Real Estate Technology, Real Estate Investment
PRnewswire | June 27, 2023
FirstClose, Inc., a leading fintech provider of data and workflow solutions for mortgage and home equity lenders nationwide, announced today that Georgia United Credit Union, one of the largest and strongest credit unions in Georgia, has chosen FirstClose Equity as its end-to-end digital home equity platform to meet the demands of its more than 150,000 credit union members.
Serving Georgia since 1958, Georgia United Credit Union is a full-service credit union with a dozen branches across the Atlanta metropolitan area, as well as Athens, Dalton, and Dublin. The organization's purpose-driven commitment in service is the reason Georgia United stands out from other financial institutions and has been recognized by Forbes as a Best-In-State Credit Union for four years in a row.
Using FirstClose Equity, Georgia United Credit Union will be able to reduce its time to close and provide an exceptional member experience for home equity transactions. Borrowers can get feedback on their home valuation, available equity, get prequalified, submit for a loan and receive a conditional approval all within minutes. With this solution, processors have one solution for ordering all required settlement services while never leaving their loan origination system (LOS), eliminating the need for manual data entry.
"Operational efficiency is key to sustainable, long-term member satisfaction," said Andrew Woodman, Senior Vice President of Mortgage Lending and Loan Trading with Georgia United Credit Union. "Our members deserve an elegant, streamlined front-end vehicle to apply for a home equity transaction and achieve transparency. We want members to spend more quality time building relationships with their Home Loan Consultant and ultimately close loans faster which is why we selected FirstClose Equity. It puts us in a better position for those challenges and demands for future success."
FirstClose Equity is a one-of-a-kind home equity origination solution that reduces operational touchpoints and improves the overall customer experience for borrowers. The end-to-end platform includes a borrower-facing point-of-sale solution that gives consumers instant online feedback on their home valuation, available home equity, loan options and delivers credit decisions in minutes. Automated workflows, including the ordering of settlement services, enable lenders to complete the application through closing process in as little as ten days versus the industry average of 45 to 60 days.
"We're excited to power an enhanced home equity experience at Georgia United," said Tedd Smith, Chief Executive Officer of FirstClose. "Providing technology to help their members keep their existing low mortgage rate and tap into their equity at a faster pace, will be a gamechanger."
About Georgia United Credit Union
Georgia United Credit Union is an award-winning financial leader and partner in education. Headquartered in Duluth, Georgia United is ranked as one of the state's largest credit unions with $2 billion in assets and over 150,000 members. As a full-service financial institution, they offer competitive products and services for every stage of life. Visit gucu.org to learn more.
About FirstClose
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, FirstClose, Inc. provides fintech solutions to HELOC and mortgage lenders nationwide. The company's mission is to increase profitability and reduce cost for mortgage lenders. FirstClose makes this possible through offering systems and relationships that enable lenders to assist the lender's borrowers more effectively, reduce closing costs, and ultimately shorten closing times. For more information, visit firstclose.com.
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Real Estate Technology
Globenewswire | August 14, 2023
Tango, a leading provider of cloud-based real estate and facilities management software, today announced it has acquired WatchWire, an industry leader in data and analytics that helps companies reduce emissions and energy expenses while simplifying sustainability and carbon reporting. The transaction further extends Tango’s position as a global leader in the real estate and facilities management space, enabling companies to meet their energy management and sustainability goals. WatchWire’s leadership team will join Tango to continue developing and progressing these key capabilities. Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.
“Faced with a rapidly changing macro and regulatory environment, active sustainability and energy management has become essential to long-term organizational success,” said Pranav Tyagi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tango. “Tango has a longstanding reputation for solving the complex, location-based compliance and reporting needs of our customers, as well as helping companies effectively manage and control occupancy costs. With the addition of WatchWire, we will provide customers information that arms them to understand their environmental impact and deliver on energy and sustainability management initiatives.”
Founded in 2000 and based in New York City, WatchWire provides the deepest and most comprehensive integrated energy management and sustainability platform in the industry, enabling companies to automate the collection and validation of sustainability and energy related data. Its solutions then operationalize the data for reporting, compliance and identifying additional opportunities to meet environmental, energy and climate targets. The combined business will serve over 500 customers in more than 140 countries from its primary offices in Dallas and New York.
A strong relationship between owners and the users of real estate is critical to ensuring accurate, active tracking and reporting on energy and sustainability. Tango brings considerable experience to the establishment and management of that relationship through its work in transaction management, lease management and facilities maintenance, and will help bridge the communication gap between owners and operators to address their joint energy and sustainability management requirements and deliver on decarbonization objectives.
