The acquisition will help OJO launch Lever by Movoto, which the company describes as an all-in-one technology platform for individual agents.
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Real estate technology company OJO announced Tuesday that it has acquired The LEAD Syndicate, an agent-focused technology company. We plan to use this new acquisition to launch a new all-in-one platform and rebrand.
The new platform is called “Lever by Movoto.” In a statement, OJO said the platform is “an all-in-one solution that handles agent marketing, supplemental lead generation, database management, transaction management, and encompasses training and accountability solutions to ensure the ultimate success of agents. “We will provide a suite of solutions.”
Chris Heller, OJO
OJO President Chris Heller explained in a call with Inman that the purpose of the new platform is to help individual agents who don’t intend to join a team but are not low producers on the verge of being flushed out of the organization. did. industry. He added: “This middle group is a very large group.”
The statement goes on to describe Lever as a “comprehensive support system” that allows agents to maintain their unique brand.
Lever’s launch comes as OJO undertakes a kind of rebranding, naming the company’s public identity as Movoto. The OJO name will remain, but its relationship with Movoto will be similar to Meta and Facebook, or Alphabet and Google. The latter names are all parent companies that oversee public brands.
“With the launch of Lever, OJO is making a strategic decision to bring all products under the Movoto brand umbrella,” the statement added.
OJO started as a pioneer in bringing artificial intelligence to real estate, has since evolved to offer a variety of services, and acquired home search site Movoto in 2020.
nicky miller
The acquisition of The LEAD Syndicate is a key part of Lever’s launch. Nikki Miller, who founded LEAD Syndicate in 2020, told Inman over the phone that she was an independent agent looking to advance her career, but also wanted to join a team or put together a stopgap technology solution. I explained that I didn’t want to do anything like that. she is her own. Ultimately, she founded The LEAD Syndicate to provide agents with a single platform that could be deployed in a variety of situations.
The LEAD Syndicate says on its website that it handles lead generation, marketing, transaction and database management, and other duties.
Like Heller, Miller said the middle class of independent agents who get deals but don’t join teams is large but underserved.
“Nothing is built for them, nothing is optimized for them,” Miller told Inman. “We want another way for them to grow.”
The companies did not disclose financial terms of the acquisition. Miller will remain with the company as vice president of agent platforms. When asked about her acquisition, she said she was already working with OJO and that her new deal represented a “natural partnership.”
“I’m excited to join the great teams at OJO and Movoto in launching Lever,” Miller added in a statement.
When asked about Lever’s pricing, OJO declined to provide details and pointed to the agency. Website.
Heller was open to having Miller and her company participate.
“OJO and Movoto have long been part of the real estate profession,” Heller said in a statement, adding, “Nikki’s superpowers in helping agents rapidly grow their businesses are the perfect complement to OJO’s existing programs. It’s what you do,” he said.
The new acquisition and branding comes at a time of great turmoil for the real estate industry. Markets turned red in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, but interest rates rose steadily and trading declined in 2022 and 2023. At the same time, new entrants such as CoStar are trying to disrupt the status quo in areas such as home search, an area in which OJO also competes through its Movoto site.
John Berkowitz
In a statement Tuesday, OJO noted that despite “market headwinds,” it still “has grown the size of its agency network and programs over the past year.” The company first launched a referral network for top agents in 2020, and last year debuted two new lead generation programs for high-performing teams.
In a statement, John Berkowitz, the company’s founder and CEO, also said he was optimistic about the future.
“We’re focused on helping the millions of consumers who come to Movoto actually find and sell homes, and that’s often done through the help of great real estate professionals. It starts with finding it,” Berkowitz said. “Partners like Nikki Miller ensure that agents continue to be an important part of our journey as a company, and we are thrilled to have her on board.”
Email Jim Dalrymple II
