Fintel has bought Mortgage Brain Holdings for £38.4m.

Mortgage Brain Holdings owns companies including Mortgage Brain Limited, AE3 Media, Criteria Hub and Mortgage Engine.

The best-known, Mortgage Brain, provides software used to support around 40% of UK residential mortgage and buy-to-let applications.

Fintel first invested £1.5m in Mortgage Brain Holdings in March 2024, buying a 5.8% stake. It has now bought the remaining shares for £38.4m.

The acquisition extends Fintel’s reach into the mortgage market. Fintel already owns financial information provider Defaqto and has a 49% stake in Plannr, which provides software for financial planners.

Mortgage Brain and Plannr have already connected their systems, allowing advisers to move from gathering information about a client to submitting a mortgage application without having to switch between separate systems and enter the same details again.

Fintel chief executive Matt Timmins said: “The acquisition strengthens our Software & Data division, expands our capabilities across wealth, mortgage and multi-disciplinary advice firms, and increases the scale of our proprietary data assets.”

He added that Mortgage Brain’s technology and its links with Plannr offered further opportunities to develop AI tools and services for advisers.

Zahid Bilgrami, Mortgage Brain’s chief executive, will remain in charge of the business and take on the additional role of chief executive of Fintel’s Software & Data division. He previously led Defaqto for 11 years.

Bilgrami said: “Mortgage Brain’s market-leading mortgage data and technology, combined with Fintel’s data and intelligence across wealth, insurance and financial products, creates a data set that is unique in the UK market.”

He said the combination would support the development of data analysis and AI-based tools for the financial advice sector.

Fintel said it would continue investing in Mortgage Brain’s technology. The group wants its software businesses to work together more closely, while allowing advice firms to retain control of their own data.

Last September, Simplybiz Mortgages-owner Fintel lifted its warchest to £120m to “support growth and acquisitions” across its software and business support arms.