Apple Inc. has reportedly acquired the U.Okay. open banking agency Credit score Kudos Ltd., an organization that helps banks do credit score scoring, for round $150 million.
Credit score Kudos sells software program that helps banks to make smarter choices on who to lend cash to. Its software program supplies insights and scores for customers based mostly on transaction and mortgage compensation information that’s freely out there by the U.Okay.’s open banking framework. The corporate pitches its software programming interface as a method for banks to attain quick, automated resolution making round mortgage purposes with diminished danger and better charges of acceptance.
The corporate, which started elevating cash in early 2020, had secured round $10.3 million in enterprise capital funding.
Three folks with information of the deal reportedly confirmed the acquisition to The Block, saying it concluded earlier this week. Neither Apple nor Credit score Kudos has but made any announcement, however the phrases of use on the latter’s web site now redirects to Apple’s phrases of use, suggesting it’s certainly a performed deal.
What isn’t clear is what Apple has deliberate for Credit score Kudos, although some media shops have speculated that the corporate’s know-how may allow the iPhone maker to launch its Apple Card product within the U.Okay.
Apple Card is Apple’s main credit score product and is presently solely out there in the USA. Nevertheless, Apple is eager to increase Apple Card to extra markets, and the U.Okay. is one among its most necessary, having the third-largest variety of Apple Shops behind the U.S. and China. A lot of Apple’s new services are launched within the U.Okay. forward of different markets.
Apple Chief Govt Tim Prepare dinner mentioned throughout a go to to Germany in 2019 that he was in bringing Apple Card to worldwide markets.
Nevertheless, launching a credit score product in new markets is just not straightforward. To take action, Apple wants entry to client credit score information in every promote it targets. That’s the place Credit score Kudos may are available, offering credit score checks for Apple Card prospects within the U.Okay. The Block mentioned nonetheless it could seemingly take time to combine Credit score Kudos’s API with Apple Card, so any launch of the service might be nonetheless some months away.
It is usually possible that Apple may adapt Credit score Kudos’s know-how to work with U.S. open banking frameworks to strengthen credit score checks in its residence market.
Whereas we will’t make sure about what Apple intends to do with Credit score Kudos, the acquisition matches the corporate’s modus operandi of snapping up smaller companies with a view to bolstering its personal platforms and experience with out instantly rolling it into a brand new services or products.