Germany-based Forteil, operators of the credit checking and financial health platform Bonify, has been acquired by credit bureau company Schufa for an undisclosed sum. (source - German newspaper the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
Bonify gives consumers access to credit scores along with other financial data and management tools, all accessed from within its user interface.
The acquisition is expected to help Schufa improve the transparency of its credit ratings, by letting consumers see the reasonings for their score through Bonify for free.
Schufa's Tanja Birkholz commented: "The future offer of transparency and personal finance and data management at Bonify should address those groups in particular who can only participate to a limited extent in economic life today due to a lack of information or negative payment experiences with the Schufa."
Schufa's score will be made available on the Bonify platform alongside enriched creditworthiness insights. It has been previously available to Bonify customers but only through a paywall.
The data integration should be ready for launch next year. Birkholz says this is 12 months earlier than anticipated.
Bonify is also expected to help deliver a new smartphone app for Schufa's internal credit scoring.
Following the acquisition, Forteil/Bonify will continue to operate an independent company structure under Schufa's management. Its parent company Forteil raised series C funding in a 2019 round backed by Experian Ventures, the CVC arm of credit bureau Experian, as well as banking firm Santander's InnoVentures and unnamed additional investors.
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