Temenos has strengthened its hand in the US by agreeing to buy digital banking SaaS outfit Kony for $559 million and an earn-out of $21 million.
Kony, which has 1500 employees, has seen rapid takeup from top tier and mid-market banks for its Digital Banking Experience (DBX) product, which helps users roll out applications through a cloud-hosted SaaS model.
The firm says its platform helps accelerate product cycles and increases agility by reducing the load on bank IT to design and iterate user experiences.
Temenos is betting that Kony - along with recently acquired Avoka - will significantly boost its own Infinity digital front office product, covering customer acquisition and onboarding, omnichannel banking, customer retention and marketing, and modules supporting payments, wealth advisor, financial crime, risk and compliance and analytics.
Once the deal is closed - slated for Q4 - Kony chairman and CEO Thomas Hogan will become president of Temenos North America and join the Swiss firm's executive committee.
Max Chuard, CEO, Temenos, says: "The acquisition of Kony, the US #1 digital banking SaaS company is highly strategic and will allow us to grow both our US and our digital front office business faster, while being highly accretive and synergistic to the rest of our business."