Account-to-account payment company GoCardless has raised $312 million in a Series G funding round, bringing its valuation to $2.1 billion.
GoCardless announced its status as the latest tech unicorn in Europe and the U.K. in a news release Tuesday (Feb. 8), saying it would use the finding to “accelerate its growing footprint in the open banking space through both product and geographical expansion.”
The funding round was led by Permira, which has previously backed payments and financial software companies like Klarna, Clearwater Analytics and Carta, as well as new investor BlackRock Private Equity Partners.
Learn more: Klarna Teams With GoCardless for US Expansion
GoCardless says it processes more than $25 billion in transactions each year, serving more than 70,000 businesses worldwide, including Epson, TripAdvisor and DocuSign. The London-based company’s valuation has more than doubled since its last funding round in December of 2020, while its headcount has increased by 85%.
Last year, GoCardless teamed up with buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform Klarna to roll out bank debit payments to more than 21 million customers in the U.S. for Klarna’s Pay in 4 offering and its financing solution.
2021 also saw GoCardless collaborate with BillingPlatform on a project designed to streamline the quote-to-cash process for businesses. Weeks before that, GoCardless unveiled its Instant Bank Pay feature, which lets merchants receive instant one-off, bank-to-bank payments from customers while still reaping the benefits of bank debit from recurring payments.
Read more: GoCardless, BillingPlatform Team To Accelerate Bill Payments
“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, the company’s co-founder and CEO.
“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.”