Although we are announcing it today, on December 16th, after discussions with over 20 prospective buyers, we closed the deal to sell Nuula to Nav Technologies, Inc.
The deal is good for both the IP that we had built, and for the team who helped build it. We are confident that Nuula customers will find a compelling new home in Nav’s growing mobile offerings.
The vast majority of our technology team, in addition to core data science, accounting and marketing talent from our Canadian office joined Nav at the close back in December. The Nuula technology will become an integral part of Nav’s mobile offering going forward, and the team is already working hard to help deliver on that promise.
If you read my post from October, you will know that Nuula faced a tough Black Swan event which forced some painful choices on all of us. As a leadership team, it doesn’t matter how hard the challenge, or how bleak things look, or what black swans show up at the front door, it’s important to keep fighting to deliver the best outcomes possible for your stakeholders (team, investors, etc.). Our team certainly did that.
It has been great getting to know Levi King, Greg Ott and the rest of the team at Nav. I am impressed with what they have collectively built. I am excited by this acquisition, and look forward to seeing what Nav does with both the Nuula technology and our unique talent pool.
To my CEO peers facing tough economic and/or funding climates … Never give up. Never surrender. Leverage the collective strength of your team. Make tough choices quickly and courageously. Channel your inner Navy Seal, work the problem and seize the day.
Onwards.
#fintech #acquisition
Mark Ruddock
Personal blog of an international FinTech executive.
Thoughts of an internationally experienced growth stage CEO and Board Member
Mark Ruddock
Personal blog of an international FinTech executive.
I'm an experienced international CEO with two successful exits and over 20 years of experience at the helm of VC backed technology and fintech startups.
I've both founded companies, and come in as a later stage CEO to help existing companies scale. My experience spans multi-country online financial services, mission critical enterprise software and consumer-focused mobile applications.
I've recently returned to the supervisory board of 4finance, after completing a year as interim CEO. At 4finance, we are leveraging deep technology and data science to build a mobile-first, customer focused business that delivers compelling financial products and services to those underserved by traditional financial institutions. Today, we are Europe’s largest online consumer lender, with over $500MM in revenue and 3,500 employees serving customers across 17 countries. The company is a proven and trusted alternative to conventional bank lending. With half the world's adult population still financially underserved, the potential is significant.
Previously I was Chairman of Finstar Labs. Our mission at Finstar Labs is to identify, invest in and help create the cutting edge user experiences, enabling technologies, and data science that will lay the foundation for the next generation of alternative financial services.
Prior to that I was Managing Director, International at Wonga, responsible for overseeing all businesses outside of the UK, including consumer lending businesses in Canada, Spain, Poland and South Africa and our eCommerce and product financing business BillPay in Germany.
Prior to that I was the CEO of Viigo, which became one of the most highly downloaded Blackberry apps of all time before being acquired by RIM (Blackberry) in 2010.
Before that I was the founder & CEO of INEA, an enterprise software company focused on the financial services industry, which was acquired by Cartesis in 2005, and is now part of SAP.
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