\Fintech News/ GoCardless closes $95m round amid holiday deal rush The funding brings the company to near unicorn status By Freya Pratty 17 December 2020 \Fintech Checkout.com becomes Europe’s largest unicorn with $15bn valuation By Isabel Woodford 12 January 2021 \Fintech News/ GoCardless closes $95m round amid holiday deal rush The funding brings the company to near unicorn status By Freya Pratty 17 December 2020 British payments company GoCardless has secured $95m in new funding, bringing the company to near unicorn status with a $970m valuation. GoCardless’ latest round now stands as one of the biggest of 2020, with the latest funding set to be used to expand the platform, which allows customers to set up direct debits to businesses using their bank account details rather than through credit cards or bank transfers. The Series F funding round, led by BainCapital, brings the total raised by the company to $240m and comes amidst a flurry of fintech funding rounds throughout December. Advertisement This month has seen a number of fintech companies secure funding, including Cleo’s $44m funding round, a $30m funding round for Zilch and the £60m raised by Monzo earlier in the month. More broadly, fintech has maintained its crown as the most funded of any industry in Europe this year, with $9.4bn invested in total so far, according to Dealroom. GoCardless had a difficult start to the year, laying off staff and announcing cuts to salaries across its 400-person team in the wake of Covid. But overall, it says it benefited from a surge in online payments during the pandemic, seeing 46% year-on-year growth and 100% increase in new bookings across 2020. The company had initially focused on small businesses but has expanded to larger corporations, including Docusign. It has also doubled down on the growing subscription economy, with companies like Brompton Bike Hire using the platform to receive payments from its subscribed customers. “We’re seeing strong early results as GoCardless moves beyond SMBs to serve mid-market and enterprise customers and expands its international footprint to address a growing need for bank debit processing,” says Matt Harris, partner at Bain Capital Ventures, which led GoCardless’ $95m funding round. Freya Pratty covers news at Sifted. She tweets from @FPratty Advertisement Help Sifted get bigger and better (and get a sneak peak at our future plans). Please take our reader survey. Take the survey Terms of Use Related Articles Starling Bank wants to buy a lender By Ryan Weeks Click here to read more Checkout.com becomes Europe’s largest unicorn with $15bn valuation By Isabel Woodford Click here to read more The 10 fastest fintechs to reach billion dollar valuations By Isabel Woodford Click here to read more The European startups making a mint from the bitcoin boom By Sifted reporters Click here to read more Get the best of Sifted in your inbox By entering your email you agree to Sifted’s Terms of Use Sign up to \Future Proof Sifted’s weekly \Corporate Innovation roundup email By entering your email you agree to Sifted’s Terms of Use Most Read 1 \Fintech Starling Bank wants to buy a lender 2 \Startup Life Chief of staff: the ‘must-have hire’ for startup CEOs? 3 \Fintech The 10 fastest fintechs to reach billion dollar valuations 4 \Venture Capital Rich Europeans need to invest 10% of their money into tech and stop buying stupid stuff like hotels 5 \Public and Academic European Commission makes its first equity investments into startups 1 Join the conversation Subscribe newest oldest most voted Notify of new follow-up comments new replies to my comments PeteLow tech
Checkout.com becomes Europe’s largest unicorn with $15bn valuation By Isabel Woodford Click here to read more
The 10 fastest fintechs to reach billion dollar valuations By Isabel Woodford Click here to read more
The European startups making a mint from the bitcoin boom By Sifted reporters Click here to read more