Fintech Deals to Watch: Fall Festivities

The dog days of summer are over, but no sweater weather for deals yet.

No record of heat in deal activity, but warmth remains. Most players “wait and see,” but here are a few deals that caught our attention.  

Digital: Pigskin Pick-Ups

• Bankjoy, a digital banking provider, had a funding round led by the Curql Collective Credit Union Service Organization.
• Core connectivity and API providers CFM and NXTsoft merged, acquiring document workflow provider IMM and rebranding as Kinective.
• Treasury management provider Dragonfly Financial Technologies launched independently from an ACI Worldwide sale. 
• Tyfone merged with Cubus Solutions, funded by an investment from Demopolis Equity Partners.
• NCR announced plans to separate into two independent, publicly traded companies: NCR Voyix, focused on digital commerce, and NCR Atleos, focused on ATMs.
• Alkami partnered with Clinc for conversational AI, Atomic for direct deposit switching, and FINBOA for payment dispute management.
• Alogent acquired document imaging and tracking solution provider AccuSystems.
• Digital banking provider Apiture partnered with Greenlight Financial Technology to promote its family finance app (see our related research).

Core: Core-n Mazes and Hayrides

• FIS acquired embedded finance provider Bond Financial Technologies and announced plans to spin off merchant solutions (to be named Worldpay).
• Jack Henry expanded its partnership with SMA Technologies.
• CSI partnered with Dragonfly for treasury management and with Hawk AI for fraud and anti-money laundering solutions.
• Fiserv partnered with Central Payments LLC, a BAAS provider for fintech, and sold its Frontier Reconciliation and Accurate Reconciliation solutions to Trintech.
• Finastra partnered with Glia for digital customer service.
• NYMBUS secured Series D financing (led by Insight Partners), partnered with Hurdlr for small business banking; with Atty Bank, Saint Louis Bank’s legal community bank; and with Roger, Citizens Bank of Edmond’s military niche bank.
• Core10 secured a Series B funding round led by Patriot Financial Partners with JAM FINTOP and the ICBA.

Lending: Lending Leaves Change Color

• Abrigo acquired Valuant for compliance and credit risk and DiCOM Software for automated credit risk software and partnered with Charm Solutions to launch Abrigo Small Business Lending Intelligence.
• Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and Black Knight announced as part of their merger that Black Knight would sell its subsidiary Optimal Blue (digital mortgage marketplace) to Constellation Software’s Perseus Group. The two firms previously agreed to sell Black Knight’s Empower LOS to Constellation Software as part of their merger agreement (see further analysis and impact).
• Private equity firm Flexpoint Ford acquired Baker Hill, a provider of loan origination, risk, and analytics software (our analysis here).
• CoreLogic acquired digital mortgage technology provider Roostify.
• MeridianLink acquired mortgage software provider OpenClose.
• Numerated, a business lending origination platform, partnered with Finastra for a LaserPro integration.
• Credit union lending platform Clutch partnered with Zest.ai for automated underwriting.
• Credit application verification provider Informed.IQ partnered with FIS to streamline and optimize loan processing.
• AKUVO, a collections, and credit risk technology provider, secured investment from several credit unions and CUSOs.
• On-demand financial data provider Validis partnered with Lenvi Riskfactor to manage risks associated with business lending.
• Mortgage servicer Mr. Cooper Group acquired mortgage servicer Home Point for $324 million.
• Petal spun off Prism Data, a cash flow underwriting solution, and raised equity financing with existing investors and debt financing from Victory Park Capital.
• Card issuer and processor Marqeta acquired Power Finance, an embedded fintech credit card program.
• Railsr, an embedded finance provider of credit cards as a service, announced its sale to a consortium of investors led by D Squared Capital.
• Personal loan and credit card provider Avant secured funding from Ares Management Corporation.
• VTS, a commercial real estate and leasing management solution provider, raised Series E funding led by CBRE Group, Inc.

Payments: Spiced Lattes with Extra Foam

• Financial ecosystem platform provider GammaRey acquired GoLogiq, a global provider of fintech and consumer data analytics, for $320 million.
• Payments processor Stripe acquired Okay, an analytics software tool to manage engineering teams’ productivity. Stripe raised Series I financing.
• Private equity firm Parthenon Capital Partners acquired Global Payments Gaming Services, a payment solutions provider for the gaming industry.
• Rippling, an HR and payment software startup, raised Series E financing from Greenoaks Capital.
• Bilt Rewards, a rent payment rewards solution provider, secured a growth round of financing led by Left Lane Capital.
• Digital payment provider Strike raised a funding round led by Ten31. 
• Payments technology provider ConnexPay secured a growth investment by FTV Capital to further enable its platform for integrating payment acceptance and issuance.
• Business payments provider BillTrust was acquired by EQT.
• Consumer credit provider Upgrade acquired Uplift, a buy now pay later provider focused on travelers.
• Global payment platform provider Velo Payments acquired YapStone, a payment processing platform for the short-term and vacation rental industry.

Risk or Reg Tech: Less Tricks, More Treats

• Digital identity provider Socure acquired document verification startup Berbix.
• Cloud software provider Intapp acquired Paragon Data Labs, an employee compliance software solution provider.
• Thoma Bravo acquired ForgeRock (a global digital identity platform) and Coupa (business spend management).
• Alloy, an identity decisioning platform for banks and fintech companies, raised additional funding and partnered with Kyckr for real-time know-your-business solutions.
• Sardine, a fraud detection platform solution provider, raised a Series B round from Visa and ConsenSys.
• Helix partnered with Unit21 for fraud and risk management solutions for fintechs.
• COCC partnered with Advanced Fraud Solutions on a check fraud solution.
• Lumin Digital partnered with BioCatch for behavioral biometric fraud prevention.

Banks Acquiring Fintech: Aq-toberfest

• Fifth Third Bancorp acquired Rize Money, Inc., an embedded payments platform for fintechs.
• Webster Bank acquired interLINK (StoneCastle Insured Cash Sweep), a deposit management platform.
• Voya Financial acquired benefits administration technology firm Benefitfocus.

Fintechs Acquiring Banks: Reverse Aq-toberfest

• LevelField Financial Inc. announced the acquisition of Burling Bank, also based in Illinois.

Deals are still happening (please let us know if we missed any), but we expect dealmakers to remain cautiously optimistic as uncertainties in the market become less cloudy.

Thanks to our colleagues Sam Kilmer and Mary Wisniewski for their contributions to this article.