“We are excited to be joining the preeminent real estate and facilities management solution in the industry,” said Andy Anderson, CEO of WatchWire. “Combining the vast amount of validated energy data available in the WatchWire platform with Tango’s real estate and facilities management capabilities will enable companies to support the accurate tracking and reporting that customers require, and operationalize insights about how to lower costs and improve sustainability. WatchWire customers will also benefit from the end-to-end real estate and facilities solution that Tango offers.”
“Since our initial investment in Tango, we have been focused on adding a sustainability and energy reporting capability, as these offerings will help Tango extend its leadership position in the real estate management software market,” said Jon Nuger, a Managing Director at Berkshire Partners, which made a growth investment in Tango in 2021. “We are excited to partner with Pranav and the management team as they harness Tango’s and WatchWire’s combined capabilities to empower organizations to improve energy efficiency, enhance sustainability and reduce cost.”
Harris Williams acted as exclusive financial advisor to Tango and Berkshire Partners on the acquisition of WatchWire. GrowthPoint Technology Partners, a San Francisco-based technology investment bank, acted as exclusive financial advisor to WatchWire.
About Tango
With hundreds of customers across more than 140 countries, Tango is the leader in Store Lifecycle Management and Integrated Workplace Management System software, delivering a single solution spanning real estate, design & construction, lease administration & accounting, facilities, desk booking, visitor and space management.
About WatchWire
WatchWire is a sustainability and energy management software-as-a-service provider. Across the globe, WatchWire helps commercial and corporate real estate portfolios, Fortune 500 industrial/manufacturing and big-box retail companies and government, healthcare, and educational facilities reduce emissions and expenses while simplifying sustainability and carbon reporting.
About Berkshire Partners
Berkshire Partners is a 100% employee-owned, multi-sector specialist investor in private and public equity. The firm’s private equity team invests in well-positioned, growing companies across technology & communications, consumer, healthcare, and services & industrials. Since inception, Berkshire Partners has made more than 150 private equity investments and has a strong history of collaborating with management teams to grow the companies in which it invests. The firm's public equity group, Stockbridge, founded in 2007, manages a concentrated portfolio seeking attractive long-term investments. The firm’s Stockbridge and Private Equity teams frequently collaborate and leverage their collective industry expertise across sectors.
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Real Estate Technology
FOREWARN | August 28, 2023
FOREWARN, LLC, a red violet company and the leading provider of real-time information solutions for real estate agents, today announced that Space Coast Association of REALTORS® (“SCAR”) has contracted to make FOREWARN® services available for the 6,000+ members they serve throughout Brevard County and the Space Coast to promote proactive real estate agent safety.
Available both online and through a mobile application, FOREWARN analyzes billions of data points and provides users with the ability to mitigate risks by verifying identity, searching for criminal histories, and validating information provided by potential clients -- using just a phone number. FOREWARN allows agents to properly and safely plan for showings with a higher level of confidence.
The FOREWARN services purchased by SCAR are available to the 6,000+ real estate agent membership at no additional cost to individual members.
“We were looking for a solution that would help our members protect themselves well ahead of being in a potentially dangerous situation, and FOREWARN was the clear choice,” said Nancy Bartlett, President of Space Coast Association of REALTORS®. “It will equip our members to verify the identity of their unknown prospects in seconds, helping to address concerns around physical safety as well as possible fraud.”
Lindsey Ruschak, CEO of Space Coast Association of REALTORS®, went on to say, “We’re thrilled to be able to offer this product as a benefit of membership with Space Coast Association of REALTORS®, the launch is timely with REALTOR® Safety Month being recognized in September.” Existing SCAR members will receive specific instructions on how to move forward with activating their FOREWARN subscription.
About FOREWARN
At FOREWARN, we bring instant knowledge through innovative solutions to ensure safer engagements and smarter interactions. Leveraging powerful analytics and a massive data repository, our solutions enable organizations to gain real-time knowledge, for purposes such as verifying identity, searching for criminal histories, and validating information. Risk assessment and due diligence at your fingertips™.
About red violet
At red violet, we build proprietary technologies and apply analytical capabilities to deliver identity intelligence. Our technology powers critical solutions, which empower organizations to operate with confidence. Our solutions enable the real-time identification and location of people, businesses, assets and their interrelationships. These solutions are used for purposes including risk mitigation, due diligence, fraud detection and prevention, regulatory compliance, and customer acquisition. Our intelligent platform, CORE™, is purpose-built for the enterprise, yet flexible enough for organizations of all sizes, bringing clarity to massive datasets by transforming data into intelligence. Our solutions are used today to enable frictionless commerce, to ensure safety, and to reduce fraud and the concomitant expense borne by society.
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