Update: US owner of QuickBooks confirms $7.1bn bid for Credit Karma

UPDATE 25-02-2020 - Intuit announced late last night that it would buy Credit Karma for $7.1bn in cash and stock, the article has been updated to reflect this development.   

Intuit the US owner of Mint and QuickBooks has announced that it is buying Credit Karma, a US personal finance platform, for $7.1bn.

Credit Karma’s main aim is to improve the financial health of millions of American’s and it launched in the UK expansion following the acquisition of Noddle last year.

Credit Karma was founded in 2007 by CEO Ken Lin, Ryan Graciano and Nichole Mustard.

The platform was valued at around $4bn in early 2019 and its continued growth has solidified it as one of the US’ biggest fintechs.

Despite the acquisition, it has been reported that the CEO and founder Kenneth Lin would still remain in control and the company would continue to operate as an independent entity. 

The acquisition will give Intuit another slice of the personal finance industry as it already owns, Mint a personal finance management service, QuickBooks an accounting platform for SMEs and TurboTax an American tax software service.

Credit Karma claims to count one-third of all Americans who have a credit profile as its customers.

The San Francisco-based firm operates by giving customers free access to their credit scores, borrowing history and tax returns and using this data it matches each customer to the credit card that best suits them.

The deal was announced late on Monday evening.