American Express to acquire small business online lending company Kabbage

American Express acquisition of Kabbage : Global payments company American Express or Amex has signed a deal to acquire almost all the assets of Atlanta-based small business online lending company Kabbage.

Financial terms of the fintech deal were not disclosed.

Kabbage, which has been funded and backed by SoftBank Vision Fund, Thomvest Ventures, BlueRun Ventures, and others, has been serving US small businesses with its cash flow management solutions. Its acquisition is said to help American Express in reaching its objective of being an essential partner to small businesses by providing them a wide variety of cash flow, payment, and financial management tools.

The deal with the exclusion of Kabbage’s pre-existing loan portfolio will involve the transfer of the fintech company’s full suite of financial technology products, data platform, and IP which has been developed for SMEs.

American Express by acquiring the digital lending company expects to be in a position to offer a broader set of cash flow management tools and working capital products for its American small business customers.

American Express acquisition of Kabbage. Logo courtesy of American Express Company.

Anna Marrs – President of American Express Global Commercial Services, commenting on American Express acquisition of Kabbage, said: “For several years, American Express has been expanding beyond our industry-leading commercial card products to offer our business customers a growing set of payment and working capital solutions.

“This acquisition accelerates our plans to offer U.S. 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.”

Kabbage’s products suite includes Kabbage Checking – which offers small businesses a new style of banking, Kabbage Payments – which helps small businesses to get payments and access the money earned faster, Kabbage Insights – which calculates the real-time cash flow of small businesses, and Kabbage Funding – which is said to offer access to flexible lines of credit up to $250,000 in matter of minutes.

Commenting on American Express acquisition of Kabbage, Rob Frohwein – Kabbage CEO and co-founder said: “At Kabbage, we have always made the success of America’s small businesses our primary objective.

“We have built a technology and data platform that provides them with the kind of capabilities and insights often reserved for larger businesses. By joining American Express, we can help more small businesses succeed with a fully digital suite of financial products to help them run and grow their companies.”

American Express acquisition of Kabbage is expected to be wrapped up later this year after meeting customary closing conditions.