Marketing Agency Invests in Real Estate Tech Company

SAN FRANCISCO, March 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Sequent Systems and the Snow Companies have announced today Snow's strategic investment in the real estate software firm. The Snow Companies are a network of full service advertising and digital agencies that have grown quickly over the last several years, including appearing on the INC. Magazine list of the fastest growing private companies.

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With this transaction, the agency is now entering into the software-as-a-service business. "We have decided to commit some of our infrastructure and personnel to give a fresh promotional boost to Sequent Systems," said Corbin Wood, COO of the Snow Companies. He said that supplementing the current book of business with a commitment in the real estate software firm would help to diversify Snow's portfolio. On top of their marketing efforts, the word-of-mouth communication experts have also made a financial investment of an undisclosed sum into Sequent Systems. The news highlights how agencies are becoming pragmatic when it comes to seizing opportunities and diversifying their portfolio, and how some are turning into "agency entrepreneurs," by not just servicing clients but acquiring a stake in them.

Paving way for "big data" analysis in real estate

Sequent Systems finds itself at a pivotal stage in its development. "Having doubled our user base at the beginning of the year, we feel that Sequent is ripe for a major promotional push as well as further product investments," explained David Lester, Founder and CEO of Sequent Systems. "Real estate has been behind the curve when it comes to business intelligence and data analysis, commonly referred to as 'big data'. Sequent is paving the way with its marketing, transaction tracking, and data visualization tools," Lester said. 

The Sequent Enterprise suite of solutions for both residential and commercial developers, as well as real estate marketing firms responsible for sales and leasing, has already proven itself profitable. However, EZ Coordinator, a lead to close solution (CRM & TMS) for the agent and broker segment was just launched recently. And for both products there have been little to no promotional efforts. "Snow's marketing expertise is exactly what Sequent needs at the current stage," said Wood.  Lester added, "We were approached by lots of people looking to invest, but ultimately we found that money is really only half the issue—the other is expertise. Agencies can churn through a lot of capital, and we quickly recognized that we needed that expertise on our side of the table, especially at this stage."

Wood explained how this deal makes the collaboration different from other accounts: "In this case we're going a step further by putting our skin in the game, which helps align everyone's interest." Lester agreed: "Snow's approach and past track record fits our objectives and accelerates the timeline to our Series A round."

About the Snow Companies:

The Snow Companies, founded in 2001, provides clients with expertise on driving customer engagement with a network of boutique marketing agencies that specialize in word-of-mouth communication.

For more information, visit www.snow-companies.com

About Sequent Systems:

Sequent Systems has been at the forefront of cloud based real-estate transaction management since it first launched its landmark Sequent Enterprise product, now used by real estate developers and marketers world-wide. The company was founded by real estate professionals with decades of industry experience who recognized that off the shelf tools lacked sophistication and proprietary solutions were too expensive. Sequent Enterprise quickly turned into the tool of choice for multi-unit residential real estate sales and has now developed modules to service commercial and lease needs. More recently, Sequent Systems also began servicing the single-family home sale market with their latest real estate transaction management tool, EZ Coordinator (www.ezcoordinator.com).

For more information, visit www.sequentsys.com

SOURCE Sequent Systems