In a $245 million deal, banking software company Temenos will acquire fellow Finovate alum Avoka. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the first quarter of next year.
A public company, Temenos will finance the purchase with cash and debt. The deal marks the company’s 14th acquisition since it was founded in 1993 and its second purchase this year, following the buy of its British competitor, Fidessa Group for $1.96 billion in February.
Temenos will integrate Avoka’s customer acquisition and onboarding technology into its Digital Front Office product, which serves 300 banking clients. “This is a highly strategic acquisition for Temenos as it not only reinforces our leadership position within the Digital Front Office space but it also strengthens our capabilities in the U.S. market where we are seeing significant traction as banks accelerate their digital transformation plans,” said Max Chuard, chief financial officer and chief operating officer of Temenos. “The combination of Avoka’s capabilities along with the extensive Temenos Digital Front Office product offers banks the most complete set of services which through APIs can be easily integrated either with the market-leading Temenos T24 Core Banking product or as a standalone on a third party banking system.”
Since it was founded in 2002, Avoka has grown to offer customer acquisition and onboarding technology to the financial services sector as well as government entities. In fact, the company’s first major client was the Australia Capital Territory government. Avoka also provides form filling technology to Australia’s Federal Department of Industry, Innovation, and Science’s business.gov.au portal. And according to ITNews, the company has provided services to Australia’s Defense, Centrelink, Attorney General’s Department, Customs and Border Protection, AUSTRAC, Education, Home Affairs, Human Services, as well as state and local clients. Temenos has not disclosed its plans for the government side of Avoka’s business.
Avoka CEO Philip Copeland said, “By combining our strengths with Temenos’ expertise and reach, we will expand our scope and scale to deliver winning omni-channel, digital experience solutions to banks globally. The combination of Temenos and Avoka is an excellent fit for our customers and employees and will catapult our growth to the next stage. Together, with the leadership on both sides, we are committed to the group’s future success.”
Founded in 1993, Temenos debuted its Connect Mobile Banking application at FinovateEurope 2015 in London. Last month marked the company’s 25th birthday. With clients in 145+ countries, Temenos employs more than 4,600 people in 63 offices. The company has a market capitalization of $9.14 billion.
Avoka most recently demoed Transaction Insights at FinovateEurope 2017. Transaction Insights is a digital account opening tool that helps financial services companies measure where customers are spending time, making errors, requesting help, or abandoning their session. Headquartered in Colorado, Avoka has offices in London, England and Sydney, Australia. The company has digitized more than 100 million transactions for 150+ global clients. Prior to today’s acquisition, Avoka had raised $28 million.