GoCardless is continuing its international push through new partnerships. This week, the company confirmed tie-ups with subscription billing platform Recurly and cross-border payments company TransferWise in an effort to take market share away from banks.
With TransferWise, GoCardless is allowing merchants to accept international payments on its direct debit payment platform. For example, an Australian software provider could collect funds from an American customer in American dollars and settle in Australian dollars, without having to set up an American bank account and transfer the funds internationally. Through Transferwise, customers save time and exchange fees, according to Pranav Sood, general manager of international expansion at GoCardless.
“When we look at the market for cross-border payments, we see a huge opportunity,” said Sood. “That market is still dominated by banks and traditional financial institutions.”
In addition, the Recurly partnership allows merchants on the Recurly platform to offer GoCardless’ direct debit option as a payment method. Recurly’s technology helps merchants onboard customers to subscription payments, along with billing and accounting services. Recurly also offers businesses personalized client insights. Recurly manages about 23 million subscriptions for its 2,500 merchant partners, with 30% of them collecting international payments, explained Sood. Recurly’s clients include Twitch, Showtime and Speedo.
See also: GoCardless launches direct debit option for US payers
GoCardless’ TransferWise feature is available in all markets. Recurly merchants in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe can use GoCardless for now, but the company hopes to expand that. The company charges merchants 1% of each transaction, but those prices are capped at £2 ($2.56).
GoCardless’ partnerships with TransferWise and Recurly are the latest in a series of moves by the company to expand its international customer base. In September, the company’s platform became available to payers in the U.S. GoCardless is now available in 30 markets around the globe. The company, which was founded in 2011, has raised $122 million in total. The company works with 40,000 businesses and processes $10 billion each year.
David Gyori, CEO of Banking Reports, recently told Bank Innovation that GoCardless faces competition in its efforts to acquire more corporate clients. He added that request-to-pay, where customers pay out of their bank account with biometric authentication, is among the offerings from other companies in the field.



