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 1. Oregon Tech

Online banker Simple, once among Portland's most promising tech
companies, is closing down

Updated 1:41 PM; Today 10:21 AM
Online banker Simple

The offices of online banker Simple, in Southeast Portland.Mike
Rogoway/The Oregonian

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By Mike Rogoway | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Online banker Simple, one of Portland's most prominent tech
businesses for the past decade, is shutting down as part of its
parent bank's own sale process.

Simple notified employees of the pending closure Wednesday and told
customers Thursday, calling it a "strategic decision." Simple told
clients it will transfer their accounts to BBVA but set no timetable
for the change.

In November, BBVA announced it would sell its U.S. business to PNC
Financial Services Group for $11.6 billion.

"We're focused on the things that make the most sense for the
company's future whether on a standalone basis or a potentially
combined basis with PNC," BBVA said in a written statement Thursday.
BBVA is also shutting down 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 renaissance in Oregon technology entrepreneurship. It
was instantly among the city's most prominent tech businesses,
promising a consumer-friendly, no-fee approach to online banking.

Simple sold in 2014 to Spanish banker BBVA for $117 million and never
found its footing under the new ownership. The company struggled to
compete as larger banks adopted many of the convenient online banking
features Simple helped pioneer.

The company faltered as it tried to resolve a central tension over
whether it was foremost a bank or a tech company. Simple laid off 10%
of its staff in 2017 and replaced nearly its entire executive staff.
Nine months later, founding CEO Josh Reich quit.

"I suspect PNC is prioritizing their existing online banking tech,"
Reich tweeted Thursday. "I'm saddened for the closure but happy for
the journey and the lasting change that Simple has had on the global
banking world. Customer experience matters. Great teams matter."

Simple has been among Portland's largest tech employers. Its current
staff numbers 220, according to BBVA, 80% of them in the Northwest.

BBVA didn't announce details of Simple's dissolution or the fate of
its Southeast Portland office, at the east end of the Hawthorne
Bridge.

"There continue to be many details to address as part of the entity's
wind down," BBVA said in Thursday's statement. "As we work through
regulatory approval and integration plans, our longer-term staffing
needs will become more clear."

Simple embodied both the aspirations and disappointments of the
Portland tech 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 the 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 of people.

All endured their own share of setbacks, though, and none grew into a
really large company. Some still operate - Puppet says it hopes to go
public this year - while others sold to larger tech businesses that
continue to operate in Portland.

No big new tech company has emerged in Oregon since the 1990s and the
old ones are steadily vanishing. The $8 billion sale of
Wilsonville-based Flir Systems, announced Monday, leaves just two
publicly traded technology companies in Oregon.

Simple's dedicated customer service and a commitment to helping its
clients save money, rather than spend it, differentiated it from
larger, more establish banks and earned it a devoted following among
customers.

Online, there was an outpouring of disappointment from some of those
clients Thursday.

    Well, this is a massive bummer... the best online bank ever is
    shutting down. I've been with @simple since 2012 and never looked
    back. Thanks, @i2pi for your contribution to building a better
    bank!

    Anyone have recommendations on where to move my ?https://t.co/
    uImFD9mRMR

    -- Aaron Alberico (@AaronAlberico) January 7, 2021

    I'm devastated that @simple is being closed. It's been my
    favorite bank for many years now because it did everything I
    wanted with smart banking and nothing more... I'm going to have
    to find an alternative that I don't hate

    -- danielsdesk #SaveTheTick (@danielsdesk) January 7, 2021

    Goddammit. RIP @simple, best bank / software I've ever used

    -- Adam Luikart (@adamesque) January 7, 2021

-- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | twitter: @rogoway |
503-294-7699