Bottomline buys high-profile R.I. firm

Andera was recently named a ‘Top 10 Tech Company to Watch’

Bottomline Technologies Inc. has agreed to acquire Andera, a Rhode Island company that helps banks sign up customers online.

The Portsmouth, N.H.-based Bottomline, which specializes in software and cloud base services for financial institutions, will pay about $44.5 million in cash and 102,000 shares (worth $35.15 apiece at market’s close on Monday) for Andera, a privately held company that was launched in 2000.

Since then, Andera has worked with some 500 financial institutions to process 4.5 million new account applications online, and was named one of the “Top 10 Tech Companies to Watch” by Bank Technology News.

Its CEO is Charlie Kroll, who founded the firm while still a student at Brown University and was named the 2006 New England Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Andera employs a total of about 70 people at its Providence headquarters as well as at an office in New York City.

“We are delighted to welcome the customers and employees of Andera to Bottomline,” said Rob Eberle, CEO of Bottomline. “With the acquisition of Andera, we once again extend our portfolio of world-class payments and digital banking solutions.”

Bottomline didn’t specify an anticipated closing date for the deal, but said it was expected to increase Bottomline’s revenue by $2 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, which ends June 30, and add $10 million in revenue in fiscal 2015.

This is Bottomline’s second acquisition in three months.   In January, the company said it would pay $8 million Rationalwave Analytics, a New York firm.