Silver Spring personal finance startup Truebill Inc. is set to join a Detroit tech platform company for nearly $1.3 billion in cash, the companies said Monday.
Detroit’s Rocket Cos. (NYSE: RKT) — the entity that comprises Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Homes and Rocket Auto — has inked a deal to acquire the local fintech for $1.275 billion, according to their announcement.
The transaction is slated to close before year’s end.
Truebill, now with 160 employees, plans to maintain its Silver Spring office, Yahya Mokhtarzada, its co-founder and chief revenue officer, told us Monday. He runs the company with his brothers and co-founders, Haroon Mokhtarzada, its CEO, and Idris Mokhtarzada, its chief technology officer. The trio “will definitely still be involved,” Yahya said, but titles and positions are still being determined.
The 2021 Fire Awards honoree has doubled its user base over the last year, now with 2.5 million members. It says it has saved consumers more than $100 million since it was founded in 2015.
“The company is a perfect fit for the Rocket platform,” Rocket Cos. CEO Jay Farner said in a statement. “Truebill’s work helping Americans keep track of their finances and providing guidance that leads to better financial outcomes follows the same philosophy as Rocket Companies — leveraging the power of technology to remove the friction from complex transactions — and applies it to everyday life.”
For Truebill, the agreement positions the platform to reach more customers, co-founder and CEO Haroon Mokhtarzada said in a statement. And for Rocket, the deal brings financial wellness services to its tens of millions of potential clients (read: hunting for a car, seeking a mortgage or trying to buy or sell a home), the company said. Truebill’s tool will help keep those customers “engaged in the company’s fintech ecosystem by providing value between the large financial transactions that Rocket Companies is known for,” the announcement reads.
The transaction also carries greater revenue potential. Rocket already sees $1.3 billion each year in monthly payments by clients to its mortgage services. And bringing Truebill into the fold will mean $100 million in annual recurring revenue, after it doubled revenue year over year from 2020 to 2021.
Truebill’s exit comes after the company raised $45 million in June, a round that more than doubled its lifetime capital and came only six months after raking in $17 million. The personal finance startup provides subscription management, spending insights, bill negotiation, budgeting and pay advance tools.
Mokhtarzada and his brothers started Truebill in 2015 to simplify tracking and managing subscriptions and bills. But it’s evolved over time to negotiating bills, allowing customers to benefit from lower payments or one-time credits. There’s both a free version of the app and a premium option, for which customers pay a monthly amount they feel is right, as opposed to a set price, although most people pay between $3 and $12.
The company launched in Silver Spring, then moved to Silicon Valley — only to move back again in 2019. The brothers previously founded Webs.com, which was acquired for $117.5 million by what was then Vistaprint in 2011.
