Real estate data and services provider Black Knight announced it’s spending $250 million to expand its offerings and its customer base with its latest acquisition, Top of Mind Networks.
Top of Mind is the developer of Surefire, a customer relationship management and marketing automation system for the mortgage industry.
Black Knight said its first step will be to integrate Surefire into its Empower loan origination system, and enhance existing integrations with its Optimal Blue product, pricing and eligibility engine.
Then it will create new connections and integrations for mortgage lenders and servicers — including integrations with Black Knight’s Paragon MLS platform that will help lenders land more business through Realtors. The Paragon MLS platform is used by more than 200 MLSs and associations across the U.S. and Canada, and lenders will be focused on building their purchase loan business through Realtors as the refinancing boom tails off.
Anthony Jabbour | Black Knight, Inc.
“Integrating Surefire’s capabilities within the wider Black Knight mortgage technology ecosystem will make it possible for lender clients of all sizes to close more loans and create customers for life,” said Black Knight CEO Anthony Jabbour in a statement.
Bill Hayes
Top of Mind CEO Bill Hayes called the merger “a great strategic fit because we both share a passion for delivering innovation, adding value and driving growth for our clients. Our team is looking forward to working with Black Knight to help lenders and servicers create customers for life by engaging their customers with timely communications and highly personalized touchpoints, while helping clients stay compliant in their marketing efforts.”
Surefire provides “out-of-the-box” integrations with other major loan origination systems, CRMs, points of sale, lead sources and sales acceleration systems. Competitors include Propertybase, which recently launched BoldMortgage, a solution for individual loan officers and teams, that’s powered by the company’s newly acquired enterprise-level mortgage business growth platform, Unify.
Black Knight anticipates the Top of Mind deal will close during the third quarter, boosting revenue by an estimated $13 million in the second half of 2021 and providing opportunities to sell additional services to Surefire users.
“Our combined clients will be able to access additional market-leading offerings from a single, trusted provider, while we will be able to further expand Black Knight’s opportunities to cross-sell our solutions through Top of Mind’s broad reach among more than 850 commercial banks, mortgage banks, credit unions and mortgage brokerage companies,” Jabbour said.
Black Knight has been steadily building its offerings and customer base through acquisitions. This month it acquired Tampa, Florida-based analytics provider eMBS Inc.
Last year, Black Knight partnered with investment firms to acquire secondary marketplace platform Optimal Blue LLC, which connects lenders and secondary market investors. It also bought Collateral Analytics, a provider of real estate analytic products and tools for appraisers, appraisal management companies, lenders, investors and government agencies.
