Hiroki Takeuchi, GoCardless chief executive, on the MoneyConf Stage, attends Web Summit 2021 in Lisbon, Portugal.Harry Murphy | Sportsfile | Getty ImagesGoCardless, the British fintech company backed by Alphabet’s venture capital fund GV, is considering more mergers and acquisitions as it looks to grow market share in the highly competitive online payments space.”We’re constantly reviewing the market for opportunities that will accelerate our growth, add value to our core payment platform or strengthen our open banking proposition,” Hiroki Takeuchi, GoCardless’ CEO and co-founder, told CNBC in an exclusive interview.Last year, GoCardless acquired the Latvian open banking startup Nordigen in its first major acquisition. Financial information was not disclosed. The deal was aimed at expanding access to bank account information for GoCardless’ 85,000 customers globally.”Will we do more of that? We’re very open minded, not just for us but in general,” Takeuchi said.”In this space I expect there’s going to be a lot of opportunities for consolidation and M&A [mergers and acquisitions], especially in the context that some companies in this space are going to be well positioned to survive these challenging conditions and grow stronger.”GoCardless is one of the darlings of the British fintech industry. Co-founded by Takeuchi, a former Monzo co-founder, in 2011, the business processes more than $30 billion of payments across over 30 countries in a single year.The U.K. fintech industry attracted $2.9 billion in the first six months of 2023. That was down 37% from last year, as investors turned their backs on loss-making, high-growth startups in response to the worsening macroeconomic situation.Britain is, nevertheless, among the standout countries globally when it comes to the might of its fintech industry. According to CNBC analysis of data from Statista, the country is the second-largest market for so-called fintech “unicorns,” or firms that command a valuation of $1 billion or more.Changing market conditionsTakeuchi pointed to Visa’s $2.2 billion acquisition of Swedish open banking fintech Tink in 2021 as an example of the kinds of deals to watch out for in the coming mo …
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