Purpose Financial has announced the acquisition of Toronto-based CreditGenie, a startup aiming to disrupt the point-of-sale financing experience for merchants and consumers. The terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.
“Purpose’s commitment to innovation in the financial services industry was a major deciding factor as we sought a partner to support our growth.”
CreditGenie looks to provide Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a fully digital alternative payment solution, which CreditGenie said would allow its customers to increase purchasing power through instant credit adjudication at the point-of-sale. CreditGenie’s solution is designed for SMEs in the retail, healthcare, and education sectors. The company said the new acquisition will fuel CreditGenie’s expansion across Canada and the United States.
“Purpose is singularly focused on driving innovation in Canada’s financial services industry. CreditGenie, with its innovative point-of-sale financing solution, represents a natural extension of our Banking Solutions platform,” said Som Seif, CEO of Purpose. “Alex and Daniel [founders] are highly talented entrepreneurs, and we are excited to bring them into the Purpose family and to help accelerate the Company’s development and growth.”
CreditGenie was founded in 2016 by Alex Kaplunov and Daniel Shain. Since its founding, CreditGenie has partnered with nearly 500 merchants across several industries, in 12 Canadian provinces and territories. The company looks to help businesses acquire new customers and increase their average spend, by offering the ability to split purchase amounts into affordable installments through instant credit approvals. The solution is free of charge for businesses to use and requires no integration.
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“Purpose’s commitment to innovation in the financial services industry was a major deciding factor as we sought a partner to support our growth,” said Kaplunov. “We see tremendous synergy potential with Purpose and its business units, and are confident having Purpose as a partner will help us accelerate our expansion across Canada and the US.”
Purpose is a financial services company with a focus on technology-driven financial solutions. Its other businesses include Purpose Investments, Purpose Advisor Solutions, Purpose Banking Solutions, which includes Thinking Capital and Ario, and Purpose Strategy and Innovation Labs, its FinTech innovations group.
The acquisition of CreditGenie comes on the heels of Purpose’s investment in the building of Ario, a Toronto-based banking technology platform. In March 2018, Purpose acquired Montreal-based Thinking Capital, which provides capital to small businesses. Power, backed by OMERS and is headquartered in Toronto, has also contributed to several funding rounds for Canadian FinTech startups, including a $9 million round for d1g1t, and a $10 million round in digital lending platform Ario.
“Purpose is aligned with the vision we have for CreditGenie and recognizes the wide, white-space opportunity our business is focused on addressing,” said Shain. “We look forward to working with the management teams at Purpose and its operating subsidiaries to continue to drive innovation in this market and expand access to our solution to more merchant partners and consumers.”
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