Bank payment company GoCardless has announced the renewal and expansion of its strategic partnership with Sage, the global leader in accounting, financial, HR, and payroll technology for small and mid-sized businesses.

The latest agreement, which builds on a successful six-year collaboration, will open up new markets and segments for GoCardless. At the same time, it will bring bank payments to even more businesses within the Sage customer base through new integrations with Sage’s flagship cloud accounting solutions for small and medium businesses (SMBs) – Sage Accounting and Sage Intacct.

The integration of GoCardless with Sage Intacct puts the fintech in a strategic position to:

• tap into Sage's extensive customer base in North America and Australia for the first time
• extend its reach to corporate and enterprise merchants using Sage Intacct in the UK and Europe
• strengthen its coverage for smaller businesses through the new Sage Accounting integration, building on existing integrations with Sage 50 and Sage 200.

This enhanced partnership means that millions of Sage's SMB customers around the world are now able to leverage GoCardless’ Direct Debit and open banking payment capabilities, helping to streamline the payment collection process. The integration allows businesses to manage one-off and recurring payments with greater efficiency and control, while cutting down on manual admin. By using bank payments through GoCardless, businesses can also avoid the costly fees and high rates of payment failure often associated with traditional card payments.  

Seb Hempstead, VP of Partnerships at GoCardless, said: “We’re excited to build on our long-term relationship with Sage, a valued partner with a shared mission to help businesses thrive.  By combining Sage's industry-leading technology with our expertise in bank payments, we can help millions of merchants reclaim their time and money so they can stress less and get on with growing their business.  

“The new agreement also represents a huge strategic opportunity, giving us more exposure to corporate and enterprise businesses in all of the markets where we operate. We look forward to growing together with Sage over the next few years.”  

Chip Mahan, Global Head Payments & Banking at Sage, said: "Partnering with GoCardless reinforces the strength of our global partner ecosystem, bringing innovative payment solutions directly into Sage Intacct and Sage Accounting. This collaboration is more than just expanding our product capabilities; it's about delivering real value to businesses, enabling secure, streamlined financial processes, and fostering growth in new and existing markets. Our combined efforts will provide customers with a seamless payment experience, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to supporting their success."  

The GoCardless integration is now live for Sage Accounting customers in the UK and for Sage Intacct customers in the US, Canada, UK and France.

Building GoCardless’s partner strategy

The news builds on GoCardless’ partner strategy to acquire customers at scale. The fintech currently works with a roster of more than 350 partners, allowing businesses to seamlessly integrate GoCardless into the software they already use so they can manage their payment and other business activities in one place.