Mollie completes GoCardless acquisition

Overview

Updated Oct 12

Mollie closed its about €1.1bn acquisition of GoCardless on September 1, folding the London bank-payments company into an Amsterdam group serving 350,000+ businesses. GoCardless keeps its name and its co-founder Hiroki Takeuchi as chief executive, while Mollie's Koen Köppen leads the combined company.

The deal pairs Mollie's card and local payment methods with GoCardless's direct debit and open banking network, which spans 38 countries. Open banking lets third-party services move money from a customer's bank account with their consent. Both companies say customers see no immediate changes; integration will be phased.

Why it matters

The deal gives European merchants a single provider for card payments, direct debit, and business financing, a direct challenge to Stripe and Adyen.

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Key Indicators

€1.05bn

Deal value

Reported by Tech.eu at announcement; BusinessCloud cited about €1.1bn at completion.

350,000+

Combined business customers

Businesses served by the combined group across 30+ markets.

30+

Markets served

Countries where the combined group operates.

Countries with Pay by Bank

Countries where GoCardless's open banking product is available.

€147M

Mollie 2025 net revenue

Reported for 2025, after Mollie reached EBITDA profitability in 2024.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

People Involved

Koen Köppen

Chief executive of Mollie and the combined group

Leads the combined Mollie-GoCardless group

Hiroki Takeuchi

Co-founder and chief executive of GoCardless

Continues to lead GoCardless, a Mollie company

Organizations Involved

Mollie

Payments and financial services company

Acquirer; leads the combined group

Amsterdam-based payments company focused on small and medium businesses in Europe.

GoCardless

Bank payments company

Acquired; operates as 'GoCardless, a Mollie company'

London-based platform for collecting recurring and one-off payments directly from bank accounts.

Timeline

September 2024 September 2026

3 events Latest: September 1st, 2026 · 2 months ago

September 2026
Mollie completes GoCardless acquisition
Latest Acquisition

Mollie completes the acquisition; GoCardless keeps its brand and CEO.
September 1st, 2026
December 2025
Mollie signs deal to buy GoCardless
Announcement

Mollie and GoCardless announce €1.05bn acquisition agreement, mostly stock, serving 350,000+ businesses.
December 11th, 2025
September 2024
GoCardless acquires Nuapay
Acquisition

GoCardless closes purchase of open banking firm Nuapay, expanding bank-to-bank payments.
September 2024

Scenarios

Mollie launches unified card-and-bank payments platform

Likely Resolves by End of 2027

Discussed by: Mollie and GoCardless executives, whose joint completion announcement describes a phased integration toward a combined offering

Mollie adds GoCardless's direct debit and Pay by Bank to its standard checkout, so any merchant can accept card, local, and bank payments in one dashboard. The companies promise advance notice and no disruption during the transition.

Integration stalls, brands stay separate

Possible Resolves by Sep 1, 2027

Discussed by: The companies themselves, who say integration 'will not rush the process'

GoCardless keeps running as a standalone product with its own dashboard, contracts, and pricing, while Mollie focuses on its card business. Customers see little change beyond ownership.

Combined group files for an initial public offering

Possible Resolves by End of 2028

Discussed by: No public prediction yet; the mostly-stock deal structure, reported by Tech.eu citing the Financial Times, leaves GoCardless shareholders holding private Mollie stock, creating pressure for a listing

With both businesses profitable and more than 350,000 customers, Mollie seeks a listing to give shareholders liquidity and raise capital to compete with Stripe and Adyen. A European exchange is the likely venue.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

February-October 2020

Worldline acquires Ingenico (2020)

French payments processor Worldline agreed in February 2020 to buy rival Ingenico for €7.8bn, combining merchant acquiring with payment terminals. The merger created Europe's largest payments company by volume.

Then

The deal closed in October 2020, but integrating the two organizations took years and overlapped with the pandemic.

Now

Worldline's market value later fell sharply from its 2021 peak as growth slowed, a reminder that scale alone does not secure value in payments.

Why this matters now

Europe's last big payments merger shows both the promise of consolidation and the integration risk Mollie now faces.

September-December 2013

PayPal acquires Braintree (2013)

PayPal paid about $800m for Braintree, a developer-focused payments platform that owned the Venmo app. PayPal, then part of eBay, gained modern developer tools and a mobile-first consumer brand in one deal.

Then

Braintree kept its brand and leadership, and Venmo grew into one of the most-used payment apps in the US.

Now

Braintree's technology became the core of PayPal's developer platform, one of the most successful payments acquisitions of the decade.

Why this matters now

Mollie is running the same play: buy complementary payment technology, keep the brand and founder, integrate gradually.

January-July 2019

Fiserv acquires First Data (2019)

US payments firm Fiserv bought First Data in an all-stock deal worth about $22bn, joining First Data's merchant network with Fiserv's banking software.

Then

First Data shareholders received Fiserv stock, tying their payout to the combined company's performance over several years of integration.

Now

Fiserv became one of the world's largest payment processors, showing how stock can fund consolidation at a scale cash cannot.

Why this matters now

Mollie's deal was also mostly stock, about 90% by press accounts, so GoCardless shareholders now hold a stake in the combined group's future.