Bank payment company GoCardless has strengthened its partnership team with two strategic hires, accelerating its path to profitability through its indirect go-to-market channel.

The fintech welcomes Yasmin Sharp as VP, Business Development, Partnerships. Sharp brings 20+ years of experience in the payments and software space, building her career in business development and account management at organisations including SagePay and Paypoint. She transitioned into partnerships during her time at WorldPay and has since held leadership positions at SAP CX and most recently Dojo. 

In her new role at GoCardless, Sharp is responsible for leading small business partnerships globally, with a focus on enhancing the partner experience and driving value for customers through innovation.

In line with GoCardless’ ambition to grow outside of its UK home market, it has also appointed Milo Cilloni as Director of International Partnerships. Based in the Paris office, Cilloni will lead the international partnerships go-to-market strategy, with an initial focus on France and Spain.

Before joining GoCardless, Cilloni held a number of key positions in the technology industry, including at PrestaShop and Visa, where he gained valuable experience in managing strategic international partnerships.

Paul Stoddart, President at GoCardless, said: “Partnerships have been a key part of GoCardless since day one, and they’ll remain at the heart of what we do -- especially as businesses look for easy ways to manage all of their operations in one place. We need to ensure GoCardless is seamlessly embedded into the platforms they use every day and we’ll work closely with our partners to deliver the best experience for customers. Having Yasmin and Milo on board will provide a big boost and I’m confident they will help us maximise the opportunities.”

Sharp said: "I’m passionate about all things payments and partnerships, so I’m extremely excited to start in this role. With around 350 partners already, our indirect channel has strong foundations. I’m here to take the programme to the next level, particularly in the way we deliver value to small businesses through our partners. I can’t wait to work with our partners and build a best-in-class experience for everyone in our ecosystem.”

Cilloni said: “GoCardless has a strong network of partners in the UK and my ambition is to replicate that success in our international markets. We see growth opportunities and a lot of upside in all of our markets, so there’s never been a better time to join and grow the business.”

The appointment announcements follow a set of strong results for GoCardless. In its latest fiscal year (FY24), GoCardless Ltd. and its subsidiaries generated £126.8m in revenue, a 38% increase year-on-year. International revenues continued to grow, increasing by 47% to £30.8m in FY24, now accounting for 24% of the company's total revenue.

Over the same period, GoCardless continued to expand its indirect channels, extending its strategic relationships with key partners such as Xero, Sage and Quickbooks, and signing new partners such as Celigo. The company also enjoyed success with GoCardless Embed - the fintech's white-label solution that enables payment service providers to integrate GoCardless' global banking payment network into their platform through a single API - with new customers Ecommpay and UNIPaaS.