Online banker Simple, one of Portland’s most prominent technology companies in the past decade, is closing down as part of the sale process of its own parent bank.
Simple notified employees of the pending closure on Wednesday and told customers on Thursday, calling it a “strategic decision”. Simple told customers that he will transfer his accounts to BBVA, but did not set a timetable for the change.
In November, BBVA announced that it would sell its business in the United States to the PNC Financial Services Group for $ 11.6 billion.
“We are focused on the things that make the most sense for the company’s future, whether autonomously or potentially combined with PNC,” said BBVA in a written statement on Thursday. BBVA is also closing two other financial technology services it owns, Azlo and Open Platform.
Founded in 2009, Simple moved from Brooklyn to Portland two years later, amid a rebirth of Oregon tech entrepreneurship. It was instantly one of the most prominent tech businesses in the city, promising a free, consumer-friendly online banking approach.
Simple was sold in 2014 to Spanish banker BBVA for $ 117 million and never found its place under the new ownership. The company struggled to compete as larger banks adopted many of the convenient online banking features that Simple helped create.
The company faltered when trying to resolve a central tension over whether it was primarily a bank or a technology company. Simple laid off 10% of its staff in 2017 and replaced almost all of its executive staff. Nine months later, founding CEO Josh Reich resigned.
“I suspect that PNC is prioritizing its existing online banking technology,” Reich tweeted Thursday. “I am sad about the closure, but happy with the journey and the lasting change that Simple has had in the global banking world. The customer experience is important. Great teams are important. “
Simple is among Portland’s biggest technology employers. Its current staff is 220, according to BBVA, 80% of them in the Northwest.
BBVA did not announce details of Simple’s dissolution or the fate of its office in southeastern Portland, at the east end of the Hawthorne Bridge.
“There are still many details to be resolved as part of the entity’s slowdown,” said BBVA in a statement on Thursday. “As we work on regulatory approval and integration plans, our long-term staffing needs will become clearer.”
Simples incorporated the aspirations and disappointments of the Portland technology community in the years after the Great Recession. Capitalizing on mobile technology, social networking and cloud computing, Simple was among a new generation of hopeful Oregon startups that ended Silicon Forest’s historic dependence on hardware manufacturing.
Others from that generation included Jive Software, Urban Airship (now Airship), Elemental Technologies, Puppet, Jama Software, Janrain and Act-On Software. They collectively attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital and hired thousands.
They all suffered their share of setbacks, however, and none became a really big company. Some still operate – Puppet says it hopes to go public this year – while others have been sold to larger technology companies that continue to operate in Portland.
No major new technology companies have appeared in Oregon since the 1990s, and the old ones are constantly disappearing. The $ 8 billion sale of Wilsonville-based Flir Systems, announced on Monday, leaves only two publicly traded technology companies in Oregon.
Simple’s dedicated service and commitment to helping its customers save money, instead of spending it, set it apart from the bigger and more established banks and won a dedicated audience of followers.
Online, there was a wave of disappointment from some of those customers on Thursday.
– Mike Rogoway | [email protected] | Twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699