Financial technology start-up Earnest has agreed to be acquired by student loan servicing giant Navient for $155 million in cash, the companies said on Wednesday. Earnest, an online lender that has focused on refinancing student loans, will remain a distinct brand and will continue to be led by its current management team, including founder and CEO Louis Beryl. The acquisition will be a launching pad for Navient to begin originating its own student loans. Earnest was founded in 2013 and provides student loan refinancing to young borrowers with thin credit files by leveraging tens of thousands of data points, many of which are unconventional. Earnest, which is a smaller rival to SoFi and CommonBond, is expected to originate nearly $1 billion in student loan refinancing loans in 2017.

Source: Forbes October 04, 2017 21:27 UTC