Acquisition Equips Borrowell With Additional Products Focused On Financial Well-Being, While Doubling Its Revenue And Employee Base
KELOWNA – Borrowell, Canada’s leading free credit score provider and credit education company, announced today it is acquiring Refresh Financial, a Canadian leader in helping underserved Canadians gain long-term access to affordable forms of credit.
The combination of the two businesses will accelerate the breadth and accessibility of Borrowell’s product offering by providing a large segment of its growing user base an active way to build their credit history and access payment products. It also doubles Borrowell’s size in terms of revenue and number of employees.
“Many Canadians are living paycheque-to-paycheque, they’re struggling with their bills and they’re feeling increased stress about their personal finances,” said Andrew Graham, Borrowell’s co-founder and CEO. “By integrating Refresh Financial’s products and team, Borrowell can provide more people with accessible loans and secured cards to help them manage their expenses, build their credit history and take their next steps towards financial stability.”
Michael Wendland of Refresh Financial
Since 2016, Borrowell has provided over 1.5 million Canadians with free credit score and report monitoring, automated credit coaching tools and AI-driven financial product recommendations based on their credit profile. The Toronto-based fintech’s mission is to make financial stability possible for everyone. Acquiring Refresh Financial brings Borrowell closer to achieving that mission.
“We know how critical a strong financial reputation is to Canadians in order to access affordable credit, and achieve life goals like buying a house or car,” said Michael Wendland, Refresh Financial’s founder and CEO.
“Borrowell has been a great partner for many years and I am truly excited about further integrating Refresh’s products into their platform. I know that as a combined organization, we can play an important role during these times in providing Canadians from all backgrounds with access to credit, helping them not only manage today but thrive tomorrow.”
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021. Raymond James Ltd. acted as financial advisor to Borrowell and Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP acted as legal advisor. Ernst & Young Orenda Corporate Finance Inc. acted as financial advisor to Refresh and Bennett Jones LLP acted as legal advisor.