Homeownership platform provider SimpleNexus acquired LBA Ware, a software firm that offers incentive compensation management and business intelligence software for the mortgage industry, the companies announced Friday.
The acquisition is a first for SimpleNexus and brings together 325 employees in 29 states from the two companies. SimpleNexus will now serve 425 distinct lender customers and dozens of mortgage technology integration partners, the company said in a release. Terms of the deal were not released.
“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.
Schreiner Gates assumed the CEO mantle in June after founder Matt Hansen stepped down to lead a team of software developers and sales staff for upcoming research and development tactics within SimpleNexus. Schreiner Gates had served as president at SimpleNexus since September 2020. Prior to that, she served as the executive vice president of sales and marketing at Ellie Mae, now ICE Mortgage Technology.
LBA Ware CEO Lori Brewer will join SimpleNexus as executive vice president and general manager. Brewer founded LBA Ware in 2008 and has grown the company rapidly in that time. LBA Ware made the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies for the last three years, most recently averaging 213% growth. SimpleNexus has made the Inc. 5000 list for the last four years, notching 433% growth over the last three years.
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LBA Ware is best known for its incentive compensation management software CompenSafe and mortgage business intelligence platform LimeGear.
“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.”
“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 Corp.
There has been a flurry of fintech M&A activity over the past year, with notable deals including:
