Mollie grows 23 per cent and completes the GoCardless acquisition

What happened

For the first half of 2026 Mollie has reported gross revenue of 274.3 million euros (plus 31 per cent) and net revenue after processing costs of 156 million euros (plus 23 per cent). In parallel, a 350 million euro programme for expansion into further European markets is running, and the acquisition of London-based direct debit provider GoCardless for around 1.1 billion euros is being completed. In Germany Mollie is widespread above all among small and medium-sized online shops, with plugins for Shopware, WooCommerce, Shopify and Magento.

Who it affects

Mid-sized online merchants, particularly those with subscription models, recurring invoices or B2B customers who pay by direct debit.

Assessment

At its core GoCardless is a direct debit machine: SEPA, Bacs, recurring collections, account reconciliation. That a card payment provider pays more than a billion for it says something about the direction of travel. For subscriptions, memberships and invoices the card is expensive and unreliable, because it expires and fraud rules kick in. At Mollie, direct debit costs a flat 35 cents instead of 1.8 per cent plus 25 cents for the card.

Merchants need to know the flip side: the customer can reclaim a SEPA direct debit for eight weeks without giving a reason. With the card there is a procedure with evidence; with direct debit there is not. So anyone betting on Mollie plus GoCardless is trading fees for chargeback risk. In many cases that is a good trade, but it is a trade.

What to do now

1. Review the payment method mix by business model: one-off purchases stay with card and PayPal, subscriptions and invoices belong on direct debit.
2. Pull the chargeback rate per payment method from the provider portal before expanding direct debit.
3. In negotiations with your payment service provider, name the competition: the market is moving, terms are negotiable.