Four years after its founding, the financial tech startup Finch announced it has been acquired by the Australian company Finder.
Finch was launched by Neel Ganu and Maya Nijhawan in 2019. The startup describes its offering as a wealth management platform that helps customers earn and invest with cash back. Finch says it links with a customer’s bank account and gives them up to 5% cash back on their purchases. The cash back is then invested in a personalized portfolio.
The company’s co-founders are from Australia but now reside in the U.S. Nijhawan served as the COO of Finch and was previously co-founder of Greater Boston-based Ayana Flora and senior manager of operations, strategy and finance at Epsilon. Ganu attended MIT for his MBA and was a senior director at Fidelity Investments.
“We launched Finch to help everyday people unlock the benefits of investing, develop healthy financial habits, and take steps towards financial freedom. I'm pleased to share we're joining forces with Finder to accomplish a shared vision,” Ganu wrote on LinkedIn on Thursday. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BostInno.
Finch is a portfolio company of Boston-based Mendoza Ventures. The startup’s $1.8 million seed round included participation from other investors including Techstars Investors, Barclay’s and Draper Frontier.
In an email, the firm’s co-founder and general partner, Senofer Mendoza, said that while Finch’s employees were based in New York, they kept the company’s headquarters in Boston.
Finder launched in 2006 and helps consumers compare prices on things like credit cards, phone plans, health insurance and travel. It says it has 5 million unique visitors each month.
In a statement, Finder CEO Frank Restuccia said Ganu was joining Finder and Nijhawan was moving on to a new opportunity.
“Finder and Finch share a mission to help people save and invest their money better,” Restuccia said. “Finch made an impact in a short period of time. We’re excited to work together and bring Neel’s wealth of experience into the Finder Group.”
Ganu said on LinkedIn he would be a product advisor at Finder “to create innovative financial products together with this remarkable team.” He added that this acquisition “is part of Finder's plan to provide even more options to its members.”
Neither company provided details on pricing for the deal, but said the acquisition closed on April 26.
