Recently, Apple has silently acquired the London-based open banking platform Credit Kudos. According to the report, the deal was closed last week at a valuation of about $150M.
Founded by Freddy Kelly and Matt Schofield, Credit Kudos is a credit bureau that uses financial behaviour to measure creditworthiness. The company is on a mission to transform the credit scoring system to provide fairer credit for all, helping people access responsible finance they can afford when they need it.
Open banking has set the foundation for systematic transformation for the banking industry. It is poised to transform not only how banks function but slated to bring in a host of changes in the banking environment.
The platform utilises consumer transaction data to build highly accurate and transparent credit score cards and affordability metrics.
Credit Kudos is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and integrated with leading lenders and brokers, including Curve, Admiral, Atom bank, LendInvest, and CarFinance 247.
The open banking platform raised a £5M funding round in April 2020 led by Albion VC. According to the Companies House filing, the company realised a loss of £4.5M (approx $5.9M) in its 2020 financial year, which is double the £2.2M it lost in 2019.
Apple’s move
In an interview with Bloomberg, an Apple spokesperson says, “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time. We generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
The Cupertino tech giant made its debut in financial services in 2019 by introducing Apple Card, a credit card launched in partnership with Goldman Sachs in the US.
Currently, it’s not clear what Apple has planned with the UK company, but it may extend its credit cards into new markets beyond the US, including the UK.
Last month, Apple confirmed its plans to release Tap tp Pay feature on the iPhone later this year, giving merchants an alternative to Block Inc.’s Square technology, reports Bloomberg.
