Plano-based fintech Alkami Technology, the cloud-based digital banking solutions provider that went public earlier this year, has made a strategic acquisition to expand its total addressable market and gain new cross-selling opportunities.

In its first acquisition since its IPO, Alkami has finalized a deal with MK Decisioning Systems, which offers digital account opening, credit card, and loan origination solutions. The deal consists of Alkami delivering $20 million at close, with the opportunity for MK to earn up to an additional $25 million if certain milestones are met in 2022 and 2023.

As part of the transaction, all MK employees, who are based in San Diego and other locations throughout the U.S., have been retained by Alkami. MK’s CEO, Har Rai Khalsa, will move to Alkami’s newly formed Digital Account Opening and Loan Origination Solutions Team as the vice president and general manager.

“MK is overjoyed to join forces with Alkami as we accelerate our shared mission to strengthen local and regional financial institutions and the economies they serve,” Khalsa said in a statement. “The banking journey starts with the first account a consumer opens: whether it be a deposit or loan account.”

MK Decisioning aims to assist community financial institutions in receiving more deposits and loans—strengthening local economies overall. Its platform supports checking and savings accounts, credit cards, and various types of loans, giving regional and community banks and credit unions a “competitive advantage,” the company says.

According to Khalsa, MK’s onboarding and decisioning solutions will allow Alkami to extend the digital banking journey.

Alkami’s solutions are designed to modernize how financial institutions do business and users do banking. Founder Stephen Bohanon, who is now chief strategy and sales officer, previously summarized its services in an interview with Dallas Innovates: “Our platform simplifies money movement and financial wellness, and provides deep user insights with our proprietary data engine.”

With MK, Alkami intends to offer clients a single platform that can converge marketing and decisioning, support both sides of the balance sheet, and provide digital onboarding with end-to-end data flow. The Alkami platform is currently used by more than 260 financial institutions.

The fintech said the deal reinforces its position as “a best-of-breed digital banking platform provider that designs secure solutions across the user journey.”

“MK’s solutions unlock digital account opening and loan origination innovations on a single, cloud-based platform that delivers capabilities previously reserved for the largest technology companies, megabanks, and fintechs in the market,” Alkami CEO Mike Hansen said. “We’re excited and honored to join forces with the MK team and their clients as we continue democratizing digital banking technology for the benefit of US consumers and businesses.”

The announcement continues to fuel a big year for Alkami.

In April, Alkami entered the public market with a listing on the Nasdaq under ALKT. The fintech’s shares posted a strong first-day performance in its U.S. market debut, opening at $41.26 and peaking at $49.32, a surge of more than 43 percent from its $30 IPO pricing.

That announcement came on the heels of the fast-growing fintech’s $140 million funding round in September 2020, which put its total funding upwards of $400 million. Also last year, it reached nearly 10 million digital users and crossed more than $130 million of annual recurring revenue under contract. 

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