Financial Technology, Data, and Analytics

Dear Clients and Friends:

It’s a new year and our latest report on M&A values among mid-sized FinTech, Data and Analytics companies is here. It feels like Groundhog Day all over again.
 

It is Groundhog Day in the US as I write this – a day that brings to mind the 1993 Bill Murray / Harold Ramis movie in which, on Groundhog Day, a cynical television weatherman is trapped in a time loop forcing him to relive the same day repeatedly. It’s a comedy – and an allegory with deep philosophical meaning to some. Groundhog Day, the movie, started slow but eventually came to be seen as one of the best comedic movies of the decade. And yet it wasn’t all funny.
 

Like the movie, 2020 had a rocky start, m&a certainly paused. It certainly wasn’t all funny. But there were some comic moments: (Elon Musk accidentally tanking Tesla’s stock price; Joe Exotic and Carol Baskin as themselves in Tiger King; Rudy Giuliani as himself in the Borat movie; Stephen Colbert’s impersonation of Bernie Sanders; Kimberly Guilfoyle; Gwyneth’s candles; and Rudy’s streaming hair dye.) Perhaps of more relevance, m&a came storming back.
 

So far, each day in 2021 is shaping up to be a repeat of the previous one. And that’s good for our business. We may long to be back in our offices, meeting with clients and prospects in person, rather than via Zoom, but multiples, valuations and volume among mid-sized Fintech, Data and Analytics firms are back up to where they were Pre-COVID and about the same as the latter half of 2020. Strategic and financial acquirers are on the hunt – even as social distancing, remote working, travel restrictions and Zoom calls continue to be de rigueur. Politicians may still be fighting, Rudy may still be on Fox News, and we all may long to go to restaurants, movie theaters, baseball games, and travel, but we keep finding creative approaches to serving clients; helping smart companies take advantage of the moment to buy, sell or raise capital. As you will see in our latest report, m&a values among the mid-sized FinTech, Data and Analytics companies are staying strong.
 

Each day we see more opportunities to help CEOs, Boards, and shareholders reach their strategic and financial objectives. Each day it’s Groundhog Day all over again. And that’s not always a bad thing. A few of the more interesting recent transactions over the past month include:
 

• The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has completed its acquisition Refinitiv for $27bn (Securities Exchanges)
• SoFi will merge with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp., a SPAC. The merger values SoFi at $8.65bn (Bank Tech)
• NCR offered to buy Cardtronics for more than $1.7bn in a $39-per-share all-cash deal (Payments Tech)
• IG Group Holdings announced the proposed acquisition of tastytrade for $1bn (Capital Markets)
• Equifax is to acquire digital fraud prevention network Kount for $640mn (Regulatory Tech)
• Blend announced it closed $300mn in Series G funding led by Coatue and Tiger Global (Real Estate Tech)

Stay safe,

Ken