American Express has struck a deal to acquire the team and technology of online small business lender Kabbage. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The card giant is acquiring Kabbage’s team and its full suite of financial technology products, data platform and IP built for small businesses. The firm's pre-existing loan portfolio is not included.
Kabbage was valued at more than $1 billion in 2017 after a $250 million investment from SoftBank. However, the firm has been battered by the Covid-19 crisis, laying off staff and suspending credit lines for some of its customers.
Its products include lines of credit, online bill payment, cash flow visualisation tools, e-gift certificates, and the ability to centralise funds through a recently launched business checking account.
Anna Marrs, president, global commercial services, AmEx, says: "This acquisition accelerates our plans to offer US small businesses an easy and efficient way to manage their payments and cash flow digitally in one place, which is more critical than ever in today’s environment.
"By bringing together Kabbage’s innovative technology and talented team with our broad distribution capabilities and over 60 years of experience backing small businesses, we can better help our customers successfully emerge from this challenging period and beyond."