London-based Direct Debit network GoCardless has raised a $13 million funding round from Notion Capital to extend its online bank-to-bank payment service to new geographies.
Launched in 2011, the platform is now live in six markets, with Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden joining the UK, France and Germany, processing £1 billion of payments annually.
GoCardless co-founder Hiroki Takeuchi, says: “Our vision is to create the first global bank-to-bank payment network and we are really excited to have hit £1 billion in annual payments for our merchants. While our early years focused on helping UK SMEs get access to Direct Debit, our recent growth has been driven by increasing demand from larger corporates and new markets like France and Germany."
He says the fastest-growing demand now comes from established enterprises in areas like travel, utilities and telecoms. Leading this trend, Thomas Cook recently revealed GoCardless as a new way for holidaymakers to pay in interest free, monthly installments.
Part of London’s thriving fintech movement, the company has now raised a total of $25m. Existing investors Balderton Capital, Accel Partners, and Passion Capital, joined Notion Capital in the latest financing round.
Notion Capital managing partner, Stephen Chandler, describes the investment as part of the wider payments trend: “The reason we’ve invested is pretty straightforward: the world is moving toward subscription models and Direct Debit is the most efficient and cost effective way to process them. GoCardless brings this into the digital age, making it simple to integrate and removing the last barriers to broader adoption.”