Temenos acquires Kony, bulks up on digital and U.S. distribution

Temenos acquired the leading digital banking SaaS player Kony.

What's the deal: With the Kony acquisition, Temenos' position is strengthened to capture the $9 billion U.S. digital front office banking software market. The worldwide market is estimated to be $23 billion.

• The acquisition enhances Temenos’ scale and capabilities in the US and accelerates Temenos Infinity, the company's digital front office product, which has over 500 banking clients.
• Temenos agreed to purchase Kony for an enterprise value of $559 million and an earn-out of $21 million, subject to regulatory approvals.
• Kony’s total revenue is expected to reach $115 million in 2020. Over 60 percent of the total revenue is recurring, the majority of which is SaaS.
• Temenos will name Thomas E. Hogan, chairman and chief executive officer at Kony, as president of Temenos North America. Hogan will join the firm's Executive Committee.

Strengthening the product in market: The Kony acquisition will further support Temenos' cloud-native digital front office product, Infinity.

• Kony customers may benefit from the Temenos Infinity product, which is available natively on any cloud, as a SaaS offering or on-premise. Infiniti can be connected to any core software.
• "Kony’s award-winning digital banking experience product will strengthen Temenos Infinity, as it will make it the richest and most technologically advanced digital banking product in the marketplace," said Emily Steele, executive vice president, field operations and delivery for Temenos North America. "Teaming up with Kony, will also catapult our growth in the US as we gain substantial scale, digital expertise and increased market presence."

Complementing the Avoka acquisition: Temenos acquired Colorado-based Avoka, an onboarding product, in late 2018 as a leg into the U.S. market.

• Adding Kony's Infinity product to Temenos and Avoka creates a broad and deep offering that in competitive in a variety of verticals.
• "With Kony we are continuing the Temenos Infinity journey," said Steele. "The combined strength of Temenos, Kony and the recently acquired Avoka, will further accelerate the Temenos Infinity product which covers all banking verticals offering customer acquisition and onboarding, omnichannel banking, customer retention and marketing, and modules supporting payments, wealth advisor, financial crime, risk and compliance, and analytics."

Organic and acquisitive growth: Temenos is embarking on a growth strategy that combines both organic growth and M&A.

• As Temenos grows, it has rounded out its product suite and is moving into new markets.
• "In terms of our focus, we look at companies that will either take us to new geographies, have a compelling customer base or they will offer complimentary products to our platform," said Steele. "We don’t buy overlapping products and we always aim for complementary not competing portfolios."