Payments firm GoCardless valued at £1.5bn after new funding round
Payment processing fintech GoCardless, which works with peer-to-peer lending platforms such as Funding Circle and Lendwise, has raised $312m (£230.4m) in its latest funding round to expand its open banking capabilities.
The series G funding round, which was led by existing investor Permira and new investor BlackRock Private Equity Partners, gives the firm a valuation of $2.1bn.
GoCardless said the funding will enable it to accelerate its growing footprint in the open banking space through both product and geographical expansion, as it looks to become a major network for direct bank payments.
The fintech unveiled two new board hires to boost its technology and payments expertise. Michael Rouse, former chief commercial officer at Klarna will join GoCardless’ board of directors. Koen Köppen, chief technology officer at Klarna, will join as an independent director.
It also announced strategic partnerships with payments behemoths Klarna and PayPal.
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“The rise of open banking presents a once-in-a-generation shift, one that will change the way payments happen all over the world,” said Hiroki Takeuchi, co-founder and chief executive of GoCardless.
“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.”
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“We believe GoCardless is uniquely positioned to become a global champion in account-to-account payments through leveraging open banking,” said Alberto Riva, principal at Permira.
“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.”
JP Morgan served as sole placement agent on the fundraise and Goldman Sachs advised Permira.
