SoFi Spends $1.2B To Buy FinTech Galileo

In a deal valued at over a $1 billion, SoFi said it has inked a definitive deal to buy Galileo Financial Technologies. The online personal finance firm will pay total purchase consideration of $1.2 billion composed of shares and cash, according to an announcement.

SoFi CEO Anthony Noto said in the announcement, “SoFi has established itself as a leader in the fintech sector, providing our more than one million members a full array of financial products to help them get their money right.”

Noto continued, “The response by our members to our innovation across borrowing, saving, spending, and investing has motivated us to think bigger, bolder and more expansively given the insatiable consumer appetite for financial services innovation.”

The digital payments platform of Galileo provides savings and checking account-like abilities through its open application programming interfaces (APIs). The firm’s offerings can be accessed through desktop, mobile and a tangible debit card. The APIs of Galileo fuel functions including direct deposit, account setup, funding and check balance, among other features.

Galileo CEO Clay Wilkes said in the announcement, “SoFi has built a very strong diversified financial services company focusing on a full suite of financial services. These are products that many of our leading fintech clients are asking for. Distributing products through our enterprise class API is the vision behind this combination. I think it’s very powerful.”

Galileo will remain as an independent Social Finance Inc. subsidiary, and Wilkes will serve as chief executive. The company will work with SoFi to speed up the technology roadmap needs for consumer financial offerings in addition to providing SoFi’s complete suite of products/services to partners of Galileo aiming to widen their mix.

According to the acquisition announcement, “The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.”

In 2019, SoFi notched half a billion dollars in a Qatar-led funding round. At the time, the company said it would use the funds to back growth and add power to its balance sheet.