Inman

ENeighborhoods buys Web site company

ENeighborhoods has purchased REChannel Communications, a technology company that provides Web site design, hosting, Internet data exchange, virtual office Web sites and lead management systems for top-producing real estate brokers and agents.

Boca Raton, Fla.-based eNeighborhoods compiles and sells home and neighborhood information products. Real estate agents use the data to market their services by providing neighborhood reports that can be printed, sent by e-mail or posted on a Web site.

ENeighborhoods’ parent company Siegent Inc., in May received an initial $5 million minority investment from Summit Partners, a private equity and venture capital firm. Siegent compiles U.S. home and neighborhood information. Siegent said it plans to use the funding to accelerate growth through a series of acquisitions.

“The acquisition of REChannel is the first of several planned for our company, as we strive to continually expand our services for our customers through both internal development and the addition of other great technologies,” said Stuart Siegel, CEO of eNeighborhoods and its parent company Siegent.

Siegel anticipates the company will drop the REChannel name and re-brand its Web site product under the eNeighborhoods name. ENeighborhoods currently offers a Web site product, but he said the new REChannel Web sites are more high-end.

“We wanted to find a new technology platform to plug into that (existing) product line,” Siegel said.

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