Apple acquires UK fintech startup Credit Kudos
The open banking startup turns into the newest European fintech firm to be acquired by a US firm.
Apple is buying the UK-based fintech startup Credit Kudos for an undisclosed quantity, as Apple usually doesn’t disclose the worth of its acquisitions. Credit Kudos final raised £5 million ($6.5 million) in funding again in April 2020.
Neither Credit Kudos or Apple might be reached to substantiate the deal, which was first reported by the crypto-focused publication The Block, citing three sources near the deal. The privateness coverage hyperlink on the Credit Kudos web site at the moment redirects to Apple’s privateness coverage.
Credit Kudos is a challenger credit score bureau based in 2015 by Freddy Kelly and Matt Schofield after Kelly struggled to get credit score upon returning to the UK after working abroad within the US. It makes use of machine studying and real-time information to construct up a fuller image of an individual’s credit score rating, fairly than conventional companies, like Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, which generally depend on older data to construct up a profile, comparable to financial institution statements and utility statements.
The open banking alternative
The agency has additionally benefitted from the current wave of open banking rules throughout the globe, which intention to open up client monetary information by way of a set of safe utility programming interfaces (APIs). Credit Kudos offers this information to purchasers for companies comparable to affordability and danger assessments.
In the USA, the place open banking rules haven’t but been formally applied, banks do not need a constant set of APIs to work from, making firms that may present entry to this information extremely priceless.
As a outcome, open banking startups have been attracting loads of M&A consideration over the previous few years. In January 2021 Visa referred to as off its acquisition of the San Francisco-based monetary information specialist Plaid, earlier than turning its consideration to the Swedish open banking agency Tink later that 12 months. Elsewhere, Mastercard introduced it was increasing its fintech capabilities by buying the Danish open banking startup Aiia in September of 2021.
It is unclear at this stage what Apple plans to do with Credit Kudos, however it has invested considerably in its fintech capabilities over current years, specifically its cell Apple Pay pockets, and its Apple Card bank card, which is at the moment solely out there within the US and was in-built partnership with Goldman Sachs.