Online marketing and technology company Market Leader Inc. has acquired mobile lead-generation platform developer kwkly, paying $1.15 million in cash and stock.
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based kwkly provides homebuyers with real-time access from their mobile phones to detailed property information from the multiple listing service.
The company has grown rapidly over the past two years, Market Leader said in announcing the deal. Current kwkly cutomers include Re/Max, Long & Foster Real Estate Inc., Baird & Warner, Century 21, Prudential, and Intero Real Estate.
Market Leader CEO Ian Morris said in a statement that the company looks forward to providing the mobile, software-as-a-service (SaaS) lead-generation platform to an even broader audience.
In a regulatory filing, Market Leader said it expects to offer kwkly services to Market Leader customers later this year.
Market Leader also disclosed that it has entered into an employment agreement with kwkly’s founder and sole owner, Tony Romeo, which gives him options to purchase 300,000 shares in the company.
A year ago, Romeo was one of seven entrepreneurs making a pitch in the "Start-Up Shoot Out" at Inman Real Estate Connect New York City 2010.
Inman News columnist Bernice Ross, CEO of RealEstateCoach.com, later called kwkly "a great way to generate buyer leads from other people’s listings."
"What’s cool about this tool is that the system automatically locates and then broadcasts the five properties that are currently listed that are closest to your listing," Ross wrote in August. "The listing data displays on the buyer’s phone with your contact information."
Market Leader — which was known as HouseValues before it rebranded in 2008 — announced this month that it’s one of several vendors that will provide integrated lead management, contact management, marketing and transaction management to more than 80,000 Keller Williams Realty agents.
Market Leader said in a regulatory filing that it would receive a minimum of $10 million from Keller Williams during the initial five-year term of the agreement, and expects to generate additional revenue from premium SaaS solutions and lead-generation services that will be made available to Keller Williams agents, teams and brokers.