Global Processing Services, an API-based payment processor powering some of the world’s largest fintechs, including Revolut, Curve, Starling Bank and Zilch, raised a monster $300 million fundraise led by Advent International and Viking Global Investors, according to a press release.
The two investing firms will now hold a controlling stake in the company, which now has an undisclosed valuation. That raises questions considering GPS previously only raised a £44M private equity round led by Dunedin LLP in mid-2018, and a corporate round of an undisclosed amount led by Visa in October 2020.
Clearly GPS is worth more than its previous funding may have indicated, especially when you take into account the high-profile fintechs which are currently leveraging its embedded finance technology.
“We are delighted to partner with Advent and Viking, with their deep experience and track record in payments and fintech, and, who share our bold vision for the next generation of global payments,” GPS CEO Joanne Dewar stated in the release.
The investment could actually be on the low-side, considering GPS’ clientele and service: building and maintaining APIs used by an increasing number of fintech startups, firms and traditional banks. Through a single unified code base, the provider enables customers and partners to launch and scale card programs across 48 countries, with 95 integration issuers.
Founded in 2007 by Craig Dewar and Tony Kerr, the London-based company has processed over 1.3 billion transactions, and issued over 190 million physical and virtual cards to date.
It also works with some of fintech’s biggest challengers, including Revolut, Curve, Starling Bank, Zilch, WeLab Bank and Paidy.
GPS says it will use the funding to expand, both within the platform and across the world. The API provider intends to also use the investment to help make more strategic inroads into other markets and potentially bring new tech to its platform, according to TechCrunch.
“GPS has been at the heart of the global fintech explosion, simplifying access to the global rails of the new digital payments era. This investment will allow us to turbo charge our geographic footprint and product expansion plans as we drive the payments ecosystem in the key verticals of today and tomorrow, including digital banking, Buy Now Pay Later, B2B virtual cards, financial empowerment, and much more,” Dewar said.