Credit Karma Acquires Snowball To Leverage Its Expertise In Mobile Applications

Credit Karma, a credit and finance management platform, has acquired Snowball, makers of mobile applications. Snowball is Credit Karma’s first acquisition, and the company plans to leverage Snowball’s expertise in mobile notification. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2010 as an inbox for mobile messaging service Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and SnapChat, Snowball has been relaunched in July as a priority inbox for all Android notifications.     

Anish Acharya, Founder and CEO of Snowball, said in a statement: "We believe that notifications represent the next important platform: app engagement is increasingly defined by push-driven notifications rather than the traditional pull-driven experience." 

Before th deal, Snowball has raised $2.3 million in venture funding. Investors include Google Ventures, First Round Capital and Greylock Partners.

Founded in 2007 and based in San Francisco, California, Credit Karma is a free credit and financial management platform for US-based consumers. The company provides free weekly updated credit scores and credit reports from national credit bureaus TransUnion and Equifax. Credit Karma has over 45 million members and 250 employees.  

In addition, the company also provides credit tools, such as Credit Scores simulator, which simulates the effect of potential financial actions on a user’s credit score and tailored recommendations based on each individual user’s credit profile. 

Before its first acquisition, Credit Karma  has raised $368.5 million in funding, including a $175 million round in June, which valued the company at $3.5 billion. Investorsinclude Google Capital Susquehanna Growth Equity  Ribbit Capital, Felicis Ventures, QED Investors, Founders Fund SV Angel, Tiger Global Management, Valinor Management and Viking Global Investors. 

Image credit: Credit Karma