Reinforcing its position as the UK’s leading Direct Debit provider, the FinTech start-up can also reveal:
- over 2,000 new businesses are joining each month
- it’s experiencing 35% month-on-month growth within Europe
- it’s processing over 15,000 payments every day worth in excess of $2.5m

“To break through the billion dollar barrier is a great milestone in our journey towards setting up a new payment network for the Internet,” said GoCardless CEO Hiroki Takeuchi. “Over the last year we’ve seen a 250% increase in volume as our customers increasingly recognise and leverage the potential of Direct Debit.”

Before the launch of GoCardless in 2012, Direct Debit was under-utilised and inaccessible to many businesses. Typically the pre-existing system:
- was only available to the largest companies
- was hard to manage as the underlying processes were clunky and out of date
- was time consuming and expensive to use
- left SMEs chasing customers for manual payments via cheque or bank transfer

“By aggregating volume - and building simple APIs - we’re opening up access to everyone, regardless of their size, and allowing them to automate the process,” said Hiroki Takeuchi. “There’s no other service that’s as easy to use, requires no expensive software additions or offers a self-service sign option. Additionally our pricing structure is extremely competitive - for example PayPal’s charges are more than double ours.”

“All of this is reflected in the fact that just over a half of our $1 billion annual volume is generated from small independent merchants. We are championing businesses across the globe and providing a much needed service that works for everyone.”

While SMEs currently make up the majority of GoCardless’ turnover, the fastest growing area is usage by large and international businesses.

“A noticeable trend is how larger companies like the Financial Times, Times Education Supplement and Box.com are now coming onboard,” said Hiroki Takeuchi. “Over the last 18 months this area has grown from close to zero to being worth nearly half the value of our processing volumes.”

Supported by its on-going success, GoCardless is continuing the roll out of its platform across Europe. The company has recently opened up sign ups for businesses in France and Germany - with Ireland joining the list this week.

“It’s part of our vision to create a simple, new multi-currency payment network for the Internet by building on top of the various Direct Debit systems across the world,” said Hiroki Takeuchi.

“We’re in talks with regulators at the moment and in coming months we’re planning to launch our service in new countries including the United States, Australia and a number of Nordic countries.”