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Equiteq, the leading M&A advisory firm for companies in the knowledge economy, is pleased to announce that it has advised Choice Financial Solutions (“Choice FS”), a leading U.S. and European fintech firm focused on consumer deposit automation, on its sale to Raisin, a pan-European wealth management fintech firm.
NEW YORK, Jan. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Launched in 2011, Choice FS has developed a software solution that allows banks and credit unions to meet customers where they are: savers can use it to create customized deposit accounts, dynamically and automatically based on their personalized needs.
The acquisition will make the first real innovation to the U.S. deposits market in generations broadly accessible to banks across the country. Raisin will license Choice FS’ original software to American banks, enabling the banks to create uniquely flexible deposits and offer those products directly to their own customers.
Raisin has originated over €18 billion for more than 225,000 customers in 31 European countries, delivering the retail funding to 88 partner banks since its inception in 2013. Raisin was named to Europe’s top 5 fintechs by the renowned FinTech50 awards and is backed by prestigious European and American investors such as Goldman Sachs, PayPal Ventures, Thrive Capital, Index Ventures, Orange Digital Ventures and Ribbit Capital.
Raisin U.S. CEO, Paul Knodel, commented: “Joining forces with Choice FS lets Raisin begin offering cutting-edge services to banks and customers before we even launch our U.S. platform. As a leading innovator in the deposits space, Raisin sees Choice FS as a perfect fit for our mission in the U.S. deposits market. The enthusiastic market feedback we have already received affirms how ripe the savings space is for just this type of personalization.”
Choice FS’ CEO, Daniel Smith, commented: “Joining the Raisin family for us means greatly strengthening our ability to scale and connect our software to the sector that needs it most.”
Regarding Equiteq’s role in the transaction, Mr. Smith added: “The Equiteq team demonstrated a clear understanding of our industry, as well as an appreciation of the value proposition we bring to financial institutions. These capabilities were fundamental in allowing us to correctly position Choice FS in the market. Their guidance with the M&A process was key to enabling us to achieve the desired result and ultimately reach an agreement with the perfect partner that we are very excited to be moving forward with.”
Daniel Siller, Managing Director at Equiteq, commented: “The acquisition of Choice FS provides Raisin with a fantastic product to enter the U.S. market. It is a win for depositors who will have access to more simple and lucrative deposit options, banks will benefit through the lowering of their cost of funding and deposit maturity extensions. Raisin gains a fantastic team through this acquisition that will see their firm launch successfully in the U.S. We wish the Choice FS team and the whole Raisin family great success.”
About Equiteq (www.equiteq.com)
Equiteq is the knowledge economy M&A specialist, advising owners of knowledge-intensive businesses around the world from offices in London, Paris, New York, Boston, Singapore, and Sydney. Equiteq helps owners best achieve their value and exit objectives through accelerating equity growth and ultimately realizing that value in a trade or private equity sale.