By Anna Irrera
LONDON (Reuters) – British digital payments firm GoCardless has raised $95 million in an investment round led by Bain Capital Ventures, the company said on Thursday.
The startup will use the cash injection to invest in its open banking strategy, enabling more businesses to accept bank-to-bank payments and replacing more costly card transactions, it said.
London-based GoCardless processes direct debit payments, which are recurring transactions withdrawn directly from a consumers’ bank account. Clients include businesses such as those charging monthly subscriptions or offering installment payments.
The deal brings the total funding raised by the company to $240 million.
It comes as digital payment companies have seen transaction volumes boom during the coronavirus pandemic, with global lockdowns pushing more commerce and business online.
GoCardless, which processes $18 billion in payments annually across more than 30 countries, said its revenue rose 46% from November last year to last month.
“We showed resilience through this challenging period,” said Hiroki Takeuchi, CEO and co-founder of GoCardless. “We believe that open banking is set to disrupt the payment landscape by introducing new, simpler and more secure ways of making bank-to-bank payments that will compete with the traditional card networks.”
The deal marks the first investment in a European fintech by Bain’s VC arm, which has been a prolific investor in startups in the sector in the United States.
“We like to see this as a flagship investment in European fintech,” said Matt Harris, a partner at Bain Capital Ventures.
He said GoCardless was well placed to benefit from a shift away from debit and credit card payments and had seen strong early results expanding its international footprint.
(Reporting by Anna Irrera; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
