Fintel has today (14 November) announced the acquisition of financial adviser review site VouchedFor for £7.5m.
Fintel is the parent company of SimplyBiz and Defaqto. The acquisition will take place via its tech hub Fintel IQ.
VouchedFor provides reviews on a wide range of services, including financial advisers, mortgage advisers, solicitors and accountants.
It currently has around 5,000 paying members and 350,000 client reviews.
Following the acquisition, VouchedFor’s leadership and team will remain in place and work alongside the Fintel management team.
The firm’s managing director Alex Whitson said Fintel’s investment will enable it to accelerate its growth, launch more services for advisers and enhance its client offering.
Fintel said, in a statement, that the deal is aligned with its strategy to “improve the retail financial services market, promote the value of financial advice, and increase consumer confidence and trust”.
It also furthers the firm’s wish to curate “streamlined tech infrastructure” for advisers.
Whitson said he believes the combination of Fintel and VouchedFor will be “incredibly positive” for the entire profession.
Fintel joint chief executive Neil Stevens said VouchedFor is an “exceptional business”.
“We passionately believe in the enormous value of professional advice and will invest in VouchedFor to grow its market reach, ensuring the UK’s standard bearer for trusted advice can serve every advice business in the UK,” he said.
“We are delighted that the talented team at VouchedFor shares our vision for the future and we are closely aligned in our mission to promote and enable better connections to professional advice.
“We will be working with the team to take that mission to the next level in 2024 and further announcements of a groundbreaking new service we’ve developed together will be made in the coming weeks.”
Also announced today, Fintel-owned Defaqto has acquired ratings provider AKG.
AKG is an organisation which specialises in the provision of assessment, ratings, information and market assistance to the financial services industry.
The deal will further extend AKG’s reach to more than 10,000 advisers served by Fintel.
It will also enable Defaqto to further expand and “deepen its relationships” within the investment management and financial advice communities.
Defaqto chief executive John Milliken said the purchase of AKG is a “strategically significant acquisition”.
He said it will add industry expertise, insight and data that is complementary to Defaqto’s.
The addition of VouchedFor and AKG are the third and fourth acquisitions by Fintel this year.
In July, the business bought learning and development provider Competent Adviser and tax-efficient investing firm Micap.
