Intuit is closing down Mint, which it acquired in 2009.
Mint customers are being directed to enroll in a Credit score Karma account.
Based in 2006, Mint is among the oldest B2C fintechs.
For these of us who’ve grown up and grown previous with fintech, January 1, 2024 will go down in historical past. That’s as a result of Mint– which is arguably the first-ever direct-to-consumer fintech– is shutting its doorways on that day.
Mint father or mother firm Intuit introduced earlier this week that it’s folding Mint into Credit score Karma and is inviting all Mint customers to open an account at Credit score Karma. “We all know probably the most energetic Minters use Mint to watch their money stream and monitor their spending, and never solely does Credit score Karma supply these capabilities, however we’re in a position to take issues even additional for our members,” Intuit introduced in a weblog submit.
As a little bit of historical past, Intuit acquired Mint in 2009 for $170 million and bought Credit score Karma in 2020 for $4.7 billion. After buying Credit score Karma, there was probably a little bit of inside unrest at Intuit, since Mint and Credit score Karma are primarily rivals. Each corporations depend on advertiser spend through product referrals, and rising one model would harm the opposite.
Rolling Mint into Credit score Karma will assist Intuit double-down on sponsored commercial income. The transfer can even construct Credit score Karma right into a extra strong competitor within the PFM area. Credit score Karma was based in 2007 to supply a flagship credit score monitoring and bank card comparability service and has since expanded to supply a tax submitting service, checking account, financial savings account, credit-building bank card, and extra.
It’s not shocking to see Mint’s demise. Intuit already began to cannibalize the model earlier this yr when it pulled Mint’s crew in to construct Credit score Karma’s new Web Price function, a device that allows customers to view and monitor their internet value in a single place. Additionally, in a means, Mint died a very long time in the past. The corporate, which claimed 3.6 million month-to-month energetic customers in 2021 however as of this yr has had no materials income, hasn’t launched any new options or made any vital bulletins lately. The truth is, my final weblog submit in regards to the firm was titled, “Mint Brings Person Interface into 2018.” In the meantime, the corporate’s rivals within the PFM area had been releasing their very own banking instruments, lending companies, and funding instruments.
Within the grand scheme of at present’s fintech panorama, this announcement may have little affect. Nonetheless, the information is value noting for the sake of historical past. Mint– an organization that at one level owned all the fintech class– stood nonetheless whereas watching all the fintech trade evolve round it. The corporate even demoed on the first-ever Finovate convention in 2007. Mint could have been in a position to sustain had it not been acquired by Intuit, however we’ll by no means know. Relaxation in peace, Mint (2006- 2023), and say hi there to all the different fintech ghosts on the opposite facet for me.
Photograph by Brett Sayles
