Dunedin invests in payments processor GPS’s £44m funding round
The UK’s “third largest fintech financing in 2018”
UK-based private equity house Dunedin has invested in the £44 million funding of Global Processing Services (GPS) and taken a “significant stake” in the business. The exact amount invested by Dunedin was not disclosed.
Dunedin calls the deal the UK’s “third largest fintech financing in 2018”. The firm says it sees “significant potential” for GPS to expand into new international markets as well as develop its product portfolio.
GPS provides issuer processing for 100+ clients including Starling Bank, Revolut, Pockit, Volt Bank, Loot, Stocard, Glint, Osper and Curve.
Oliver Bevan, partner at Dunedin, who will sit on the board, says investing in GPS represents a “significant opportunity for Dunedin to utilise its experience in taking UK companies with a technological edge and enabling them to shine on the international stage”.
That’s the third time “significant” has been used by Dunedin in one announcement. Anyone own a thesaurus at the firm?
The investment in GPS coincides with other activity for Dunedin and is the third financial services deal that it has completed in two years, following its investments in Kingsbridge and Alpha.
Dunedin says it has also recently completed three “successful exits” – Blackrock, Alpha and Kee Safety – generating a total return of £231 million for its investors within a three-month period. Dunedin is currently investing its £300 million Fund III.
GPS was co-founded by entrepreneurs Tony Kerr and Craig Dewar. It has around 150 employees based in London and Newcastle. The firm provides a single integrated platform, GPS Apex.
Out of it
Last year, GPS suffered various outages – which prompted some changes.
Revolut revealed it was building its own in-house processor, following a string of outages caused by its current third party provider. This was understood to be GPS.
Exasperated by similar issues, Monzo was the first to announce plans to bring its payment processing in-house.
