Richard Carter

Carter began his career at the consultancy Accenture and later became a founding team member at Ecrebo, a venture-backed point-of-sale marketing platform. He also founded OrderPay, a pay-at-table platform for the hospitality sector, and Payment Loyalty, a customer loyalty platform.⁠[1][1]

Carter has been a director of LOPAY LTD since May 10, 2021. Lopay launched in January 2022, enabling small and medium-sized businesses to take card payments from customers at lower cost than incumbent providers, with the option of receiving cleared funds in their accounts immediately.⁠[2][2][3][3]

In October 2023, about 18 months after its inception, Lopay raised £6 million in seed funding from investors including the London venture capital firm BACKED, Portage, The Venture Collective, and a group of angel investors, with Portage and BACKED co-leading the round. By then more than 20,000 businesses had switched to Lopay.⁠[1][1][1][1]

In June 2024, Carter said Lopay expected to become profitable that year and planned to expand into Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, and the United States within 12 months. At the time Lopay had more than 40,000 active businesses and expected to process more than £1 billion in card payments over the following 12 months.⁠[3][3][3]

He called Lopay “the world’s lowest-cost and highest-rated payments app” and said his objective was to bring merchants’ fees down to zero with an offers and rewards package that offsets payment fees. He argued that the large payment providers had become comfortable with their pricing.⁠[3][3][3]

In 2024, Lopay partnered with YouLend to offer merchants cash advances, providing £1 million in funding within three months of launch. Carter said cash flow and access to capital were the core problems of its small business customers.⁠[4][4]

On August 27, 2025, The Venture Room released a street-interview video filmed on Kings Road in London in which Carter was one of the interviewees. He explained that Lopay lets merchants receive their takings on a card it provides, and that spending on the card offsets processing fees; he said in the interview that the business had reached eight figures. The video’s description included a promotional partner link from Lopay for the channel’s viewers.⁠[5][5][5][5]

He said the large payment companies had been around for more than a decade and had become complacent, and that Lopay, as a later entrant, had copied and upgraded their best features.⁠[5][5]

“Sell it before you build it.” He advised first getting people to want your product and verifying that a market exists. (at 10:15 in the video)⁠[5]

“The rich aren’t saving for security; they’re investing for freedom.” He recommended buying assets that earn money while you sleep. (at 11:47 in the video)⁠[5][5]

“Cash flow is king.” He said the key is to get money in the door and cleared as quickly as possible, and to plan payments and pay only when needed; a hospitality business that receives its weekend takings on Saturday, for example, can pay staff and restock on Sunday. (at 12:52 in the video)⁠[5][5][5]

Lopay: Official website: https://lopay.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[5]