Lemonway was created in 2007 by Sebastien Burlet, Antoine Orsini and Damien Guermonprez. In December 2012 it was granted a payment licence, which let it hold and move funds on behalf of others.
In 2015 it opened offices in Spain, Italy and the UK. In 2016 it was payment partner to 200 crowdfunding platforms and 1.3 million payment accounts, and in 2017 it reached 2 million customer accounts in Europe.
In 2017 the French regulator fined Lemonway €80,000 over its anti-money-laundering controls. In 2018 it sold its Dakar subsidiary to refocus on Europe and raised a €10 million Series A from Breega and SpeedInvest.
In 2019 it raised €25 million, including from Toscafund Asset Management, bringing total funding to about €50 million. It joined FrenchTech120 in 2020 and reached break-even in 2023 on revenue of €32.3 million. Lemonway is privately held.