Stripe has confirmed the acquisition of GoCardless, the London-headquartered bank payment platform, in an all-cash deal worth approximately £2.1 billion. The transaction will see GoCardless integrated into Stripe's global payments infrastructure, giving the San Francisco-based company a dominant position in recurring bank-to-bank payments across Europe and beyond. GoCardless processes more than £30 billion in annual payment volume for over 85,000 businesses worldwide.

The acquisition reflects Stripe's strategic push to expand beyond card-based payments into account-to-account and open banking-powered payment rails. GoCardless has built a particularly strong franchise in direct debit processing across the UK, eurozone, and Australia, complementing Stripe's existing card and instant payment capabilities. GoCardless co-founder and CEO Hiroki Takeuchi will join Stripe's leadership team to oversee the integration and the combined company's bank payment strategy across all markets.

The deal has raised questions among UK policymakers about the country's ability to retain ownership of its most promising fintech companies. Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride called for a review of how the UK can better support scaling fintechs to reduce the pipeline of British technology firms being acquired by US competitors. However, Stripe has committed to maintaining GoCardless's London headquarters and plans to expand its UK engineering team by 200 roles over the next two years as part of the deal's undertakings.