GoCardless, an innovative new online payment platform, launches publicly today and announces initial funding led by Accel Partners, Passion Capital, and YCombinator. Proceeds will go towards building out the team and product, and expanding the merchant base.

GoCardless is a next generation online payment platform that makes it easy for merchants to take payments online via Direct Debit. The company has developed a REST API that makes it extremely simple for merchants to integrate with GoCardless and start taking flexible and recurring payments immediately without the need for a Merchant bank account. By bypassing the card network, GoCardless is able to offer the service for one-third to one-fourth of the cost of most network-based payment options. With just under £100bn in online sales in the UK every year, GoCardless's service could save merchants billions of pounds in costs.

Crucially for recurring payments, GoCardless takes money directly from consumers' bank accounts, eliminating the problem of credit card expirations and reducing customer churn. As early GoCardless merchant Justin Elliott from LeadsToYou.net says, "It is really noticeable how much more time we have to focus on growing the business, rather than dealing with expiring credit cards and chasing clients for money".

For consumers, GoCardless makes it quick and easy to make payments. After the initial sign up, users can authorize future payments anywhere GoCardless is offered with just one click. The company has also created a dashboard where users can easily manage all of their payments, giving them more control over their online spending.

Adam Valkin, Partner at Accel Partners said: "There remains tremendous opportunity for innovation and simplification in the payments sector. GoCardless has developed an easy-to-use solution that addresses a real pain point for merchants. They have impressive traction in the market and we are very excited by the ambition of the team."

Since launching a beta product in late 2011, GoCardless has already integrated with over 300 merchants and is growing quickly. Kashflow, an online accounting service for SMEs, integrated with GoCardless to help Kashflow customers collect money. Duane Jackson, Kashflow founder & CEO, said, "This is something truly special, unique and incredibly useful. I believe it's the first time something like this has been available to UK SMEs."

GoCardless was founded at the end of 2010 by Oxford graduates Hiroki Takeuchi, Tom Blomfield and Matt Robinson. The team participated in the YCombinator summer program in Silicon Valley in 2011, where they worked closely with YCombinator founder Paul Graham to refine the vision of the company. GoCardless is located in East London.

About GoCardless

Founded at the end of 2010, London-based GoCardless is making it easier to accept bank payments online. For more information, visit gocardless.com. You can contact the founders directly at founders@gocardless.com or 020 7183 8674

About Accel

Founded in 1983, Accel Partners has a long history of partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class businesses. Accel today invests globally using dedicated teams and market-specific strategies for local geographies, with offices in Palo Alto, California, New York City, London and Bangalore, as well as in China via its partnership with IDG-Accel.

Accel has helped entrepreneurs build over 300 successful companies, many of which have defined their categories, including AdMob, Alfresco, Angry Birds (Rovio), Atlassian, ComScore, Dropbox, Etsy, Facebook, Groupon, Kayak, Playfish, QlikTech, Spotify, and Wonga.