Upbound to Add Financial Wellness Solutions With Brigit Acquisition
Upbound Group, the owner of the Rent-A-Center and Acima brands, agreed to acquire financial health technology company Brigit for up to $460 million.
The planned acquisition will expand Upbound’s financial solutions and help create “an industry-leading technology platform for the financially underserved,” the companies said in a Thursday (Dec. 12) press release.
Subject to closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, according to the release.
“The ability to add new products for our customers beyond lease-to-own is an important part of our strategy, and now, we can offer liquidity solutions, budgeting, credit building, financial literacy and savings,” Upbound CEO Mitch Fadel said in the release. “We believe this transaction will position Upbound for accelerated growth, with greater scale and a more diversified financial profile, ultimately driving long-term value for our shareholders.”
Brigit offers a direct-to-consumer Instant Cash advance product that offers earned wage access, its Credit Builder product, and financial wellness solutions and educational resources, according to the release.
Instant Cash is built on Brigit’s proprietary artificial intelligence- and machine learning-powered cash flow data insights, the release said.
The company’s financial health app offers a subscription-based model and serves nearly 2 million monthly active customers, including about 1 million active paying subscribers and nearly 1 million free subscribers, per the release.
As a business segment of Upbound, Brigit will continue to be led by founders Zuben Mathews and Hamel Kothari, will operate under its existing branding and will retain its headquarters in New York City, according to the release.
“By combining forces with Upbound, we can accelerate our impact and better serve the millions of Americans who have been historically underserved by traditional financial institutions,” Mathews said in the release.
Upbound Group was launched in February 2023 when Rent-A-Center rebranded into a holding company with that name. It includes the Acima virtual lease-to-own business that RAC acquired in 2020 and the Acceptance Now flexible leasing unit.
Upbound is not just a holding company but also a philosophy of “moving [customers] up the credit chain, if you will, giving them more financing solutions, more alternatives, and giving them a little bit more financial confidence,” Upbound Chief Financial Officer Fahmi Karam told PYMNTS in an interview posted at the time.
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