Banking software producer Temenos agreed yesterday to pay at least $559m to acquire Kony, a US-based mobile banking software developer backed by telecommunications firms SoftBank and Telstra.
The deal consists of $559m upfront, in addition to a $21m earn-out. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close early in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Founded in 2008, Kony operates a cloud-based platform that allows enterprise clients to develop and deploy applications that enable customers to perform functions such as signing up for accounts, accessing loans and making payments quickly and efficiently at any time of day.
The company’s offering includes Kony Quantum, an app development tool for financial services providers that requires minimal coding.
Temenos bought Kony in a bid to bolster its scale and capabilities in the US and accelerate Temenos Infinity, a digital front office product that is already used by more than 500 clients in the financial services sector.
Thomas Hogan, chairman and chief executive of Kony, will become president of Temenos North America and will join the company’s executive committee once the transaction has closed.
Kony most recently received $5m in equity funding from unnamed investors in 2015, according to a regulatory filing, bringing its overall equity financing to more than $113m.
SoftBank Capital, the now-defunct corporate venturing unit run by SoftBank, co-led a $50m series E round for Kony in 2014 with Insight Partners. The round included Telstra Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Telstra, as well as Georgian Partners, Delta-V Capital and Hamilton Lane.
Telstra Ventures had previously supplied $18.3m in series D funding for the company the year before, and Insight Partners and Georgian Partners were among its early investors.
