Editor’s Note: Acquisition Speaks To The Power Of BI
SimpleNexus, developer of a homeownership platform for loan officers, borrowers, real estate agents and settlement agents, acquired Macon, Georgia-based software firm LBA Ware. The strategic transaction, SimpleNexus’ first, brings together 325 employees in 29 states to serve 425 distinct lender customers and dozens of mortgage technology integration partners.
“Bringing LBA Ware into the SimpleNexus homeownership platform gives mortgage lenders an unprecedented array of competitive advantages across borrower engagement, loan origination and closing as well as operations and business intelligence,” said SimpleNexus CEO Cathleen Schreiner Gates. “This is an exciting moment for SimpleNexus. We welcome our new colleagues, who share our passion for helping lenders excel in their markets.”
“As a company that values our partnerships with SimpleNexus and LBA Ware, we recognize this as an exciting moment for both firms and an opportunity for two market-leading teams to come together to push the boundaries of innovation on behalf of mortgage bankers,” said Randy Allen, CIO of nationwide lender Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation.
LBA Ware CEO Lori Brewer will join SimpleNexus as EVP and general manager. Brewer founded LBA Ware in 2008 and shepherded the bootstrapped company through thirteen years of product innovation and organic revenue growth. Initially a developer of custom software solutions for banks and mortgage lenders, LBA Ware soon made a name for itself as the creator of CompenSafe, the mortgage industry’s original and most prevalent incentive compensation management (ICM) software. In 2019, LBA Ware diversified its product offerings with the introduction of LimeGear, a turnkey mortgage business intelligence (BI) platform.
“Together, LBA Ware and SimpleNexus will be able to offer mortgage lenders even more than the sum of our parts and redefine not only the digital mortgage experience, but also the mortgage BI category,” Brewer said. “As consistent forces for innovation in the mortgage space, our firms have remarkably compatible cultures and complementary products. We look forward to a bright future as a unified team.”
SimpleNexus and LBA Ware have more in common than their compatible cultures. Both companies have become perennial members of the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies, and each has earned a loyal customer following exemplified by an average Net Promoter Score® that far surpasses benchmarks for the financial services and B2B software sectors. SimpleNexus and LBA Ware are both longtime members of Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), The Mortgage Collaborative (TMC) and the American Credit Union Mortgage Association (ACUMA), among other industry associations.
Tony Garritano is the founder at PROGRESS in Lending Association. As a speaker Tony has worked hard to inform executives about how technology should be a tool used to further business objectives. For over 20 years he has worked as a journalist, researcher and speaker in the mortgage technology space. Starting PROGRESS in Lending Association was the next step for someone like Tony, who has dedicated his entire career to providing mortgage executives with the information that they need to make informed technology decisions to help their businesses succeed.
