UK fintech founder Gocardless has been hit with a significant financial windfall after the payments firm agreed to be acquired by Dutch rival Mollie in a deal worth €1.05bn (£920m).
The transaction is expected to pass a big payday for Gocarday Chief Executive Hiroki Tutuchi, and a certain partner Tom Blomfield, one of the most prominent British entrepreneurs and the founder of Digital Bank Monzo.
Founded in London in 2011 by Tatechi, Blomfield (pictured) and Oxford Cruiden Matt Robinson, Gocardless has grown into one of the world’s leading account payment platforms, serving more than 100,000 businesses and $130bn in annual transactions.
The deal comes nearly a decade after Tatuchi suffered a life-changing accident in London that left him paralyzed from the waist down. He returned to work within months and has led the company through rapid international expansion.
“I owe a lot to gocardless as a company, to our investors and to our team,” Tatuchi said following the announcement. “We’re not doing this to get out of the company – We’re doing this because we believe in the combination.”
More than 90 percent of the consideration will be in shares, with the remainder in cash. Takeuchi will remain with the combined group in a senior leadership role once the transaction is completed, which is expected in mid-2026, subject to regulatory approvals.
Although gocardless only turned a profit earlier this year – reporting a return to the black in the three months to June – it is still recording tax losses for 2024.
The deal was agreed under a price tag of $2.1bn attached to gocarding during the last major fundraising in 2022, when it raised $312m from investors including money from investors, Blackrock and Permira. Fintech valuations in that sector have been under pressure from high interest rates and a strong currency environment.
Blomfield, who left gocardless in 2013, continued to collaborate with Monzo two years later and is now a partner at the Silicon Valley Accelerator y combinator. While the exact structure of the gocardless identity is unclear, both he and Tatuchi are believed to have kept a reasonable count.
The acquisition will create a unified payments group serving more than 350,000 businesses across Europe, positioning the combined company as a major player in the fast-moving Fintech landscape.
