Intuit Reportedly in Talks to Acquire Israeli Bill-paying App for $350 Million

Check, maker of a popular bill-payment app, is in talks to be bought out by Intuit, the American financial software company, for more than $350 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper attributed the news to two sources familiar with the negotiations, including one who reportedly said the talks are still in their early stages and final agreement may not be reached for at least two weeks. The paper noted that Check’s mobile phone application is used by more than 10 million people to track and pay their bills and that Intuit already owns personal finance software brands Quicken and Turbotax.

Check, which used to be known as Pageonce, is based in Palo Alto, California and has a staff of about 100, half of whom are based at its development center in Israel. It has raised $49 million from a number of venture capital firms including Pitango Venture Capital of Israel and Menlo Ventures and Morganthaler Ventures of the United States. Citing one of its two sources, the Wall Street Journal reported that this year Check would have revenues of about $20 million, up by $15 million compared to 2013.

Check’s bill application is considered the most successful independent app of its kind in the United States. Its CEO and co-founder, Guy Goldstein, said that last year its users transferred half a billion dollars using the service. Goldstein, a former Israel Air Force fighter pilot, founded the firm with Ahikam Kaufman and Nissim Tapiro. All three had previously worked at Mercury Interactive, an Israeli information technology firm that was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 2008.

Check provides a product similar to that provided by Mint, an American company that was a pioneer in the effort to connect users to their bank and credit card accounts via their cellular phones. Mint was acquired by Intuit in 2009 for $170 million.