Home loans expert Karl Deeter has secured a significant increase in the potential earnout from the recent sale of the mortgage and life insurance solutions fintech he founded, after it resulted in a follow-on deal.
Dublin-based Artificial Intelligence Finance (AIF) was sold to London-listed Software Circle in early August in a deal worth as much as €9 million. That included as much as €4 million will be payable in future for the remaining 5 per cent, subject to certain performance targets being achieved in 2026 and 2027.
Mr Deeter owned close to half of AIF and remains chief executive of the business under the new owner. Other shareholders included state agency Enterprise Ireland, Hostelworld co-founder Tom Kennedy and Patrick Joy, founder of storage equipment specialist Suretank.
However, a follow-on deal by Software Circle to buy Broker Information Services (BIS), a provider of client management and quotation software for the financial broker market in the Irish market, has resulted in an increase in the earnout for AIF from a maximum of €4 million to €7.5 million.
That would bring the consideration for AIF to as much as €12.5 million.
It is understood that AIF had been in talks with a tie-up with BIS before Software Circle agreed to buy the former.
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BIS is being acquired for a total €8.25 million, some €1.35 million will be held over until the first anniversary of completion, Software Circle said in statement on Monday, announcing the follow-on transaction.
AIF is better known under its trading name, OnlineApplication (AO), which is linked up to 60 mortgage brokers and five lenders as well as 200 life insurance intermediaries and two life companies.
BIS, founded in 2010, has become the most widely adopted client management software provider for financial brokers and advisers in the Republic. The BIS platform enables brokers to research and compare financial products, manage client data and workflows, and generate compliance-ready reports.
BIS will continue to be run by its current chief executive, Greg Bowden. Mr Deeter will lead the combined businesses with Software Circle. It marks the UK company’s 10th acquisition since it went on the deals trail in 2021. It has a market value of £87.4 million (€100.7 million).
“BIS is a mission-critical platform for hundreds of financial brokers in Ireland, with a strong reputation and a leadership position in its market,” said Gavin Cockerill, chief executive of Software Circle.
“Together with our recent acquisition of AIF, this marks the creation of our first dedicated platform within a single vertical. These two highly complementary businesses give us scale, diversification, and the opportunity to modernise technology while expanding product reach within the sector.”