Denver-based eGent, a contract software for real estate agents, brokers, buyers, sellers and other industry professionals, was recently acquired by MRI Software.
The deal closed on Dec. 21 and was publicly announced on Jan. 24. Both companies declined to share financial terms of the deal.
MRI was founded in 1971 and specializes in real estate software at a global level. The company offers software solutions for the multifamily and commercial markets in addition to agency solutions for real estate agents. MRI also works on the occupier side of the industry, where it works with large retailers and businesses to help them lease their properties.
MRI is the parent company of a Colorado-based agency solution CTM eContracts. A former competitor of eGent, CTM is a document management and e-signature solution for real estate transactions.
“For eGent, being acquired by MRI means having the resources to grow and scale while providing confidence to our clients that they’re investing into a well-backed, long-term solution,” said Zach Garfias, CEO and founder of eGent.
Garfias launched eGent in 2020 but has worked on the startup for nearly eight years.
Garfias, who previously worked as a real estate agent, planned to disrupt the real estate industry by providing realtors with easy-to-use technology that wasn’t outdated. He intended it to be the TurboTax for the real estate industry.
EGent helps agents and customers understand real estate contracts by explaining clauses in layman’s terms, similar to how TurboTax explains documents needed to file your taxes. The platform was a digital transaction database that tracked deadlines for agents and clients and allowed both parties to sign documents electronically.
Being acquired by a company like MRI wasn’t always the plan, but Garfias said he was open to the idea.
“Really, my focus was on building a better solution,” he said. “It wasn’t until later that I realized I needed an exit strategy of some sort. The market conditions made it make sense for eGent to join forces with MRI.”
EGent’s platform will integrate with MRI’s CTM platform, which has a monopoly in Colorado. The integrated platform will pair eGent’s user interface with CTM’s deep functionality and continue to serve real estate agents with document tracking and e-signature solutions.
The integrated software will first be used in Colorado with the potential to scale to other real estate markets across the country if there’s a value add, said John Ensign, president and executive managing director of North America at MRI.
CTM has been in the Colorado market for over 20 years and was acquired by MRI in February 2019, Ensign said.
“MRI has been an acquisitive company over the last decade or so. It’s been part of our growth strategy,” he said. “We’re kind of known as a buyer in real estate tech around the world. ... We’re always kind of looking for talent, if you will, whether that’s individual people that have formed companies or ... the talent of the software, if you will.”
Ensign said the conversation with Garfias about eGent is an example of that.
Acquiring eGent will also allow MRI to accelerate updates the company was working on for CTM. Ensign said he anticipates the integrated solution will be brought to the market mid-year.
As a founder who’s invested $800,000 into a startup and spent years building a software solution, Garfias said being acquired by MRI is like “being given a parachute after having already jumped out of the plane.”
“I’ve been down a long road bootstrapping this company for nearly eight years, and MRI gave me the ability to work from a place of abundance rather than scarcity,” he said.
Garfias will join MRI as its senior director of North American agency solutions. In this role, he will help integrate the two software platforms and become a voice in the market about the impacts this solution has on real estate transactions, Ensign said.
