Fintech and support services firm Fintel, the owner of SimplyBiz and Defaqto, has acquired professional advisers' review site VouchedFor and ratings provider AKG for a combined £9.1m.

It paid £7.5m for VouchedFor and £1.6m for AKG.

The two deals mark the third and fourth acquisitions by Fintel this year.

Fintel acquired digital knowledge and competence management system Competent Adviser in July as well as the tax-efficient investment research firm MICAP in the same month.

Teddington-based VouchedFor provides reviews on a wide range of services, including financial advisers, mortgage advisers, solicitors and accountants and currently has more than 5,000 paying members and more than 350,000 client reviews. 

Neil Stevens, joint chief executive of Fintel, said: "VouchedFor is an exceptional business with a very important mission – to increase confidence in, and generate demand for, professional financial advice.

“We will invest in VouchedFor to grow its market reach; ensuring the UK’s standard bearer for trusted advice can serve every advice business in the UK.”

He said there will be an announcement in the next few weeks of what he called, “a groundbreaking new service we’ve developed together.”

Alex Whitson, managing director of VouchedFor, said: “Fintel’s investment will enable us to accelerate our growth, launch more services for advisers and enhance our client offering.”

Dorking-based AKG provides independent assessments and ratings of financial strength for a range of organisations including life companies, investment platforms and discretionary fund managers.

AKG’s financial strength ratings are the most widely selected filter in Defaqto Engage, Defaqto's Financial Planning software, and Defaqto will invest in AKG and draw on resources from across Fintel to accelerate distribution of its proposition.

Defaqto’s adviser software platforms Engage and Centra added AKG’s DFM Financial Strength ratings in September.

Defaqto chief executive John Milliken said: “AKG is a strategically significant acquisition, adding industry expertise, insight and data that is complementary to Defaqto’s.”

Guy Vanner, managing director at AKG, said: “AKG has specialised in company assessment work for over 30 years and has become synonymous with the assessment of operational financial strength from the perspective of end customers, for use by their advisers. We are now able to further expand the delivery of our ratings and reviews with the assistance of Defaqto.”

Fintel also holds a 25% stake in new Planner tech business Plannr Technologies, which it bought in June.

In September Fintel reported a 2% rise in revenue growth to £27.6m for the six months to the end of June, compared to £27.1m in the first half year of 2022.