Real estate digital marketing company Adwerx just raised $4.3 million in a funding round that will position the three-year-old startup to expand its offerings for agents and brokers while venturing into additional industry verticals.
Jed Carlson
Adwerx helps real estate agents, mortgage officers and insurance professionals create and manage online ads.
“Adwerx was built to bring ‘big brand’ ad tech to individual agents,” CEO Jed Carlson told Inman. “Looking ahead, we see automation continuing to move the industry forward and allowing agents more time to focus on building relationships with their clients.”
Most recently the company has zeroed in on enterprise solutions that can serve entire businesses at scale.
There’s a need for that type of offering in real estate, as brokers increasingly provide digital marketing services as part of their technology package. The additional capital will allow Adwerx to “accelerate the Adwerx Enterprise growth into the real estate market and beyond,” said Adwerx CEO Jed Carlson in a press release.
National franchise brand Re/Max and Chicago-based indie brokerage @properties have both signed on to Adwerx’s enterprise program, which is designed to bring what agents have already been using individually to mid- and large-sized organizations.
This month the company deepened its partnership with Re/Max to provide automated listing ads for the franchise’s entire network. As part of the deal, affiliates in the U.S. and Canada received digital listing advertisements targeting homebuyers on Facebook and top websites for one week, after which individuals had the option to extend the campaign.
According to TechCrunch, Adwerx is eyeing potential business from home services, legal, food, dental, home services, salon and spa professionals as it explores options outside of real estate.
Adwerx’s digital real estate marketing offerings include listing ads, agent ads, sphere ads, automated listing ads for brokerages, recruiting ads for brokerages and teams, and digital advertising (marketing expert) account reviews.
In March, Adwerx updated its Sphere product with Quick Adder, allowing agents to send a contact’s email to a unique Quick Adder account address and target sphere-of-influence contacts via online display ads.
The funding round was led by Grotech Ventures with participation from Bull City Venture Partners and Alerion Ventures.
“Adwerx helps small businesses master the complicated world of digital advertising,” said Don Rainey, General Partner at Grotech Ventures in a statement. “We look forward to working with them as they continue to develop a comprehensive advertising platform.”
Adwerx was recognized as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America by the 2017 Inc. 500 and also earned a spot as a 2017 Inman Innovator finalist.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated.