MoneyLion to go public via blank-check merger in $2.9 billion deal

Digital investing and banking platform MoneyLion is going public through a merger with special purpose acquisition companies firm Fusion Acquisition Corp. in a deal that puts the combined company’s value at $2.9 billion. 

Fusion will be renamed MoneyLion Inc. and is expected to remain listed on the New York Stock Exchange upon the close of the deal, which is slated to happen in the first half of 2021, according to an announcement Friday.

MoneyLion shareholders will hold approximately 76% of the equity of the combined company by rolling their existing holdings in MoneyLion. 

Special purpose acquisition companies, known as blank-check companies, like Fusion raise money through an initial public offering to acquire a private company, which then becomes public as a result of the merger. 

Social Finance Inc. agreed to be taken public by a blank-check firm backed by venture capital investor and Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya in January that values the upstart at around $8.7 billion.

MoneyLion, a New York-based fintech company founded in 2013, manages about $20.65 million in assets, according to the company’s latest Form ADV. The fintech offers a wide range of financial products from online and mobile banking to automated investing and personal financial management with its Financial Heartbeat tool. 

This year MoneyLion plans to roll out a new slate of products, including the next generation of the Financial Heartbeat platform, new credit and financing products, and a crypto rewards offering, according to the announcement. 

The fintech provides services similar to competing robo-advisers like Betterment and Wealthfront, which marry online banking and automated investing into a single mobile app. MoneyLion believes its target audience of millions of middle-class Americans represents trillions of dollars in annual savings, spending and investments, and is a $250 billion revenue opportunity, according to the announcement.

“MoneyLion is a digital financial platform on a mission to rewire a broken banking system that applies a one-size-fits-all approach to personal finance,” said Dee Choubey, CEO and co-founder of MoneyLion. “We are using transformative technology to bring the private banking experience to everyone — in a single app.”