The founders of UK fintech GoCardless are set for a significant financial windfall after the payments company agreed to be acquired by Dutch rival Mollie in a deal valued at €1.05bn (£920m).
The transaction is expected to deliver a major payday for GoCardless chief executive Hiroki Takeuchi, as well as fellow co-founder Tom Blomfield, one of Britain’s most prominent technology entrepreneurs and a co-founder of digital bank Monzo.
Founded in London in 2011 by Takeuchi, Blomfield (pictured) and fellow Oxford graduate Matt Robinson, GoCardless has grown into one of Europe’s leading account-to-account payments platforms, serving more than 100,000 businesses and processing over $130bn of transactions annually.
The deal comes nearly a decade after Takeuchi suffered a life-changing cycling accident in London that left him paralysed from the waist down. He returned to work within months and has since led the company through rapid international expansion.
“I owe a lot to GoCardless as a company, to our investors, and to our team,” Takeuchi said following the announcement. “We’re not doing this to exit the company — we’re doing this because we believe in the future of the combination.”
More than 90 per cent of the deal consideration will be paid in shares, with the remainder in cash. Takeuchi will remain with the combined group in a senior leadership role once the transaction completes, which is expected by mid-2026, subject to regulatory approvals.
Although GoCardless only reached profitability earlier this year — reporting a return to the black in the three months to June — it still recorded a £34.5m pre-tax loss for 2024. Nevertheless, the acquisition marks one of the most significant UK fintech exits in recent years.
The agreed valuation is below the $2.1bn price tag attached to GoCardless during its last major fundraising round in 2022, when it raised $312m from investors including Balderton Capital, BlackRock and Permira. Fintech valuations across the sector have since been compressed by higher interest rates and a tougher funding environment.
Blomfield, who left GoCardless in 2013, went on to co-found Monzo two years later and is now a partner at Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator. While the precise ownership structure of GoCardless is unclear, both he and Takeuchi are believed to retain meaningful stakes.
The acquisition will create a combined payments group serving more than 350,000 businesses across Europe, positioning the merged company as a major challenger in the fast-evolving fintech landscape.
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GoCardless founders in line for major payday as fintech sells for nearly £1bn