Asia-Pacific, widening access to instant payouts and net-free processing.
The company is also keeping an eye on broader shifts in payments. Carter points to five trends reshaping e-commerce and in-person transactions:
- Real-time payments and instant settlements.
- BNPL expansion, giving consumers flexible purchasing power.
- AI in fraud detection, reducing risk while personalizing payment flows.
- Stablecoin adoption, especially for cross-border payments.
- Embedded payments and super apps, removing friction at checkout.
Lopay is already adapting, ensuring its merchants can accept multiple currencies, tap into BNPL, and eventually benefit from account-to-account transactions.
Why It Matters Now
For entrepreneurs, every percentage point saved matters. In the U.S., the average small business margin is just 7-10%. Eliminating 3% in card fees can boost take-home profit by as much as 30%. That’s why Lopay’s Expense & Rewards Card, combined with instant access to funds, feels less like a perk and more like a lifeline.
As Carter puts it: “Net free payment processing with instant liquidity is hard to beat. It’s transformational.”
In an era where large financial institutions have long dictated the rules of payment processing, Lopay represents something rare: a fintech built not for Wall Street, but for Main Street.
