Three months ago, we celebrated the beginning of a new era at PayPal with our official separation from eBay. Today, we come to another milestone as we share our quarterly financials for the first time since becoming an independent, publicly-traded company.
I’m pleased to report that across the key performance measures for our business, we achieved strong results in the third quarter of 2015. At $2.3 billion, revenue increased 19 percent* **, which gives us confidence we can deliver on our full year FX neutral revenue guidance of 15-18 percent. Total payment volume jumped 27 percent* to $69.7 billion, maintaining a pace of mid- to high-20 percent growth in every quarter this year. We added over 4 million new accounts, our best quarter so far in 2015, bringing us to 173 million active customers, and we processed 1.2 billion transactions, an increase of 25 percent.
In addition, the number of transactions per account grew by 12 percent to 27, a clear indication that the value we deliver through our new products and service is resonating with our ever-expanding customer base. And, we delivered $519 million in free cash flow in the quarter.
Taken together, these numbers clearly demonstrate PayPal’s strength as a company and they underscore our leadership in online and mobile payments. They are also the result of a number of notable achievements in key areas for the company during the past three months.
In October, PayPal was named to Interbrand’s list of the world’s top 100 brands for the first time. Earning a spot on this list is a noteworthy accomplishment for any company, but I’m particularly proud of what Interbrand had to say about why PayPal made this year’s list: “Simplicity, security, and ease of use are priorities that have been internalized [at PayPal] because they are central concerns for the company’s users . . . For PayPal, it’s not just about meeting consumer needs, but letting those needs power the business strategy.”
One Touch is a great example of how customers drive everything we do. Launched last year in the US, UK and Canada, One Touch is the industry’s first true single-touch checkout experience across mobile and online commerce, on any device, platform, and payment type. In August we introduced One Touch in 16 new markets and, today, more than 1 million merchants around the world accept One Touch and 7 million consumers have opted in to use it.
Our focus on serving customers can also be seen in PayPal Working Capital, a program to help small and medium businesses thrive and grow. At a time when obtaining financing from traditional lenders is sometimes difficult for these businesses, we are utilizing our advanced analytic capabilities to assess the creditworthiness of existing PayPal merchants and service a loan in minutes. We passed the $1 billion mark for loans we’ve provided to more than 60,000 small and medium business owners in the US, UK and Australia.
We also continue to extend our lead in mobile payments. Last quarter, 345 million of the transactions we processed were made using mobile devices, an increase of 38 percent over the previous year. As more and more consumers take advantage of PayPal mobile payments, it has opened the door to new opportunities to develop innovative payment solutions for merchants that span all shopping experiences, whether in-store, online, or using a mobile device.
In August, for example, our Paydiant platform powered the pilot launch of a mobile wallet program for MCX. And in September, Macy’s announced that it will take advantage of PayPal technology to provide checkout capabilities across online, in-store, and mobile payments at all Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores.
This is a pivotal period in the history of commerce and the financial services industry as money becomes more digital every day and mobile technology becomes increasingly central to our lives. PayPal’s history as an innovator in digital payments and our focus on mobile payments aligns us with these trends to a degree that no other company can match.
Combined with the incredible talent and commitment of the entire team here at PayPal, we feel well-positioned for strong future growth as we continue on our quest to make it simpler, safer, and more affordable for people to move and manage their money.
*) Calculated on FX-neutral basis
**) Calculated on a non-GAAP pro forma basis
N.B. All growth rates represent year-over-year comparisons, except as otherwise noted