GoCardless Becomes Tech Unicorn The platform has secured a Series G funding of Australian $437 million, making it the latest European and UK tech Unicorn at a valuation of A$2.9 billion

GoCardless, a fintech company in direct bank payment solutions, has secured a Series G funding of Australian $437 million, making it the latest European and UK tech Unicorn at a valuation of A$2.9 billion.

The investment is led by Permira's Growth Opportunities fund, which brings significant experience in backing best-in-class payments and financial software businesses including Klarna, Clearwater Analytics and Carta. New investor BlackRock Private Equity Partners also joined the round. The funding will allow GoCardless to accelerate its growing footprint in the open banking space through product and geographical expansion.

In Australia, GoCardless is committed to having its platform ready for the regulated launch of PayTo in the middle of 2022, as part of a competitive strategy to market and provide a faster, cheaper and more secure alternative to credit cards. Merchants who use PayTo through GoCardless will also be able to access the company's global direct debit network, said a statement.

"We see PayTo as a true disruptor, an example of technology that will quickly scale and challenge the dominance of cards. Not only does it offer merchants instant account-to-account payments with greater protection against fraud and failed payments, PayTo also gives payers more control, visibility and security. We are excited to launch PayTo with our first customers, BizCover and Simply Energy and look forward to helping many others offer this powerful payment option to their clients," said Luke Fossett, director ANZ at GoCardless.

GoCardless processes more than $25 billion in transactions per year and serves over 70,000 businesses around the world, including DocuSign, Klarna, TripAdvisor and Epson, added the statement.