GoCardless becomes unicorn with US$2.1bn valuation

GoCardless, a leading fintech in direct bank payment solutions, becomes the latest European and UK tech unicorn at a valuation of US$2.1bn after it secured a Series G funding round of US$312mn.

Currently processing more than $25bn in transactions per year, the company serves over 70,000 businesses around the world, including DocuSign, Klarna, TripAdvisor and Epson. The new funding will allow GoCardless to accelerate its growth in the open banking space through both product and geographical expansion as it targets becoming the world’s leading network for direct bank payments.

The investment was led by Permira and financial software businesses including Klarna, Clearwater Analytics and Carta. New investor BlackRock Private Equity Partners also joined the round.

Hiroki Takeuchi, co-founder and CEO of GoCardless, said: “The rise of open banking presents a once-in-a-generation shift, one that will change the way payments happen all over the world. I am delighted to have partners like Permira and BlackRock Private Equity Partners on board, with their global footprint and strong expertise in tech, to support us in building a direct bank payment network that lets payments flow freely, without cards, expiration dates or extra costs. I look forward to working with them and our new board members to accelerate the future development of GoCardless.”

Accelerating open banking usage 

Since its last funding round of $95mn in December 2020, the company’s valuation has more than doubled, while headcount has grown by 85%. GoCardless accelerated its investment in open banking product development and launched Instant Bank Pay, a new way to collect one-off bank-to-bank payments using open banking. 

GoCardless was recently selected by Klarna to offer bank debit payments to 21mn customers in the US, leveraging GoCardless’ expertise in account-to-account payments as it expands in the market. In addition, PayPal and GoCardless have signed a strategic agreement that will see GoCardless become a direct debit partner for PayPal. 

Alberto Riva, Principal at Permira, added: “We believe GoCardless is uniquely positioned to become a global champion in account-to-account payments through leveraging open banking. We are thrilled to back Hiroki and his excellent team to continue innovating and offering best-in-class solutions that are cheaper, faster and a more secure way of collecting payments globally.”

With this funding round, GoCardless will also add to its Board of Directors with Michael Rouse, former Chief Commercial Officer at Klarna, and Koen Köppen, Chief Technology Officer at Klarna and Board Member of Mollie.